DIGILIANT Windows Storage Server 2012

Transcription

1 DIGILIANT Windows Storage Server 2012 User s Guide

2 Copyright 2012 Digiliant, LLC. All Rights Reserved. This User s Guide is provided AS IS and Digiliant, LLC makes no warranty as to its accuracies or use. Any use of this documentation or the information contained therein is at the risk of the user. Documentation may include technical or other inaccuracies or typographical errors. Digiliant, LLC reserves the right to make changes to this documentation at any time without prior notice. Digiliant and the Digiliant Logo are registered trademarks of Digiliant, LLC and may not be used without writtrn permission. Microsoft, Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2012, the Windows Logo, and all other trademarks are the property of Microsoft Corporation and their respective owners. No part of this documentation may be reproduced, transmited, or translated by any means, electronic, mechanical, optical, other by any other means without the prior written permission of Digiliant, LLC.

3 1 OVERVIEW OF WINDOWS STORAGE SERVER NEW STORAGE INNOVATIONS IN WINDOWS STORAGE SERVER The goals for storage were to deliver innovations in four areas:... 1 New capabilities:... 1 EDITIONS BASIC CONFIGURATION AND REMOTE ACCESS START UP... 4 WINDOWS STORAGE SERVER 2012 GUI... 4 SERVER MANAGER... 5 Server Roles, Role Services, and Features for Windows Server BASIC CONFIGURATION... 7 Add Roles... 9 Add Features CONNECTING WITH THE REMOTE DESKTOP PROTOCOL Remote Desktop Connection Client SETTING UP USER ACCESS CREATING NEW USERS AND GROUPS Creating New Users Creating User Groups Assigning Users to Groups DISK, VOLUME, AND SHARE MANAGEMENT DISK MANAGEMENT Advanced Volume Features STORAGE SPOOL AND STORAGE SPACE Creating Storage Pool Creating Storage Space SHARE AND STORAGE MANAGER Creating Shared Folders in Server Manager Changing Shared Folder Setting MANAGING SHARE PERMISSIONS Various Share Permissions Viewing and Configuring Share Permissions VIEWING USER AND COMPUTER SESSIONS... 24

4 MANAGING SESSIONS AND SHARES Ending Individual Sessions Ending All Sessions Managing Open Resources Closing an Open File Closing All Open Files Stopping File and Folder Sharing CONFIGURING NFS SHARING USING SHADOW COPIES Understanding Shadow Copies Creating Shadow Copies Restoring a Shadow Copy Reverting an Entire Volume to a Previous Shadow Copy Deleting Shadow Copies Disabling Shadow Copies DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM (DFS) AND REPLICATION Installing Support for Namespaces and Replication DFS Management CREATING A NEW NAMESPACE Namespace Server Namespace Name and Settings Namespace Type Review Settings ADDING FOLDERS TO A NAMESPACE New Folder FOLDER REPLICATION New Folder Target Replication Group and Replicated Folder Name Replication Eligibility Primary Member Topology Selection Replication Group Schedule and Bandwidth Review Settings and Create Replication Group MANAGING REPLICATION GROUPS HOW REPLICATION WORKS... 43

5 6 CREATING AND MANAGING ISCSI TARGETS CREATING AN ISCSI TARGET CREATING A VIRTUAL HARD DRIVE FOR AN ISCSI TARGET File Size Assign iscsi target Target Name Access Server Add initiator ID Enable Authentication Confirmation CONNECTING TO AN ISCSI TARGET APPENDIX A: ISCSI PORTS AND WINDOWS FIREWALL ENABLING ISCSI IN THE WINDOWS FIREWALL APPENDIX B: NETWORK CARDS TEAMING CONFIGURING NIC TEAMING NIC TEAMING PROPERTIES: APPENDIX C: RESTORING YOUR DIGILIANT SERVER... 56

6

7 1 Overview of Windows Storage Server 2012 The Digiliant NW Series Storage Servers run Microsoft Windows Storage Server This operating system provides an easy to use graphical interface to create a powerful, yet simple platform to handle your storage needs. These systems are designed to be deployed and working in a live environment in as little as 15 min. with only minor configuration changes required, such as the Computer Name and if it will be a Stand Alone server or a member of a Windows Active Directory Domain. Please note that this guide has been written to familiarize current network administrators and IT staff on how to install, configure, and support a Digiliant NAS running Windows Storage Server Therefore it is assumed that a basic to intermediate knowledge of Windows Networking and Server Software is already known. If you find that you need information beyond the scope of this guide, you may find some books published by Microsoft to be of help. While they are written for the full version of Windows Server 2012 and cover subjects not supported on Storage Server, they do cover areas such as proper user organization and how to set NTFS file permissions. Some of the material covered in this guide has also been taken and updated from our Storage Server 2008 Guide, which you may find useful as well. Please be aware that while a lot of the concepts covered there are still valid, Windows Storage Server 2012 does many things differently, which is the purpose of this new guide. New Storage Innovations in Windows Storage Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 has many new storage features. The Windows Storage Server editions leverage the same storage infrastructure found in Windows Server The Single Instance Storage (SIS) filter is included so you can still read and write to SIS volumes created in previous versions of Windows Storage Server. There is a new deduplication feature to replace SIS that works at a sub file level. The iscsi Target and configuration OOBE from Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 have also been included in the Windows Server 2012 family. The goals for storage were to deliver innovations in four areas: Reducing the cost of storage Storage management efficiency Performance and capabilities Reliability and continuous availability New capabilities: Reducing storage costs and increasing cost effectiveness Increasing storage management efficiency Storage Spaces ReFS CSV v2 Thin Provisioning Comprehensive Storage Management New Windows PowerShell cmdlets SMI S and SMP support 1

