Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Avoid loopback configurations for Hyper-V over SMB

When deploying Hyper-V over SMB (storing your live configuration and live VHD/VHDX files on an SMB 3.0 file share), make sure you don’t use a loopback configuration. A loopback configuration means that the Hyper-V role and the File Server role are on the same computer. While you can actually have both roles on the same … Continue reading Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Avoid loopback configurations for Hyper-V over SMB →

Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Enable CSV Caching on Scale-Out File Server Clusters

Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) in Windows Server 2012 has a great new feature to allow using system memory as a write-through cache. Since Scale-Out File Server Clusters use CSV, enabling this CSV cache has a huge impact on the performance of this type of File Server. This has a direct impact on common scenarios like … Continue reading Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Enable CSV Caching on Scale-Out File Server Clusters →

Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Continuous Availability does not work with volumes using 8.3 naming or NTFS compression

When deploying the Continuous Availability feature of the new File Server clusters in Windows Server 2012, be careful not to use volumes that have either 8.3 naming or NTFS compression enabled. If you have these features enabled on the volume, the File Server won’t be able to properly track the ongoing operations on the volume … Continue reading Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Continuous Availability does not work with volumes using 8.3 naming or NTFS compression →

Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Use multiple subnets when deploying SMB Multichannel in a cluster

SMB Multichannel will let you use multiple network interfaces at once for added throughput and network fault tolerance. When using it with non-clustered file servers, you have the most flexible options, including using multiple NICs on the same subnet. In fact, you can have all the multiple NICs on the same server configured automatically via … Continue reading Windows Server 2012 File Server Tip: Use multiple subnets when deploying SMB Multichannel in a cluster →

Windows Server 2012, File Servers and SMB 3.0 – Simpler and Easier by Design

1. Introduction I have been presenting our solution in Windows Server 2012 for File Storage for Virtualization (Hyper-V over SMB) and Databases (SQL Server over SMB) for a while now. I always start the conversation talking about how simple and easy it is for an IT Administrator or an Application Developer to use SMB 3.0. … Continue reading Windows Server 2012, File Servers and SMB 3.0 – Simpler and Easier by Design →

Test Hyper-V over SMB configuration with Windows Server 2012 – Step-by-step Installation using PowerShell

1. Overview In this post, I am sharing all the steps I used to create a Windows Server 2012 File Server test environment that I used for some of my Hyper-V over SMB demonstrations. My goal with this post is to share some of configuration details and the exact PowerShell scripts I used to configure … Continue reading Test Hyper-V over SMB configuration with Windows Server 2012 – Step-by-step Installation using PowerShell →

Windows Server 2012 Scale-Out File Server for SQL Server 2012 – Step-by-step Installation

Outline 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview 1.2. Hardware 1.3. Software 1.4. Notes and disclaimers 2. Install Windows Server 2012 2.1. Preparations 2.2. Install the OS 2.3. Rename the computer 2.4. Enable Remote Desktop 3. Configure the Hyper-V Host 3.1. Install the Hyper-V role to the server 3.2. Create the VM switches 3.3. Rename the network adapters … Continue reading Windows Server 2012 Scale-Out File Server for SQL Server 2012 – Step-by-step Installation →

File Server team sessions at TechEd 2012 Europe

If you're planning to attend the TechEd 2012 Europe event in June, here are the scheduled sessions with speakers from the File Server team: Code Title Speaker(s) Day Time Location Level WSV04-LNC Windows Server 2012 Storage for your Private Cloud Prabu Rambadran, Jose Barreto Tue 1:30 PM Forum 300 VIR306 Hyper-V over SMB: Remote File … Continue reading File Server team sessions at TechEd 2012 Europe →

Windows Server 2012 and SMB 3.0 – Understanding how SMB Transparent Failover makes file shares continuously available

There is a new blog post by Claus Joergensen, a Principal Program Manager in the File Server team, that covers the SMB Transparent Failover feature in Windows Server 2012 and SMB 3.0. Claus covers all the details about making file shares continuously available, including step-by-step instructions using both PowerShell and GUI tools. Here’s an outline of … Continue reading Windows Server 2012 and SMB 3.0 – Understanding how SMB Transparent Failover makes file shares continuously available →

File Server team sessions at TechEd 2012 North America

If you're planning to attend the TechEd 2012 North America event in June, here are the scheduled sessions with speakers from the File Server team: Code Title Speaker(s) Day Time Track Level WSV328 The Path to Continuous Availability with Windows Server 2012 Gene Chellis, Jim Pinkerton Mon 4:45 PM Windows Server 300 SIA207 Windows Server … Continue reading File Server team sessions at TechEd 2012 North America →