New Storage Tiering coming in Server 2012 R2 – TechEd 2013 Favorites

http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/inetpub/kevinremde/KROmniture.htmAs you may already be aware, at TechEd this year in New Orleans, several announcements about the new “R2” versions of various products were made.  Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 were just two of the products being updated later this year, and for which preview releases will be available later this month for evaluation. (Watch this blog for details.)

One of my favorite things (which is why this article is my next in our “TechEd 2013 Favorites” series) announced that is coming in Windows Server 2012 R2 is new capabilities in Storage Spaces. 

“Storage Spaces?”

Okay.. for those of you not familiar with Storage Spaces; from the TechNet description:

Storage Spaces in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 enables cost-effective, optimally used, highly available, scalable, and flexible storage solutions for business-critical (virtual or physical) deployments. Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 deliver sophisticated storage virtualization capabilities, which empower customers to use industry-standard storage for single computer and scalable multinode deployments. It is appropriate for a wide range of customers, from consumers using Windows 8 for personal storage, to enterprise and cloud hosting companies using Windows Server 2012 for highly available storage that can cost-effectively grow with demand.

So, with cheap hardware (think JBOD arrays vs. expensive SAN solutions), and just using built-in capabilities of Windows Server, you can create pools of storage that can be dynamically provisioned and allocated.  You can thin-provision virtual disks (think LUNs) that, when running short of actual space, can be added to dynamically without having to tear-it-down and replace it with something bigger. 

HINT: If you want to play with Storage Spaces without dedicating hardware to it, check out this blog post on how to use a free Windows Azure Trial to try it out: http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinremde/archive/2013/01/27/use-windows-azure-to-learn-windows-server-2012-storage-spaces-31-days-of-servers-in-the-cloud-part-27-of-31.aspx. 

“That sounds pretty good, Kevin.  But what’s new in R2?”

In R2 we give you the ability to add SSD storage and traditional spinning disks into storage pools, and the storage subsystem is able to prioritize how that storage will be most efficiently used.  Certified hardware will be detected to be either of type SSD or HDD.

“Why is that important?”

Well.. think about your typical storage use.  How much of it is actually in-use frequently?

“A very small amount compared to the rest of it.”

Exactly.  Let’s just say for example that 90% of your stored data is just sitting there not being used.  But 10% is actively being accessed and/or changed.  It would make sense to have the idle data sitting on slower HDDs, and the frequently used data on the SSDs, wouldn’t it?

“Yeah.”

Well, that’s what Storage Spaces will do for you automatically in Windows Server 2012 R2.   Every so often (at an interval that can be adjusted), the storage system will move bits around based on the “heat map” of which blocks of data are being used most frequently. 

“That’s very cool.  But can I also specify files that I absolutely want to give SSD preferential treatment to?  I have base disks for Windows client VMs that I want to force to the SSD.”

Absolutely.  In this case, it’s on a file-by-file basis.  But you can definitely designate a file to be on the SSDs  vs. the HDDs.  

“Sounds amazing!”

I agree.

For more information, please view the following breakout session recording from TechEd 2013 NA: Storage Spaces: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B218/player?w=960&h=540

Download the deck and video for offline viewing.

Session Index – Storage Spaces: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2

• [ 1:23 ] Storage Platform Design Challenges
• [ 3:09 ] Infrastructure-as-a-Service Storage Vision
• Lower Costs
• Disaggregate compute and storage
• Use industry standard, commodity hardware
• [ 5:04 ] Familiar Deployment Model 
• Traditional Storage (FC/iSCSI) vs. Windows File Server Cluster w/Storage Spaces
• [ 7:04 ] Familiar Enterprise-Grade Capabilities
• Compare Traditional Storage to Windows File Server Cluster w/Storage Spaces
• [ 7:38 ] Case Study: Windows Release Team
• Internal engineering team responsible for the build source repositories.
• [ 13:22 ] Storage Spaces Component Overview
• Industry standard commodity storage hardware
• [ 14:40 ] Capabilities Overview (1)
• Pooling of disks, Flexible resilient storage spaces, Native data striping, Enclosure awareness with certified hardware, Parallelized rebuild utilizes spare pool capacity
• [ 17:28 ] Capabilities Overview (2)
• Data Integrity Scanner
• Operational Simplicity
• Continuous Availability with Windows File Server Cluster
• [ 18:14 ] Deployment Recommendations
• Resiliency Settings and Recommended Deployments
• [ 19:00 ] Spaces & Windows File Server Cluster
• [ 21:44 ] Scaling the Windows File Server Cluster 
• [ 22:05 ] Further Scaling the Cluster 
• [ 23:20 ] Customer Quotes 
• NTTX
• Microsoft (Windows Release Team)
• [ 24:33 ] Windows Server 2012 R2 Capabilities of Storage Spaces 
• [ 24:39 ] Storage Spaces R2 Objectives
• [ 25:07 ] Dual Parity: Minimizing $/TB 
• Resiliency of two disk failures
• Efficient rebuild times
• Supported with Windows Clustering (CSV)
• Integrated Journaling for power fault resiliency
• [ 26:51 ] Match workload characteristics to drives
• Common Workload Characteristics
• Common Drive Characteristics (HDD & SSD)
• [ 29:27 ] Tiered Storage: Maximizing IOPS/$
• Utilize best characteristics of SSDs and HDDs
• Provide balance between capacity & performance
• Admins can assign files to storage tiers
• [ 31:23 ] Write-Back Cache: Maximizing IOPS/$
• Absorbs short-term spikes
• Seamless integration
• Compliments Tiered Storage
• [ 32:17 ] Write-Back Cache & Tiered Storage Demo
• [ 50:55 ] Windows Server 2012 File Server Cluster
• [ 51:23 ] Windows File Server Cluster Configurations
• Capacity Optimized
• Balanced
• Performance Optimized
• [ 52:59 ] Windows File Server Cluster Solution Partners
• RAID Inc.(http://www.raidinc.com)
• Fujitsu (http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/)
• DataOn (http://www.dataonstorage.com)
• [ 53:58 ] Takeaways 
• Windows Server 2012 is a key component in your public or private cloud
• You’ve seen what customers have already achieved.
• [ 54:46 ] Related TechEd 2013 Content
• [ 55:10 ] Q & A