Windows Server Technical Preview – Storage Survival Guide (links to articles, blogs, downloads)

This blog post offers a collection of links to the publicly available content for those experimenting with the Windows Server Technical Preview, with focus in Storage.

 

Blog posts about the Windows Server Technical Preview

• An early look at the future of the datacenter from Microsoft
• Storage Replica Guide Released for Windows Server Technical Preview
• Storage Quality of Service Guide Released for Windows Server Technical Preview
• Introducing Cloud Witness in Windows Server Technical Preview
  

 

Technet content about the Windows Server Technical Preview

• What's New in Storage Services in Windows Server Technical Preview (Storage QoS, Storage Replica)
• What's New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server Technical Preview (Cluster Rolling Upgrade, Storage QoS)
• What's new for Hyper-V in the Technical Preview (Rolling Upgrades, Storage QoS, Hyper-V Manager updates, etc.)
• Release Notes: Important Issues in the Windows Server Technical Preview
• TechNet Forum for questions on the Windows Server Technical Preview

 

Guides

• Windows Server Technical Preview Storage Replica Guide (both Server to Server and Stretch Cluster)
• Windows Server Technical Preview Step-by-Step Guide for Storage Quality of Service (Storage QoS)
• Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade in Windows Server Technical Preview (Cluster OS Upgrade)

 

TechEd Europe 2014 Presentations and other videos

• Software Defined Storage in the Next Release of Windows Server (Includes demos for Storage QoS at minute 23:20 and Storage Replica at minute 41:15. Introduces Storage Spaces Shared Nothing at minute 51:35)
• Building Scalable and Reliable Backup Solutions in the Next Release of Windows Server Hyper-V
• Delivering Predictable Storage Performance with Storage Quality of Service in the Next Release of Windows (Storage QoS)
• Advantages of Upgrading Your Private Cloud Infrastructure in the Next Release of Windows Server (Cluster OS Upgrade)
• Stretching Failover Clusters and Using Storage Replica for Disaster Recovery in the Next Release of Windows (Storage Replica)
• Design Scale-Out File Server Clusters in the Next Release of Windows Server (Scale-Out File Server, Storage Spaces Shared Nothing at minute 1:02:00)
• Software Defined Networking in the Next Release of Windows Server: Network Controller Fundamentals (RDMA to the host at minute 40:00) 
• Edge Show: vNext Failover Clustering in Windows Server Technical Preview with Elden Christensen
• Interview about Storage in the Windows Server Technical Preview with MVP Carsten Rachfahl

 

Download links related to the Windows Server Technical Preview

• Windows Server Technical Preview Download for MSDN subscribers – (MSDN subscription required)
• Windows Server Technical Preview Evaluation Download (no MSDN subscription required, sign-in required)
• Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 Technical Preview (use Windows 10 to remotely manage Windows Server Technical Preview)
• Pre-release Driver for Mellanox RDMA Network Interfaces (from the Mellanox web site, supports RDMA to the host)
• Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 Technical Preview (January 2015)

 

Azure 

• Windows Server Technical Preview already available in the Azure gallery
• Deploying the Windows Server Technical Preview in Azure using the portal (blog by Keith Mayer)
• Deploying the Windows Server Technical Preview in Azure using PowerShell (blog by Trevor Sullivan)

 

Protocol Documentation

• SMB 3.1 Protocol Preview – [MS-SMB2-Diff]: Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol Versions 2 and 3
• Storage QoS Protocol Preview – [MS-SQOS-Preview]: Storage Quality of Service Protocol
• SNIA SDC Presentation on the changes in SMB 3.1

 

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Updated on 12/19/2014 – Added video interview with Carsten.
Updated on 11/24/2014 – Added  Edge Show link and Cloud Witness blog
Updated on 11/06/2014 – Added TechEd Talk and driver link for RDMA to the host
Updated on 10/30/2014 – Added the Cluster OS Upgrade guide and links to TechEd Europe talks
Updated on 10/24/2014 – Added the nice picture posted by @windowsserver
Updated on 10/24/2014 – Added link to the Storage QoS Guide
Updated on 10/21/2014 – Added link to the TechEd Europe Sessions
Updated on 10/07/2014 – Added link to the Storage Replica Guide
Original post on 10/02/2014