chapter 06a
DESCRIPTION
aaTRANSCRIPT
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Environment
Chapter 6: Managing Disks and Data
Storage
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
2
Objectives
• Understand concepts related to disk management• Manage partitions and volumes on a Windows
Server 2003 system• Understand the purpose of mounted drives and
how to implement them• Understand the fault tolerant disk strategies
natively supported in Windows Server 2003
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
3
Objectives (continued)
• Determine disk and volume status information and import foreign disks
• Maintain disks on a Windows Server 2003 system using a variety of native utilities
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
4
Disk Management Concepts
• Windows Server 2003 supports two data storage types:• Basic disks
• Uses traditional disk management techniques• Has primary partitions, extended partitions, logical
drives• Dynamic disks
• Does not use traditional disk partitioning• No restriction on number of volumes implemented
on one disk
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
5
Basic Disks
• Maximum of four primary partitions or three primary and one extended partition on a disk
• Each primary partition:• Can use FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file system
• Has a drive letter
• Boot partition• Operating system files reside on boot partition
• Can be located on a primary partition or logical drive
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
6
Primary Partitions
• A basic drive must contain at least one and no more than four primary partitions
• One partition is the system (or active) partition • Contains files to start operating system
• Usually drive C on Windows
• Can also be used for traditional data storage
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
7
Extended Partitions and Logical Drives
• An extended partition:• Is created from free hard disk space that is not
partitioned, formatted, or assigned a drive letter
• Allows you to extend the four-partition limit
• Can be divided into logical drives
• Each drive is then formatted and assigned a drive letter
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
8
Volume Sets and Stripe Sets
• Only on Windows NT Server 4.0• Volume set
• Two or more partitions combined to look like one volume with a single drive letter
• Stripe set• Two or more disks striped for RAID level 0 or 5
• Windows Server 2003 and 2000 provide backward compatibility• Can use but not create
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
9
Dynamic Disks
• Can set up a large number of volumes per disk• Volumes are similar to partitions but with additional
capabilities
• Reasons to implement dynamic disks include• Can extend NTFS volumes
• Can configure RAID volumes for fault tolerance and performance
• Can reactivate missing or offline disks
• Can change disk settings with restarting computer
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
10
Simple Volume and Spanned Volume
• A simple volume:• Dedicated, formatted portion of space on a dynamic
disk
• NTFS volumes can be extended (not system or boot)
• A spanned volume:• Space in 2 to 32 dynamic disks
• Treated as a single volume
• Allows you to maximize use of scattered space across several disks
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
11
Striped Volume
• Referred to as RAID level 0• Implemented for performance enhancement,
particularly for storage of large files• Not fault tolerant• Requires from 2 to 32 disks• Data is written in 64 KB blocks across rows in the
volume
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
12
Striped Volume (continued)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
13
Managing Partitions and Volumes
• Primary tool is Disk Management• Central facility for
• Viewing information
• Creating partitions and volumes
• Deleting partitions and volumes
• Converting basic disks to dynamic disks
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
14
Managing Partitions and Volumes (continued)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
15
Managing Disk Properties
• Disk Management:• Can be added to a custom MMC
• Most commonly accessed via Storage section of Computer Management
• Used for the creation, deletion, and management of disks, partitions, and volumes
• Shares some property sheets with Windows Explorer, Device Manager
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
16
Managing Disk Properties (continued)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
17
Activity 6-1: Viewing and Managing Disk Properties with
Disk Management• Objective: Use Disk Management to view the
properties of a hard disk and partition• From AdminXX account
• Start My Computer Manage Expand Storage Disk Management
• Explore information available for partitions, disks, and volumes as directed
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
18
Activity 6-2: Creating and Deleting a Primary Partition
• Objective: Use Disk Management to create and delete a new primary partition
• Create a new NTFS partition using the New Partition Wizard
• Assign a drive letter• Verify that the new partition was created• Delete the partition
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
19
Activity 6-3: Creating an Extended Partition
