What is a Windows Storage Server 2008 R2?

Author: DJWillis | Posted: 22.02.2012

One of the greatest advantages in windows storage server that system administrators have been requesting is the capability to resize the hard disk partition without having to stop the server. There are times when the quantity of storage over a particular file system has to be increased quickly without disturbing the rest of the data, such as when a partition is running low on space. In the past, this has required a data migration in order to resize. Now, it is possible on-the-fly without having to move data around.

The only restriction to this type of resizing is it doesn't affect striped volumes. Only simple volumes and volumes that spam multiple disks without using striping will allow for a chance to resize hard disk partition.

One other reason why many people like windows storage server is that many users in addition to system administrators like the technology and also the ease-of-use in the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Along with the storage product is an operating system that functions like a file server so that users can easily access the shares that they must reach. Integration with Windows Active Directory implies that the protection for the files are already there.

Because the operating-system is the brains of this file server, it's possible to use cheap commodity hard drives to save money. The ideal hardware configuration is a JBOD array (Just a Bunch Of Disks) full of cheap SAS drives. The volumes could be striped to get good I/O performance via RAID, which can be managed by either the operating system or the array.

There are occassions when either hardware error or human error causes data to be lost or inaccessible. That is why it is important to possess a recovery plan with windows storage server. Oftentimes, the amount won't be lost because of mirrored file system protection. However, this may not cover the situation of human error. If you find human error involved, the best thing to do would be to tell the storage server to roll back to an older version of the data or restore from tape.

When the disaster is real bad, the easiest method to restore the functionality of the server is to download a recovery DVD. This will reset the settings to their default. The nice thing is that the whole process to revive via this method shouldn't take any more than 20 minutes.

Although most people prefer to deal with files to determine where their data is, there are occassions when performance is more important than other things. That's the reason many database administrators enjoy having block based data to be able to improve I/O performance.

With blocks, the database software can easily control where the information is being stored at and maximize the efficiency of windows storage server. If the data was stored as a file, there is no way for the software to control the position of the data on the storage array or hard drive.



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