Advanced Storage – Practical Exercises

Overview

This course comes with a virtual lab environment where you can practice what you

learn. Launch the lab environment from the Welcome > Getting Started > Practice

Lab Environment page.

• You will only have four hours in the practical environment.

• The time is cumulative, so you can work a little bit at a time until it adds up

the total time allowed.

• You may not have enough time to complete all the practical exercises. So,

choose wisely. You may want to consider all the hand-on exercises and

decide which ones you want to make sure you work on first.

In most cases, the userid is Adatum\Administrator and the password is

Pa55.w0rd, but read the instructions carefully.

If you are having difficulties with the lab environment check out the Student Lab

Guide. This document is available from the Course Handouts page and includes

basic troubleshooting and the support desk link.

Recommendation: Bookmark the Practice Lab Environment page as

you will return to it frequently to perform your hands-on labs!

Notice in the lab environment you can copy information to the virtual machines by

using the Actions > Paste Content window. Before you paste the content, be sure your

cursor is where you want the copied data.

iSCSI Storage

iSCSI Storage (Server Manager)

In this exercise you will add the Target Server role to LON-SVR1, create three 5GB virtual

disks, configure LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3 as Initiators, and verify the shared iSCSI

storage is available.

Note: There are two iSCSI implementation exercises. This one implements iSCSI storage

using Server Manager. The next exercise uses PowerShell. You may complete one or

both of the labs, but at least one must be completed before doing the Failover

Clustering lab.

Some amount of independent work may be needed to fully understand and complete these tasks.

Take your time to work through the exercises and try different things. We have tested these

exercises in order. If you skip around, you may need to make some adjustments. Happy learning!

Install the iSCSI Target Role

1. Login to LON-SVR1 as Adatum\Administrator with the password Pa55w.rd.

2. LON-SVR1 is the Target Server.

3. Use the Server Manager Add Roles and Features Wizard to verify the iSCSI

Target Server role service has been installed. It is located under the File and

Storage Services node.

Create an iSCSI virtual disk

1. Continue on LON-SVR1.

2. In Server Manager, open File and Storage Services, and then click iSCSI.

3. Click TASKS, and then New iSCSI Virtual Disk. Notice Import iSCSI virtual disk is

also listed.

• Use the C: volume on LON-SVR1

• Virtual disk name: iSCSIDisk1

• Disk size: 5 GB (Choose Dynamically Expanding. Read about Fixed disks and

Differencing disks.)

• Create a New iSCSI Target named LON-SVR1

• Notice you can use IQN, DNS name, and MAC address to add an initiator.

• Add LON-SVR2 using IP Address (drop-down) 172.16.0.22

• Add LON-SVR3 using IP Address (drop-down) 172.16.0.23

• CHAP and Reverse CHAP can be used to authenticate incoming connections,

but we will not use them in this exercise.

• Confirm your settings and Create the virtual disk.

3. Wait while the virtual disk is created.

4. Create two more iSCSI virtual disks with disk names iSCSIDisk2 and iSCSIDisk3. Be

sure to use the existing iSCSI target.

5. Open File Explorer and browse to c:\iSCSIVirtualDisks. Notice the virtual hard

disks (.vhdx) that was created.

6. You have finished configuring the Target server and will now configure the

Initiators.

Configure the LON-SVR2 iSCSI Initiator

1. Login to LON-SVR2 as Administrator with the password Pa55w.rd.

2. In Server Manager, on the Tools menu, open iSCSI Initiator.

3. Confirm you want to start the Microsoft iSCSI service.

4. Connect to LON-SVR1 by configuring the following:

• On the Targets tab: 172.16.0.21 Quick Connect

• A discovered target will automatically appear: iqn.1991-

05.com.microsoft:lon-dc1-lon-dc1-target

• You will also see a Login successful message. Click Done.

5. Switch to the Volumes and Devices tab. Click Auto Configure to setup your

new disk. Close the wizard.

6. Use the Server Manager Tools menu, select Computer Management, then

click Disk Management.

