I'm setting up a new Hyper-V 2025 cluster with two Dell blade servers, and I'm trying to figure out the best storage options. We could connect via traditional iSCSI to a NetAPP, but I don't want to miss out on the benefits of Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) since each host has 2TB of NVMe storage. However, I'm limited to 2 NICs (10/25Gb Broadcom) and 2 additional NICs (10/25Gb Intel) per host. My plan is to create two Software Ethernet Teaming (SET) virtual switches, but I'm wondering if I can manage both S2D and iSCSI through a single switch. Any advice on this setup would be appreciated!
1 Answer
Absolutely steer clear of implementing a 2-node S2D cluster! Ideally, you should aim for a 3-node setup. If you're thinking of using a 2-node cluster, stick to iSCSI and skip S2D entirely. A quick search will reveal that many others in this community share the same view—2-node S2D setups can lead to serious issues down the road.
I see this advice often, but I'm curious—does this apply only to systems with or without a quorum? We've been running a 4-node cluster without a switch but maintaining a quorum for over three years with no problems. Planning to set up smaller clusters, would going with two nodes + SMB quorum still be viable?