Module 9 Implementing Local Storage PDF

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Module9:ImplementingLocalStorage Contents: ModuleOverview Lesson1:

OverviewofStorage

Lesson2:

ManagingDisksandVolumes

Lesson3:

ImplementingStorageSpaces

Lab:

ImplementingLocalStorage ModuleReviewandTakeaways

ModuleOverview Storageisoneofthekeycomponentsthatyoumustconsiderwhenplanninganddeployinga WindowsServer®2012operatingsystem.Mostorganizationsrequireagreatdealofstorage, becauseusersworkregularlywithappsthatcreatenewfilesthatrequirestorageinacentral location.Whenuserskeeptheirfilesforlongerperiodsoftime,storagedemandsincrease. Everytimeauserlogsontoaserver,anaudittrailiscreatedinaneventlog.This,too,uses storage.Evenasfilesarecreated,copied,andmoved,storageisrequired. Thismoduleintroducesyoutodifferentstoragetechnologies.Itdiscusseshowtoimplement thestoragesolutionsinWindowsServer2012,andhowtousethenewStorageSpaces feature,whichenablesyoutocombinedisksintopoolsthatyoucanconfigureforautomatic management.

Objectives Aftercompletingthismoduleyouwillbeableto: • Describevariousstoragetechnologies. • Explainhowtomanagedisksandvolumes. • ExplainhowtoimplementStorageSpaces.

Lesson1:OverviewofStorage Whenyouplanaserverdeployment,oneofthekeycomponentsthatyourequireisstorage. Therearevarioustypesofstoragethatyoucanutilize,suchaslocallyattachedstorage, storagethatisremotelyaccessedviaEthernet,orstorageconnectedwithopticalfiber.You shouldbeawareofeachsolution’sbenefitsandlimitations. Asyoupreparetodeploystorageforyourenvironment,youneedtomakesomeimportant decisions.Thislessonaddressesquestionstoconsider,suchas: • Doesthestorageneedtobefast? • Doesthestorageneedtobehighlyavailable? • Howmuchstoragedoesyourdeploymentactuallyrequire? • Howmuchresiliencedoyouneedtoaddtotheinitialstoragerequirementtoensurethat yourinvestmentremainssecureinthefuture?

LessonObjectives Aftercompletingthislesson,youwillbeableto:

• Describedisktypesandperformance. • Describedirectattachedstorage. • Describenetworkattachedstorage. • Describeastorageareanetwork(SAN). • DescribeRedundantArrayofIndependentDisks(RAID). • DescribeRAIDlevels. • DescribethenewfileandstorageservicefeaturesinWindowsServer2012andWindows Server2012R2.

DiskTypesandPerformance

Therearevarioustypesofdisksavailablethatyoucanusetoprovidestoragetoserverand clientsystems.ThespeedofdisksismeasuredinInput/OutputsOperationsPerSecond (IOPS).Themostcommontypesofdisksare: • EnhancedIntegratedDriveElectronics(EIDE). EIDEisbasedonstandardsthatwerecreatedin1986.Theintegrateddriveelectronics (IDE)interfacesupportsboththeAdvancedTechnologyAttachment2(ATA2)and AdvancedTechnologyAttachmentPacketInterface(ATAPI)standards.Enhancedrefersto theATA2(FastATA)standard.Duetotheaddressingstandardsofthistechnology,there

