Windows Server 2012 R2Software Defined StorageLenovo ThinkServer HA Solutions

Rui FreitasOEM Partner Strategist

What’s New in Storage Enterprise-class Storage

Platform built on WindowsProtecting your data

Maximizing your storage investments

Simplified Manageability

Storage Spaces

Thin and trim provisioning

Data Deduplication

SMB application support

SMB Direct

Storage QoS

ReFS/NTFS enhancements

Cluster Shared Volume 2

SMB Multichannel

ODX

NFS enhancements

Windows PowerShell

SC Management Packs

BPA

New/Improved in Windows Server

2012 R2SMB transparent failover

Live storage migration

Virtual Fibre Channel in Hyper-V

Windows Cluster in a Box

iSCSI Software Target

SMI-S / SM-API

Storage Tiering

Persistent write-back cache

VHDX online resize

SC VMM Management

SC DPM

Windows Azure Backup

Hyper-V Recovery Manager

Mirrored and Parity Storage Spaces

Storage SpacesWindow Server 2012 R2 Capabilities

Capabilities Overview (1)• Pooling of disks

• Flexible resilient virtual disks

Physical Disks from

Shared SAS JBODsStorage Pool

“Pepsi”

Space

Space

Space

Provisioned Virtual Disks

FlexibleAllocatio

n

Storage Pool “Coke”

Space

Space

Space

Provisioned Virtual Disks

FlexibleAllocatio

n

Capabilities Overview (1)• Pooling of disks

• Flexible resilient virtual disks

• Enclosure awareness with Spaces certified hardware

Data Copy 1 Data Copy 2

Storage Pool

Mirror or Parity Space

Capabilities Overview (2)• Data Integrity Scanner• Periodic background scan detects latent

corruptions• Integration with both NTFS (good) and ReFS

(better)

• Operational Simplicity• PowerShell, Server Manager, and SCVMM

2012 R2

• Continuous Availability with Windows File Server Cluster

Spaces & Windows File Server Cluster

Clustered Storage Pool & Storage Spaces

Hyper-V Compute Nodes

SMB Direct

Unified Cluster Shared Volume

Namespace

Shared SASJBOD Arrays

Clustered File Servers

\\SRV\VDI \\SRV\CRM \\SRV\DB

60-baySAS Array

60-baySAS Array

Mirror Space

Mirror Space

Mirror Space

9 6 G b p s S h a r e d S A S L i n k s

ComputeStorage CSV aggregates

namespace for data access across volumes

Architecturally similar to traditional storage deployment

Scaling the Windows File Server Cluster

Clustered Storage Pool & Storage

SpacesMirror SpaceMirror Space Mirror Space Mirror Space

Physical or Virtualized Workloads

Hyper-V Compute Nodes

High Speed Network(10GbE/InfiniBand)

Unified Cluster Shared Volume

Namespace\\SRV\VDI_Mrktg \\SRV\DB\\SRV\Folders\\SRV\VDI_Dev

SMB Direct

60-baySAS Array

60-baySAS Array

60-baySAS Array

60-baySAS Array

60-bay Shared SAS JBOD Arrays

Clustered File Servers with 10GbE/InfiniBand

9 6 G b p s S h a r e d S A S L i n k s 9 6 G b p s S h a r e d S A S L i n k s

SMB Direct

Storage Spaces R2 Objectives

Building upon the foundation in Windows Server 2012 to further deliver:

Minimized $/TB & Capex

Minimized Opex

Maximized IOPS/$

Dual Parity: Minimizing $/TB• Optimized space utilization

for archival workloads

• Efficient rebuild times

• Supported with Windows Clustering

• Integrated Journaling improves random workload performance

Tiered Storage: Maximizing IOPS/$

• Utilize best characteristics of SSDs and HDDs in single storage space

• Frequently accessed data moved to SSD tier, and less frequently accessed data moved to HDD tier

• Admins can assign files to specific storage tiers

Hyper-V Compute Nodes

Storage Space

HDD Tier

Cold Data

SSD Tier

Hot Data

400GB EMLC SAS SSD

4TB 7200RPM SAS HDD

Reads/Writes Accumulates Data Activity

Write-Back Cache: Maximizing IOPS/$• Absorbs spikes in

random write activity

• Seamless integration and familiar management

• Complements Tiered Storage

Hyper-V Compute Nodes

Storage Space

HDD Tier

Cold Data

SSD Tier & WBC

Hot Data

400GB EMLC SAS SSD

4TB 7200RPM SAS HDD

Reads/Writes Accumulates Data Activity

Efficient storage through Data Deduplication

VHD library

Software deployment share

General file share

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Average savings with data deduplication by workload type

Source: ESG Lab and Microsoft Internal Testing

Operating system VHDs

Maximize capacity by removing duplicate data.

