Module 2
Overview of storage in
Windows Server 2016
Module Overview
Overview of storage in Windows Server 2016
Implementing Data Deduplication
Configuring iSCSI storage
• Configuring the Storage Spaces feature in
Windows Server 2016
Lesson 1: Overview of storage in Windows Server 2016
New storage features in Windows Server 2016
What is Software Defined Storage?
Overview of ReFS
Overview of FSRM
Demonstration: Using FSRM to manage quotas, file
screens, and storage reports
File classification
• Demonstration: Configuring file classification
New storage features in Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2016 provides the following new
file and storage services features:
• Storage Spaces Direct
• Storage Replica
• Storage QoS
• Data Deduplication (improved)
New storage features in Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 provides the following new
file and storage services features:
• Multiterabyte volumes
• Data Deduplication
• iSCSI Target Server
• Storage spaces and storage pools; (tiered storage
spaces in Windows Server 2012 R2)
• Unified remote management of File and Storage
Services in Server Manager
• ReFS
• ODX
What is Software Defined Storage?
• Is a concept of managing storage independent of
the underlying hardware
• Can revolutionize storage in the same way as
virtualization has revolutionized servers
• Includes the following features in Windows
Server 2016:
• Storage Spaces
• Scale-Out File Servers
• Storage Replica
• Data Deduplication
• Thin provisioning
• iSCSI storage
Overview of ReFS
ReFS:
• Is a file system introduced in Windows Server 2012
• Provides the following benefits:
• Metadata integrity with checksums
• Integrity streams providing optional user data integrity
• Allocation on write transactional model
• Large volume, file, and directory sizes
• Data striping for performance and redundancy
• Disk scrubbing for protection against latent disk errors
• Includes a new feature, Accelerated VHDX Operations,
that improves performance on Hyper-V storage
Overview of FSRM
Use FSRM to manage and classify data that is stored on file
servers
Demonstration: Using FSRM to manage quotas, file
screens, and storage reports
• In this demonstration, you will see how to:
• Create a quota
• Test a quota
• Create a file screen
• Test a file screen
• Generate a storage report
File classification
Provides an automated mechanism to create and assign
classification properties to files
Classification Payroll.xlsx
rule
Is Confidential
Demonstration: Configuring file classification
In this demonstration, you will see how to:
• Create a classification property
• Create a classification rule
• Modify the classification schedule
Lesson 2: Implementing Data Deduplication
What is Data Deduplication?
Data Deduplication components
Deploying Data Deduplication
Demonstration: Implementing Data Deduplication
Usage scenarios for Data Deduplication
Monitoring and maintaining Data Deduplication
Troubleshooting adverse effects of Data
Deduplication
• Backup and restore considerations with Data
Deduplication
What is Data Deduplication?
• Data Deduplication:
• Identifies and removes duplications within data without
compromising the data’s integrity
• Stores more data in less space
• When you enable Data Deduplication on a volume, a
background task runs with low priority that:
1. Segments data into small, variable-sized chunks
2. Identifies duplicate chunks
3. Replaces redundant copies with a reference
4. Compresses chunks
What is Data Deduplication?
Metadata Data
File 1
Name,
attributes,.. A B C M N
Metadata Data
File 2
Name,
attributes,.. A B C X Y
Chunk store
Chunk stream A
Metadata
File 1
Standard info Sparse Reparse data Metadata
Chunk IDs, Offsets
A B C M N
Metadata Chunk stream B
File 2
X Y
Standard info Sparse Reparse data Metadata
Chunk IDs, Offsets
Data Deduplication components
The Data Deduplication role service consists of
several components including:
• A filter driver, which monitors local or remote I/O
• The Deduplication service, which controls the four
available job types:
• Optimization
• Garbage collection
• Scrubbing
• Unoptimization
Data Deduplication components
A view of optimized data (80% savings)
Chunk
After deduplication 2 TB physical size
store
Optimized Savings = 8 TB
file stubs
Non-optimized
files
Before deduplication 10 TB
Data Deduplication components
Server Power
WMI
Manager Shell
Management
File
I/0 Deduplication service
Collect Scrub
Optimize
garbage data
Deduplication jobs
Deduplication filter driver Deduplication Job Access
Regular storage
File
metadata Chunk store
NTFS file system
Deploying Data Deduplication
Prior to installing and configuring Data Deduplication
in your environment, plan your deployment using the
following steps:
1. Determine target deployments
2. Determine which volumes are candidates for
deduplication
3. Evaluate savings with the Deduplication Evaluation
Tool
4. Plan the rollout, scalability, and deduplication
policies
Deploying Data Deduplication
After completing your planning, deploy Data
Deduplication to a server in your environment by
