Windows Storage Server 2012 - Digiliant

DIGILIANT

Windows Storage Server 2012

User’s Guide

Copyright © 2012 Digiliant, LLC.

All Rights Reserved.

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without the prior written permission of Digiliant, LLC.

1 OVERVIEW OF WINDOWS STORAGE SERVER 2012 ................................................................................................ 1

NEW STORAGE INNOVATIONS IN WINDOWS STORAGE SERVER 2012......................................................................................... 1

The goals for storage were to deliver innovations in four areas: ..................................................................................... 1

New capabilities: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1

EDITIONS ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 2

2 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 2012 .......................................................................... 6

BASIC CONFIGURATION ................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Add Roles ................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Add Features ......................................................................................................................................................................... 10

CONNECTING WITH THE REMOTE DESKTOP PROTOCOL ............................................................................................................ 11

Remote Desktop Connection Client ................................................................................................................................... 11

3 SETTING UP USER ACCESS .......................................................................................................................................... 12

CREATING NEW USERS AND GROUPS ........................................................................................................................................ 12

Creating New Users ............................................................................................................................................................. 13

Creating User Groups .......................................................................................................................................................... 13

Assigning Users to Groups ................................................................................................................................................. 15

4 DISK, VOLUME, AND SHARE MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................... 16

DISK MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Advanced Volume Features ................................................................................................................................................ 16

STORAGE SPOOL AND STORAGE SPACE .................................................................................................................................... 17

Creating Storage Pool .......................................................................................................................................................... 18

Creating Storage Space ...................................................................................................................................................... 18

SHARE AND STORAGE MANAGER ................................................................................................................................................ 19

Creating Shared Folders in Server Manager .................................................................................................................... 19

Changing Shared Folder Setting ........................................................................................................................................ 21

MANAGING SHARE PERMISSIONS ............................................................................................................................................... 22

Various Share Permissions ................................................................................................................................................. 22

Viewing and Configuring Share Permissions ................................................................................................................... 22

VIEWING USER AND COMPUTER SESSIONS ................................................................................................................................ 24

MANAGING SESSIONS AND SHARES ............................................................................................................................................ 24

Ending Individual Sessions ................................................................................................................................................. 25

Ending All Sessions .............................................................................................................................................................. 25

Managing Open Resources ................................................................................................................................................ 25

Closing an Open File ............................................................................................................................................................ 25

Closing All Open Files .......................................................................................................................................................... 26

Stopping File and Folder Sharing ....................................................................................................................................... 26

CONFIGURING NFS SHARING ..................................................................................................................................................... 26

USING SHADOW COPIES ............................................................................................................................................................. 27

Understanding Shadow Copies .......................................................................................................................................... 27

Creating Shadow Copies ..................................................................................................................................................... 27

Restoring a Shadow Copy ................................................................................................................................................... 28

Reverting an Entire Volume to a Previous Shadow Copy .............................................................................................. 28

Deleting Shadow Copies ..................................................................................................................................................... 28

Disabling Shadow Copies ................................................................................................................................................... 29

5 DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM (DFS) AND REPLICATION ........................................................................................ 30

Installing Support for Namespaces and Replication ........................................................................................................ 30

DFS Management ................................................................................................................................................................ 31

CREATING A NEW NAMESPACE ................................................................................................................................................... 31

Namespace Server ............................................................................................................................................................... 31

Namespace Name and Settings ......................................................................................................................................... 32

Namespace Type .................................................................................................................................................................. 32

Review Settings .................................................................................................................................................................... 33

ADDING FOLDERS TO A NAMESPACE .......................................................................................................................................... 34

New Folder ............................................................................................................................................................................ 34

FOLDER REPLICATION ................................................................................................................................................................. 38

New Folder Target ................................................................................................................................................................ 39

Replication Group and Replicated Folder Name ............................................................................................................. 39

Replication Eligibility ............................................................................................................................................................ 40

Primary Member ................................................................................................................................................................... 40

Topology Selection ............................................................................................................................................................... 41

Replication Group Schedule and Bandwidth .................................................................................................................... 41

Review Settings and Create Replication Group ............................................................................................................... 42

MANAGING REPLICATION GROUPS ............................................................................................................................................. 42