7. Bring the three new 5GB disks online, and then initialize them. These are

Disks 4 through 6.

8. Create a simple volume on each disk, and format it with NTFS. Label the disks

Data1, Data2, and Data3 respectively.

9. Open File Explorer and confirm you have three Data disks.

10. You have successfully connected LON-SVR1 to the Target Server.

Configure the LON-SVR3 Initiator

1. Login to LON-SVR3.

2. Use the iSCSI Initiator to connect to LON-SVR1. Follow steps 3 and 4 in the

previous section.

3. Open Disk Management, ensure the three new 5GB disks are shown.

4. Bring each disk online. Notice they are Data1, Data2, and Data3.

5. You have successfully configured iSCSI shared storage.

iSCSI Storage (PowerShell)

In this exercise you will use Windows PowerShell commands to configure a Target

Server and an Initiator.

Install the iSCSI Target Server

1. Login to LON-DC1 as Administrator with the password Pa55w.rd.

2. LON-DC1 will be our Target Server.

3. Open a Windows PowerShell prompt.

4. View the roles and features that are installed on this server. Notice iSCSI Target

Server is not installed.

Get-WindowsFeature -name *iSCSI*

5. Use the Install-WindowsFeature command to Install the iSCSI Target Server

role.

Install-WindowsFeature FS-iSCSITarget-Server

Add and map an iSCSI virtual disk on the Target Server

1. Continue using LON-DC1.

2. View the available iSCSI Target Server commands.

Get-Command –Module IscsiTarget

3. Use New-IscsiVirtualDisk to create a 4GB virtual disk. Use c:\iSCSIDisk.vhdx as

the path. Use Get-Help as you need.

New-IscsiVirtualDisk –Size 4GB –Path “c:\iSCSIDisk2.vhdx”

4. Use Get-Help to learn about the New-IscsiServerTarget command.

Get-Help New-IscsiServerTarget -Full

4. Use New-IscsiServerTarget to create the Target Server (LON-DC1) and include

LON-SVR1 (172.16.0.21) as an Initiator.

New-IscsiServerTarget –TargetName “LON-DC1” –InitiatorIds

@(“IPAddress:172.16.0.22”,”IPAddress:172.16.0.23”)

5. Use Get-Help to learn about the Add-IscsiVirtualDiskMapping command.

Get-Help Add-IscsiVirtualDiskMapping -Full

6. Use Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping to map the c:\iSCSIDisk2.vhdx path to

LON-DC1.

Add-IscsiVirtualDiskTargetMapping –TargetName LON-DC1 –Path

“c:\iSCSIDisk2.vhdx”

7. Open the Server Manager File and Storage Services node to verify the virtual

disk, and Target Server with Initiator were created.

8. Note you may need to use the Tasks menu to Refresh or View all targets.

9. You have finished configuring the Target Server.

Configure the initiatior, LON-SVR2

1. Switch to LON-SVR2. Open a PowerShell prompt.

2. Before you can run any iSCSI commands, we must start the Microsoft iSCSCI

Initiator Service (MSiSCSI). Notice the state of the service.

Get-Service MSiSCSI

4. If necessary, start the MSiSCSI service. Check the status to ensure it is Running.

Start-Service –Name MSiSCSI

5. View the available iSCSI Initiator commands.

Get-Command –Module Iscsi

6. Use Get-Help to learn about the New-IscsiTargetPortal command.

Get-Help New-IscsiTargetPortal –Full

7. Use New-IscsiTargetPortal to create the Target Portal to LON-DC1 (172.16.0.10).

Be sure to use the IP address.

New-IscsiTargetPortal –TargetPortalAddress 172.16.0.10

8. To connect to the portal, you will need LON-DC1’s iQN address.

Get-IscsiTarget | Format-List

9. Connect to the target server.

Connect-IscsiTarget –NodeAddress “iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:lon-dc1-

lon-dc1-target”

Confirm access to the new iSCSI shared disk

1. Continue on LON-SVR2.

2. In Server Manager, on the Tools menu, open Computer Management.

3. Under the Storage node, access Disk Management and confirm a 4GB virtual

hard disk is now available.

