With Dell World 2012 in full swing, I wanted to highlight the value add of the Dell | Microsoft Hyper-V 3.0 solution stack. Dell has built solutions and reference architectures around Microsoft Hyper-V 3.0 that highlight the value of integration between Hyper-V 3.0 features and Dell solution stacks. For instance, in the area of converged networks and data center bridging (DCB), Dell has provided tools used for validation along with example of configurations to deliver converged fabric. Please see the TechCenter wiki page for the full write-up on Hyper-V 3.0 and converged networks on 12th Generation Dell PowerEdge Servers.
But don't take my word for it, see what a few Dell TechCenter RockStars have to say about Dell | Microsoft Hyper-V 3.0.
From Tom Hesketad, Senior IT Consultant - msitpros.com (@hypervfan):
With todays servers and many NIC’s you always have to watch out which cable is connected to which port and match that to the correct NIC shown in Windows. And that is even more important when running virtualization. Consistent Network Port Naming is a new feature requested by Dell that works with Windows Server 2012 and Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers. With this feature you will always be able to match up the physical port to what you see in Windows. This article from Dell will give you more info about this and other improvements.
From Andreas Erson, IT Engineer - (@ersontech):
Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V 3.0 comes with a truckload of features that will enable everyone from to the SMB to the largest corporation to significantly improve their ROI in virtualization. Using Dell EqualLogic and Compellent storage, you can make use of ODX (Offload Data Transfer) to enable your SAN to handle intensive data transfers inside the SAN with a significant performance advantages and lowered utilization of the server/client network and CPU load on hosts. Dell also has widespread support for network features like SR-IOV and dVMQs that increase network flexibility and performance. Couple that with Dell Force10 and PowerConnect networking and you can improve performance and reliability with a converged network infrastructure for both FCoE and iSCSI. Another improvement that Dell was instrumental for bringing to market is CDN (Consistent Device Naming), which makes network interface naming deterministic and consistent thus simplifying automatic deployments and the speed of which you can map a network interface to a physical port. These are just some examples of why Hyper-V 3.0 should be given serious consideration in any virtualization project.