performing the following steps:
1. Install Data Deduplication components on the
server
2. Enable Data Deduplication
3. Configure Data Deduplication jobs
4. Configure Data Deduplication schedules
Demonstration: Implementing Data Deduplication
In this demonstration, you will see how to:
• Install
the Data Deduplication role service
• Enable Data Deduplication
• Check the status of Data Deduplication
Usage scenarios for Data Deduplication
Consider using Data Deduplication for the following areas:
File shares VHD libraries
Software
deployment User
shares documents
Usage scenarios for Data Deduplication
Example deduplication savings on data at rest
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
User home folder
(MyDocs)
General file share
Software
deployment share
VHD library
Monitoring and maintaining Data Deduplication
By using the Get-DedupStatus and Get-DedupVolume
Windows PowerShell cmdlets, you can:
• Query the progress of a deduplication job
• View the space savings that have been achieved on a
volume
• View the current status of the deduplication process
Troubleshooting adverse effects of Data Deduplication
• Common causes include:
• Copying data with incompatible Robocopy options
• Using incompatible backup or restore applications
• Using a deduplicated volume on a previous version of
Windows Server
• Compressing the root of a volume
• Hardware issues
• General corruption
• Troubleshooting includes:
• Checking event logs
• Running CHKDSK in Read-Only mode
• Running deep scrubbing job
Backup and restore considerations with Data
Deduplication
One of the benefits of using Data Deduplication is that
backup and restore operations typically are faster
Lesson 3: Configuring iSCSI storage
Overview of iSCSI
Components of iSCSI
Managing iSCSI targets
Demonstration: Configuring the iSCSI target
Demonstration: Configuring iSCSI storage
• Implementing high availability for iSCSI
Overview of iSCSI
iSCSI transmits SCSI commands over IP networks
Component Description
iSCSI client
that runs the
IP network Network that provides high
iSCSI
performance and redundancy
initiator
iSCSI targets Servers that run on the storage
protocol
device and enable access to
TCP/IP
the disks
iSCSI Software component or host
initiators adapter on the server that
provides access to iSCSI Storage
targets array
iSCSI IQN Globally unique identifier that
iSCSI uses to address initiators
and targets on an iSCSI
network iSCSI Target Server
Components of iSCSI
The iSCSI Target Server: The iSCSI initiator:
• Is available as a role service in
• Runs as a service in the
Windows Server 2016 operating system
• Provides the following
functionality: • Is installed by default on
• Network or diskless boot Windows Vista and Windows
• Server application storage Server 2008 and later
operating systems
• Heterogeneous storage
• Lab environments • Requires only to be started
• Has the following features: and configured to connect the
• Authentication computer to the iSCSI target
• Query initiator computer for ID
• Virtual hard disks
• Scalability
• Manageability
Components of iSCSI
• iSNS provides discovery and zoning of iSCSI
targets and initiators
• Data Center Bridging provides network
convergence by running iSCSI traffic without
dedicated cabling
Managing iSCSI targets
Type Create Import Expand Shrink
Fixed VHD No Yes Offline No
Fixed VHDX Yes Yes Yes Yes
Differencing No Yes Offline No
VHD
Differencing Yes Yes Yes Yes
VHDX
Dynamic VHD No Yes Offline No
Dynamic Yes Yes Yes Yes
VHDX
Demonstration: Configuring the iSCSI target
In this demonstration, you will see how to:
• Add an iSCSI Target Server role service
• Create iSCSI virtual disks and an iSCSI target
Demonstration: Configuring iSCSI storage
In this demonstration, you will connect LON-SVR1
to an iSCSI target, and verify the presence of the
iSCSI drive
Implementing high availability for iSCSI
Two technologies for implementing iSCSI for high
availability are:
• MCS. In the event of a failure, all outstanding iSCSI
commands are reassigned to another connection
automatically
• MPIO. If you have multiple network interface cards
in your iSCSI initiator and iSCSI Target Server, you
can use MPIO to provide failover redundancy in
the event of network outages
Lab A: Implementing and managing storage
Exercise 1: Implementing FSRM
Exercise 2: Implementing Data Deduplication
• Exercise 3: Configuring iSCSI storage
Logon Information
Virtual machines: 20743B-LON-DC1
20743B-LON-SVR2
20743B-LON-CL1
User name: Adatum\Administrator
Password: Pa55w.rd
Estimated Time: 45 minutes
Lab Scenario
At A. Datum Corporation, the cost of storage has decreased
significantly over the last few years. However, the amount of data that
business groups are producing continues to increase. Organization
leaders are considering alternate ways to optimize the cost of storing
data on the network and data access in the new branch offices. They
also would like to ensure that the data stored on the shared folders is
limited to company data, and that it does not include personal files.