4. In Server Manager, on the Tools menu, open iSCSI Initiator and notice all your

settings have been created.

5. Alternatively, use Get-Disk and look for a Virtual HD that is 4GB in size.

Failover Clustering

Failover Clustering

Note: This exercise it written assuming you have completed the iSCSI Storage

(Server Manager) lab. The lab will also work if you completed the iSCSI Storage

(PowerShell) lab, but you will need to make some adjustments. If you have

completed both labs, then there will be double the storage.

Install the Failover Cluster feature

1. On LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3 install the Failover Clustering feature by

using Server Manager.

2. Alternatively, you could use Install-WindowsFeature Failover-Clustering -

IncludeManagementTools

Validate the servers for failover clustering

1. On LON-SVR2, open the Failover Cluster Manager console.

2. Click Validate Configuration.

3. Use LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3 as nodes for test.

4. Run all tests. Wait for the tests to finish. There should be no errors, but you

might receive some warning messages.

5. Click View Report. Examine the Failover Cluster Validation Report. Browse

the categories of information: Inventory, Storage, Networking, and System

Configuration.

6. Finish the wizard.

Create the cluster

1. On LON-SVR2, in the Failover Cluster Manager console, click Create

Cluster.

2. Add LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3.

3. Cluster Name: Cluster1

4. In the Address text box, type 172.16.0.125, and then click Next.

5. View Report and read through the information.

6. Finish the wizard.

7. Expand the left side navigation.

8. Verify Nodes shows both LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3 are Up.

9. Verify Storage\Disks shows three cluster disks are online. You will have an

additional disk if you did the iSCSI Storage (PowerShell) lab.

Add the file-server application to the failover cluster

1. On LON-SVR2, continue in the Failover Cluster Manager console.

2. Right-click Roles and select Configure Roles.

3. On the Before You Begin page, read how roles participate in failover

clustering.

4. On the Select Roles page, review the roles that can be configured for failover

clustering. These roles include DFS Namespace Server, DHCP server, File

Server, iSCSI Target Server, and Virtual Machine.

5. Add File Server as a cluster role. Read about the two types of file servers: File

Server for general use and Scale-Out File Server for application data.

6. Select the File Server for general use option.

7. Specify AdatumFS as Client Access Name, use 172.16.0.130 as the address,

and use Cluster Disk 2 as the storage.

8. Finish the wizard.

Add a shared folder to a highly-available file server

1. On LON-SVR3, from Server Manager, open the Failover Cluster Manager

console.

2. Click Roles and verify AdatumFS is listed.

3. Right-click AdatumFS and review your choices.

4. Select Add File Share.

5. Specify the File share profile as SMB Share – Quick. If you are not familiar

with SMB take a minute to read the descriptions for the different SMB types:

Quick, Advanced, and Application.

6. Accept the default values on the Select the server and the path for this

share page.

7. Name the shared folder Docs.

8. Accept the default values on the Configure share settings and Specify

permissions to control access pages.

9. At the end of the New Share Wizard, create the share.

Configure failover and failback settings

1. On LON-SVR3, in the Failover Cluster Manager console, open the

Properties for the AdatumFS cluster role.

2. On the General tab, select both LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3 as the preferred

owners. Move LON-SVR3 to the first space in the preferred owners list.

3. On the Failover tab, enable fallback between 4 and 5 hours.

4. Apply your changes.

Validate the highly available file-server deployment

1. On LON-DC1, open File Explorer, and then attempt to access the

\\AdatumFS\ location. Verify that you can access the Docs folder.

2. Create a text document inside this folder named test.txt.

3. Verify the current owner of AdatumFS. You can do this by viewing the

Properties and then selecting the Security tab. The owner will likely be LON-

SVR3. In may take a minute for the Properties page to display.

4. On LON-SVR2, in the Failover Cluster Manager console, move AdatumFS

to the second node.

5. On LON-DC1, in File Explorer, verify that you can still access the \\AdatumFS\

location. The owner will have changed to LON-SVR2.

