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Cluster Hardware Requirements
Your cluster requires the following hardware components:
• Cluster nodes
• Cluster storage
Cluster Nodes
The following section lists the hardware requirements for the cluster nodes.
Component Minimum Requirement
Cluster nodes A minimum of two identical Dell PowerEdge systems are required. The maximum number of
nodes that are supported depend on the variant of the Windows Server operating system used in
your cluster.
RAM The variant of the Windows Server operating system that is installed on your cluster nodes
determines the minimum required amount of system RAM.
Microsoft iSCSI
Software Initiator
Help initialize the array(s), configure and manage host access to the array(s). The Host
Integration Tools also includes Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator.
Network Interface
Cards (NICs) for
iSCSI access
Two iSCSI NICs or two iSCSI NIC ports per node. Configure the NICs on separate PCI buses to
improve availability and performance. TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) NICs are also supported for
iSCSI traffic.
NICs (public and
private networks)
At least two NICs: one NIC for the public network and another NIC for the private network.
NOTE: If your configuration requires more than two iSCSI NIC ports, contact Dell Services.
NOTE: It is recommended that the NICs on each public network are identical and that the
NICs on each private network are identical.
Internal disk
controller
One controller connected to at least two internal hard drives for each node. Use any supported
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) controller or disk controller.
Two hard drives are required for mirroring (RAID 1) and at least three hard drives are required for
disk striping with parity (RAID 5).
NOTE: It is highly recommended that you use hardware-based RAID or software-based disk-
fault tolerance for the internal drives.
Cluster Storage
Cluster nodes can share access to external storage array(s). However, only one of the nodes can own any volume in the
external storage array(s) at any time. Microsoft Cluster Services (MSCS) controls which node has access to each
volume.
The following section lists the configuration requirements for the storage system, cluster nodes, and stand-alone
systems connected to the storage system.
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