8 Data Deduplicatìon Remote Storage Management NFSv2, NFSv3, and NFSv4.1 support All from a single interface Improving performance and capabilities Maximizing reliability and availability SMB Direct SMB Multichannel SMB Scale Out Continuous Availability for SMB, iscsi and NFS Online scanning and repair in NTFS and ReFS SQL Server over SMB Faster CHKDSK in NTFS Hyper V over SMB Storage Spaces with ReFS Offloaded Data Transfer SMB Transparent Failover Live Storage Migration Cluster Aware Updating Virtual Fibre Channel Editions Digiliant offers two different versions of Windows Storage Server Depending on the edition your system came with, you may or may not have access to all the features contained in this user s guide. The versions we offer are: Windows Storage Server 2012 Workgroup Edition x64 Windows Storage Server 2012 Standard Edition x64 Below is an overview of the main differences between the versions covered in this guide. All of the versions offered are a powerful storage operating system; however each edition supports additional features that are designed for the needs of your operation. While the Workgroup Edition is a great choice for a small office, a mid sized or a larger business would look more towards the Standard Edition. The following table lists roles and features that are supported in each edition of Windows Storage Server Role/Feature Windows Storage Server 2012 Workgroup Windows Storage Server 2012 Standard Active Directory Domain Controller No No Domain Join Yes Yes Active Directory Lightweight Directory Service Yes Yes BranchCache Peer to Peer Yes Yes 2

9 BranchCache Hosted cache No Yes Failover clustering No Yes Deduplication No Yes Virtualization (Hyper V host or guest support) No Yes DHCP No Yes DNS No Yes WINS No Yes 3

10 2 Basic Configuration and Remote Access Start up Windows Storage Server 2012 GUI Windows Storage Server 2012 uses a Start screen. Start is a window, not a menu. Programs can have tiles on the Start screen. Clicking a tile runs the program. When you right click on a program, an options panel normally is displayed. The charms bar is an options panel for Start, Desktop, and PC Settings. With a mouse and keyboard, you can display the charms by moving the mouse pointer over the hidden button in the upper right or lower right corner of the Start, Desktop, or PC Settings screen; or by pressing Windows key + C. Click the Search charm to display the Search panel. Any text typed while on the Start screen is entered into the Search box in the Search panel. The Search box can be focused on Apps, Settings, or Files. When focused on Apps, you can use Search to quickly find installed programs. When focused on Settings, you can use Search to quickly find settings and options in Control Panel. When focused on Files, you can use Search to quickly find files. One way to quickly open a program is by pressing the Windows key, typing the file name of the program, and then pressing Enter. This shortcut works as long as the Apps Search box is in focus (which it typically is by default). Pressing the Windows key toggles between the Start screen and the desktop (or, if you are working with PC Settings, between Start and PC Settings). On Start, there s a Desktop tile that you can click to display the desktop. You also can display the desktop by pressing Windows key + D or, to peek at the desktop, press and hold Windows key + Comma. From Start, you access Control Panel by clicking the Control Panel tile. From the desktop, you can display Control Panel by accessing the charms, clicking Settings, and then clicking Control Panel. Additionally, because File Explorer is pinned to the desktop taskbar by default you typically can access Control Panel on the desktop by following these steps: 1. Open File Explorer by clicking the taskbar icon. 2. Click the leftmost option button (down arrow) in the address list. 3. Click Control Panel. Start and Desktop have a handy menu that you can display by right clicking the lower left corner of the Start screen or the desktop. Options on the menu include Command Prompt; Command Prompt (Admin), Device Manager, Event Viewer, System, and Task Manager. On Start, the hidden button in the lower left corner shows a thumbnail view of the desktop when activated, and clicking the thumbnail opens the desktop. On the desktop, the hidden button in the lower left corner shows a thumbnail view of Start when activated and clicking the thumbnail opens Start. Right clicking the thumbnail is what displays the shortcut menu. Shutdown and Restart are options of Power settings now. This means to shut down or restart a server, you follow these steps: 1. Display Start options by moving the mouse pointer to the bottom right or upper right corner of the screen. 2. Click Settings and then click Power. 3. Click Shut Down or Restart as appropriate. Alternatively, press the server s physical power button to initiate an orderly shutdown by logging off and then shutting down. 4