Note: As you have time take a look at the quorum settings and try some of the

PowerShell commands shown in your course. For example, Get-Cluster | Format-

List *, Get-ClusterNetwork, Get-ClusterNodes, Get-ClusterResource, and Get-

ClusterAccess.

Cluster Aware Updating

Note: This experience requires Cluster1 to be created in the previous exercise.

Install the CAU RSAT Failover Clustering tools

1. On LON-DC1, in Server Manager, launch the Add roles and features wizard.

2. On the Select features page, in the list of features, expand Remote Server

Administration Tools, and then expand Feature Administration Tools.

3. Select Failover Clustering Tools, and then click Next.

4. Confirm your changes, and wait while the feature installs.

Use the CAU Remote Updating mode

1. Continue on LON-DC1. Remember this server is not part of the cluster so this

is remote updating.

2. In the Server Manager dashboard, click Tools, and then click Cluster-Aware

Updating.

3. Connect to a Failover Cluster: Cluster1.adatum.com

4. Wait for LON-SVR2 and LON-SVR3 to be added to the console.

5. In the Cluster Actions pane, click Preview updates for this cluster.

6. Notice the Generate Update Preview List button.

7. Click Cancel to cancel the update process because the virtual machines are

not connected to the Internet.

Note: In a real-world scenario, you would wait until the update preview list

generates and review the list.

7. In the Cluster Actions pane, click Create or modify Updating Run Profile.

8. Take a minute to examine the available settings. You can read more at -

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/jj134224(v=ws.11).aspx#Anchor_0

9. In the Cluster Actions pane, click Apply updates to this cluster, click Next

three times and review the information on each page, and then click Cancel.

10. In the Confirm Cancelling Wizard dialog box, click Yes.

Note: In a real-world scenario one node of the cluster is in a waiting state, while

the other node is restarting after it updates.

11. Check out the link to Manage the cluster.

Use CAU in Self-Updating mode

1. On LON-SVR2, in the Server Manager dashboard, click Tools, and then click

Cluster-Aware Updating.

2. Remember LON-SVR2 is part of the cluster so this is self-updating mode.

3. Notice the cluster information is already available. Click Connect.

4. Click Configure cluster self-updating options.

5. On the Getting Started page, click Next.

6. Click Add the CAU clustered role, with self-updating mode enabled, to

this cluster, and then click Next.

7. In the Specify self-updating schedule area, click Weekly, in the Time of

Day drop-down list, select 4:00 AM, and in the Day of the week drop-down

list, select Sunday, and then click Next.

8. Review the Advanced Options page, click Next.

9. Review the Additional Update Options page, click Next.

10. Reveiw the Confirmation page, click Apply.

11. After the clustered role is added successfully, click Close.

12. Browse around and make sure you have seen everything.

Note: As you have time, try some of the PowerShell commands shown in your

course. For example, Get-Cluster | Select-ClusterFunctionalLevel, and Get-

CAURun.

Data Deduplication

Data Deduplication (Server Manager)

In this exercise you install the Data Deduplication role, use ddpeval.exe to determine

space savings, and configure data deduplication on a volume.

Add the data deduplication feature

1. Login to LON-DC1 as Adatum\Administrator with the password Pa55w.rd.

2. In Server Manager, add the Data Deduplication role service. This role service is

under File and Storage Services.

3. Note that you could also install the role using PowerShell:

Install-WindowsFeature FS-Data-Deduplication -IncludeManagementTools

4. Wait for the role to be installed.

Use DDPEval to check for disk space savings

1. Open a Windows PowerShell prompt and change directory to the e: drive.

2. Run DDPEval.exe to see if there would be any savings to using data

deduplication on the E: drive.

DDPEval.exe e:

3. No space savings are shown. This is because there are only a few files on the

drive and all of them are excluded by policy because they are smaller than 32KB.

Use fsutil to generate a large file.

Fsutil file createnew e:\bigfile.txt 12345678900

4. Run DDPEval.exe again. This will take more time to complete.

5. Notice the Space Savings Percent is now over 90%. This was a very large file with

no content.

