Context Windows Server 2012 R2 ships with a rich set of standards-compliant storage management functionality. This functionality was originally introduced in Windows Server 2012, and you should reference Jeff’s excellent blog that introduced related concepts...

Hi Folks – Dell’s latest server, the PowerEdge VRTX Shared Infrastructure Platform is an incredible cluster-in-a-box that delivers highly-available services and storage in one beautiful package. There are some great innovations in this chassis, for sure;...

If so, I’ll see you there for my two sessions. DFSR has been hitting the gym SMB 3 is the answer There are still a few days left to register if you live upside down. Based on the available evidence, all the attendees should look something like this: Come...

Hi folks, Ned here again. Today I talk about a new feature in Windows Server 2012 R2 DFSR , restoring preserved files . DFSR has had conflict, deletion, and preexisting file handling since its release, but until now, we required out of band tools to recover...

Hi folks, Ned here again. By now, you know that DFS Replication has some major new features in Windows Server 2012 R2 . Today I talk about one of the most radical: DFSR database cloning. Prepare for a long post, this has a walkthrough… The...

Hi folks, Ned here again. By now, you know that DFS Replication has some major new features in Windows Server 2012 R2 . Today we dig into the most comprehensive new feature, DFSR Windows PowerShell . Yes, your thoughts betray you “IT pros...

In the last blog post , I’ve provided the step by step guide to deploy Work Folders in a test lab environment, where the client is using unsecure connections to the server, which means the server doesn’t require to have SSL certificate. While...

This post is a part of the nine-part “ What’s New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 ” series that is featured on Brad Anderson’s In the Cloud blog. Today’s blog post covers DFSR and how it applies to the larger...

This post is a part of the nine-part “ What’s New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 ” series that is featured on Brad Anderson’s In the Cloud blog. Today’s blog post covers iSCSI Target Server and how it applies...

This post is a part of the nine-part “ What’s New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 ” series that is featured on Brad Anderson’s In the Cloud blog. Today’s blog post covers storage management through SMI-s and...

This post is a part of the nine-part “ What’s New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 ” series that is featured on Brad Anderson’s In the Cloud blog. Today’s blog post covers Data Deduplication and how it applies...

This post is a part of the nine-part “ What’s New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 ” series that is featured on Brad Anderson’s In the Cloud blog. Today’s blog post covers Data Deduplication and how it applies...

Hi, my name is Roiy Zysman and I’m a senior Program Manager in the Hybrid Storage Services team. Last year, with the introduction of Windows Server 2012, we published a File and Storage Services PowerShell cmdlets quick reference sheet . The motivation...

Hi, everyone. I’m Jane Yan, a PM on the Work Folders team. I presented a session on Work Folders with Adam Skewgar, and demoed how it works both on the client and server ( A Deep Dive into the New Windows Server Data Sync Solution ). This blog post...

This post is a part of the nine-part “ What’s New in Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2 ” series that is featured on Brad Anderson’s In the Cloud blog. Today’s blog post covers Windows Server 2012 R2 Work Folders...

Whew! It took a while but the SMI-S Requirements for Windows Server 2012 and SC VMM are live on MSDN. Just click here . These will carry forward to the next releases.

Microsoft added the ability to manage storage using Storage Management Initiative (SMI-S) providers to Windows Server 2012. Sometimes things don't go quite the way you plan and some debugging is needed to figure out what is going on. So i n order to...

Quick update: The content hasn't changed but I noticed that the formatting on the PS script got messed up, let's see if this is better. Also attached the script as a file. Indications are a mechanism used in the Common Information Model (CIM) to provide...

Hi folks, Scott here to talk about a new OEM Appliance OOBE (Out-of-box-experience) update that is now available for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Storage Server 2012 . Windows server manufacturers (OEMs) can leverage this deployment tool to help their...

Hi folks, Ned here again with a quickie post. HP recently released their latest file server SMB testing results, where they used FSCT and IOMeter to collect performance and scalability data with Windows Server 2012 running on HP StoreEasy 5000 Storage...

Hi folks, Ned here again. With the massive growth of virtualization, odds are you want to safely and reliably run Distributed File System Replication on Hyper-V, Xen, KVM, or VMware – heck, you may already be doing so. With that in mind, I am...

Hi folks, Ned Pyle here again. We are occasionally asked which reparse points DFS Replication can handle, and if we can add more. Today I explain DFSR behaviors and why simply adding reparse point support isn’t cut and dry. Background A reparse point...

Hi folks, Ned Pyle here again. Back at AskDS , I used to write frequently about DFSR behavior and troubleshooting . As DFS Replication has matured and documentation grew, these articles dwindled. Recently though, one of the DFSR developers and I managed...

With Windows Server 2012, Server manager includes simple and easy to use, user interface that enables management of Windows Storage Spaces and other Storage Subsystems such as EMC Clariion VNX and Dell EqualLogic (but not limited to these) storage arrays...

In this post, we will discuss the instrumentation available in Server for NFS in Windows Server 2012 and how it can be used to detect and diagnose any deployment and operational issues. Event Viewer There are quite few changes in the Server for...