Correctly configuring a Dell MD3 iSCSI array

Windows 2003 r2
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/w/wiki/mpio-to-powervault-md3000i-with-microsoft-iscsi-initiator.aspx

Windows 2008 r2
http://paulgrevink.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/configure-dell-md3000i-mpio-with-windows-2008-r2/

ESXi 4.1
http://i.dell.com/sites/content/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/VMware_ESX_4-1_Deployment_Guide_for_PowerVault_MD32x0i_MD36X0i.pdf

ESXi 5.x
http://i.dell.com/sites/content/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/PowerVault_MD_iSCSI_Deployment_Guide_for_VMware_ESX50_Server_Software.pdf

Array Tuning Best Practices - Dell
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/powervault-md3200i-performance-tuning-white-paper.pdf

High Performance Storage Tier
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/high-performance-tier-implementation-guide.pdf

(found under Storage Array - Change - Cache Settings) I'm reading that for sequential workloads, use 32K, and for Random, use 16K. For mixed, try starting at 16K. I believe this can be changed on the fly. I think the default is 4KB.

VMware vSphere Best Practices

http://vmwaremine.com/vmware-vsphere-best-practices/

VMware NIC performance tuning resources

VMDq on intel 1GbE NIC

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1026094

VMDq on intel 10GbE NIC

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1004278

Netqueue on Broadcom NICs

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2035701

Performance tuning intel cards
http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/CS-025829.htm

FAQ: Intel® Ethernet DCB service for iSCSI

http://www.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/sb/CS-031909.htm

Low virtual network I/O performance with Intel 1Gbps NIC using igb driver
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2018891

Creating a Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster - Clustering and High-Availability - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Creating a Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster - Clustering and High-Availability - Site Home - MSDN Blogs:

'via Blog this'

VMware KB: Broadcom 5719/5720 NICs using tg3 driver becomes unresponsive and stops traffic in vSphere

VMware KB: Broadcom 5719/5720 NICs using tg3 driver becomes unresponsive and stops traffic in vSphere

Allow ICMP though Windows 2008 r2 firewall

By default the Windows 2008 r2 firewall blocks PING / ICMP, this command can used to allow ICMP through the windows firewall via an elevated command prompt.

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="All ICMP V4" protocol=icmpv4:any,any dir=in action=allow

Firmware updates for Dell servers running ESXi

Here are good step by step video demo of how to apply updates from USC repository manager and from USB key:

Dell Repository Manager - Creating a Bootable ISO

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/m/videos/20098390.aspx

If you want to update all components and don’t have internet access (to access ftp.dell.com) you can download the whole repository on a USB device.

Updates using USB with Lifecycle Controller

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/updates-using-usb-with-lifecycle-controller.aspx