isa128gigabyte(GB)limitationonstorageusingEIDE.Also,thespeedofanEIDEdrive islimitedtoamaximumof133megabytes(MB)persecond.EIDEdrivesarealmostnever usedonserverstoday. • SerialAdvancedTechnologyAttachment(SATA).Introducedin2003,SATAisa computerbusinterface,orchannel,forconnectingthemotherboardordeviceadaptersto massstoragedevicessuchasharddiskdrivesandopticaldrives.SATAwasdesignedto replaceEIDE.ItisabletousethesamelowlevelcommandsasEIDE,butSATAhost adaptersanddevicescommunicateviaahighspeedserialcableovertwopairsof conductors.Itcanoperateatspeedsof1.5,3.0,and6.0GBpersecond,dependingonthe SATArevision(1,2or3respectively).SATAdisksaregenerallylowcostdisksthat providemassstorage.BecauseSATAdrivesarelessexpensivethanotherdriveoptions, butalsoprovidelessperformance,organizationsmightchoosetodeploySATAdrives whentheyrequirelargeamountsofstoragebutnothighperformance.SATAdisksarealso lessreliablecomparedtoserialattachedSCSI(SAS)disks. AvariationontheSATAinterfaceiseSATA,whichisdesignedtoenablehighspeed accesstoexternallyattachedSATAdrives. • Smallcomputersysteminterface(SCSI).SCSIisasetofstandardsforphysically connectingandtransferringdatabetweencomputersandperipheraldevices.SCSIwas originallyintroducedin1978andbecameastandardin1986.SimilartoEIDE,SCSIwas designedtorunoverparallelcables;however,recentlytheusagehasbeenexpandedtorun overothermediums.The1986parallelspecificationofSCSIhadinitialspeedtransfersof5 MBpersecond.Themorerecent2003implementation,Ultra640SCSI,alsoknownas Ultra5,cantransferdataatspeedsof640MBpersecond.SCSIdisksprovidehigher performancethanSATAdisks,butarealsomoreexpensive. • SAS.SASisafurtherimplementationoftheSCSIstandard.SASdependsonapointto pointserialprotocolthatreplacestheparallelSCSIbustechnology,andusesthestandard SCSIcommandset.SASoffersbackwardcompatibilitywithsecondgenerationSATA drives.SASdrivesarereliableandmadefor24hoursaday,sevendaysaweek(24/7) operationindatacenters.Withupto15,000rotationsperminute,thesedisksarealsothe fastesttraditionalharddisks.

• Solidstatedrives(SSDs).SSDsaredatastoragedevicesthatusesolidstatememoryto storedataratherthanusingthespinningdisksandmovableread/writeheadsthatareused inotherdisks.SSDsusemicrochipstostorethedataanddonotcontainanymovingparts. SSDsprovidefastdiskaccess,uselesspower,andarelesssusceptibletofailurefrombeing droppedthantraditionalharddisks,suchasSASdrives,butalsoaremuchmoreexpensive perGBofstorage.SSDstypicallyuseaSATAinterface,soyoutypicallycanreplacehard diskdriveswithSSDswithoutanymodifications.

Note:FibreChannel,FireWire,orUSBattacheddisksarealsoavailablestorage options.Theydefineeitherthetransportbusorthedisktype.Forexample, universalserialbus(USB)attacheddisksusemostlywithSATAorSSDdrivesto storedata.

WhatIsDirectAttachedStorage?

Almostallserversprovidesomebuiltinstorage. Thistypeofstorageisreferredtoasdirectattachedstorage(DAS).DAScanincludedisks thatarephysicallylocatedinsidetheserverorconnectdirectlywithanexternalarray,ordisks thatconnecttotheserverwithaUSBcableoranalternativemethod.BecauseDASstorageis connectedtotheserverphysically,thestoragebecomesunavailableiftheserversuffersa powerfailure.DAScomesinvariousdisktypessuchasSATA,SASorSSD,whichaffectthe

speedandtheperformanceofthestorage,andhasbothadvantagesanddisadvantages.

AdvantagesofUsingDAS AtypicalDASsystemismadeupofadatastoragedevicethatincludesanumberofharddisk drivesthatconnectdirectlytoacomputerthroughahostbusadapter(HBA).Betweenthe DASandthecomputer,therearenonetworkdevicessuchashubs,switches,orrouters. Instead,thestorageisconnecteddirectlytotheserverthatutilizesit,makingDAStheeasiest storagesystemtodeployandmaintain. DASisalsousuallytheleastexpensivestorageavailabletoday,andiswidelyavailablein variousspeedsandsizestoaccommodatevariousinstallations.Inadditiontobeing inexpensive,DASisveryeasytoconfigure.Inmostinstances,youwouldsimplypluginthe device,ensurethattherunningWindows®operatingsystemrecognizesit,andthenusethe DiskManagementfeaturetoconfigurethedisks.