HOW REPLICATION WORKS ......................................................................................................................................................... 43

6 CREATING AND MANAGING ISCSI TARGETS .......................................................................................................... 45

CREATING AN ISCSI TARGET ...................................................................................................................................................... 45

CREATING A VIRTUAL HARD DRIVE FOR AN ISCSI TARGET ....................................................................................................... 46

File .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 47

Size ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 47

Assign iSCSI target .............................................................................................................................................................. 47

Target Name.......................................................................................................................................................................... 48

Access Server ....................................................................................................................................................................... 48

Add initiator ID ....................................................................................................................................................................... 49

Enable Authentication .......................................................................................................................................................... 49

Confirmation .......................................................................................................................................................................... 50

CONNECTING TO AN ISCSI TARGET ........................................................................................................................................... 51

APPENDIX A: ISCSI PORTS AND WINDOWS FIREWALL .......................................................................................... 54

ENABLING ISCSI IN THE WINDOWS FIREWALL ........................................................................................................................... 54

APPENDIX B: NETWORK CARDS TEAMING ................................................................................................................. 55

CONFIGURING NIC TEAMING ....................................................................................................................................................... 55

NIC TEAMING PROPERTIES: ........................................................................................................................................................ 55

APPENDIX C: RESTORING YOUR DIGILIANT SERVER ............................................................................................. 56

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1 Overview of Windows Storage Server 2012

The Digiliant NW Series Storage Servers run Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2012. 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 2012. 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 2012. 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

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Data Deduplicatìon

NFSv2, NFSv3, and NFSv4.1 support

Remote Storage Management

All from a single interface

Improving performance and capabilities Maximizing reliability and availability

SMB Direct

SMB Multichannel

SMB Scale Out

SQL Server over SMB

Hyper‐V over SMB

Offloaded Data Transfer

Live Storage Migration

Virtual Fibre Channel

Continuous Availability for SMB,

iSCSI and NFS

Online scanning and repair in NTFS

and ReFS

Faster CHKDSK in NTFS

Storage Spaces with ReFS

SMB Transparent Failover

Cluster‐Aware Updating

Editions

Digiliant offers two different versions of Windows Storage Server 2012. 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 2012.

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

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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

‐ 4 ‐

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.

‐ 5‐

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.

‐ 6 ‐

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.

‐ 7‐

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.

‐ 8 ‐

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.

‐ 9‐

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.

‐ 10 ‐

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.

‐ 11‐

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.

‐ 12 ‐

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.

‐ 13‐

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.

‐ 14 ‐

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.

‐ 15‐

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.

‐ 16 ‐

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.

‐ 17‐

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.

‐ 18 ‐

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.

‐ 19‐

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).

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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

‐ 21‐

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:



2. Right‐click the share you want to work with, and click Properties.

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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:



‐ 23‐

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.

‐ 24 ‐

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.

‐ 25‐

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:


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:


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.

‐ 26 ‐

Closing All Open Files

To close all open files on a computer’s shares, follow these steps:

1. In Computer Management, connect to the computer on which the share is created.

2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then right‐click Open Files.

3. Click Disconnect All Open Files, and then click Yes to confirm the action.

Stopping File and Folder Sharing

To stop sharing a folder, follow these steps:

1. Do one of the following:

In Server Manager, select the share you want to manage on the Shares subnode of the File And Storage

Services node.

In Computer Management, connect to the computer on which you created the share, and then access

the Shares node.

2. Right‐click the share you want to remove, tap or click Stop Sharing, and then click Yes to confirm the action.

Configuring NFS Sharing

Server For NFS as a role service is installed by default on a Digiliant Windows Storage Server 2012 system. Server For

NFS provides a file‐sharing solution for enterprises with mixed Windows, OS X, and UNIX environments, allowing

users to transfer files between Windows Server 2012, OS X, and UNIX operating systems using the Network File

System (NFS) protocol.

You can configure NFS sharing for local folders on NTFS volumes using File Explorer. You can also configure NFS

sharing of local and remote folders on NTFS volumes by using Server Manager.