11 Server Manager The Server Manager is the main configuration tool of Windows Storage Server 2012 and provides setup and configuration options for the local server as well as options for managing roles, features, and related settings on any remotely manageable server in the enterprise. This tool will launch by default on each login and you can disable this action by checking the Do not start Server Manager automatically at logon box in the Server Manager Properties section. You can also easily access this console by clicking on the Server Manager icon on the taskbar. In the following chapters we will cover addition settings and configurations for more advanced deployments, and this is the tool we will use in order to configure and administer them with. While you can still use the traditional ways to create your network shares, add users, and manage your disk volumes, Microsoft has provided a powerful, yet easy to use console tool that puts all these tasks in one convenient place. Tasks you can use Server Manager to perform include. Adding servers for remote management Initiating remote connections to servers Configuring the local server Managing installed roles and features Managing volumes and shares on file servers Configuring Network Interface Card (NIC) Teaming Viewing events and alerts Restarting servers Below is a picture of the Server Manager window. 5

12 Server Roles, Role Services, and Features for Windows Server 2012 Windows Storage Server 2012 uses the same configuration architecture as Windows Storage Server 2008 and Windows Storage Server 2008 Release 2 (R2). You prepare servers for deployment by installing and configuring the following components: Server roles A server role is a related set of software components that allows a server to perform a specific function for users and other computers on a network. Role services A role service is a software component that provides the functionality for a server role. Each role can have one or more related role services. Features A feature is a software component that provides additional functionality. Features, such as Windows Server Backup, are installed and removed separately from roles and role services. A computer can have zero or more features installed depending on its configuration. You configure roles, role services, and features by using Server Manager, a Microsoft Management Console (MMC). Some roles, role services, and features are dependent on other roles, role services, and features. As you install roles, role services, and features, Server Manager prompts you to install other roles, role services, or features that are required. Similarly, if you try to remove a required component of an installed role, role service, or feature, Server Manager warns that you cannot remove the component unless you also remove dependent roles, role services, or features. In Server Manager s left pane (also referred to as the console tree), you ll find options for accessing the dashboard, the local server; all servers added for management, and server groups. When you select Local Server in the console tree, you can manage the basic configuration of the server you are logged on to locally. Information about the local server is organized into several main headings, each with an associated management panel: Best Practices Analyzer Allows you to run the Best Practices Analyzer on the server and review the results. To start a scan, click Tasks and then click Start BPA Scan. Events Provides summary information about warning and error events from the server s event logs. Click an event to display more information about the event. Performance Allows you to configure and view the status of performance alerts for CPU and memory usage. To configure performance alerts, click Tasks and then click Configure Performance Alerts. Properties Shows the computer name, domain, network IP configuration, time zone, and more. Each property can be clicked to quickly display a related management interface. Roles And Features Lists the roles and features installed on the server, in the approximate order of installation. To remove a role or feature, right click it and then select Remove Role or Feature. Services Lists the services running on the server by name, status and start type. Right click a service to manage its run status. 6

13 Basic Configuration The Properties panel is where you perform much of your initial server configuration. Properties available for quick management include the following: Computer Name/ Domain Shows the computer name and domain. Click either of the related links to display the System Properties dialog box with the Computer Name tab selected. You can then change a computer s name and domain information by clicking Change, providing the computer name and domain information, and then clicking OK. By default, Digiliant Storage servers are assigned NASSERVER as name and are configured as part of a workgroup called WORKGROUP. Your Windows Storage Server 2012 system can act as a stand alone storage server and operate in a peer to peer model, or you can join it into your existing Windows Active Directory Domain. If you plan on using your Storage Server in a Domain please be aware that it cannot be an actual domain controller, only a member like a workstation. To join a domain, select Domain under Member of, type in the name of the domain, and then click OK. You will then be prompted to enter your credentials to join the server. Contact your network administrator if you are having problems authenticating to the domain. Once the server is part of the desired domain you will be prompted to reboot the system. If you chose not to, please be aware that you cannot access domain features until you do so. Customer Experience Improvement Program Shows whether the server is participating in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). Click the related link to change the participation settings. Participation in CEIP allows Microsoft to collect information about the way you use the server. Microsoft collects this data to help improve future releases of Windows. 7