DisadvantagesofUsingDAS StoringdatalocallyonDASmakesdatacentralizationmoredifficultbecausethedatais locatedonmultipleservers.Thiscanmakeitmorecomplextobackupthedataand,forusers moredifficulttolocatethedatatheywanttofind.Furthermore,ifanyonedevicethathas DASconnectedtoitsuffersapoweroutage,thestorageonthatcomputerbecomes unavailable. DASalsohasdrawbacksinitsaccessmethodologies.Duetothewayreadsandwritesare handledbytheserveroperatingsystem,DAScanbeslowerthanotherstoragetechnologies. AnotherdrawbackisthatDASsharestheprocessingpowerandservermemoryoftheserver towhichitisconnected.Thismeansthat,onverybusyservers,diskaccessmightbecome slowwhentheoperatingsystemisoverloaded.

WhatIsNetworkAttachedStorage?

Networkattachedstorage(NAS)isstoragethatisconnectedtoadedicatedstoragedeviceand thenaccessedoverthenetwork.NASisdifferentfromDASinthatthestorageisnotdirectly attachedtoeachindividualserver,butratherisaccessibleacrossthenetworktomanyservers NAShastwodistinctsolutions:alowendappliance(NASonly),andanenterpriseclassNAS thatintegrateswithstorageareanetwork(SAN). EachNASdevicehasadedicatedoperatingsystemthatsolelycontrolstheaccesstothedata onthedevice,whichreducestheoverheadassociatedwithsharingthestoragedevicewith otherserverservices.AnexampleofNASsoftwareisWindowsStorageServer,afeatureof WindowsServer2012. NASdevicestypicallyprovidefilelevelaccesstothestorage.Thismeansthatthedataonthe storageisaccessibleonlyasfiles,andyoumustuseprotocolslikeCommonInternetFiles System(CIFS),ServerMessageBlock(SMB),orNetworkFileSystem(NFS)toaccessthe files. ToenableNASstorage,youneedastoragedevice.Frequently,thesedevicesdonothaveany serverinterfacessuchaskeyboards,mice,andmonitors.Toconfigurethedevice,youneedto provideanetworkconfigurationandthenaccessthedeviceacrossthenetwork.Youcanthen createnetworksharesonthedevicebyusingthenameoftheNASandthesharecreated. Thesesharesthenareaccessibletothenetwork’susers.

AdvantagesofUsingNAS

NASisanidealchoicefororganizationsthatarelookingforasimpleandcosteffectiveway toachievefastdataaccessformultipleclientsatthefilelevel.UsersofNASbenefitfrom performanceandproductivitygainsbecausetheprocessingpoweroftheNASdeviceis dedicatedsolelytothedistributionofthefiles. NASalsofitsnicelyintothemarketasamidpricedsolution.Itisnotexpensive,butitsuits moreneedsthanDASinthefollowingways: • NASstorageisusuallymuchlargerthanDAS. • NASoffersasinglelocationforallcriticalfiles,ratherthandispersingthemonvarious serversordeviceswithDAS. • NASofferscentralizedstorageatanaffordableprice. • NASunitsareaccessiblefromanyoperatingsystem.Theyoftenhavemultiprotocol supportandcanserveupdataviaCIFSandNFSsimultaneously.Forexample,Windows andLinuxhostscansimultaneouslyaccessaNASunit.

NAScanalsobeconsideredaPlugandPlaysolutionthatiseasytoinstall,deploy,and manage,withorwithoutITstaffonsite.

DisadvantagesofUsingNAS NASisslowerthanSANtechnologies.NASisfrequentlyaccessedviaEthernetprotocols. Becauseofthis,itreliesheavilyonthenetworksupportingtheNASsolution.Forthisreason, NASiscommonlyusedasafilesharing/storagesolutionandcannot(andshouldnot)beused withdataintensiveprogramssuchasMicrosoft®ExchangeServerandMicrosoftSQL Server®. NASisaffordableforsmalltomidsizebusinesses,butprovideslessperformanceandmaybe lessreliablethanaSAN.Forthisreason,mostlargeenterprisesuseSANsratherthanNAS.

AdditionalReading:FormoreinformationaboutWindowsStorageServer2012R2, referto“WindowsServer2012R2”athttp://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/? LinkID=199647.