6. Experiment as you like with large duplicated files.

Implement data deduplication

1. In the Server Manager Dashboard select File and Storage Services, and then

click Disks.

2. Select the Disk 1, and then right-click the E: volume (lower left pane).

3. Select Configure Data Deduplication, and then select the General purpose file

server from the drop-down list. If the Data Deduplication choice is greyed out,

reopen Server Manager.

4. Notice files will not be deduplicated until they are 3 days old.

5. Notice that you can exclude specific file types, files and folders.

6. Select Set Deduplication Schedule.

• Read about and enable the Enable background optimization option.

• Read about the purpose of the Enable throughput optimization options.

7. Apply your changes.

8. In the Volumes window, with the e: drive selected, scroll to the right. Notice the

data deduplication information including Deduplication Rate and Deduplication

Savings.

9. Make a note of the information.

Data Deduplication (PowerShell)

In this exercise you will use Windows PowerShell to manually start a deduplication job

and view the results. This exercise continues from the previous one.

1. On LON-DC1 open a Windows PowerShell prompt.

2. Run Get-Volume and make a note of the Size Remaining on the e: drive.

Get-Volume -DriveLetter E

3. Get Help on how to start a deduplication job.

Help Start-DedupJob

4. Notice the –Type parameter. There are four possible values: Optimization,

GarbageCollection, Scrubbing, and Unoptimization.

5. Use Start-DedupJob to run an optimization job on the E: volume.

Start-DedupJob –Type Optimization –Volume E:

6. Use Get-DedupJob to obtain job information:

Get-DedupJob | Format-List

7. If the command returns no results, it means that the deduplication job is

complete. Start your job again and try to catch the Get-DedupJob output.

8. Use Get-DedupVolume to view information on disk space savings:

Get-DedupVolume | Format-List

9. Notice the SavedSpace information. Remember these jobs run once every hour

so you may not see any savings until the job runs.

Storage Spaces

Storage Spaces (Server Manager)

In this exercise, you will implement a storage pool.

1. Login to LON-SVR1.

2. In Server Manager, click File and Storage Services, and then click Disks. It may

take a couple of minutes for the dashboard to load.

3. Notice Disk 0 and Disk 1 are online. Notice when you select the disk the

volume(s) are shown in the lower left window. Check out the information that is

provided for disks and volumes.

4. Click Storage Pools.

5. Notice the three windows: Storage Pools, Virtual Disks, and Physical Disks.

6. Notice the Storage Spaces window has one storage pool. Notice the friendly

name, Windows Storage. You will need this for PowerShell in the next exercise.

Select the Primordial storage pool.

7. In the Physical Disks window notice there are seven disks. Disks which have been

formatted and partitioned are not available for use in a storage pool.

8. Also, notice that all the available disks are over 10GB. This is another requirement

for storage space disks.

9. Right-click the Primordial Storage Space and select New Storage Pool.

10. Specify a storage pool Name: StoragePool1

11. Select the first three disks and set the Allocation method to Automatic. Notice

the other allocation choices: Hot Spare and Manual.

12. Confirm your selections and Create the storage pool.

13. Select the Primordial Storage Space and notice there are now only four disks

available.

Create the virtual disks

1. Right-click your new storage pool and select New Virtual Disk and notice the

choice to optionally Add Physical Disk.

2. Select your storage pool and click OK. The New Virtual Disk wizard will start.

3. Give the disk a name VirtualDisk1. Notice the option to create storage tiers and

the statement that you need a minimum of one automatically allocated physical

disk of each media type (HDD and SDD).

4. Read about but do not enable Enclosure Awareness.

5. Read about the three storage layouts (Simple, Parity, and Mirror). Select Simple.

6. Read about the types types of provisioning (Thin, Fixed). Select Thin.

7. Set the size to 2GB.

8. Finish the wizard.

9. Continue through the New Volume wizard to create a volume on the disk. Take

the defaults.

10. Select StoragePool1 and verify your disk and volume (lower left window) were

created.

