The recording of our November 10th webinar, “Deploying a Windows Server 2016 Hyper-Converged Cluster Platform with NVMe SSDs” with Microsoft, Intel and Mellanox is now available for playback on the DataON Youtube channel.
Over 150 registrants netted over 80 live attendees to this webinar—a testimony to the compelling nature of the hyper-convergence topic and interest in how Microsoft Windows 2016 can optimize it.
If you don’t have time to watch the one-hour webinar yet, here’s a brief recap of some of the questions directed to the webinar panel:

1. What are the advantages of Storage Spaces Direct in Windows 2016 over the storage capabilities that were in Windows 2012 R2?
Claus Joergensen, Principal Program Manager, Enterprise Cloud Group, Microsoft:
“Windows Server 2012 Storage Spaces requires a shared JBOD that can scale to only four servers in a deployment, but with Windows Server 2016, up to 16 servers are supported per scale. Also, JBODs have a distance limitation of five meters (18-19 feet) because of SAS technology. This limitation has

2. Does RDMA require special Ethernet switches to function properly?
Motti Beck, Senior Director of Business Development, Mellanox:
“There is no special need for any switch from the networking point of view. It can use the same infrastructure and same management of the Ethernet itself. Users can use the same NIC to run on the same port, Ethernet or RoCE traffic, without any modification.”

3. Why should I buy enterprise-grade SSDs instead of consumer grade SSDs? Do I get extra capabilities with enterprise SSDs to justify the added cost?
Vivek Sarathy, Storage Solution Architect, NVM Solutions Group, Intel:
“Enterprise SSDs are data center-based solutions, not something you’d keep at home for personal use. There are three key differentiators: they provide a data integrity mechanism that’s built into the SSD; their failure rate is very low, and they have a higher endurance and performance capability.”

4. Can’t I just run Windows Server 2016 on my existing servers and get the same benefits that EVGA realized?
Howard Lo, VP of Sales and Marketing DataON:
“As a storage system vendor, we bring best-of-breed technology to make sure you have peace of mind with certification, validation, performance tuning and support. We help you integrate all of the key technologies and deploy a turnkey solution that we can stand behind. Ultimately, you want a platform that fits your requirements and runs well. This requires an expert like DataON, which has been living and breathing storage technology and Microsoft for the last 10 years.”
You can watch the recorded webinar by clicking here. And if you’re still interested in learning more about hyper-convergence with DataON and Windows Server 2016, we’ve included a few more resources here:
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