WhatIsaSAN?

ThethirdtypeofstorageisaSAN,whichisahighspeednetworkthatconnectscomputer systemsorhostserverstohighperformancestoragesubsystems.ASANusuallyincludes variouscomponentssuchasHBAs,specialswitchestohelproutetraffic,andstoragedisk arrayswithlogicalunitnumbers(LUNs)forstorage. ASANenablesmultipleserverstoaccessapoolofstorageinwhichanyservercan potentiallyaccessanystorageunit.BecauseaSANusesanetwork,youcanuseaSANto connectmanydifferentdevicesandhostsandprovideaccesstoanyconnecteddevicefrom anywhere. SANsprovideblocklevelaccess.Thismeansthat,ratherthanaccessingthecontentonthe disksasfilesbyusingafileaccessprotocol,SANswriteblocksofdatadirectlytothedisks usingprotocolssuchasFibreChanneloverEthernetorInternetSmallComputerSystem Interface(iSCSI). Today,mostSANsolutionsofferSANandNAStogether.Thebackendheadunits,disks,and technologiesareidentical;theaccessmethodistheonlythingthatchanges.Enterprisesoften provisionblockstoragefromtheSANtotheserversusingFibreChanneloverEthernetor

iSCSI,whereasNASservicesaremadeavailableviaCIFSandNFS.

AdvantagesofUsingSAN SANtechnologiesreadandwriteatblocklevels,makingdataaccessmuchfaster.For example,withmostDASandNASsolutions,ifyouwriteafileof8GB,theentirefilehasto beread/writtenanditschecksumcalculated.WithaSAN,thefileiswrittentothediskbased ontheblocksizeforwhichtheSANissetup.Thisspeedisaccomplishedbyusingfiber channelandblocklevelwriting,insteadofhavingtoread/writeanentirefilebyusinga checksum. SANsalsoprovide: • Centralizationofstorageintoasinglepool,whichenablesstorageresourcesandserver resourcestogrowindependently.Theyalsoenablestoragetobedynamicallyassignedfrom thepoolwhenitisrequired.Storageonagivenservercanbeincreasedordecreasedas neededwithoutcomplexreconfiguringorrecablingofdevices. • Commoninfrastructureforattachingstorage,whichenablesasinglecommonmanagement modelforconfigurationanddeployment. • Storagedevicesthatareinherentlysharedbymultiplesystems. • Datatransferdirectlyfromdevicetodevicewithoutserverintervention. • Ahighlevelofredundancy.MostSANsaredeployedwithmultiplenetworkdevicesand pathsthroughthenetwork.Aswell,thestoragedevicecontainsredundantcomponentssuch aspowersuppliesandharddisks.

DisadvantagesofUsingSAN ThemaindrawbacktoSANtechnologyisthatduetothecomplexitiesintheconfiguration, SANoftenrequiresmanagementtoolsandexpertskills.Itisalsoconsiderablymore expensivethanDASorNAS.AnentrylevelSANoftencostsasmuchasafullyloadedserve

withaDASoranNASdevice,andthatiswithoutanySANdisksorconfiguration. TomanageaSAN,youoftenusecommandlinetools.Youmusthaveafirmunderstandingo theunderlyingtechnology,includingtheLUNsetup,theFibreChannelnetwork,theblock sizing,andotherfactors.Additionally,eachstoragevendoroftenimplementsSANsusing differenttoolsandfeatures.Becauseofthis,organizationsoftenhavededicatedpersonnel whoseonlyjobistomanagetheSANdeployment.

Note:YoucanimplementSANsbyusingavarietyoftechnologies.Themost commonoptionsareFibreChannelandiSCSI.

WhatIsRAID?

RAIDisatechnologythatyoucanusetoconfigurestoragesystemstoprovidehighreliability and(potentially)highperformance. RAIDimplementsstoragesystemsbycombiningmultipledisksintoasinglelogicalunit calledaRAIDarray.Dependingontheconfiguration,aRAIDarraycanwithstandthefailure ofoneormoreofthephysicalharddiskscontainedinthearray,and/orprovidehigher performancethanisavailablebyusingasingledisk. RAIDprovidesredundancy,whichisanimportantcomponentthatyoucanusewhenplanning anddeployingWindowsServer2012servers.Inmostorganizations,itisimportantthatthe

serversareavailableallofthetime.Mostserversprovidehighlyredundantcomponentssuch asredundantpowersuppliesandredundantnetworkadapters.Thegoalofthisredundancyis toensurethattheserverremainsavailableevenwhenasinglecomponentontheserverfails. ByimplementingRAID,youcanprovidethesamelevelofredundancyforthestorage system.

