Deployment Guide

2. Run the following command to update the page file settings:

$blockCacheMB = (Get-Cluster).BlockCacheSize

$pageFilePath = "C:\pagefile.sys"

$initialSize = [Math]::Round(40960 + $blockCacheMB)

$maximumSize = [Math]::Round(40960 + $blockCacheMB)

$system = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem -EnableAllPrivileges

if ($system.AutomaticManagedPagefile) {

$system.AutomaticManagedPagefile = $false

$system.Put()

}

$currentPageFile = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_PageFileSetting

if ($currentPageFile.Name -eq $pageFilePath)

{

$currentPageFile.InitialSize = $InitialSize

$currentPageFile.MaximumSize = $MaximumSize

$currentPageFile.Put()

}

else

{

$currentPageFile.Delete()

Set-WmiInstance -Class Win32_PageFileSetting -Arguments @{Name=$pageFilePath;

InitialSize = $initialSize; MaximumSize = $maximumSize}

}

Configuring a cluster witness

A cluster witness must be configured for a two-node cluster, and Microsoft recommends configuring a cluster witness for a four-node

Azure Stack HCI cluster. Cluster witness configuration helps maintain a cluster or storage quorum when a node or network communication

fails and nodes continue to operate but can no longer communicate with one another.

A cluster witness can be either a file share or a cloud-based witness.

NOTE: If you choose to configure a file share witness, it should exist outside the two-node cluster.

For information about configuring a cloud-based witness, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/failover-clustering/

deploy-cloud-witness.

Best practices and recommendations

Dell recommends that you follow these guidelines.

Disable SMB Signing

When SMB Signing is enabled, Storage Spaces Direct uses RDMA for SMB (storage) traffic, which reduces network performance. Disable

SMB Signing to improve performance.

For more information, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/help/4458042/reduced-performance-after-smb-encryption-or-smb-

signing-is-enabled.

NOTE:

By default, SMB Signing is disabled. If SMB Signing is enabled in the environment through a Group Policy Object

(GPO), you must disable it from the domain controller.

Update the hardware timeout for the Spaces port

For performance optimization and reliability, update the hardware timeout configuration for the Spaces port.

The following PowerShell command updates the configuration in the Windows registry and induces a restart of the node at the end of the

registry update. Perform this update on all Storage Spaces Direct nodes immediately after initial deployment. Update one node at a time

and wait until each node rejoins the cluster.

Solution Deployment