Hello Ian, 1. You can do a 2 node cluster with the MD3000. Using windows 2012 the MD3000 is not listed on the compatibility list for the MD3000 as that is an older unit. Here is a link to the support matrix & if you look on page 4 it lists all the supported OS. ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_powervault/powervault-md3000_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf  Now that is not to say that you can’t get the MD3000 to work it hasn’t been tested with 2012. Our MD3200 do support windows 2012 & here is a link to its support matrix. Check on page 18 for the list of supported OS. ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/Common/powervault-md3200_Concept%20Guide_en-us.pdf  2. With the MD3000 you have to use the dell Certified drives in the system. There are some case where you can use non dell drives but most units will not accept them & will mark them as bypassed or failed.  3. The EMM for the MD3000 will not allow you to just export a disk. You will need to put a set of drives into a diskgroup to have them seen by the server.  4. You can use a 6gbps sas controller to connect to the MD3000.  5. The 2TB limit is on the OS. With the MD3000 it should allow you to create a drive over 2TB as long as at the latest firmware.  6. Not sure which 3rd party card would work in a different server. I would check the specs of a SAS 6gbps card & compare there.  Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Hi there I'm looking to build a Windows Server 2012 server cluster starting with 2x existing Dell PowerEdge 1950 systems. Microsoft's view is that SAS and one or more shared SAS JBOD enclosures should be used for clustering using Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV). 1. Can I create a fully-working Windows Server 2012 server cluster using the MD3000, JBOD and storage spaces? 2. Will the Dell MD3000 (and maybe MD1000) STILL only work with Dell certified hard disk drives, or (as someone suggested elsewhere) can this restriction now been removed? 3. Will the standard MD3000 EMM controllers allow each HDD to be exported - NOT RAIDed - to the Windows Server 2012 operating system - so that drives in the array are seen as a true JBOD? 4. Which is the best / easiest SAS Host Bus Adapter to work with - presenting external SAS ports? Is it still the SAS 5/e controller, or some other? 5. When using disks in JBOD mode, will I still hit a 2TB disk / volume size limit with this Dell hardware? 6. What would be a recommended generic / 3rd party card that could be used in PE 1950 and later re-used in another server - eg HP server? Thanks, Ian
Windows Server 2012 Cluster using Dell MD3000 as SAS JBOD