Works with live VHD/VHDX files on remote VDI storage.

Increased scale and performance.• Better VM performance in VDI scenario• Low CPU and memory impact. • Configurable compression schedule.• Transparent to primary server workload.

Improved reliability and integrity.• Redundant metadata and critical data.• Checksums and integrity checks.• Increase availability through redundancy.

Faster file download times with BranchCache.

File and iSCSI StorageWindow Server 2012 R2 Capabilities

Scenarios for File and iSCSI Storage• Windows Client • SMB for Information Workers• Main features: Continuous

Availability, Directory Leasing, Encryption

• Non-Windows Client• NFS for Information Workers• Main features: Continuous

Availability, Support for both NFS v3 and v4.1

• Windows Server• Hyper-V over SMB, SQL Server over

SMB• Host boot from iSCSI Target• Main features: Continuous

Availability, Scale-Out, SMB Multichannel, SMB Direct, SMB Encryption

• Non-Windows Server• VMware over NFS, VMware over

iSCSI• Main features: Continuous

Availability

Cloud

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Windows Server 2012 R2 is cloud optimized

Private CloudsHosted CloudsCloud Service Providers

Reducing capital and operational storage and availability costs

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BlockStorage

Cloud Deployment Storage Vision

Scale-out File Server

Storage Spaces

Hyper-V

SMB

17

FocusEnabling Hosters and the Private Cloud

Scalability ReliabilityReducing

CostsManageabilit

yPerformance

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SMB Direct v2 increases IOPS

DFS Replicationimprovements

Main New FeaturesPerformance

Improved SMB eventing

New SMB event channels, on by

default

New/improved PowerShell for DFS-R and SMB

Built-in SMI-S for iSCSI Target

Automatic SMB Scale-Out client

rebalancing

iSCSI Target uses

VHDX format

Diagnosability

Manageability

Optimized

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SMB Direct Performance Enhancements• Focused on efficiency for small IO workloads

• Increased current 8KB IOPs from ~300K IOPS per interface in Windows Server 2012 to ~450K IOPS per interface (or higher) in the new release

• Key to supporting small IO with high speed NICs including 40Gbps Ethernet and 56Gbps InfiniBand

• Implemented through several techniques including:o Batching of operations between SMB and the NICo Use of RDMA remote invalidationo Further NUMA optimizations across the stack

• SMB Direct v2 leverages the new NDKPI v1.2 (RDMA)

• Backward compatible with the original NDKPI v1.1

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Scale-Out File Server

File Server 2

Multiple SMB Instances

• Each node in a Scale-Out File Server has two instances of the SMB Server

• One instance handles incoming traffic from SMB clients accessing regular file shares

• One instance handles only inter-node CSV traffic (metadata access or redirected traffic)

• Separate data structures (locks/queues) for regular client traffic and inter-node traffic

• Improves scalability and reliability of inter-node traffic between CSV nodes

File Server 1

Hyper-V Host 1

CSV1(Metadata

Owner)

Shared SAS Storage

SM

B S

erv

er

Defa

ult

In

stance

SM

B S

erv

er

CSV

Inst

ance

SM

B C

lient

SMB Client

SM

B S

erv

er

Defa

ult

In

stance

SM

B S

erv

er

CSV

Inst

ance

SM

B C

lient

Hyper-V Host 2

SMB Client

CSV2(Not

Metadata Owner)

CSV1(Not

Metadata Owner)

CSV2(Metadata

Owner)

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Scale-Out File Server

File Server 2

Share1 Share2

SMB Scale-out Automatic Rebalancing• Scale-Out File Server clients are now

redirected to the “best” node for access

• Avoids unnecessary redirection traffic• Driven by ownership of Cluster Shared

Volumes (coordination node)• SMB connections managed per share

(not per file server) when Direct I/O not available on the volume

• Dynamically moves as CSV volume ownership changes. Clustering is now also balancing CSV volumes automatically.

• Automatic behavior. No Administrator action.

File Server 1

Shared SAS Storage

Disk2 Disk4Disk1 Disk3 Disk5

Storage Spaces

SMB Client

Space2Space1

Share1 Share2

\\SOFS\Share1 \\SOFS\Share2

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SMB Bandwidth Limits• SMB Traffic divided into three pre-defined

categories: Default, VirtualMachine and LiveMigration.

