asked on

require cluster volume with 2 Hyper-V node environment without centralize storage

Hi Experts

I have 2 Hyper-V nodes and want to setup cluster but I don't have additional centralize storage to use as cluster shared volume.

In above scenario, what is the solution to setup CSV ? Any solution ?
requirement is to setup "Failover" hyper V cluster. If one node down, another node should be able to host VM automatically.

I don't want to enable replication as my customer wants automatic failover like in Cluster. Any solution please ?

Will Storage space direct in 2016 help to meet my requirements ? (I'm still trying to understand what is Storage space direct in 2016)

Thanks

Jeremy Weisinger

What are the specs of your servers?

Some main things to keep in mind when considering a Windows 2016 hyper converged setup:
- you need Datacenter licenses to configure Storage Spaces Direct
- you need to have JBOD/non-RAID disks. This means your storage controller needs to support this.
- you need at least 10G NICs. Ideally you would have two 10G (or 25G, 40G, or 100G) NICs that are RoCE or iWARP capable
- at least 4 data disks (SATA, SAS, SSD , or NVMe) per server and ideally 2 or more caching disks (SSD or NVMe) per server.

bominthu

ASKER

Hi

Thanks for your respond.
Let's say I have all you listed.
Would that meet my requirement stated above?

equirement is to setup "Failover" hyper V cluster. If one node down, another node should be able to host VM automatically.

Jeremy Weisinger

If you plan on doing it I recommend setting up a test before deploying to production. Also , Microsoft recommends buying pre-configured hyper converged solutions from vendors like Dell or HPE.

But here's the documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-direct-overview
Hardware requirement: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/storage-spaces-direct-hardware-requirements
Windows Datacenter requirement: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/ausoemteam/2017/03/03/comparison-of-standard-and-datacenter-editions-of-windows-server-2016/

I recommend you read through all the documentation.

bominthu

ASKER

My question is Is Storage Space Direct solution for my requirement ?

Could you read through my requirement again and confirm ?

BTW where is the doc it says Storage Space Direct requires Server 2016 "Datacenter" license ? I can't find.

Thanks

Jeremy Weisinger

The hyper converged solution using Storage Spaces Direct is the only way to get a Windows failover cluster with just the two nodes.

As for the Datacenter requirement, my last link shows that. You can also see a simpler breakdown here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/windows-server-pricing

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kevinhsieh

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bominthu

ASKER

Jeremy

Not very sure if Storage Space Direct is solution for me but I have to say it is not even if it does as mine is Server 2012 Standard.

Kevinhsieh

Replicated storage is my idea, yes. It is closer to my requirement. But is it something iSCSI presented storage ?
Because as you know my requirement should work when one node down.
Could you please elaborate more on setup detail Step by Step?

Many Thanks

kevinhsieh

Starwind Software will present iSCSI to your cluster. It will work when one node is down. It does exactly what you are looking for. I suggest you look at their materials and contact them.

bominthu

ASKER

Hi Kevin

I'm aware that Starwind present iSCSI to cluster.
But if the server (node1) down, how will it be automatically loaded in node2 unless there is also replicated volume in node2 ?
Will iSCSI volume from node1 be replicated to node2 iSCSI volume ?
Could you please share detail ?
Btw I'm looking for free feature as my customer only bought 2 servers with local hard disks only.

Tks

kevinhsieh

The StarWind solution does synchronous replication of all data as it is being written. Both nodes will have exactly the same data at all times, so failover works exactly as it would with a hardware SAN solution.

bominthu

ASKER

Hi Kevin

Based on this, https://www.starwindsoftware.com/comparison-between-starwind-free-and-microsoft-iscsi-target

HA storage is the one you referring to ? It is limited to 128GB only ?

Or am I looking at wrong one ? Are you referring to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV0vW4svWR0 ?
If above yes, when we attach iSCSI volume into Hyper-V, we can only add one IP address into iSCSI initiater right ? What would happen/what I need to do in case of 1 node down ?
Please advise ?

Tks

kevinhsieh

I am generally aware of the product, and have read many threads regarding the product on another forum. I don't use it. Their sales team will be very happy to speak with you and answer all of your questions. My understanding is that their free offering has all of the features of the paid offering. There is no lite version. The only difference is support.

kevinhsieh

The StarWind iSCSI target software is a separate product from the Virtual SAN product. The iSCSI target just takes a server's storage and makes it available via iSCSI, just like Microsoft's iSCSI target software but it has much better performance. The Virtual SAN does exactly what you are looking for by replicating storage between two or more servers and making it available even if one of the servers fails. It is used by thousands of small businesses, as well as larger organizations.

Seth Simmons

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