Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 offered several new and improved file and storage- services features over its predecessor, including:
• Multiterabyte volumes. This feature deploys multiterabyte NTFS file system volumes, which support consolidation scenarios and maximize storage use. NTFS volumes on master boot record (MBR) formatted disks can be up to 2 terabytes (TB) in size. Volumes on a globally unique identifier (GUID) partition table (GPT) formatted disks can be up to 18 exabytes.
• Data deduplication. This feature saves disk space by storing a single copy of identical data on the volume.
• iSCSI Target Server. The iSCSI Target Server provides block storage to other servers and applications on the network by using the iSCSI standard. Windows Server 2012 R2 includes also VHDX support and end-to-end management by using the Storage Management Initiative Specification.
• Storage spaces and storage pools. This feature enables you to virtualize storage by grouping industry standard disks into storage pools, and then create storage spaces from the available capacity in the storage pools. Storage spaces in Windows Server 2012 R2 enables you to create a tiered storage solution that transparently delivers an appropriate balance between capacity and performance that can meet the needs of enterprise workloads.
• Unified remote management of File and Storage Services in Server Manager. You can use the Server Manager to manage multiple file servers remotely, including their role services and storage.
• Windows PowerShell cmdlets for File and Storage Services. You can use the Windows PowerShell cmdlets for performing most administration tasks for file and storage servers.
• ReFS. The new Resilient File System (ReFS) introduced in Windows Server 2012 offers enhanced integrity, availability, scalability, and error protection for file-based data storage.
• Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0. SMB protocol is a network file-sharing protocol that allows applications to read and write to files and request services from server programs on a network. • Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX). ODX functionality enables ODX-capable storage arrays to bypass the
host computer and directly transfer data within or between compatible storage devices.
• Chkdsk. The new version of Chkdsk runs automatically in the background and monitors the health of the system volume; enabling organizations to deploy multiterabyte NTFS file system volumes without concern about endangering their availability. The Chkdsk tool introduces a new approach. It
prioritizes volume availability and allows for the detection of corruption while the volume remains online and its data remains available to the user during maintenance.
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Installation, Storage and Compute with Windows Server 2016 4-11
Storage Spaces usage scenarios
When considering whether to use Storage Spaces in a given situation, you should weigh the following benefits and limitations. The Storage Spaces feature was designed to enable storage administrators to:
• Implement and easily manage scalable, reliable, and inexpensive storage. • Aggregate individual drives into storage
pools, which are managed as a single entity. • Use inexpensive storage with or without
external storage.
• Use different types of storage in the same pool (e.g., SATA, SAS, USB, SCSI). • Grow storage pools as required.
• Provision storage when required from previously created storage pools. • Designate specific drives as hot spares.
• Automatically repair pools containing hot spares. • Delegate administration by pool.
• Use the existing tools for backup and restore and Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSCS) for snapshots. • Management can be local or remote, by using Microsoft Management Console (MMC) or Windows
PowerShell.
• Utilize Storage Spaces with Failover Clusters.
Note: While the list above mentions USB as a supported storage medium, using USB in a pool might be more practical on a Windows 8 client or while developing a proof of concept. Performance of this technology also depends on the performance capabilities of the storage you choose to pool together.
There are, however, inherent limitations in Storage Spaces. For example, in Windows Server 2016, the following are some of the limitations that you should consider when planning:
• Storage Spaces volumes are not supported on boot or system volumes.
• The contents of a drive are lost when you introduce that drive into a storage pool.
o You should add only unformatted, or non-partitioned, drives.
• You must have at least one drive in a simple storage pool. • Fault tolerant configurations have specific requirements:
o A mirrored pool requires a minimum of two drives.
o Three-way mirroring requires a minimum of five drives.
o Parity requires a minimum of three drives.
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4-12 Implementing Storage Spaces and Data Deduplication
• Storage layers that abstract the physical disks are not compatible with Storage Spaces, including:
o VHDs and pass-through disks in a virtual machine (VM).
o Storage subsystems deployed in a separate RAID layer.
• Fibre Channel and iSCSI are not supported.
• Failover Clusters are limited to SAS as a storage medium.
Note: Microsoft Support provides troubleshooting assistance only in environments when Storage Spaces is deployed on a physical machine, not a virtual machine. In addition, just a bunch of disks (JBOD) hardware solutions that you implement must be certified by Microsoft.
When planning for reliability of a particular workload in your environment, Storage Spaces provide different resiliency types. As a result, some workloads are better suited for specific resilient scenarios. The following table depicts these recommended workload types.
Resiliency Type Number of Data Copies Maintained Workload Recommendations Mirror 2 (two-way mirror)
3 (three-way mirror)
Recommended for all workloads
Parity 2 (single parity) 3 (dual parity)
Sequential workloads with large units of read/write, such as archival
Simple 1 Workloads which do not need
resiliency, or provide alternate resiliency mechanism