• Set a Bandwidth Limit for a category, using PowerShell cmdlets or WMI• Get-SmbBandwidthLimit [–Category X]• Set-SmbBandwidthLimit –Category X –BytesPerSecond Y• Remove-SmbBandwidthLimit –Category X

• Addresses the new scenario where you can use Live Migration over SMB and RDMA.

• Matching performance counters so you can observe traffic per category. Hyper-V host 2

Hyper-V host 1

File Server Cluster

for live VHD storage

File Serverfor libraryStorage

VM1 VM3

Live MigrationLimit=500MB

DefaultLimit=100MB

Virtual MachineNo Limit

Set-SmbBandwidthLimit –Category Default –BytesPerSecond 100MB

Set-SmbBandwidthLimit –Category LiveMigration –BytesPerSecond 500MB

VM2VM2

’

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SMB Delegation• Simplified cmdlets for enabling

delegated administration of file servers

• Useful in certain Hyper-V over SMB scenarios

• Configured per SMB client/server pair• Get-SmbDelegation –SmbServer X• Enable-SmbDelegation –SmbServer X –SmbClient

Y• Disable-SmbDelegation –SmbServer X [–

SmbClient Y]

• Does not require Domain administrator rights

• Requires 2012 Forest Functional Level,

since it leverages the resource-based Kerberos constrained delegation.

Hyper-V host 2HV2

Hyper-V host 1

HV1

File ServerFS1

VM1 VM2VM2

’VM3

Domain Controller

DC1

Client used for

Management

CL1

Enable-SmbDelegation –SmbServer FS1 –SmbClient HV1Enable-SmbDelegation –SmbServer FS1 –SmbClient HV2

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NFS Server • File sharing for non-Windows Platforms• Interop with major UNIX/Linux clients and

VMware• Shared access in a heterogeneous

environments• Same share can be accessed via both

SMB and NFS

• Improved ID mapping • Different methods, including Kerberos

support• Better security and ease of

management

• Supports multiple versions: NFSv2, NFSv3, NFSv4.1

• NFS v3 – Continuous Availability for VMware

• NFS v4.1 – High Availability for client workloads

Windows File Server Cluster

UNIX-Linux NFS clients

Linux

Solaris

Mac OS

NFS v2/v3/v4.1

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iSCSI Target: Enhancements through GUI

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• Secure zeroing-out on allocation of fixed virtual disks

• Dynamically expanding virtual disks

New in Windows Server 2012 R2!

• New virtual disks are VHDX-formatted

• Provision virtual disks with sizes up to 64TB

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iSCSI SMI-S Provider for SCVMM• iSCSI Target SMI-S provider enables

end-to-end storage automation for SCVMM-managed private or hosted cloud

• Easy to install – simply install iSCSI target role service!• Designed for active-active iSCSI target clusters • Previous version limited to active-passive clusters

• Asynchronous job management via SCVMM

• Scenarios enabled• Discover SCSI targets and properties• Discover SCSI LUs  and properties• Create new or delete SCSI targets • Create new or delete SCSI LUs• Add capacity to a Hyper-V cluster • List, create and delete LU snapshots• Mask/unmask LUs to a SCSI target

SCVMM server

iSCSI Target Server Cluster

SMI-S provider

iSCSI Servic

e

Hyper-V Host

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Cluster in a Box

Volume Platform for Availability

Looking Back to Windows Server 2012

“Continuous Availability” identified by customers as critical

Problem: High-Availability server hardware is costly and too difficult to buy, install, and manage.

Major investments made throughout Windows Server

Solution: “Cluster in a Box” (CiB) programMicrosoft works with our hardware partners to enable their release of new highly-available systems for a volume market

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Customer Focused Design (CFD) &

Areas of Investigation

22 Areas of Investigation

200 Customer Focused Design Sessions

900+ Customer Prioritized Buckets

6000+ Voice of the Customer Statements Continuous

availability of the OS, applications, and data was ranked by customers WW (US, Germany and Japan) as a must have feature

2+ years of research

6,000+ customers

Customer Demand for Continuous Availability

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Target markets for Cluster in a Box solutions• SMB• Branch• Private Cloud