• 6-3 Objective: To create an extended partition using the New Partition Wizard• Once an extended partition has been created, you can
create a logical drive
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
20
Activity 6-4: Creating a Logical Drive
• 6-4 Objective: To create a logical drive within the new partition using the New Partition Wizard
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
21
Activity 6-5: Converting a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk
• Objective: To convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk using Disk Management
• Convert and verify according to exercise• If necessary to convert from dynamic to basic
• Must be empty, backup first
• Once a dynamic disk is available• Can create different types of volumes on the disk
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
22
Activity 6-6: Creating a Simple Volume
• Objective: To create a simple volume on a dynamic disk
• Create using New Volume Wizard• Format in NTFS file system
• Assign a drive letter
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
23
Extending Volumes
• Volume can be extended unless• Functioning as boot or system volume
• Possible tools• Disk Management
• DISKPART command-line utility
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
24
Activity 6-7: Extending a Volume Using DISKPART
• Objective: To extend a volume using the DISKPART command
• Open the command line and enter the DISKPART command
• Select the simple volume and extend the size by 50 MB
• Verify that the size of the volume has been increased
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
25
Mounted Drives
• Mounting a drive is an alternative to assigning it a drive letter
• A mounted drive is represented as a folder with a normal path
• To mount a drive:• Must be on an NTFS volume• Must be an empty folder
• Reasons:• 26 drive letter limit• Path access is convenient• Backups
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
26
Activity 6-8: Mounting an NTFS Volume
• Objective: To mount an NTFS volume• Create an empty folder• Use Disk Management to mount a drive to the
folder• Test by creating a test folder on the drive and
viewing it from the mounted folder
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
27
Fault Tolerant Disk Strategies
• Fault tolerance• The ability to recover gracefully from hardware or
software failure
• Hard disks do fail periodically• Software RAID provides various levels of fault
tolerance• A combination of RAID and backup can minimize
disruption and loss of data
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
28
RAID Levels• Redundant Array of Independent Disk strategies
• Set of standards for:• Lengthening disk life• Preventing data loss• Enabling uninterrupted access to data
• Windows Server 2003 supports level 0, 1, and 5• RAID level 0
• Striping with no other redundancy features
• RAID level 1• Disk mirroring (duplicating data from main disk to
backup disk)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
29
RAID Levels (continued)
• RAID level 2• Disk striping, error correction across all disks
• RAID level 3• Disk striping, error correction on 1 disk
• RAID level 4• Disk striping, error correction across all disks,
checksum on 1 disk
• RAID level 5• Disk striping, error correction across all disks,
checksum across all disks
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
30
RAID Levels (continued)
• Supported on FAT and NTFS• Either RAID level 1 or 5 is usually recommended• Considerations:
• Placement of boot and system files
• Number of disks required or supported
• Cost (per megabyte of storage)
• Amount of memory required
• Read and write access speed
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
31
Striped Volume (RAID 0)
• Reasons to use:• Reduce wear on disk drives by equalizing load
• Increase disk performance
• No specific fault tolerance support• Can be created using New Volume Wizard
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
32
Mirrored Volume (RAID 1)
• Creates a copy of data on a backup disk• Requires 2 disks • Highly effective fault tolerance since a complete
copy of data is available• Disk read performance is equal to non-mirrored• Disk write time is doubled• Created through New Volume Wizard
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
33
Mirrored Volume (continued)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
34
RAID-5 Volume
• Requires a minimum of 3 disks• Provides good fault tolerance• Parity information distributed across all drives• Performance slower than with a striped volume
(parity information must be computed and stored)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
35
RAID-5 Volume (continued)
• Read access is equal to striped volume• Storage requirement for parity information is 1/n
with n the number of disks• Created through New Volume Wizard
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
36
RAID-5 Volume (continued)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
37
Software RAID and Hardware RAID
• Software RAID uses existing hardware and implements particular software strategies
• Hardware RAID requires specialized hardware (more expensive) but lessens the burden on the OS
• Often implemented on the adapter for disk drives• Often includes a battery backup • Advantages include: faster read and write, mixed
RAID levels, failed disk hot-swap, better setup options
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
38
