Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 OS Storage Usage And Our IMS Storage Group Structure

We are looking at just how much storage space to allocate to the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 operating system.

This is the chkdsk on one of the Hyper-V nodes:

Note that the above was taken after completing all needed updates to the operating system.

In our Windows 7 management VM with all three nodes set up in an MMC console:

Now, the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 system requirements (product page) mention something about a minimum of 8GB of storage for the OS. 20GB or more is the recommended amount of storage.

Well, after updates we already have 17GB of storage allocated to the OS. So, our initial estimate of 45GB for the Hyper-V OS may be a bit too large, but anything smaller than 25GB may end up pinching us in the long run too.

So, we will look to configuring our second Hyper-V cluster set up test run with the following Storage Group layout:

1. SG 1: OSs
2. SG 2: SQL Dbs, NetworkData
3. SG 3: SQL logs, SwapFiles

Now, how we divvy the Storage Groups up across the 8 146GB 15K SAS drives we have available to us now becomes the next question.

This is our original, that is first cluster test run, Storage Group layout:

One thing we hit the wall on was the need for desktop OS virtual disks.

We are fortunate to have some good contacts at Intel that have been helping us out with information and answers to some of the tougher questions that we need answers to.

One of the answers back from Intel was an outline of how storage on the IMS should be treated. Essentially, just like any SAN should be. So, we are in the process of learning how various software vendors recommend their products be set up on a SAN.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer