Category Archives: Storage Spaces

Hyper-V Amigos Showcast Episode 12–ReFS v3.1 and Backup

Posted on by
1

In this Episode Carsten and I look at a single host deployment with Storage Spaces on Windows Server 2016. We create a “Hybrid” disk just like in Storage Spaces Direct by combining SSD & HDD in a storage Tier. We were very happy to discover that ReFSv3.1 does real time tiering.

image

We’re very excited about this because we want to leverage the benefits if Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 brings by leveraging ReFSv3.1 (Block Cloning) in regards to backup transformation actions and Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) spaces savings. To do so we’re looking at our options to get these benefits and capabilities leveraging affordable yet performant storage for our backup targets. S2D is one such option but might be cost prohibitive or overkill in certain environments.

ReFS v3.1 on non-clustered Windows Server 2016 hosts bring us integrity streaming, file corruption repair with instant recovery as protection against bit rot, the performance of tiered storage and SMB3 as a backup target at a great price point.

We encourage you to watch the video and see for yourself. As always, we had fun and hope your can learn something together with us, the Hyper-V Amigos Smile

Episode 11 of the Hyper-V Amigo Showcast

Posted on by
2

Hello there! Carsten Rachfahl and I have a new Hyper-V Amigo showcast out. In this Hyper-V Amigo Showcast Episode 11 we talk about Hyper-converged Storage Spaces Direct in Windows Server 2016 installed.

image

Carsten has a nice demo system to play with and we have some fun playing with it. We’ll see the outstanding performance S2D can deliver and how resilient is. On top of this we also talk about Distributed Storage QoS, Node Isolation and Node Fairness.

The show some crazy performance numbers and even turn 2 of the 4 nodes off. While playing with the Cluster we see also some new Features like Distributed Storage QoS, Cluster and VM Isolation and Node Fairness.

Enjoy!

DELL Microsoft Storage Spaces Offerings

Posted on by
Reply

Dell was the 1st OEM to actively support and deliver Microsoft Storage Spaces solutions to its customers.

image

They recognized the changing landscape of storage and saw that this was one of the option customers are interested in. When DELL adds their logistical prowess and support infrastructure into the equation it helps deliver Storage Spaces to more customers. It removes barriers.

In June 2015 DELL launched their newest offering based on generation 13 hardware.

image

Recently DELL has published it’s docs and manuals for Storage Spaces with the MD1420 JBOD Storage Spaces with the MD1420 JBOD

You can find some more information on DELL storage spaces here and here.

I’m looking forward to what they’ll offer in 2016 in regards to Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) and networking (10/25/40/50/100Gbps). I’m expecting that to be a results of some years experience combined with the most recent networking stack and storage components. 12gbps SAS controller, NVMe options in Storage Spaces Direct. Dell has the economies of scale & knowledge to be one of the best an major players in this area. Let’s hope they leverage this to all our advantage. They could (and should) be the first to market with the most recent & most modern hardware to make these solutions shine when Windows Server 2016 RTM somewhere next year.

Hyper-V Amigo Chat Ignite 2015

Posted on by
Reply

Many MVP’s attended Microsoft Ignite 2015 in Chicago to see what our future will look like.

Hyper-V Amigo Chat Microsoft Ignite 2015 Thumb 1 (2)

Carsten published the “Hyper-V Amigo Chat” we did right after Ignite. The conference was a blast for us all. Tired but happy we chat about storage space direct, Nano Server, ReFS, Dedupe, Azure Stack, … Enjoy!

Here’s the link to the video Hyper V Amigos Chat – Microsoft Ignite 2015 on Carsten’s blog.