14 Ethernet Shows the TCP/ IP configuration of wired Ethernet connections. Click the related link to display the Network Connections console. You can then configure network connections by double clicking the connection you want to work with and then clicking Properties to open the Properties dialog box. You can also display the Network Connections console by clicking Change Adapter Settings under Tasks in Network and Sharing Center. By default, servers are configured to use dynamic addressing for both IPv4 and IPv6. Most servers will use a Static IP Address to ensure that there is no interruption in access to your data. IE Enhanced Security Configuration Shows the status of Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration (IE ESC). Click the related link to enable or disable IE ESC. If you click the link for this option, you can turn this feature on or off for administrators, users, or both. IE ESC is a security feature that reduces the exposure of a server to potential attacks by raising the default security levels in Internet Explorer security zones and changing default Internet Explorer settings. NIC Teaming Shows the status and configuration of NIC teaming. Click the related link to add or remove teamed interfaces and to manage related options. Product ID Shows the product identifier for Windows Server. Click the related link to enter a product key and activate the operating system over the Internet. Remote Desktop Click the related link to display the System Properties dialog box with the Remote tab selected. You can then configure Remote Desktop by selecting the configuration option you want to use and clicking OK. In the Small Icons or Large Icons view of Control Panel, you can display the System Properties dialog box with the Remote tab selected by double clicking System and then clicking Remote Settings in the left pane. By default, no remote connections to a server are allowed. If you wish to change these settings, click the Enable Remote Desktop link to bring up its configuration window. Enable remote desktop means that you can remotely access and administrate your server anywhere on your local network. Make sure that you run Windows Updates on every system on your network that you wish to use for remote access to the server. The updated client if available may be listed under the Optional updates. Please refer to your documentation of that system for support on how to select custom updates if you cannot find this. Windows XP systems and above will have the client required for the most secured connection method either already installed or available from Windows Updates. If you have an older system, contact Microsoft to obtain a newer version or simply leave the Remote Desktop option set at middle option that allows connections from any Remote Desktop Client. Remote Management Shows whether remote management of this server from other servers is enabled. Click the related link to enable or disable remote management. Time Zone Shows the current time zone for the server. Click the related link to display the Date And Time dialog box. You can then configure the server s time zone by clicking Change Time Zone, selecting the appropriate time zone, and then clicking OK twice. You can also display the Date And Time dialog box by right clicking the clock on the taskbar and then selecting Adjust Date/ Time. Although all servers are configured to synchronize time automatically with an Internet time server, the time synchronization process does not change a computer s time zone. 8

15 Windows Error Reporting Shows the status of Windows Error Reporting (WER). Click the related link to change the participation settings for WER. In most cases, you ll want to enable WER for at least the first 60 days following installation of the operating system. With WER enabled, your server sends descriptions of problems to Microsoft, and Windows notifies you of possible solutions to those problems. You can view problem reports and possible solutions using Action Center. To open Action Center, click the Action Center icon in the notification area of the taskbar and then select Open Action Center. Windows Firewall Shows the status of Windows Firewall. If Windows Firewall is active, this property displays the name of the firewall profile that currently applies and the firewall status. Click the related link to display the Windows Firewall utility. In the Small Icons or Large Icons view of Control Panel, you can display Windows Firewall by clicking the Windows Firewall option. In order to protect the server from common network attacks, the Windows Firewall service is installed and turned on by default. Windows Update Shows the current configuration of Windows Update. Click the related link to display the Windows Update utility in Control Panel, which you can then use to enable automatic updating (if Windows Update is disabled) or to check for updates (if Windows Update is enabled). In the Small Icons or Large Icons view of Control Panel, you can display Windows Update by selecting the Windows Update option. Add Roles By default, Windows Storage Server 2012 will have the File Services feature installed. If you need to install additional services click on Add roles to bring up the Add Roles Wizard. The first page is a brief introduction to this wizard that by default will displayed each time the wizard is started. If you do not need this page to be displayed, simply check Skip this page by default. When you are ready to continue, click Next. 9

16 At the Select Server Roles you can check each role you wish your server to perform, such as Print Services. Please note that Digiliant does not support roles other than File And Storage Services (installed by default) and Print Services, which allows the server to also act as a Print Server for your network. While it is possible to add roles such as the IIS Web Server or install applications and other server programs like Microsoft SQL Server on a Digiliant NAS running Windows Storage Server 2012, these implementations have not been tested and therefore we are unable to provide any technical support for them. If you wish to deploy non supported roles, you can find information at Microsoft or by using your favorite search engine. Add Features The Add features link brings up the Add Features Wizard. Here you can select advanced features such as UNIX support. Simply click on the options that you wish to install and click the Next button. Follow any on screen prompts. When the wizard is completed you may be prompted to restart the system. We recommend that you do so to ensure that any feature you just installed is fully active and running correctly. 10

