Configuring RAID 1 and RAID 5 on a Windows ServerTo perform this practical you require any one of the Windows 2008/2008R2/2012/2012R2 or 2016server operating system.You can install any one of the above Windows operating system using following steps.However in the 18th step of Windows installation make sure you select the appropriate ISO image ofWindows server OS that you want to install.1. Open VMWare Workstation

2. Click File menu and select New Virtual Machine option.

3. In the window that opens select custom and click next.

4. On the next windows click next.

5. On the next window that opens select “I will install operating system later”.

6. On the following window that opens selectMicrosoft Windows and in the version drop down menuselectWindows Server 2008 R2 x64.

7. In the next window that opens give a name for the virtual machine and select the path to store virtualmachine files.

On the next screen click next to select the default BIOS option.

8. The option on the next window allows you to select number of processors to be assigned for thisvirtual machine. Keep default and click next.

9. On the next window select the amount of RAM to be assigned for this virtual machine. Click Next.

10. On the next window select “Use host-only networking”

11. On the next window click Next to continue with the default option.

12. On the next screen, again click Next to continue.

13. On the next screen that is displayed select “Create a new virtual disk ” and click next.

14. On the following screen, select size of the new virtual disk. Also select “store virtual disk as a singlefile and click Next.”

15. Just click Next on the following screen to accept the default name for the virtual disk file.

16. On the final screen, check the summary to make sure you have configured the correct options andclick Finish to create the virtual machine.

17. Once the virtual machine is created, click edit virtual machine settings option.

18. In the Virtual Machine Settings window on the left side click CD/DVD option. Then on the right sideclick “Use ISO image file” option. Then click Browse button and select the path where you have storedthe Windows 2008 R2 server ISO image file. Then Click OK.

19. Now click “Power on the virtual machine” to start the virtual machine.

Windows Installation Steps

1. Once the virtual machine starts following screen is displayed. Click Next to continue.

2. On the next screen click “Install Now ” option.

3. On the next screen, options to select the version of Windows to install is shown. As this is evaluationversion you can select any version. However make sure you select “Full Installation” option. If you selectcore installation the GUI will not be available.

4. On the next screen License agreement is displayed. Click I Accept the license terms check box and clickNext.

5. On the next screen that is displayed, click Custom (advanced) option.

6. On the following screen the hard disk configuration is shown. Here you can create partitions on thehard disk as per your requirement. Click next to create a single partition.

7. Now the Windows installation will start.

8. Once the installation is complete following screen is displayed. You need to provide a password forthe Administrator user. Click Ok to continue.

9. On the next screen type password for Administrator user. Re-type the same password in the confirmpassword field. The password should be minimum 8 characters. The password should contain a capitalletter, a special character and small letter. E.g. P@ssword. Once you provide the password click the Bluearrow button to continue.

10. On the following screen click OK.

11. NowWindows starts and following screen is displayed.

On the above screen, Use “Set Time zone” option to set correct time zone and date and time. UseConfigure networking tab to assign IP address to the server. Use Provide computer name and domainoption to set a name for the server.

Configuring RAIDSteps to add new hard disk to virtual machine.1. Shut down the above virtual machine by clicking start button and select shut down.

2. In the window that opens, using drop down list select any reason as shown below. Click Ok toshutdown the Windows.

3. Once the virtual machine is off, select Edit virtual machine settings option.

4. The following window opens. Click Add button.

5. It may prompt for administrator privileges, click yes. Following window opens. Select Hard Disk andclick Next.

6. In the next window, click SATA option click Next.

7. Click Next on the following window.

8. On the next screen select size of new hard disk as 20GB and also select option store virtual disk as asingle file as shown below. Click Next.

9. Click Next to select the default name for the hard disk file.

10. Click Finish. This will create a new hard disk in the Virtual machine settings as shown below.

11. Repeat above steps to add 2 more hard disks to the virtual machine. After this the final virtualmachine configuration should show 4 hard disks in the settings as shown below.

12. Now click OK to close virtual machine settings window and click power on virtual machine to startvirtual machine and boot windows.

