Starwind vSan 3 node NVME performance expectations

[kellenw]

Hi Folks,
Considering Starwind vSan for a high performance shared Postgre SQL and MS SQL volume, and I'm wondering what kind of performance I should expect with the following 3 Node (3 way mirror) configuration. All 3 nodes are identical hardware.
OS: Win 2019 Server
CPU: x2 Xeon Gold 6138
RAM: 512GB ECC DDR4-2400
Storage Network: Mellanox ConnectX-3 dual port 40GbE, Direct connections (no switch)
Storage option 1: 1x Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB per node (No RAID, just NVME to Starwind)
-OR-
Storage option 2: 2x Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB per node (Storage Spaces Mirrored... concerned a bit about random 4k Q1T1 perf though)
-OR-
Storage option 3: 2x Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB per node (Storage Spaces Simple... concerned a bit about random 4k Q1T1 perf though)
-OR-
Storage option 4: 2x Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB per node (VROC RAID 0, if supported by Starwind... will probably cut 4k Q1T1 perf down to 1/2 of drive perf potential)
-OR-
Storage option 5: 2x Intel Optane 905P U.2 960GB per node (VROC RAID 1, if supported by Starwind... will probably cut 4k Q1T1 perf down to 1/3 of drive perf potential)

So, I'm leaning towards Storage option 1 since these Optane drives have a DWPD of 10, and this should give the best random 4k Q1T1 performance. I'm just curious, though, how this would perform with Starwind on top of it.

Any input would be great! Thanks!

[yaroslav (staff)]

Welcome to StarWind Forum. It depends on the hypervisor and StarWind VSAN deployment scenario. According to your post, you plan a bare-metal Windows Server deployment. Given this fact, there are several things to consider.
1. Storage spaces are software RAID and performance might be better in the non-RAID system.
2. iSCSI itself is going to be the bottleneck here.
3. Additional fine-tuning from the OS and Initiator side might be necessary.

[kellenw]

Welcome to StarWind Forum. It depends on the hypervisor and StarWind VSAN deployment scenario. According to your post, you plan a bare-metal Windows Server deployment. Given this fact, there are several things to consider.
1. Storage spaces are software RAID and performance might be better in the non-RAID system.
2. iSCSI itself is going to be the bottleneck here.
3. Additional fine-tuning from the OS and Initiator side might be necessary.

Hello Yaroslav,
Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry, I don't think I did a very good job of explaining the intended setup. Actually, I'm planning a Windows 2019 Hyper-V failover cluster. I'm hoping for high performance (random iops) via high availability Starwind based HC storage for a 3-4 Postgre databses and an MS SQL database, hosted within several VMs (a mixed environment of linux webservers and some Windows server based RDP servers for some old legacy software we still utilize). Then, I'll be setting up a slower shared storage (SAN) for bulk storage targets (primarily document storage) to those VMs. The traditional SAN stuff is pretty straightforward for me, but it's the 3 node hyperconverged high performance storage aspect that I'm unsure of. In fact, I'm kind of curious if I may have unrealistic expectations with it.

What I'd like to do is setup a PoC in the lab myself (I already have most of the production ready equipment) using the free trial period of Starwind vSan, and then wipe that setup out and proceed with a fresh install and configuration by purchasing licensing for Starwind vSan, as well as ongoing paid support and configuration/tuning assistance from the Starwind team. Also considering pro-active support if it can fit into our budget. Another option we could consider is simply purchasing a 2 node hardware solution from Starwind for storage, and then use our current servers as compute only, if that might be the best fit for performance, and can be budgeted.

Thanks again!

[yaroslav (staff)]

I think the best here will be looking into the setup together and discussing the possible improvements with one of my colleagues. Please log a call with us by sending an email to support@starwind.com so we can assist you with the trialing and initial configuration. Use this thread and 633258 as your references.