Dell PowerConnect WAirWave 7.
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Contents Preface ...................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Document Organization..................................................................................................................... 1 Notice Icons ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Contacting Support .............
iv | Contents Dell PowerConnect W-AirWave 7.
Preface This preface provides an overview of this guide, and includes the following sections: “Document Organization” on page 1 “Notice Icons” on page 1 “Contacting Support” on page 2 Document Organization This document provides guidelines for purchasing new hardware that hosts AirWave. Table 1 Document Organization and Purposes Chapter Description Chapter 1, “Selecting Your Hardware Components” on page 3 Provides an overview of the sizing information.
Contacting Support Web Site Support 2 | Preface Main Website dell.com Support Website support.dell.com Documentation Website support.dell.
Chapter 1 Selecting Your Hardware Components This overview chapter includes the following topics: “CPU, Memory, and Storage Matrix” on page 3 “Choosing Your CPU” on page 4 “Choosing Your Memory” on page 4 “Choosing Your RAID Controller” on page 5 “Choosing Your Hard Drives” on page 6 CPU, Memory, and Storage Matrix The following table lists the recommended specifications for optimum AirWave server performance. Table 2 Recommended CPU, Memory, and Storage 4KB random write Min.
The following table lists the minimum specifications required to run AirWave. Table 3 Minimum CPU, Memory, and Storage 4KB random write Min. Disk Configuration 75 GB 30 (1) 15K SAS 6 GB 75 GB 60 (1) 15K SAS 1 6 GB 75 GB 120 (1) 15K SAS 3.2 1 8 GB 75 GB 300 (4) 15K SAS in RAID 1+0 Single Quad Core Intel® Xeon X5687 3.6 1 12 GB 150 GB 600 (4) 15K SAS in RAID 1+0 1,750 Single Quad Core Intel® Xeon X5687 3.
With AirWave servers running at full load for those device counts with a large number of floorplans, the recommended memory usually results in best overall performance. Best performance is defined by minimal disk reads due to sufficient caching, thus allowing for maximum disk write performance and minimal CPU I/O wait time. Choosing Your RAID Controller RAID 1+0 is the ONLY supported RAID configuration for AirWave. NOTE: Software RAID and SATA drives are NOT SUPPORTED for any configuration of AirWave.
5,000 Devices - SSD Drives AWMS 2,500 - 5,000 device installations with SSDs require Single Level Cell (SLC) Enterprise class SSD drives. NOTE: Do not use Multi Level Cell (MLC) Consumer class drives. Use of MLC drives can result in drastically reduced SSD drive lifespan and data loss/volume failure due to write exhaustion. A minimum of six (6) Enterprise SSDs in a RAID 1+0 configuration are required (Please see “CPU, Memory, and Storage Matrix” on page 3 for minimum needed storage capacity information).
Chapter 2 Configuring Your Hardware This chapter explains sizing information for the following topics: “CPU Configuration” on page 7 “Disk Partitioning” on page 7 “Filesystem Configuration” on page 7 CPU Configuration Ensure that Power Management is configured for Maximum Performance. By default, most vendors configure BIOS to an eco-friendly setting. Ensure that Memory Operating Mode is configured to Optimizer Mode, if available.
8 | Configuring Your Hardware Dell PowerConnect W-AirWave 7.
Chapter 3 Virtualization and Scalability This chapter includes the following topics: “Virtualization” on page 9 “Scalability Assumptions” on page 9 Virtualization AirWave can run in a VMware and Xen virtualized environment. To ensure scalability, dedicate the processing and memory. You must also ensure that the disk subsystem can maintain the IOPS throughput as detailed below.
Table 6 Wired Scalability Test Values Category Value Ratio of switches/routers to access points 20% Average port density of switches/routers 36 Read ARP polling period (hours) 8 Read CDP table for device discovery polling period (hours) 8 Read bridge forwarding table polling period (hours) 8 Interface polling period (minutes) 20 Table 7 VisualRF Scalability Test Values Category Value Average floor plan size (feet) 62,500 Number of access points per floor plan 20 Number of clients per flo
Appendix A Sizing a Master Console and Failover Server Master Console Table 8 Master Console Specifications Clock Speed (GHz) CPUs Total Cores Memory Disk Subsystem Quad Core Intel® Xeon® X5687 3.6 1 4 12 GB (4) 73GB, 15K RPM - RAID 1+0, 146 GB of usable disk space Quad Core Intel® Xeon® X5687 3.
12 | Sizing a Master Console and Failover Server Dell PowerConnect W-AirWave 7.