13. Once the windows starts, login as administrator.

14. Once you login as administrator, click start and open run window. In the run window typediskmgmt.msc as shown below.

15. As the disk management utility opens the following screen is displayed. Select MBR or GPT option asper your requirement. The MBR disk allows you to have only 4 partitions. The GPT disk allows you tohave more partitions. Make sure all the check boxes are selected.Click OK.

16. The disk management utility will display the new hard disks as shown below.

17. Creating RAID 1 - MirroringRight click in the unallocated space of Disk1. The disk number may be different. In the options that aredisplayed as shown below, select NewMirrored Volume option.

18. In the next screen that is displayed click Next to continue.

19. In the next window that is displayed select Disk 2 in the left side in Available section. The Add buttonwill be enabled , click Add.

The final setting will look as shown below. Click Next.

20. On the next screen assign a drive letter to the new volume created. Click Next.

21. On the next screen keep the default options. Make sure perform a quick format option is selected.Click Next.

22. Click finish to create and format the volume.

23. A message is displayed to convert the hard disk from basic mode to dynamic mode. Click Yes.RAID 1 can be created only when the hard disk are in dynamic mode.

24. The OS will now create the volume and format it. The process may take some time. Once it finishesthe volume is displayed as shown below.

25. To test Mirrored volume, open Windows explorer. Go to new volume created i.e. E: in this case. Andcreate a directory and some files as shown below.

26. Now to test RAID 1, we will deliberately create failure in Mirroring. To do this go to diskmanagement utility and select the first hard disk in the mirrored set. Right click the button written DISk1.Click Offline option. This is shown below.(***Do not perform these following steps on real production systems)

27. As soon as the Disk 1 goes offline, for OS it is similar to a hard disk failure. The following screen isdisplayed. The Mirrored volume is displayed as Failed Redundancy and a yellow mark is displayed to theE volume. It means the mirroring failed.

28. Now go to Windows explorer again. Go to the E volume. You will be able to access the earlier data.The data is now served from the second hard disk by the OS.

29. Again right click on Disk1 button and click online.

30. Once you click Online, a yellow mark will be displayed on Disk 1 button. Right click on it and selectImport foreign disks option.

31. Click ok on the following screen.

32. Click OK on the next screen also.

33. As Windows OS thinks as a new disk is attached. Thus it initializes the new disk and creates a newdrive letter for the volume found on the Disk 1.

34. If you check the data on both volumes. It will be same as you created on the Mirrored volumeinitially when it was created.

This shows that in Mirrored volumes data written on one disk is written to the other disk also.

Thus we created a RAID 1 (Mirrored) volume and tested it for failure.35. Now delete the volumes created and make the disks blank. Right click on the F: and select deletevolume option. Click yes to continue.

Similarly delete the E volume also.The final view in the disk management utility should be as below.

36. RAID 5 Configuration.

37. To create a RAID 5 array open disk management. The view will be as shown in the above image.Right click the Disk 1 in the unallocated space and click New RAID 5 Volume option as shown below.

38. Click Next on the following screen.

39. On the next screen that is displayed, select Disk 2 and click Add. The Next button will not be enabledas RAID 5 requires minimum 3 hard disks. Thus select Disk 3 and click Add. The final view should be asshown below. Then click Next.

40. On the next screen assign a drive letter and click next.

41. On the next screen click next to format volume with default options.

42. Click Finish on the next screen to create and format the volume.

43. A message to convert disks from Basic mode to Dynamic mode is displayed. Click Yes to allow.44. The OS will now create the volume and format it. The process may take some time. Once it finishesthe volume is displayed as shown below.

45. To test Mirrored volume, open Windows explorer. Go to new volume created i.e. E: in this case. Andcreate a directory and some files as shown below.

Now follow the same process to test the RAID 5 failure that was used to test RAID 1 failure.Thus take only one had disk as offline and check the availability of the data.

This is how the RAID 5 volume is created.

Please do not perform the RAID array test steps on the real production systems. On those systems justcreate the array.