11. Right-click the storage pool and select Properties. Browse the General, Health,

and Details panes. Notice on the Details pane you can see the value of different

properties like Capacity, FreeSpace, and TotalUsed.

Storage Spaces (PowerShell)

In this exercise, you will use PowerShell to create a storage pool.

Create the Storage Pool

1. Login to LON-SVR1.

2. Open a Windows PowerShell prompt.

3. View commands that deal with physical disks.

Get-Command *physicaldisk*

4. Get information about which physical disks are available.

Get-PhysicalDisk

5. Any disk where the CanPool property is True is available and can be included in

a storage pool. Create a variable ($disks) that includes all available disks.

$disks = Get-PhysicalDisk –canpool $true

6. Now that you have defined the physical disks you want to use it is time to look

for storage pool commands.

Get-Command *storagepool

7. Use New-StoragePool to create StoragePool2.

• Use $disks for the physical disks.

• For the storage subsystem friendly name use “Storage Spaces*”

New-StoragePool –PhysicalDisks $Disks –FriendlyName “StoragePool2” –

StorageSubsystemFriendlyName “Windows Storage*“

8. Note: If you have completed previous exercises in this module you may receive

an error:

New Storage Pool failed

One or more physical disks encountered an error while creating the storage pool

This will happen if one of the available disks in the primordial pool is a Virtual HD

instead of a Virtual Disk. Modify your $disks variable and rerun the New-

StoragePool command.

$disks = Get-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName “Virtual Disk” -canpool $true

9. Use Get-StoragePool to verify your new storage pool. Notice the storage pool is

Healthy. Take a moment to review the information returned by the command.

Get-StoragePool -FriendlyName storagepool2 | Format-List

Add functionality to the Storage Pool

1. Use Set-StoragePool to add functionality to StoragePool2.

• Parity default storage layout

• Thin default provisioning type

Set-StoragePool –FriendlyName StoragePool2 –

ResiliencySettingNameDefault Parity –ProvisioningTypeDefault Thin

2. Review the virtual disk commands.

Get-Command *virtualdisk

3. Use New-VirtualDisk to create a new virtual disk from StoragePool2. Use these

parameters.

• Name PowerShellDisk

• Size is 10GB

New-VirtualDisk –StoragePoolFriendlyName StoragePool2 –FriendlyName

PowerShellDisk –Size 10GB

4. Use Server Manager to verify your Storage Pool was created. Notice the

Primordial storage pool is no longer listed, since all the disks are in use. Notice

the thin provisioning on the virtual disk. You may need to Refresh the console.

5. As you have time, you can continue to initialize and format the drive.

Distributed File System

Distributed File System (DFS)

In this exercise, you will implement and test DFS.

Install the DFS Namespace and DFS Replication roles

1. On LON-SVR1, use the Add Roles and Features wizard to install the DFS

Namespaces and DFS Replication role services. The roles are under File and

Storage Services\File and iSCSI services.

2. Repeat step 1 on TOR-SVR1.

Create the BranchDocs DFS Namespace

1. Switch to LON-SVR1.

2. In Server Manager, click Tools, and then click DFS Management.

3. Right-click Namespaces, and then click New Namespace.

• Server: LON-SVR1

• Name: Branchdocs

• Click Edit. Notice the local path for DFSRoots. Select All users have read

and write permissions.

• Namespace type: Domain-based namespace (Read about the

standalone namespace).

• Note the the namespace will be accessed by

\\Adatum.com\BranchDocs.

4. Review your settings and create the namespace.

Add the DataFiles folder to the BranchDocs namespace

1. On LON-SVR1, in DFS Management, notice there is a new namespace.

2. Select Adatum.com\BranchDocs and review the Namespace Servers and

Delegation tabs.

3. Right-click Adatum.com\BranchDocs and then click New Folder.

• Name: DataFiles

• Click Add.

• Path to Target Folder: \\LON-SVR1\DataFiles

• Click Yes to create the folder.

• Local path of shared folder: C:\BranchDocs\DataFiles.

• Click All users have read and write permissions, and then click OK. The

permissions are configured later.