With Server Manager, you can configure NFS permissions as part of the initial share configuration when you are

provisioning a share. On the Shares subnode of the File And Storage Services node, you can create an NFS share by

following these steps:

1. In the Shares pane, click Tasks and then click New Share. This starts the New Share Wizard. Choose NFS

Share — Quick or NFS Share — Advanced as the share profile, and then click Next.

2. Specify the share name and location as you would for an SMB share.

3. On the Specify Authentication Methods page, configure Kerberos v5 Authentication and No Server

Authentication.

4. On the Specify Share Permissions page, configure access for UNIX hosts. Hosts can be set for no access,

read‐only access, or read/ write access to the share.

5. On the Specify Permissions To Control Access, optionally set NTFS permissions for the share.

6. 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. However, because typical errors relate to

‐ 27‐

configuring host access, you probably won’t need to repeat this procedure to create the share. Instead, you

might need to modify only the share permissions. Click Close.

Using Shadow Copies

Any time your organization uses shared folders, you should consider creating shadow copies of these shared folders

as well. Shadow copies are point‐in‐time backups of data files that users can access directly in shared folders. These

point‐in‐time backups can save you and the other administrators in your organization a lot of work, especially if you

routinely have to retrieve lost, overwritten, or corrupted data files from backups. The normal procedure for

retrieving shadow copies is to use the Previous Versions or Shadow Copy client. Windows Storage Server 2012

includes a feature enhancement that allows you to revert an entire (nonsystem) volume to a previous shadow copy

state.

Understanding Shadow Copies

You can create shadow copies only on NTFS volumes. You use the Shadow Copy feature to create automatic backups

of the files in shared folders on a per‐volume basis. For example, on a file server that has three NTFS volumes, each

containing shared folders, you need to configure this feature for each volume separately.

If you enable this feature in its default configuration, shadow copies are created twice each weekday (Monday–

Friday) at 7: 00 A.M. and 12: 00 P.M. You need at least 100 MB of free space to create the first shadow copy on a

volume. The total disk space used beyond this depends on the amount of data in the volume’s shared folders. You

can restrict the total amount of disk space used by Shadow Copy by setting the allowable maximum size of the

point‐in‐time backups.

You configure and view current Shadow Copy settings on the Shadow Copies tab of the disk’s Properties dialog box.

In File Explorer or Computer Management, right‐click the icon for the disk you want to work with, click Properties,

and then click the Shadow Copies tab. The Select A Volume panel shows the following:

Volume The volume label of NTFS volumes on the selected disk drive

Next Run Time The status of Shadow Copy as Disabled, or the next time a shadow copy of the volume will

be created

Shares The number of shared folders on the volume

Used The amount of disk space used by Shadow Copy

Individual shadow copies of the currently selected volume are listed in the Shadow Copies Of Selected Volume panel

by date and time.

Creating Shadow Copies

To create a shadow copy on an NTFS volume with shared folders, follow these steps:

1. Open Computer Management. If necessary, connect to a remote computer.

2. In the console tree, expand Storage, and then select Disk Management. The volumes configured on the

selected computer are displayed in the details pane.

3. Right‐click Disk Management, point to All Tasks, and then clicks Configure Shadow Copies.

4. On the Shadow Copies tab, select the volume you want to work within the Select A Volume list.

‐ 28 ‐

5. Click Settings to configure the maximum size of all shadow copies for this volume and to change the default

schedule. Click OK.

6. After you configure the volume for shadow copying, click Enable if necessary. When prompted to confirm

this action, click Yes. Enabling shadow copying creates the first shadow copy and sets the schedule for later

shadow copies.

Restoring a Shadow Copy

Users working on client computers access shadow copies of individual shared folders by using the Previous Versions

or Shadow Copy client. The best way to access shadow copies on a client computer is to follow these steps:

1. In File Explorer, right‐click the share for which you want to access previous file versions, click Properties, and

then click the Previous Versions tab.

2. On the Previous Versions tab, select the folder version you want to work with. Each folder has a date and

time stamp. Click the button corresponding to the action you want to perform:

Click Open to open the shadow copy in File Explorer.

Click Copy to display the Copy Items dialog box, which lets you copy the snapshot image of the folder to

the location you specify.

Click Restore to roll back the shared folder to its state at the time of the snapshot image you selected.

