LSFS vs LSFS with dedpup vs Flat File System

[Van Rue]

I am intrigued by LSFS, but want more details on when to use each of the 3 file options you offer, LSFS, LSFS w/Dedupe, and FLAT. I am guessing (but I couldn't find documentation) that LSFS w/Dedup shouldn't be used for Boot OS VM Volumes? (this is just based of MS best practices for HyperV). So is LSFS without Dedup OK for boot VM volumes or is Starwind resilient enough you can use Dedup on Boot OS Volumes?

I will have 2 arrays now on DL380's, 1 is 2.5 10K SAS in Raid 10, that I plan to use for boot OS volumes. 1 6x SATA Raid 6 that I plan to use for data (obvious LSFS w/Dedup would excel here). I can add a 3rd array in the future possibly using 4-6x 1tb 2.5 WD Reds in Raid 10.

What is a good allocation file types on hardware for different functions? Would LSFS (no dedupe) be good for boot volumes (even with its possible slower read performance)?
And I assume that either is not ideal for cold Archival data, so I plan to store that outside of Starwind (probably replicated with DFS on to the other server).

[Michael (staff)]

Hello Van Rue,
In order to provide you with the precise answer, it would be great to know the future Production workload in IOPS.
According to LSFS device technical description (https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... scription/), the total overprovisioning of LSFS devices could be up to 200% and it needs 4.6 GB of RAM per 1 TB initial LSFS size. The Flat device takes exactly the same space you see in StarWind Management Console and does not need additional compute resources.
It is up to the future Production requirements but in most cases Flat devices with big RAM cache covers a lot of configurations, thus I assume it will work for you as well.