Monitoring Disk Health and Importing Foreign Disks
• Disk Management provides status information on disks and volumes • Number of different status descriptions
• Windows Server 2003 provides the ability to import disks from other servers if necessary (foreign disks)
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
39
Disk and Volume Status Descriptions
• Optimal descriptions:• Disk should be ONLINE
• Volume should be HEALTHY
• Common volume messages include:• Failed, failed redundancy, formatting, healthy,
regenerating, resyncing, unknown
• Common disk messages include:• Audio CD, foreign, initializing, missing, no media, not
initialized, online, online (errors), offline, unreadable
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
40
Importing Foreign Disks
• Used when a server fails• Disks from the server can be moved to another server
• When first connected, the disk status will be foreign and it will not be accessible
• Use the Import Foreign Disks option on the disk• If multiple disks are imported
• Each disk is imported individually• Default is that disk will use its original drive letter but
an available letter is chosen if there is a conflict
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
41
Other Disk Maintenance and Management Utilities
• Introduces disk-related utilities other than Disk Management• Some provide extra features or functions
• Some are similar but are accessible from the command line
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
42
Check Disk
• Allows you to scan a disk for bad sectors and file system errors
• Disk can’t be in use during scan• Two start options:
• Automatically fix file system errors
• Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
• CHKDSK command-line utility has similar functionality
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
43
CONVERT
• CONVERT is a command-line utility• Converts existing FAT and FAT32 partitions or
volumes to NTFS• Leaves existing data intact
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
44
Disk Cleanup• Allows an administrator to determine where disk
space is being used and could potentially be freed• Files that can be removed include:
• Temporary internet files
• Downloaded program files
• Files in recycle bin
• Windows temporary files
• No longer used Windows components and programs
• Can also compress files• Command-line version is CLEANMGR
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
45
Disk Defragmenter
• Free disk space eventually become fragmented as files are created and removed
• Results in slower access and higher disk wear• Defragmentation attempts to place files in
contiguous areas• Defragmentation should be done periodically
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
46
Activity 6-9: Using the Disk Defragmenter Utility
• Objective: to analyze and defragment a volume using the Disk Defragmenter utility
• The utility graphically displays the fragmentation status of the disk before and after defragmentation
• Command-line version of command is DEFRAG• Can be used to schedule defragmentation when used
with a batch file and Task Scheduler
• Get complete syntax and options with DEFRAG /?
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
47
DISKPART
• Command-line utility for managing disks, volumes, partitions
• Uses include: • Configuring active partition, assigning drive letters,
implementing fault tolerance schemes, etc.
• Can manage disks from within scripts • Get the complete syntax and options with
DISKPART /?
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
48
FORMAT
• Used to implement a file system on an existing partition
• Also used on MS-DOS and Windows 9X• Has a variety of advanced settings
• Setting allocation unit (cluster) size
• Command-line version can be run from scripts• Get the complete syntax and options with
FORMAT /?
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
49
FSUTIL• Used with FAT, FAT32, and NTFS file systems• Includes many advanced features, requires
experienced user• Information available includes:
• Listings of drives, volume information, NTFS-specific data
• Tasks include:• Managing disk quotas, displaying free space
• Get complete information in Help and Support Center
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
50
MOUNTVOL
• Used to create, delete, or list volume mount points from command line
• VolumeName parameter is difficult to use• Complicates adding new mount point
• Doesn’t affect removing mount points
• Get complete syntax and options with MOUNTVOL /?
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
51
Summary• Windows Server 2003 supports data storage types:
• Basic disk
• Divided into 4 primary partitions or 3 primary and 1 extended partition with logical drives
• Dynamic disk
• Can be divided into a number of volumes on 1 disk
• A number of disks can be configured in 1 volume
• Support simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, RAID-5 volumes
• Primary tool for disk management:• Disk Management
70-290: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
52
Summary (continued)• Fault tolerance implemented through RAID
strategies• Most highly recommended are:
• RAID level 1 (mirrored volumes)
• RAID level 5 (striped, distributed parity info)
• Hardware RAID very effective but more costly• A number of command-line tools and other
utilities are available for disk management and cleanup