• Click Yes to create the folder.

• Review and OK your changes.

4. Your new datafiles folder should be shown under the Namespaces folder.

Create a folder target for DataFiles on TOR-SVR1

1. Continue on LON-SVR1

2. Select DataFiles.

3. In the details pane, notice that there is currently only one folder target.

4. Right-click DataFiles, and then click Add Folder Target.

5. Under Path to folder target, type \\TOR-SVR1\DataFiles, and then click OK.

6. Click Yes to create the folder on TOR-SVR1

7. Under Local path of shared folder, type C:\BranchDocs\DataFiles.

8. Select All users have read and write permissions, and then click OK.

9. Click Yes to create the shared folder on TOR-SVR1

10. In the Replication dialog box, click Yes. The Replicate Folder Wizard starts.

Configure replication for the namespace

1. In the Replicate Folder wizard accept the default settings for Replication

group name and Replicated folder name.

2. On the Replication Eligibility page, accept the members.

3. On the Primary Member page, select LON-SVR1, and then click Next.

4. On the Topology Selection page, select Full Mesh. Read about the other

choices.

5. Review the choices for Schedule and Bandwidth. Take the default, replicate

continuously.

6. Notice the bandwidth drop-down with different speeds.

7. Notice the capability to replicate on a schedule

8. Acknowledge the warning that you need to create the topology.

9. Review your setting and click Create.

10. Acknowledge there may be a replication delay.

Create the topology

1. In the DFS Management console, expand Replication, and then click

Adatum.com\BranchDocs\DataFiles.

2. Read the warning that the topology is not fully connected.

3. In the Action pane, click New Topology.

4. Select Full mesh.

5. Complete the wizard.

6. On the Memberships tab, verify that the replicated folder appears on both

TOR-SVR1 and LON-SVR1.

7. Notice the warning has been removed.

Verify DFSR functionality for TOR-SVR1

1. On LON-SVR1, use File Explorer to access

\\Adatum.com\BranchDocs\DataFiles.

2. Create a new test document.

3. Navigate to C:\BranchDocs\Datafiles, and then press Enter. Confirm your

new document is located in the folder.

4. Switch to TOR-SVR1.

5. In File Explorer, navigate to C:\BranchDocs\Datafiles, and then press Enter.

Confirm your new document is also located there.

Note: If your new document does not appear within 1 minute or even after

refreshing the view, restart TOR-SVR1. Also, try some of the PowerShell commands

shown in your course. For example, Get-DfsnRoot, Get-DfsnFolder, Get-

DfsnRootTarget, Get-DfsrConnectionSchedule, and Get-DfsrReplicationGroup.

BranchCache

BranchCache

In this exercise, you will implement and test Branch Cache. All tasks will be

performed as Adatum\Administrator with password Pa55w.rd. Keep this diagram

in mind as you go through the tasks.

Configure the Content File Server (SYD-SVR1)

Configure the file server (SYD-SVR1) to use BranchCache and hash publication

1. Login to SYD-SVR1. This is our content file server.

2. From Server Manager, install the Files and Storage Services\File and iSCSI

Services\BranchCache for Network Files role service.

3. Open the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

4. Browse to and open Computer Configuration\Administrative

Templates\Network\Lanman Server\Hash Publication for BranchCache.

5. Read about what this setting does, and then Enable the setting.

6. Notice that BranchCache options is a drop-down. Select Allow hash

publication only for shared folders on which BranchCache is enabled. Be

sure to apply your changes.

Prepare a file share for BranchCache

1. On SYD-SVR1, in a File Explorer window, create a new folder named

C:\Share.

2. Share this folder with the following properties:

• Share name: Share

• Permissions: default

• Caching: Enable BranchCache (This is an Advanced Sharing/Caching

option)

3. Copy C:\Windows\System32\mspaint.exe to the C:\Share folder.

Use QoS to throttle the SYD-SVR1

1. We are throttling the bandwidth so it is easier to show BranchCache working.

This is only done in the lab.