Reverting an Entire Volume to a Previous Shadow Copy

Windows Storage Server 2012 features a shadow copy enhancement that allows you to revert an entire volume to

the state it was in when a particular shadow copy was created. Because volumes containing operating system files

can’t be reverted, the volume you want to revert must not be a system volume. The same goes for volumes on a

cluster shared disk.

To revert an entire volume to a previous state, follow these steps:


2. In the console tree, expand Storage. Right‐click Disk Management, point to All Tasks, and then clicks

Configure Shadow Copies.


4. Individual shadow copies of the currently selected volume are listed by date and time in the Shadow Copies

Of Selected Volume panel. Select the shadow copy with the date and time stamp to which you want to

revert, and then click Revert.

5. To confirm this action, select the Check Here If You Want To Revert This Volume check box and then click

Revert Now. Click OK to close the Shadow Copies dialog box.

Deleting Shadow Copies

Each point‐in‐time backup is maintained separately. You can delete individual shadow copies of a volume as

necessary. This recovers the disk space used by the shadow copies.

To delete a shadow copy, follow these steps:

‐ 29‐





4. Individual shadow copies of the currently selected volume are listed by date and time in the Shadow Copies

Of Selected Volume panel. Select the shadow copy you want to delete, and then click Delete Now. Click Yes

to confirm the action.

Disabling Shadow Copies

If you no longer want to maintain shadow copies of a volume, you can disable the Shadow Copy feature. Disabling

this feature turns off the scheduling of automated point‐in‐time backups and removes any existing shadow copies.

To disable shadow copies of a volume, follow these steps:




3. On the Shadow Copies tab, select the volume you want to work within the Select A Volume list and then click

Disable.

4. When prompted, confirm the action by clicking Yes. Click OK to close the Shadow Copies dialog box.

‐ 30 ‐

5 Distributed File System (DFS) and Replication

One of the problems that can exist on a larger network is keeping track of multiple shares across multiple servers.

This is where the Distributed File System or DFS comes in. Using DFS you can create a “Root Share” as a centralized

location to allow users to easily find other shares in one place instead of having to search multiple locations or map

multiple connections. While you can run DFS in a Standalone (peer‐to‐peer) environment, you do lose many of the

features that Windows Storage Server 2012 can provide when it is a member of an Active Directory Domain.

Since any created share on a standalone system will be displayed by simply browsing to the system, DFS is generally

not needed when you only have a single storage server in a peer‐to‐peer environment. Therefore we will only cover

DFS in a Domain Setting and the advanced features it provides, such as Replication among many member systems.

Installing Support for Namespaces and Replication

The root of a DFS is called a Namespace and should be something that will identify the data content contained

within. Before you will be able to create one you need to install the DFS Namespaces and DFS Replication options in

File And Storage Services under Roles. This can be done by bringing up the Server Manager and clicking on Add roles

and features. This will start the wizard for add roles and features. Follow the wizard, under File And Storage Services,

then File and iSCSI services, check both DFS Namespaces and DFS Replication options. Once you have them checked,

follow the wizard to finish the installation of DFS Namespaces and DFS Replication services.

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DFS Management

Now that we have installed the required files to enable DFS and Replication you can access them from the Tools

drop down menu under Server Manager Dashboard as shown below.

Creating a New Namespace

Before users can utilize the features of DFS you must create one or more Namespaces first. A Namespace is a

centralized location for multiple shares. For example, your Accounting Department has one share for Billing and

another one for Company Assets that are on two different servers. With DFS we can consolidate them into one

location to not only make it easier for users to access but also enable administrators to ensure those shares are

always available.

To create a Namespace, click on New Namespace on the right hand side of the DFS Management to start the New

Namespace Wizard. The following sections will use a Windows Server 2012 Standard Server System as our Active

Directory Domain Controller named SERVER2012 and a Windows Storage Server 2012 Standard named NASSERVER

to create a Namespace on.

Namespace Server

The first page of the New Namespace Wizard is where you select which server you want to host this namespace on.

While you can choose any server on your network, it is recommended to use your storage server. Once you set the

host server, click Next.

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Namespace Name and Settings

Here is where you select a Name for the root of your namespace. Make sure the name you choose clearly states

what type of data is contained within. For the purpose of this manual we will create a namespace for a fictional

Accounting Department. Once you’ve typed in the name, click Next.