17 Connecting with the Remote Desktop Protocol You can connect to and administer you server remotely from any workstation and logon as if you were on the system itself. This is accomplished by using the Remote Desktop Connection program that comes standard on all versions of the Windows Desktop operating systems starting with Windows XP. Remote Desktop Connection Client You can usually find the client program in the Accessories folder from the Start Button. By default your Digiliant Windows Storage Server 2012 system name is NASSERVER, if you ve changed it then use that name instead. Simply type that name or IP address into the Computer box and click connect. Please note that the picture shown is the RDC program from Windows 7. Yours may vary and you may need to run Windows Updates to ensure you have the most current RDC program installed. Once you have created a connection to the system you can simply use it as if you are physically sitting locally. Not only does this give you the freedom to administer your server from anywhere but it also allows you to operate in a headless mode (without monitor, keyboard, and mouse) as well. 11

18 3 Setting up User Access Before you can setup shares and allow access to data you must set up and configure User Accounts and Access Rights. Windows Storage Server 2012 can do this one of two ways, either as a standalone system in Peer to Peer network or you can join it to a Windows Active Directory Domain. The advantage of the Domain is that all it makes user management much easier by sharing access information to all systems in the domain. That way you don t have to define a user account for everyone on every system, you simply create the user credentials once and that s it. This chapter will focus on how to configure your Digiliant Windows Storage Server 2012 system in a Peer to Peer network. If you need assistance on how to create Users and Groups on a Windows Domain, please consult you network administrator or the documentation of your Windows Server operating system. There are many differences in how this is done on the compatible server systems, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2012 and is beyond the scope of this guide. Before you begin it is a good idea to have a list of the entire logon IDs and Passwords in your organization of all the people who need to access this system. This is the biggest downfall of the Peer to Peer environment, you will have to create the accounts that these users use on their system on the storage server. While you do not have to recreate them exactly you can make management of user access much easier by simply cloning their current logons for seamless access to data shares. Creating New Users and Groups To create new user accounts open the Server Manager console. Click Computer Management under drop down menu of Tools section. 12

19 On the left hand side of the console, open up Local Users and Groups lists. Here is where we will create a new user account. In the center area of the console you should see a list of the currently defined users. You can display the New User dialog box by right clicking the empty space in that center view then selecting New User. Creating New Users The New User dialog box will appear and this is where you enter basic user information. Your Storage Server is configured to use Strong Passwords and thus will require you to meet their requirements. If the password for the user you are creating is rejected you will need to create a new one. It is then recommended that you change the password for this user to match this password to ease connection to the server. It is also recommended that you only check the User cannot change password and Password never expires options. This will ensure that everything stays in sync. When you are finished, click Create. Creating User Groups In order to be granted access to shares or other resources on the Storage Server, every user must have rights. These are defined by the Group(s) that the user account is associated with. By default every user account you create will be a member of the Users Group, which is fine in most cases. However, by using groups you can ease configuration requirements when you need to, for example, allow access to shares by certain people and deny access to others. 13

20 To create a new user Group, click on the Groups Tab under Users as shown above. Right clicking on the empty space under the existing groups to display the New Group dialog box, then selecting New Group. Under Group name is where you specify the name of the user group that you want to create. This is a short name and you want to keep it as simple as possible. Then in the Description field you can type in the long or full name of the group. When you are finished, click Create. 14

21 In the next sections we will cover how to assign users to your groups and why this may be something you may want to use in your organization. Assigning Users to Groups Assume that you are planning on creating a share called Accounting where you will keep documents and such in regards to the financial operations of your organization. Therefore it is safe to assume that you want to control who can access that data as not everyone will have a need to. By assigning the correct user accounts to the Accounting group you can make the Accounting share accessible only to people who are a member of this group. Right click on the user you wish to assign additional groups to. Then left click on Properties to edit the user account. On the User Properties dialog click on the Member Of Tab to assign which groups this user will belong to. Near the bottom of this dialog, click on Add to bring up the Select Groups dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog in the white area simply type the name of the group and click on Check Names to the right. Windows will then fill in the full name of the group(s) that you typed. You can enter more than one group by separating them with a semicolon. Then click OK to close this box and OK again to close the User Properties dialog. 15

22 4 Disk, Volume, and Share Management Your Digiliant Windows Storage Server 2012 system comes preconfigured with a hidden System partition, a Windows partition and a Data partition where you will store your data. The Data partition is actually a Hardware RAID and its size depends on how many individual hard drives your system came with and how large they are, as well as the RAID type. In most cases you will not need to modify these drives at all. However, by default we create your Data partition as one single partition. On larger systems, such as the 8U systems that contain an upwards of 324TB of data there will be four data partitions as the drives are split among three physical RAID controllers. In order to make modifications to your partitions, open up Disk Management in the Computer Management under Server Manager as shown below. Disk Management Your disks are already setup at build and there is really no reason to make any changes other than if you lost an array and had to rebuild it from scratch. Right click the box of the disk, such as Disk 1 and a menu will appear. If the total size of the drive is more than 2TB in size select Convert to GPT Disk. If you do not then Windows will not be able to create volumes larger than 2TB in size. Once the conversion is complete you can recreate your volume(s). Advanced Volume Features If you wish to make changes a Data volume, right click it and a menu will appear. From there you can Delete volume, Shrink volume or Extend volume (if there is unused space on the drive). Please be sure to backup any data before you use these advanced features as data loss is possible. 16