2. Continue using the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

3. Navigate to the following local policy node: Computer

Configuration\Windows Settings\Policy-based QoS.

4. Create a new policy with the following settings, take the defaults if not

specified. This will throttle the bandwidth so the branchcache feature can be

easily demonstrated.

• Name: Limit to 100 Kbps

• Specify Outbound Throttle Rate: 100

Configure the Hosted Cache Server (LON-SVR1)

Install the BranchCache feature on our hosted cache server (LON-SVR1)

1. On LON-SVR1, open a Windows PowerShell prompt.

2. Add the BranchCache feature.

Install-WindowsFeature BranchCache

3. Enable the BranchCache host server. This command indicates that the

hosted cache server registers a service connection point in Active Directory

Domain Services (AD DS). This allows BranchCache-enabled client computers

to locate the hosted cache server by using the service connection point.

Enable-BCHostedServer –RegisterSCP

4. Review information about the hosted cache server. Notice cache size and

location.

Get-BCStatus

5. Verify that BranchCache is Enabled with status Running

6. You could also review information using:

netsh branchcache show status all

Configure the Domain Controller Group Policy (LON-DC1)

Use Group Policy on LON-DC1 to enable BranchCache in the hosted cache

mode

1. On LON-DC1, open Server Manager, and then open Active Directory Users

and Computers.

2. In the Active Directory Users and Computers console, move the LON-CL1

and LON-CL2 computer objects from the Computers container to the IT

organization unit. We are doing this, because we are editing the default

domain policy which only applies to root level OUs.

3. Open Group Policy Management, and edit the Default Domain Policy.

4. In the Group Policy Management Editor, browse to Computer

Configuration\Policies\Administrative

Templates\Network\BranchCache.

5. Take a moment to review the group policy settings, and then configure the

following. Be sure to Apply your changes.

• Turn on BranchCache: Enabled

• Set BranchCache Hosted Cache mode, specify LON-SVR1 as the hosted

cache server.

• Enable Automatic Hosted Cache Discovery by Service Connection

Point: Enabled

• Configure BranchCache for network files: Enabled (Type the maximum

round trip network latency (milliseconds) after which caching begins: 0)

Use Group Policy to configure client firewall rules for BranchCache

1. Continue on LON-DC1 in the Group Policy Management editor editing the

Default Domain Policy.

2. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security

Settings\Windows Firewall with Advanced Security\Windows Firewall

with Advanced Security\Inbound Rules.

3. Create a new inbound firewall rule with the following properties:

• Rule type: Predefined

• Use BranchCache – Content Retrieval (Uses HTTP)

• Action: Allow the connection

4. Create a new inbound firewall rule with the following properties:

• Rule type: Predefined

• Use BranchCache – Peer Discovery (Uses WSD)

• Action: Allow the connection

5. Close the Group Policy Management Editor and Group Policy

Management console.

Configure and Test the Clients (LON-CL1 and LON-CL2)

Configure the clients (LON-CL1 and LON-CL2)

1. On LON-CL1 sign in as Adatum\Administrator.

2. Open a command prompt.

3. Refresh the Group Policy settings by using the command gpupdate /force.

4. Type netsh branchcache show status all, and then press Enter.

5. Verify that BranchCache is Enabled with status Running and that the options

from Group Policy are applied. If the status is Stopped, repeat steps 3 and 4.

6. Repeat the above steps on LON-CL2 .

Test BranchCache functionality

1. On LON-CL1, open File Explorer, and then copy \\SYD-

SVR1\Share\mspaint.exe to the desktop.

2. Notice how long this takes. It should take a couple of minutes.

3. On LON-CL2, open File Explorer, and then copy \\SYD-

SVR1\Share\mspaint.exe to the desktop.

4. Note that the file copy time is much faster than to LON-CL1, because the file

is cached on LON-SVR1.

5. As you have time explorer the Event View logs, and the BranchCache

performance counters.

Note: As you have time, try some of the PowerShell commands shown in your

course. For example, Get-BCClientConfiguration, Get-BCStatus, and Get-

BCHostedCacheServerConfiguration.