Best practices for vSAN implementations using Dell PERC H730 or FD332-PERC storage controllers (2109665)

[skemparaju]

Hi All, What is the best practices for implementing vSAN 6.5 using Dell PERC H730 or FD332-PERC storage controllers?

[dickinsonzach]

Good morning, as long as they are on the HCL; I would think all the general rules apply.  Go with passthrough mode if possible.  Disable all cache, or put it to 100% read if you cannot disable it.  One controller per disk group if possible.  The higher the queue depth, the better.  I like to have the cache tier to be PCIe to get that IO off of the controller.  If I think of anything else, I'll re-post.  Thank you, Zach.

[TheBobkin]

Along with Zach's recommendations and the kb article you referenced (kb 2109665 - these settings are set at the higher settings automatically in 6.0 U2 and later),

also be aware that you should NOT have any non-vSAN local disk(s) attached to the same controller that the vSAN disk-groups are attached to:

"When running vSAN with a Dell H730 controller and the lsi_mr3 driver, these additional best practice guidelines and restrictions apply:

  -VMware do not support configurations where vSAN disks co-exist with VMFS volumes on the controller."

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2136374

That driver family appear to just straight-out disagree with switching between virsto and VMFS volumes and it can lead to real problems.

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[GreatWhiteTec]

There are actually some recommendations with the H730 such as modifying Advanced Settings, firmware, drivers (LSI-MR3), etc. Please see this document in https://storagehub.vmware.com/#!/vmware-vsan/update-guide-for-dell-perc9-h730-controller-2