HowRAIDWorks RAIDenablesfaulttolerancebyusingadditionaldiskstoensurethatthedisksubsystemcan continuetofunctionevenifoneormoredisksinthesubsystemfail.RAIDusestwooptions forenablingfaulttolerance: • Diskmirroring.Withdiskmirroring,alloftheinformationthatiswrittentoonediskisalso writtentoanotherdisk.Ifoneofthedisksfails,theotherdiskisstillavailable. • Parityinformation.Parityinformationisusedintheeventofadiskfailuretocalculatethe informationthatwasstoredonadisk.Ifyouusethisoption,theserverorRAIDcontroller calculatestheparityinformationforeachblockofdatathatiswrittentothedisks,andthen storesthisinformationonanotherdiskoracrossmultipledisks.Ifoneofthedisksinthe RAIDarrayfails,theservercanusethedatathatisstillavailableonthefunctionaldisks alongwiththeparityinformationtorecreatethedatathatwasstoredonthefaileddisk.

RAIDsubsystemscanalsoprovidepotentiallybetterperformancethansingledisksby distributingdiskreadsandwritesacrossmultipledisks.Forexample,whenimplementingdisk striping,theservercanreadinformationfromallharddisksinthestripeset.Whencombined withmultiplediskcontrollers,thiscanprovidesignificantimprovementsindiskperformance.

Note:AlthoughRAIDcanprovideagreaterleveloftolerancefordiskfailure,you shouldnotuseRAIDtoreplacetraditionalbackups.Ifaserverhasapowersurgeor catastrophicfailureandallofthedisksfail,thenyouwouldneedtorelyonstandard backups.

HardwareRAIDvs.SoftwareRAID ImplementhardwareRAIDbyinstallingaRAIDcontrollerintheserver,andthenconfigurei byusingtheRAIDcontrollerconfigurationtool.Whenyouusethisimplementation,the RAIDconfigurationishiddenfromtheoperatingsystem.However,theRAIDarraysare exposedtotheoperatingsystemassingledisks.Theonlyconfigurationthatyouneedto performintheoperatingsystemistocreatevolumesonthedisks. YoucanimplementsoftwareRAIDbyexposingallofthedisksthatareavailableonthe servertotheoperatingsystem.YouthenconfigureRAIDfromwithintheoperatingsystem. WindowsServer2012supportstheuseofsoftwareRAID,andyoucanuseDiskManagement toconfigureseveraldifferentlevelsofRAID. WhenchoosingtoimplementhardwareorsoftwareRAID,considerthefollowing: • HardwareRAIDrequiresdiskcontrollersthatareRAIDcapable.Mostdiskcontrollers shippedwithnewservershavethisfunctionality. • ToconfigurehardwareRAID,youneedtoaccessthediskcontrollermanagementprogram Normally,youcanaccessthisduringtheserverbootprocessorbyusingawebpagethat runsmanagementsoftware. • Implementingdiskmirroringforthediskcontainingthesystemandbootvolumewith softwareRAIDcanrequireadditionalconfigurationwhenadiskfails.BecausetheRAID configurationismanagedbytheoperatingsystem,youmustconfigureoneofthedisksin themirrorasthebootdisk.Ifthatdiskfails,youmayneedtomodifythebootconfiguration fortheservertostarttheserver.ThisisnotanissuewithhardwareRAID,becausethedisk controlleraccessestheavailablediskandexposesittotheoperatingsystem. • Inolderservers,youmaygetbetterperformancewithsoftwareRAIDwhenusingparity, becausetheserverprocessorcancalculateparitymorequicklythanthediskcontrollercan. Thisisnotanissuewithnewerservers,whereyoumaygetbetterperformanceonthe s...