Namespace Type

Since the host server is part of a Windows 2012 Active Directory Domain, we will select to use a Domain‐based

namespace. While we can create a Standalone namespace we ultimately want to set up File Replication, which

requires a domain. Click Next when you are done.

‐ 33‐

Review Settings

The final page of the wizard will summarize the settings of the namespace. If everything looks correct then click

Create.

‐ 34 ‐

Adding Folders to a Namespace

Now that we have created a namespace for an Accounting Department we need to add folders for users to store

data. In the Server Manager expand Roles until you have selected the Accounting namespace. As you can see we

do not have any folders defined yet so the namespace is empty. Simply click on New Folder on the right side of the

console to add a folder into the namespace.

New Folder

Folders inside a namespace are actually individual network shares and the New Folder option will is an easy way to

create new ones. In the Name field type in a name for the new namespace folder. Then click on the Add button to

create the actual share.

‐ 35‐

Under Server select which server in your network that you want to host the share at. Again, we recommend that

you host all of your shares from your storage server. After the server is contacted you’ll see a list of all the current

shares on it. We will create a new one so click New Shared Folder.

In the Create Share box type in a name for the new share, it should be a simple name for what you plan to store

inside. Click on Browse to set the location of this new share.

In the Browse For Folder window you can expand out the drives of the server and either select an existing folder or

click on Make New Folder to create a new one. Click on the destination folder and then click OK.

‐ 36 ‐

Finally, set the Shared folder permissions to All users have read and write permissions. It’s always best to use NTFS

permissions to control file access and this way we prevent possible permission conflicts, but changing this will

prevent users from not being able to write to the folder. Click OK to continue.

Now the new share will be available as an option for the target of the new namespace folder. Click the folder and

then click OK to continue.

‐ 37‐

The New Folder window shows the location of the folder we are about to create. Under Folder targets you can see

the server and location of where the data will be stored. While you can add more targets, we’ll cover that later in

this chapter as it deals with replication. Click OK to create the new namespace folder.

In the Server Manager you will now see the new folder listed in the center of the console. You may repeat the Add

Folder Target as many times as you need to. We recommend that you create a folder for different types of files,

such as a Payroll folder and a Taxes folder for example. That way you can keep your data organized for easier

access.

Now that we have a functional namespace, any computer on your domain can access it like any other share. What

makes namespaces so powerful in a domain is that you access them with the actual domain name, not the server

name. That way once you have replication set up if the primary server goes down then one of the replication

servers takes over. This is completely invisible to the user. The other reason for using the domain name is because

a namespace can have folders from shares across many different servers so we can centralize the location where

users access data. From one simple network map you can access data from any server in your organization, as

shown from this workstation.

‐ 38 ‐

Folder Replication

One of the more powerful features of Windows Storage Server 2012 is Replication. With two or more servers

replicating folders you can ensure a high availability of data in the event that the primary server goes down. This is

accomplished by having two or more Target Folders for each folder in your namespace. In order to demonstrate

how this is done, let’s expand on the Accounting namespace we just created. We will also need a second server to

host a new folder target on and we’ll use a Windows Server 2012 system named SERVER2012 to do so.

Before we can replicate a folder in our namespace we need to add at least one more target to the folder(s). To do

so we need to be at the namespace in the Server Manager as show below.

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Click on the Folder you wish to add a target to highlight it and then click on Add Folder Target on the bottom half of

the right side in the DFS Management. In the example on the previous page, you’ll note that the header is Billing,

which is the name of the folder we want to add the additional target to.

New Folder Target

Clicking Add Folder Target brings up the New Folder Target window. As with the Billing Folder we created previously,

adding a new target is done the same way with one exception; we will connect to a second server and create a share

on it instead of the server where we created the namespace on. Once you have the path to the folder target set,

click OK.

Because we now have more than one target for our Billing Folder we’ll be asked if we want to create a replication

group. Since we do, click Yes to start the wizard.

Replication Group and Replicated Folder Name

By default the wizard will populate the Replication group name and Replicated folder name fields, which you should

not change. Click on Next to continue.