23 Deleting a Volume Right click on the volume you wish to remove and select Delete. Answer yes to any prompts and the space will be made available to create one or more new volumes. Please note that this will delete all data that was on the old volume. If you have data already then you may wish to Shrink Volume instead. Creating a Volume Right click on the block of available space you wish to create volume and select New Simple Volume. Make any changes you need to from their default settings, but be sure to check Quick Format or it will take quite a long time before the volume is available for use. Shrinking a Volume Right click the volume you want to make smaller and select Shrink volume. Windows will not allow you to resize the volume any smaller than the size in use for data. Type in the new size you want and click Shrink. The process time varies and once it completes you will have space free to create new volumes. Extending a Volume If you have free space on a drive then you can extend a volume to include some or all of that space. Simply right click on the volume you wish to add more space to and select Extend volume. Type in the amount you want to add and click Extend. WARNING to Large System Users Although Storage Server will allow you to create a Stripe (RAID 0) and merge your two Data volumes into one large drive, we highly recommend that you do not do this. The reason is because if you lose one array for some reason then the stripe will break and you will LOSE ALL Data across both Data volumes. If you still wish to do this please be aware that Digiliant does not support this and we will be unable to provide support should you decide to create a stripe. We also do not recommend that you create a Mirror (RAID 1) between the DATA volumes as well. You already have Hardware RAID protection and not only will you lose 50% of your total storage space but you can also slow system performance down as well from Windows constantly copying data between them. Storage Spool and Storage Space Disk Management is the tradition way to deal with data storage partitions. Windows Storage Server 2012 brings new features of Storage Pools and Storage Spaces into storage virtualization. Storage pools are a collection of physical disks. Pools permit storage aggregation, flexible capacity expansion, and delegated administration. Storage spaces are virtual disks with associated attributes such as a desired level of resiliency, thin or fixed provisioning, automatic or controlled allocation on heterogeneous storage media, and precise administrative control. Most of Digiliant Storage Servers implement hardware RAID controller. The hardware RAID controller groups physical disk into logical volume. The logical volume created by hardware RAID controller will be presented to the OS as physical disk. If you want to implement Storage Space, you can create Storage Pool based on the RAID disk and then create Storage Space on top of the Storage Pool. In the following example, we demonstrate how to build Storage Space on RAID disk. 17

24 Creating Storage Pool In Server Manager, you create a Storage Pool by following these steps: 1. The Storage Pools subnode of the File And Storage Services node shows existing Storage Pools for file servers that have been added for management. 2. In the Storage Pools pane, click Tasks and then click New Storage Pool. This starts the New Storage Pool Wizard. Follow the wizard by give the new Storage Pool a name and assign physical disk to the Storage Pool; you create a new Storage Pool. Creating Storage Space After a Storage Pool is created, you can create Storage Space by following these steps: 1. The Storage Pools subnode of the File And Storage Services node shows existing Storage Pools for file servers that have been added for management. 2. In the Virtual Disks pane, click Tasks and then click New Virtual Disks. This starts the New Virtual Disks Wizard. 18

25 3. On the Storage Pool page, click the storage pool in which you want to create the virtual disk and then click Next. Each available storage pool is listed according to the server it is managed by and available to. Make sure the pool has enough free space to create the virtual disk. 4. On the Specify The Virtual Disk Name page, type a name and description for the virtual disk. Click Next. 5. On the Select The Storage Layout page, select the storage layout as appropriate for your reliability and redundancy requirements. The simple layout is the only option for storage pools that contain a single disk. If the underlying storage pool has multiple disks, you can choose a simple layout, a mirror layout, or a parity layout. Click Next. 6. On the Specify The Provisioning Type page, select the provisioning type. Storage can be provisioned in a thin disk or a fixed disk. With thin disk provisioning, the volume uses space from the storage pool as needed, up to the volume size. With fixed provisioning, the volume has a fixed size and uses space from the storage pool equal to the volume size. Click Next. 7. On the Specify The Size Of The Virtual Disk page, use the options provided to set the size of the virtual disk. By selecting the Create The Largest Virtual Disk Possible check box, you ensure the disk is created and sized within the available space. For example, if you are trying to create a 1TB fixed disk with a simple layout and only 0.5 TB of space is available, a 0.5TB fixed disk will be created. Keep in mind that if a disk is mirrored or striped, it will use more free space than you specify. 8. When you are ready to continue, click Next. After you confirm your selections, click Create. The wizard tracks the progress of the disk creation. When the wizard finishes creating the disk, the View Results page will be updated to reflect this. Review the details to ensure that all phases were completed successfully. If any portion of the configuration failed, note the reason for the failure and take corrective actions as appropriate before repeating this procedure. 9. When you click Close, the New Volume Wizard should start automatically. Use the wizard to create a volume on the disk as discussed early. Share and Storage Manager Before you can start storing data you need to setup the actual location(s) where you want to place it. You can use both Computer Management and Server Manager to work with shares. Creating Shared Folders in Server Manager In Server Manager, you share a folder by following these steps: 1. The Shares subnode of the File And Storage Services node shows existing shares for file servers that have been added for management. 2. In the Shares pane, click Tasks and then click New Share. This starts the New Share Wizard. Choose one of the available file share profiles and then click Next. The New Share Wizard has several file share profiles: SMB Share Quick A basic profile for creating SMB file shares that allows you to configure their settings and permissions. SMB Share Advanced An advanced profile for creating SMB file shares that allows you to configure their settings, permissions, management properties, and NTFS quota profile (if applicable). 19