They want you to test Data Deduplication to save storage.
Additionally, the organization is exploring options for making storage
highly available, and researching the requirements that it must meet
for high availability.
You are responsible for implementing some of the new file-storage
technologies for the organization. You will implement FSRM to help
optimize file storage at A. Datum. You also will implement Data
Deduplication to save storage space.
Finally, you will implement iSCSI storage to provide a simpler solution
for deploying storage in the organization.
Lab Review
Why would you implement MPIO with iSCSI? What
problem does this solve?
• What is the purpose of the iSCSI initiator
component?
Lesson 4: Configuring the Storage Spaces feature
in Windows Server 2016
What are storage spaces?
The Storage Spaces Direct feature
Provisioning a storage space
Redundancy in storage spaces
Tiering storage
• Monitoring Storage Spaces
What are storage spaces?
Use storage spaces to add physical disks of any type and
size to a storage pool, and create highly-available virtual
disks from it
To create a virtual disk, you need:
• One or more physical disks Disk drive
• A storage pool that includes the disks
Virtual disk
• Virtual disks (or storage spaces) that are
created with disks from the storage pool Storage pool
• Disk drives that are based on virtual drives
Physical disk
The Storage Spaces Direct feature
The Storage Spaces Direct feature
Disaggregated Storage Spaces Direct scenario
Hyper-V cluster
SMB storage fabric
Storage Spaces Direct with Scale-Out File Server
The Storage Spaces Direct feature
Hyper-converged Storage Spaces Direct scenario
Hyper-converged stack
Hyper-V VMs
CSVs ReFS file system C:\Cluster storage
Storage Spaces virtual disks
storage
pools
Software Storage Bus
SMB network
Provisioning a storage space
Feature Options
Disk sector size • 512 or 512e
Drive allocation • Automatic
• Manual
• Hot spare
Provisioning • Thin provisioning
schemes • Fixed provisioning
Redundancy in storage spaces
• Simple
• No resiliency
• Two-way mirror
• Keeps functioning even with one failed disk
• Three-way mirror
• Keeps functioning even with two failed disks
• Parity
• Keeps functioning even with one failed disk
• Clustered storage spaces
• Keeps functioning in case of both server and
disk failure
Tiering storage
• Storage spaces create SSD
and HDD tiers
• Blocks are moved between
tiers when optimization
occurs
• You can pin files manually
with:
• Set-FileStorageTier
• Run the optimization task
manually with:
• Get-ScheduledTask
-TaskName "Storage Tiers
Optimization" | Start-
ScheduledTask
Monitoring Storage Spaces
• Server Manager:
• Displays warning signs, which indicate degraded health
or performance
• Windows PowerShell:
• Use the Get-StoragePool, Get-VirtualDisk, and
Get-PhysicalDisk cmdlets
• Check the OperationalStatus and HealthStatus
properties
• Event Viewer:
• System log event IDs 100–104, 200–203, 300–308
• Check the Storage Spaces Events event log
• System Center Operations Manager Management
Pack
Lab B: Implementing and managing advanced
storage solutions
Exercise 1: Configuring redundant storage spaces
• Exercise 2: Implementing the Storage Spaces
Direct feature
Logon Information
Virtual machines: 20743B-LON-DC1
20743B-LON-SVR1
20743B-LON-SVR2
20743B-LON-SVR3
User name: Adatum\Administrator
Password: Pa55w.rd
Estimated Time: 90 minutes
Lab Scenario
At A. Datum, you need to implement the Storage
Spaces feature on the Windows Server 2016
servers to simplify storage access and provide
redundancy at the storage level.
You also want to test the feasibility of using highly
available storage. You decide to test Storage
Spaces Direct.
Lab Review
How many disk failures can you have while
remaining functional with a three-way mirrored
storage space?
• How many servers do you need as a minimum to
set up the Storage Spaces Direct feature?
Module Review and Takeaways
• Review Questions
