Storage Recommedation

[KeithW19]

Hi there, we currently run a datacenter where we host servers for several different clients in a clustered Hyper-V environment (approximately 60 VMs). Our original data is around 20TB.

Currently we use an older Lenovo EMC PX12-400r SAN via iSCSI (RAID 6 with 12 4TB drives for about 36TB usable space) to our physical Veeam backup server. We are looking into a replacement and are wondering what might be our best options. This SAN was a remnant from our data center and may have been overkill. I'd say the most important things are:

- Performance. We dont want to hinder the performance of our backups in any way. Currently our Veeam jobs process around 150 MB/s and we dont want the storage to limit that
- Redundancy - At least redundant PSUs and RAID support (RAID 6 or 10)
- ReFS - I have been looking into using ReFS and I believe that can change the requirements on the storage unit (needs more RAM?). I am still looking into this however

We did talk about going with a NAS though I believe that would rule out ReFS as we'd be at the mercy of whatever file system the NAS uses correct?

[nmdange]

What are the specs of the physical Veeam server (make/model/etc)? Best bet would just be to either add drives to the internal raid controller if you have room in the server chassis, or get a raid controller with an external SAS port and attach a SAS JBOD to it. Using SAS-attached storage will be the best option because the interconnect is (usually) much faster than both iSCSI and Fiber Channel.

[KeithW19]

The backup server is a Lenovo ThinkServer RD540 w/ Intel Xeon E5-2650 v2 (16 total cores... it was formerly a node in our cluster) with 16GB RAM. There wouldnt be enough room in the chasis at all. I'm not overly familiar with external SAS port and JBODs (I know JBOD is "Just a bunch of disks"). I'm assuming once the JBOD is attached the controller can configure those drives in whatever RAID format we want?

[KeithW19]

So to attach a SAS JBOD to it I'd need:

- Controller card with an external SAS port (I think there is a free slot in the chasis... not sure of speed though)
- SAS JBOD

And with that I can use the controller card to configure the JBOD into the RAID config I choose and it will simply show as a local drive on the server correct?

[nmdange]

You got it! If you want to stick with Lenovo, looks like the D3284 or D1212 would be appropriate.

[nitramd]

Keith,

Have a look at Veeam's best practices guide: https://bp.veeam.expert/architecture-ov ... ing/sizing

The memory on your server may be a bit low.

[KeithW19]

We actually only run 4 concurrent jobs at a time so 16GB is the minimum but we may add more (we'll be decommissioning another server that has RAM that will work). That D1212 looks like it may be the ticket!

[nmdange]

If you are doing ReFS you'll definitely want to get more RAM if possible. 1GB of RAM per 1TB of REFS capacity is what Veeam is recommending.

[tcogghe1976]

Knowing your RTO/RPO requirements would be useful.