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Replication Eligibility

The Replication Eligibility page will check if the target folders will work with replication. In the Details you will see

the location of the two folders that will be used to create this replication set. Click Next to continue.

Primary Member

Now we need to tell the wizard which server will be the Primary Member of this replication group. If you click the

Primary server list, it will display your choices based on what servers are hosting a folder target. In this example,

SERVER2012 is our backup server so NASSERVER will be the Primary Server, which is the default. Once you have

selected your primary server, click Next to continue.

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Topology Selection

Topology is the type of replication you want to take place. In most cases Full mesh will work the best, but if you end

up having more than 10 servers in your replication set you may want to select Hub and spoke. Since we only have

two servers we will leave the default setting of Full mesh. Click Next to continue.

Replication Group Schedule and Bandwidth

By default the wizard will set up the replication group to replicate continuously and use all available bandwidth to

keep the files in sync. For this example we will leave the default settings, but if need to restrict the days or amount

of bandwidth used for replication, you can create a custom setting as well. Click Next to continue.

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Review Settings and Create Replication Group

The last page of the wizard will review the settings in case you need to make a change. When you are satisfied, click

Create to create the replication group.

Managing Replication Groups

In the Server Manager once you have created a replication group you can manage it by going to the Replication

section under Roles as shown below. Simply click on the group name you wish to manage to access the available

tools on the right side of the console. The two you will want to check on a regular basis are Create Diagnostic

Report, which will show you any potential problems that may have come up, and Verify Topology to ensure that

your servers are replicating in the manner you need them to.

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How Replication Works

Now that we have a replication group in place for the Billing Folder you may not be completely clear on the

importance of why we set it up. As far as people accessing data from Billing, they will still reach their data from the

same location of the namespace.

A typical Windows 8 user would see this when they go to the Billing Folder to access data. One directory holds files.

If we look at NASSERVER we can browse to find the location of the Billing Share to see the same file that we did on

the Windows 8 system. Since NASSERVER was chosen as the Primary Server for the replication set, this is where

users will actual get their files from.

Finally, if we go into SERVER2012 and browse to where it’s Billing folder share is we will see the same contents as

NASSERVER.

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Suppose that NASSERVER goes down due to an operating system crash and can no longer host the Billing folder.

Users will be unaware of this because SERVER2012 will now take over until NASSERVER is brought back online. At

the next scheduled replication time NASSERVER will resynchronize with SERVER2012 and resume operation as the

Primary Server. What this means to you is that you can create an environment that ensures data is available to your

users even if a file server goes offline. As long as at least one server in a replication group is online then as far as

your users are concerned everything is working as normal.

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6 Creating and Managing iSCSI Targets

iSCSI is a protocol that allows you to create storage space on a remote storage device and yet still appear as a locally

attached hard drive. iSCSI requires two parts to function, the Target, which is where the data is actually stored and

the Initiator that connects the client system to the target. A perfect example of this would be a virtual server where

it can store its drives on a storage server instead of the host system.

Creating an iSCSI Target

Before you can create your target you need to get some information from the system that will be connecting to it

from its Initiator Program. Windows Visa, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 have the Microsoft

iSCSI Initiator already installed but for earlier versions such as Windows Server 2003 you need to download it from

Microsoft.com and install it first.

For different versions of Windows, you‘ll find iSCSI Initiator either in Control Panel or in Administrative Tools. Go

ahead and launch the program once you’ve installed and/or located it. If your initiator is not Microsoft’s, please

refer to its documentation or contact your vendor for support.

This is the initiator that comes with Windows Server 2008 Standard. Yours may differ a little bit depending on what

version you are running but they are all pretty much the same. Click on the General Tab to find the Initiator Name.

This is a unique name on your network to identify this system like a computer name. We recommend that you leave

it alone but if you need to change it, click Change and type in a new name as long as remains unique on the network.

Make a note of the name as we’ll need it during the creation of the iSCSI Target. When you are done click Cancel to

close the initiator.

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Open the Server Manager and under File and Storage Services is where you’ll find the iSCSI console. Once you have

it displayed, click on To create an iSCSI virtual disk, start the New iSCSI Virtual Disk Wizard to start the wizard. Go

ahead and click Next on the first page of the wizard.