26 SMB Share Applications A custom profile for creating SMB file shares with settings appropriate for Hyper V, certain databases, and other server applications. It s essentially the same as the quick profile, but it doesn t allow you to enable access based enumeration or offline caching. 3. On the Select The Server And Path For This Share page, select the server and volume on which you want the share to be created. Only file servers you ve added for management are available. When you are ready to continue, click Next. By default, Server Manager creates the file share as a new folder in the \Shares directory on the selected volume. To override this, choose the Type A Custom Path option and then either type the desired share path, such as C:\ Data, or click Browse to use the Select Folder dialog box to select the share path. 4. On the Specify Share Name page, type a name for the share. This is the name of the folder to which users will connect. Share names must be unique for each system. 5. If you want to, type a description of the share in the Description text box. When you view shares on a particular computer, the description is displayed in Computer Management. 6. Note the local and remote paths to the share. These paths are set based on the share location and share name you specified. When you are ready to continue, click Next. 7. On the Configure Share Settings page, use the following options to configure the way the share is used: Enable Access Based Enumeration Configures permissions so that when users browse the folder, only files and folders a user has been granted at least Read access to are displayed. If a user doesn t have at least Read (or equivalent) permission for a file or folder within the shared folder, that file or folder is hidden from view. (This option is dimmed if you are creating an SMB share optimized for applications.) Allow Caching Of Share Configures the share to cache only the files and programs that users specify for offline use. Although you can later edit the share properties and change the offline files availability settings, you normally want to select this option because it allows users to take advantage of the new Always Offline feature. Optionally, if the BranchCache For Network Files role service is installed on the file server, select Enable BranchCache to enable computers in a branch office to cache files that are 20

27 downloaded from the shared folder and then securely share the files to other computers in the branch office. (This option is dimmed if you are creating an SMB share optimized for applications.) Encrypt Data Access Configures the share to use SMB encryption, which protects file data from eavesdropping while being transferred over the network. This option is useful on untrusted networks. 8. On the Specify Permissions To Control Access page, the default permissions assigned to the share are listed. By default, the special group Everyone is granted the Full Control share permission and the underlying folder permissions are as listed. To change share, folder, or both permissions, click Customize Permissions and then use the Advanced Security Settings dialog box to configure the desired permissions. 9. If you are using the advanced profile, optionally set the folder management properties and then click Next. These properties specify the purpose of the folder and the type of data stored in it so that data management policies, such as classification rules, can then use these properties. 10. If you are using the advanced profile, optionally apply a quota based on a template to the folder and then click Next. You can select only quota templates that have already been created. 11. On the Confirm Selections page, review your selections. When you click Create, the wizard creates the share, configures it, and sets permissions. The status should state, The share was successfully created. If an error is displayed instead, note the error and take corrective action as appropriate before repeating this procedure to create the share. Click Close. Changing Shared Folder Setting When you create a share, you can configure many basic and advanced settings, including those for access based enumeration, encrypted data access, offline settings for caching, and management properties. In Server Manager, you can modify these settings by following these steps: 1. The Shares subnode of the File And Storage Services node shows existing shares for file servers that have been added for management. 2. Right click the share you want to work with, and click Properties. 21

28 3. In the Properties dialog box, you have several options panels that can be accessed using controls in the left pane. You can expand the panels one by one or click Show All to expand all the panels at the same time. 4. Use the options provided to modify the settings as necessary, and then click OK. The options available are the same whether you use the basic, advanced, or applications profile to create the shared folder. Managing Share Permissions Share permissions set the maximum allowable actions available within a shared folder. By default, when you create a share, everyone with access to the network has Read access to the share s contents. This is an important security change in previous editions of Windows Server, the default permission was Full Control. With NTFS and ReFS volumes, you can use file and folder permissions and ownership, as well as share permissions, to further constrain actions within the share. With FAT volumes, share permissions control only access. Various Share Permissions From the most restrictive to the least restrictive, the share permissions available are as follows: No Access No permissions are granted for the share. Read With this permission, users can do the following: View file and subfolder names Access the subfolders in the share Read file data and attributes Run program files Change Users have Read permission and the ability to do the following: Create files and subfolders Modify files Change attributes on files and subfolders Delete files and subfolders Full Control Users have Read and Change permissions, as well as the following additional capabilities on NTFS volumes: Change file and folder permissions Take ownership of files and folders You can assign share permissions to users and groups. You can even assign permissions to implicit groups. Viewing and Configuring Share Permissions You can view and configure share permissions in Computer Management or Server Manager. To view and configure share permissions in Server Manager, follow these steps: 1. The Shares subnode of the File And Storage Services node shows existing shares for file servers that have been added for management. 22

