user profile disks fault tolerance

Question

Hello,

1. Do I understand correctly that Scale Out File Server (SOFS) allows one of the cluster nodes to be shut down while users are using the disk? Shutdown or failure of one of the cluster nodes will not cause the user to stop working and the user disk will remain connected.
2. Our servers are located in Azure. we can use
   two-node Storage Spaces Direct scale-out file server for UPD storage in Azure
   not using virtual servers for this?
3. Do I understand correctly that the disk for the cluster must be physical. Those. I cannot use a virtual disk for a cluster, as this disk array must be available for two or more cluster nodes?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/rds-storage-spaces-direct-deployment

Answer 1

Hello,

SOFS role will run on one of the nodes and in case of failure/maintenance it will start on the other node. So there would be some downtime, which is equal to the time service will start on the other node.
Guide you shared states, which VMs should be used for a different amount of users. As for the disk, you choose type of the virtual disk you're going to use with the VM. In the example, disk type SSD is used.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-types

In addition, the following guide might be helpful on setting up Failover Cluster in Azure.
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/installing-and-configuring-a-sql-server-failover-clustered-instance-on-microsoft-azure-virtual-machines/

Cheers,
Alex Bykovskyi
StarWind Software
Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose