Tag Archives: Technical Preview 3

Between Windows Server 2016 TPv3 and TPv4 we moved from ReFS version 2.0 to 3.0

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Introduction

The fact that between Windows Server 2016 TPv3 and TPv4 we moved from ReFS version 2.0 to 3.0 is something I stumbled upon by accident. In  Windows Server 2016 we’re getting a new and improved version of ReFS. ReFS, (Resilient File System) was introduced in Windows Server 2012.

Since Windows Server 2016 Technical Previews we got a new capability with fsutil as it now knows about ReFS. Using fsutil we can check for the version of ReFS. The command you need for that is:

fsutil fsinfo refsinfo <driveletter>

This is something we definitely could not do in windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2. I stumbled onto this by accident while experimenting with ReFS in the previews. Considering the ReFS focus in Windows Server 2016 R2 this is not a surprise. I noticed that.

TPv3 to TPv4 = ReFS version 2.0 to 3.0

In Windows 2016 TPv2 and TPv3 fsutil fsinfo refsinfo reports ReFS 2.0.

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After installing (clean install) TPv4 I was faced with the fact that my existing ReFS formatted volumes showsed up as RAW, they could not be mounted.

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I had to reformat those (or move them to a TPv3 installation to recuperate the data). When investigating this on Windows Server 2016 TPv4 with fsutil I noticed that we are at ReFS version 3.

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The same actually goes for a ReFS version 3.0 volume, it’s RAW in Windows Server 2016 TPv3, unusable.

The important thing to keep in mind going forward is that from my upgrade experiences I learned that ReFS version 2 is not usable in TPv4. Keep that in mind when upgrading. You might want to get your data copied to NTFS or so if you still need it.

I also don’t know if in future technical preview release or whatever they are called then we’ll see 3.1 or 4.0 arrive. But it’s something I’ll watch very carefully when moving to those versions Smile.

Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview Version 3 Cluster Upgrades

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I was eagerly awaiting the release of Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 for further experimenting and testing and August 19th 2015was the big day with a truck load of announcements and press releases including the arrival of TPv3 which also made containers publicly available for testing to all of us.

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After a swift download II set out upgrading the labs, both PC hardware based and enterprise grade server hardware. I always test out the less wise things as well just to kick the tires and test behavior left and right.

As always I tested some in place upgrades just to see how well that goes before doing clean installs . Not recommend in production but hey,Testing is good. At first all networking seem to be OK but it wasn’t. So I ended up with doing clean installs which are advisable, even more so with non production versions of the OS. The product is not finished yet! This is also the supported way of doing a new cluster build. imageThe end result is a lab at home on PC hardware and an enterprise grade lab to work with in the datacenter. Busy times ahead.

For help on what’s new in this build go here What’s New in Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 and good luck on your Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview Version 3 cluster upgrades!

Happy testing!