29 2. Right click the share you want to work with, and then click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click the Permissions in the left pane. You can now view the users and groups that have access to the share and the type of access they have. 3. To change share, folder, or both permissions, click Customize Permissions. Next, select the Share tab in the Advanced Security Settings dialog box. 4. Users or groups that already have access to the share are listed in the Permission Entries list. You can remove permissions for these users and groups by selecting the user or group you want to remove and then clicking Remove. You can change permissions for these users and groups by doing the following: Select the user or group you want to change, and then select Edit. Allow or deny access permissions in the Permission Entries list, and then click OK. 5. To add permissions for another user or group, tap or click Add. This opens the Permission Entry dialog box. 23

30 6. Click Select A Principal to display the Select User, Computer, Service Account Or Group dialog box. Type the name of a user or a group account. Be sure to reference the user account name rather than the user s full name. Only one name can be entered at a time. 7. Click Check Names. If a single match is found for each entry, the dialog box is automatically updated, and the entry is underlined. Otherwise, you ll see an additional dialog box. If no matches are found, you either entered the name incorrectly or you re working with an incorrect location. Modify the name in the Name Not Found dialog box and try again, or click Locations to select a new location. When multiple matches are found, in the Multiple Names Found dialog box, select the name you want to use and then click OK. The user and group is added as the Principal, and the Permission Entry dialog box is updated to show this. 8. Use the Type list to specify whether you are configuring allowed or denied permissions, and then select the permissions you want to allow or deny. Click OK to return to the Advanced Security Settings dialog box. Viewing User and Computer Sessions You can use Computer Management to track all connections to shared resources on a Windows Storage Server 2012 system. Whenever a user or computer connects to a shared resource, Windows Storage Server 2012 lists a connection in the Sessions node. To view connections to shared resources, follow these steps: 1. In Computer Management, connect to the computer on which you created the shared resource. 2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then select Sessions. You can now view connections to shares for users and computers. The columns for the Sessions node provide the following important information about user and computer connections: User The names of users or computers connected to shared resources. Computer names are shown with a $ suffix to differentiate them from users. Computer The name of the computer being used. Type The type of network connection being used. # Open Files The number of files the user is actively working with. For more detailed information, access the Open Files node. Connected Time The time that has elapsed since the connection was established. Idle Time The time that has elapsed since the connection was last used. Guest Whether the user is logged on as a guest. Managing Sessions and Shares Managing sessions and shares is a common administrative task. Before you shut down a server or an application running on a server, you might want to disconnect users from shared resources. You might also need to disconnect users when you plan to change access permissions or delete a share entirely. Another reason to disconnect users is to break locks on files. You disconnect users from shared resources by ending the related user sessions. 24

31 Ending Individual Sessions To disconnect individual users from shared resources, type net session \\ computername /delete at a command prompt or follow these steps: 1. In Computer Management, connect to the computer on which you created the share. 2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then select Sessions. 3. Right click the user sessions you want to end, and then click Close Session. 4. Click Yes to confirm the action. Ending All Sessions To disconnect all users from shared resources, follow these steps: 1. In Computer Management, connect to the computer on which you created the share. 2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then right click Sessions. 3. Click Disconnect All Sessions, and then click Yes to confirm the action. Managing Open Resources Any time users connect to shares, the individual file and object resources they are working with are displayed in the Open Files node. The Open Files node might show the files the user has open but isn t currently editing. You can access the Open Files node by following these steps: 1. In Computer Management, connect to the computer on which you created the share. 2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then select Open Files. This displays the Open Files node, which provides the following information about resource usage: Open File The file or folder path to the open file on the local system. The path might also be a named pipe, such as \PIPE\ spools, which is used for printer spooling. Accessed By The name of the user accessing the file. Type The type of network connection being used. # Locks The number of locks on the resource. Open Mode The access mode used when the resource was opened, such as read, write, or write + read. Closing an Open File To close an open file on a computer s shares, follow these steps: 1. In Computer Management, connect to the computer you want to work with. 2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then select Open Files. 3. Right click the open file you want to close, and then click Close Open File. 4. Click Yes to confirm the action. 25