Configuring Hyper-V VM as a Cluster Role Without Shared Storage in a Failover Cluster

Thank you for your suggestion regarding Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) as an option for shared storage and the “Hyperconverged Hyper-V and Storage Spaces Direct” setup.

I’ve reviewed the [Storage Spaces Direct hardware requirements | Microsoft Learn) and my current storage configuration:

On my system, storage is RAID-based, and here are the details:

• Windows Server 2022 environment
• Storage Type: RAID1 (using SAS 3916 with 3x 893 GB SSDs)
• RAID Configuration Details: RAID1 configured with a Broadcom SAS 3916 SCSI RAID controller and three 893 GB SATA SSDs configured as part of a virtual drive array. PS C:\Users\Administrator> diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.20348.1 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: WIN-17VPVFVOKGO DISKPART> lis dis

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  
  Disk 0    Online          893 GB  1024 KB        *
  

  DISKPART> sel dis 0 Disk 0 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> det dis BROADCOM SAS 3916 SCSI Disk Device Disk ID: {C04D1C49-E88B-47B4-8CFA-856B64BCE55A} Type : RAID Status : Online Path : 1 Target : 239 LUN ID : 0 Location Path : PCIROOT(6E)#PCI(0100)#PCI(0000)#RAID(P01T239L00 Current Read-only State : No Read-only : No Boot Disk : Yes Pagefile Disk : Yes Hibernation File Disk : No Crashdump Disk : Yes Clustered Disk : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  
  Volume 0     C                NTFS   Partition    893 GB  Healthy    Boot
  
  Volume 1                      FAT32  Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System
  
  Volume 2                      NTFS   Partition    599 MB  Healthy    Hidden
  

  PS C:\Users\Administrator> storcli64 /cAll show Generating detailed summary of the adapter, it may take a while to complete. CLI Version = 007.2309.0000.0000 Sep 16, 2022 Operating system = Windows Server 2022 Controller = 0 Status = Success Description = None Product Name = SAS 3916 Serial Number = VA249S000950 Current Personality = RAID-Mode Vendor Id = 0x1000 Device Id = 0x10E2 SubVendor Id = 0x15D9 SubDevice Id = 0x1B67 Host Interface = PCI-E Device Interface = SAS-12G Bus Number = 111 Device Number = 0 Function Number = 0 Domain ID = 0 Security Protocol = None Drive Groups = 1 TOPOLOGY : ========

  ---

  DG Arr Row EID:Slot DID Type State BT Size PDC PI SED DS3 FSpace TR

  ---

  0 - - - - RAID1 Optl N 893.750 GB dflt N N none N N 0 0 - - - RAID1 Optl N 893.750 GB dflt N N none N N 0 0 0 252:0 0 DRIVE Onln N 893.750 GB dflt N N none - N 0 0 1 252:1 1 DRIVE Onln N 893.750 GB dflt N N none - N 0 - - 252:2 2 DRIVE DHS - 893.750 GB - - - - - N

  ---

  Virtual Drives = 1 VD LIST : =======

  ---

  DG/VD TYPE State Access Consist Cache Cac sCC Size Name

  ---

  0/239 RAID1 Optl RW Yes RWTD - ON 893.750 GB VD0

  ---

  Physical Drives = 3 PD LIST : =======

  ---

  EID:Slt DID State DG Size Intf Med SED PI SeSz Model Sp Type

  ---

  252:0 0 Onln 0 893.750 GB SATA SSD Y N 512B SAMSUNG MZ7L3960HBLT-00A07 U - 252:1 1 Onln 0 893.750 GB SATA SSD Y N 512B SAMSUNG MZ7L3960HBLT-00A07 U - 252:2 2 DHS 0 893.750 GB SATA SSD Y N 512B SAMSUNG MZ7L3960HBLT-00A07 U -

  ---

  Enclosures = 1 Enclosure LIST : ==============

  ---

  EID State Slots PD PS Fans TSs Alms SIM Port# ProdID VendorSpecific

  ---

  252 OK 16 3 0 0 0 0 0 - VirtualSES

  ---

According to the Microsoft documentation, Storage Spaces Direct supports configurations with SAS or NVMe drives in a direct pass-through mode.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-direct-hardware-requirements#drives
**So based on the above setup, is my configuration supported by Storage Spaces Direct?**I’m sorry for my limited knowledge and understanding in this area as I’m very new to this technology.

My Goal :

I need to set up a failover cluster and add stateless virtual machines (running Debian-based operating systems) to the cluster. These VMs will host stateless HTTP applications, so the application layer is the primary focus.

• No Shared Storage Requirement: Since the VMs are stateless, there’s no need for the entire VM disk to be part of the cluster or to ensure its high availability.
• Application-Level Failover: I want to ensure failover for the HTTP applications hosted on these VMs.

Key Questions

1. Is it possible to integrate such stateless VMs into a failover cluster, primarily for application workload failover, without requiring shared storage?
2. If not, I am considering enabling Hyper-V Replication on the Windows nodes and setting up replication for these VMs. After enabling replication, I plan to attempt adding these replicated VMs into the cluster. Would this approach work for my use case?

Thank you again for guiding me as I navigate this setup.

Your guidance and support are much appreciated!

Hi,

The storage needs to be available to other nodes if you want to configure high availability to the VMs. Since you can only use the local disks on your cluster nodes you may give a try to Storage Spaces Direct.

Deploy Storage Spaces Direct on Windows Server | Microsoft Learn