Note: If at any time you are asked to allow iSCSI in the Windows Firewall please do so.

Creating a Virtual Hard Drive for an iSCSI Target

Select the server and the disk volume for virtual disk location, then click Next to continue.

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File

The wizard will pre‐populate the Path to “iSCSIVirtualDisks” by default. If you want to use a different one, go to the

previous page, and select “Type a custom path”. If the path doesn’t exist, it will be created.

Type a name for the virtual disk. When you have it correctly entered, click Next to continue.

Size

Specify the iSCSI virtual disk, and then click Next to continue.

Assign iSCSI target

Now the Wizard will guide you to assign the virtual disk to an iSCSI target. Since we don’t have iSCSI target created

yet, we need select New iSCSI target and then click Next to continue.

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Target Name

Give the Target a name. The name will be discovered by the iSCSI initiator, and use for the connection. Click Next to

continue.

Access Server

This page allows you to specify the initiators which can access the virtual disk, by allowing the Target to be

discovered by defined list of initiators. Click Add to define a new initiator.

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Add initiator ID

Select an initiator from the cache on the server, or type in the initiator name you got from the beginning of the

chapter and then click OK.

Enable Authentication

CHAP is an authentication mechanism defined by the iSCSI standard to secure access to the target. It allows the

initiator to authenticate to the Target, and in reverse allowing the Target to authenticate against the initiator. Click

Next to continue.

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Confirmation

This page displays the information of the iSCSI target to be created. Click Create to create the target.

One the wizard is completed; the iSCSI Virtual Disk will be shown on the iSCSI Page.

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Connecting to an iSCSI Target

Now that we have created a target we can use our initiator to connect to it. Launch the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

again. If you cannot connect to your target using the following guide, please refer to Appendix A about how to allow

iSCSI with the Windows Firewall if something is still blocked.

Click on the Discovery Tab. Here is where we will tell the initiator about the server the target is located on.

Sometimes the initiator will find it automatically and sometimes it will not. If it is not displayed, click Add Portal.

Under IP address or DNS name type in the name or IP address of the server hosting the target. The default TCP port

for iSCSI is 3260 so leave it at the default setting and click OK.

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Now click on the Targets Tab and you should see the name being used by the remote server, which is similar to the

Identifier Name of this system. If you do not see it, click Refresh and it should appear. Notice that it’s Status is

Inactive. That means while we are talking to the iSCSI target now we are not actually connected to it yet. Click the

Log on button.

Leave the settings at default and click OK.

Now back on the Targets Tab you see that the status has changed to Active. This means we are now connected to

the iSCSI target.

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Depending on what operating system you are using, you will now need to create a partition and format it before you

can begin to use it. The initiator used in this guide was the one included with Windows Server 2012 Standard and

demonstrated how you connect an iSCSI target to a production server in your network. To make the drive available

we simply open up Disk Management. As far as Disk Management is concerned, the 60GB iSCSI Target is a local

drive.

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Appendix A: iSCSI Ports and Windows Firewall

The Microsoft iSCSI Target requires certain TCP/UDP Ports to be open to work properly. The following table shows

which ports are required, what they are used for, and will assist you in opening the necessary ports and create the

required rules for a 3rd‐party firewall application or hardware appliance. Please refer to your documentation for

help as this appendix only covers the built‐in Windows Firewall.

Microsoft iSCSI Target Ports

Port or Application Description

TCP 3260 The Microsoft iSCSI Target Service. This is the primary port used for iSCSI on

Windows Storage Server 2012 Workgroup and Standard Editions.

TCP 135 Remote Procedure Call. Required for the Component Object Module (COM)

to communicate through.

UDP 138 NetBIOS Datagram Service. This is most likely already allowed, but if it isn’t

then it needs to be added manually.

Enabling iSCSI in the Windows Firewall

When the iSCSI Target Console asks you if you want to enable iSCSI in the firewall and you select Yes, there

shouldn’t be a need for any additional configuration. If you find that you cannot connect to your iSCSI targets, check

the following rule to ensure that it’s enable as shown below in the Server Manager.

Under Inbound Rules scroll until you see iSCSI Target and Target Service as shown highlighted above. If it’s Disabled,

click Enable on the right side of the console and try your connection to the targets again. The firewall should now be

open.

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Appendix B: Network Cards Teaming

Digiliant Storage Servers are equipped with two or more network adapters. NIC Teaming, also known as load

balancing and failover (LBFO), allows multiple network adapters on a computer to be placed into a team for the

following purposes:

Bandwidth aggregation

Traffic failover to prevent connectivity loss in the event of a network component failure

Configuring NIC Teaming

1. Open Server Manager, in the console tree, click Local Server.

2. In the details pane, in the Properties section, if the NIC Teaming is disable, click disable to display NIC Teaming page.

3. From the Tasks drop-down menu in the Teams section, click New Team.

4. In the Add Team dialog box, type a team name and select the network adapters in the team.

5. If you are using VLANs, clear the Default check box and specify the VLAN ID. By default, the team will deliver up all traffic received regardless of VLAN ID (though the VLAN ID is passed with the packet so that other components in the stack can sort them appropriately).

6. If you want to use a mode other than the default, click Advanced and specify the teaming mode (Switch Independent, Static Teaming, or LACP) and load distribution mode (Address Hash) as needed.

7. Click OK to create the team.

NIC Teaming Properties:

Teaming Mode:

Static Teaming requires configuration on the switch and the computer to identify which

links form the team. Because this is a statically configured solution. This is a

switch dependent mode of NIC teaming.

Switch Independent mode allows you to distribute the NICs in your team across numerous

Network Switches in your environment.

LACP provides the Link Aggregation and allows for the expansion and reduction of

the NIC team. This is a switch independent mode of NIC teaming.

Load Balancing Mode: Address Hash is how you configure your team to load balance network traffic between the

NICs in the team.

Standby Adapter: This allows you to define a Standby Adapter for the team.

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Appendix C: Restoring your Digiliant Server

If for any reason you need to restore your Digiliant Windows Storage 2012 Server back to factory defaults you’ll

need to boot from the Restore DVD that shipped in a pocket attached to the inside of the back cover of this guide.

When your server left the factory it was set to boot CD/DVDs first so simply insert the DVD and restart the system.

Note: When you see a prompt to press any key to boot from DVD press any key, you’ll only have a few seconds

before the system will boot from the primary raid. Wait for the DVD to load until you see the Digiliant Recovery

Management screen.

From here you can Restore OS to factory default, Go to command prompt for advanced tools, or Restart the

computer. Press the 1 key and then Enter to start the Restore process.

The first screen of the Restore process will display the RAID Arrays in your system with the OS RAID as the first

selection and followed by one or more DATA RAID sets depending on your system and configuration from the

factory. In most cases you will press 0 and then press Enter.

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The last screen before the disk is wiped and the image is restored will be a confirmation screen that will display

which drive will be restored. Type yes and press Enter to start the restore.

** WARNING **

Make sure you have the correct Disk selected. If you restore to the wrong one you will lose data!

The disk will now be formatted and the Factory Image will be restored. Depending on the size this could take

anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more. You will be shown the current progress and an estimated time of

completion.

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When the restore is complete the DVD should eject and the progress screen will prompt you to Press Enter key to

restart the computer. Take out the DVD, close the drive, and press Enter to reboot the system. The system will then

begin the Windows Setup portion and may reboot a few times. In a few minutes you should see a screen asking for

your Product Key.

Your Product Key has been attached to your server in one of two places. If you have Tower Server you will find it

located on the Left‐Side of the case on the Upper‐Front side. And if you have a Rack mount Server it will be at the

Front‐Center of the Top of the system, you most likely will have to pull it out far enough to read it. Type in your Key

and click Next.

You will then be asked to agree to Microsoft’s End User License or you cannot use the system. Check the I Agree

box and click Next. Please note that if your agreement says “Beta Software” anywhere it is because Microsoft did

not update the agreement for some reason after the beta ended. Rest assured you have the officially released

version of Windows Storage Server 2012.

Finally you are taken to a Welcome screen. Simply click OK and the restore is now complete. You may configure the

system to your individual needs.

Digiliant Windows Storage Server 2012 Restore DVD

Digiliant, LLC

800.306.2199

http://www.digiliant.com

[email protected]

Documents

Windows Storage Server 2012 - Digiliant