• High Availability • Simple OOBE• Storage Spaces

configurations• HW RAID

capability• SSD perf

capability

Optional JBOD storage

expansion

Cluster in a Box

JBOD storage

Single node servers

• Extended scale out• Advanced replication• Advanced power

management• Advanced performance

options• …

Storage Arrays (iSCSI/FC, SMB/NFS)

Scale out Server Cluster

$$IT

Expertise

IT Generalist

PB 1 - 3

IT Specialist

PB 4+

Features

Extending the Market for Continuous AvailabilityNew systems expand choices of cost and features

Existing marketsMarket expansion with CiB

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Availability• At least one node and storage always

available, despite failure or replacement of any component

• Dual power domains

Simplicity• Pre-wired, internal interconnects

between nodes, controllers, and storage

Flexibility• PCIe slots for flexible LAN options• External SAS ports for JBOD expansion• Office-level power, cooling, and

acoustics to fit under a desk

Cluster in a Box, What is inside?Cluster in a Box Design Considerations

Server Enclosure

Additional JBODs …

B ports

A ports

Server BServer A

x8 PCIe

x4 SAS

External JBOD

x8 PCIe

x4 SAS

1/10G E or Infiniband1/10G E or Infiniband

B ports

A ports

SAS Expander

SAS Expander23…10

NetworkNetwork

23…10SAS

Expander

Storage Controller

CPU

SAS Expander

Storage Controller

CPU

x8 PCIe x8 PCIe

x4 SAS (through midplane)

1/10G Ethernet cluster connect (through

midplane)

Design Example (with Direct-Attached SAS)

Configuring for E-to-E Storage PerformanceBalancing performance end-to-end

Server Enclosure

B ports

A ports

Server BServer A

External JBODB ports

A ports

SAS Expander

SAS Expander23…10

NetworkNetwork

23…10SAS

Expander

Storage Controller

CPU

SAS Expander

Storage Controller

CPU

NIC

SAS

PCIe

Drives

1*

2x 1GbE

x8 PCIe 2.0

X4 6Gb

12 7.2K RPM

0.23 GB/s

3.4 GB/s

2.3 GB/s

1.5 GB/s

2x 10GbE

x8 PCIe 3.0

X8 6Gb

24 7.2K RPM

2

2.3 GB/s

6.8 GB/s

4.7 GB/s

3 GB/s

2x 40GbE

x8 PCIe 3.0

X8 6Gb

24 6Gb SSD

3

12 GB/s

4.7 GB/s

6.8 GB/s

9.2 GB/s

2x 56Gb IB

x16 PCIe 3.0

X16 6 Gb

24 6Gb SSD

4

12 GB/s

9.3 GB/s

13.6 GB/s

13 GB/s

• Be aware of system bottlenecks• Look for balanced IOPs as well as

bandwidth

*Example components(per system);

These are illustrations only,

not recommendations

Scale Horizontally

Live Migrate Hyper-V Storage

Hyper-V Servers

Scale Horizontally• Expand capacity with

additional clusters• Scale out with

asymmetrical cluster

Live Migration• Hyper-V storage

Scale

Vert

ically

JBOD expansion

JBOD expansion

JBOD expansion

JBOD expansion

Cluster in a Box as a Storage Building BlockScaling storage capacity and connectivity

Scale Vertically• Add internal

storage• Add JBOD

expansion• Add RDMA NICs

Scale Horizontally• Expand capacity with

additional clusters• Scale out with asymmetrical

cluster

Live Migration• Hyper-V guests• Hyper-V storage

Disaster Recovery• Hyper-V Replication

Scale

V

ert

ically

JBOD expansion JBOD expansion

Scale Horizontally

Live Migrate Hyper-V Guests

Live Migrate Hyper-V Storage

Replicate Hyper-V Guests

Cluster in a Box as a Hyper-V Server Building BlockScaling Guest VM capacity

Scale Vertically• Add internal storage• Add JBOD expansion• Add CPU/memory

CiB: Key Scenarios

New configurations using Parity Spaces Disk utilization can increase from 50% to 87% (mirrored

Space vs. 8 column Parity Space, single driver redundancy) Two baseline configurations recommended to evaluate

All HDDs 12 drives, single pool, two 8 column Parity Spaces 24 drives, single pool, four 8 column Parity Spaces

HDDs + SSDs 8 HDDs + 4 SSDs, single pool, two 8 column Parity Spaces 20 HDDs + 4 SSDs, single pool, four 8 column Parity Spaces

SMB3 File Server – Performance evaluation

Scale-Out File Server – VDI server using Dedupe and CSV

Q&A

Thank You!

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