11 MANAGING DISK STORAGE Chapter 12. Chapter 12: MANAGING DISK STORAGE2 CHAPTER OVERVIEW Understand disk-storage concepts and terminology Distinguish

11

MANAGING DISK STORAGE

Chapter 12

Chapter 12: MANAGING DISK STORAGE 2

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Understand disk-storage concepts and terminology

Distinguish between basic and dynamic storage

Identify the types of storage volumes supported on Windows Server 2003 managed disks

Identify the best RAID implementation given a particular storage requirement in terms of capacity utilization, fault tolerance, and performance

Add storage to a Windows Server 2003 computer

Manage disks using Check Disk, Disk Defragmenter, and disk quotas


UNDERSTANDING WINDOWS SERVER 2003 DISK STORAGE

Disk The physical device

Partition An area of the disk that functions as a physically separate unit of storage

Volume An area of a partition used for storing data


USING BASIC STORAGE

Supported by all versions of Windows and MS-DOS

The default storage type for Windows Server 2003

Each disk is divided into partitions, which can be either primary or extended


USING DYNAMIC STORAGE

Supported by Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003

One disk, one partition

Volumes are created within the partition

Supports spanning, striping, and RAID implementations


BASIC VS. DYNAMIC DISKS

By default, all disks are basic.

Basic disks can be easily converted to dynamic disks.

Converting a disk from dynamic to basic causes all data to be lost.


USING DISK MANAGEMENT


ADDING STORAGE

Physically install the disk(s).

Initialize the disk.

On a basic disk, create partitions. On a dynamic disk, create volumes.

Format the volumes.

Assign drive letters to the volumes.


INSTALLING A DISK

Physically install the disk.

Windows Server 2003 should recognize the new device automatically.

If it does not, select Rescan Disks from the Action menu in Disk Management.


INITIALIZING THE DISK

All disks must be initialized before they can be used.

Initialization causes the MBR (basic disk) or GPT (dynamic disk) to be written.

The Initialize And Convert Disk Wizard should launch automatically after a new disk is installed.


CREATING BASIC DISK PARTITIONS


CONVERTING A BASIC DISK TO A DYNAMIC DISK

Make a backup before converting.

Partitions and logical drives are converted to simple volumes.

Existing Windows NT volume sets and stripe sets are converted to spanned volumes and striped volumes, respectively.


CREATING DYNAMIC DISK VOLUMES


CREATING SIMPLE VOLUMES

A simple volume can be created from free space on a single disk.

A simple volume can be extended using free space on the same disk, as long as it is not the system/boot volume.

To create a simple volume using the New Volume Wizard, in the Disk Management console, right-click unallocated space on a disk and select New Volume.


CREATING OTHER VOLUME TYPES

Spanned Uses space from multiple disks appearing as single volume

Striped (RAID-0) Uses space from multiple disks appearing as single volume; data is written across all drives in the striped set at the same rate.

Mirrored (RAID-1) An identical copy of a volume is created on another physical disk, for fault tolerance.

RAID-5 Striped set with parity allows the system to continue running in the event of a single disk failure.


WORKING WITH MIRRORED VOLUMES

Data is written to both drives simultaneously.

Can be used to provide fault tolerance to the system/boot volume on a Windows Server 2003 system.

Does not degrade performance.


CONVERTING A SIMPLE VOLUME TO A MIRRORED VOLUME

Only requirement is a drive with sufficient space to hold the mirrored data.

Data is copied to the new drive sector by sector.

Drive’s status in the Disk Management console shows as resynching while data is copied.


RECOVERING FROM MIRRORED DISK FAILURES


WORKING WITH RAID

Non-fault-tolerant RAID implementations RAID-0: Disk striping without parity

Fault-tolerant RAID implementations RAID-1: Disk mirroring

RAID-5: Disk striping with parity


CHOOSING A RAID TECHNOLOGY

MMiirrrroorreedd VVoolluummeess ((RRAAIIDD--11)) SSttrriippeedd VVoolluummeess wwiitthh PPaarriittyy ((RRAAIIDD--55))

Can protect systemor boot partition

Cannot protect system or bootpartition

Requires two hard disks Requires a minimum of threehard disks and allows a

maximum of 32 hard disks

Has a higher cost per MB Has a lower cost per MB

50 percent redundancy 33 percent maximumredundancy

Has good read and writeperformance

Has excellent read andmoderate write performance

Uses less system memoryRequires more system memory


ASSIGNING DRIVE LETTERS


FORMATTING VOLUMES


EXTENDING DYNAMIC VOLUMES


MANAGING DISK STORAGE

Using Check Disk

Using Disk Defragmenter

Implementing disk quotas


USING CHECK DISK


USING DISK DEFRAGMENTER


IMPLEMENTING DISK QUOTAS


ENABLING QUOTAS

Quotas are enabled on a volume-by-volume basis

Exceptions to quotas can be configured on a

per-user basis

Every file owned by a user counts toward her quota total


CONFIGURING QUOTA DEFAULTS

Set warning levels to alert users when they approach their quota limit.

Set restrictions to prevent users from exceeding their quota limit.

Logging related to quota events can be enabled.


CREATING QUOTA ENTRIES


EXPORTING QUOTA ENTRIES

Allows quota settings to be applied to another volume.

Destination volume must be formatted with NTFS.

Only limits and configurations are exported, not the current quota usage.


MONITORING QUOTAS AND STORAGE

Quota limits and percentage used can be viewed through the Quota Entries dialog box.

The Quota Entries dialog box can be accessed by viewing a volume’s properties in Windows Explorer or Disk Management.


SUMMARY

Windows Server 2003 supports two types of storage, basic and dynamic, and three file systems, FAT, FAT32, and NTFS.

Basic disks and the FAT file system provide back-ward compatibility with older Windows operating systems but are limited in their capabilities.

Dynamic disks provide flexible and powerful options in configurations with more than one disk.


SUMMARY (continued)

Basic disks can be converted to dynamic disks with no data loss, but all data and volumes must be deleted to convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk.

Dynamic disks support simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 volumes, to provide storage according to capacity, performance, and fault tolerance requirements.


SUMMARY (continued)

Fault tolerance is provided by mirrored (RAID-1) volumes and striped-with-parity volumes (RAID-5).

Simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes (RAID-0), and all basic disk logical drives are not fault tolerant.

You use the Disk Management snap-in to create and manage basic and dynamic disks.


SUMMARY (continued)

Disk volumes can become corrupted or fragmented and often fill to capacity. You can manage existing volumes using tools such as Check Disk, Disk Defragmenter, and Quota Manager.

You can use disk quotas to set and monitor storage limits and deny write access to users who exceed those limits.

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11 MANAGING DISK STORAGE Chapter 12. Chapter 12: MANAGING DISK STORAGE2 CHAPTER OVERVIEW Understand disk-storage concepts and terminology Distinguish