MANAGING DISK
STORAGE
Chapter 12
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CHAPTER OVERVIEW
• Understand disk-storage concepts and terminology • Distinguish between basic and dynamic storage • Identify the types of storage volumes supported on
Windows Server 2003 managed disks • Identify the best RAID implementation given a
particular storage requirement in terms of capacity utilization, fault tolerance, and performance • Add storage to a Windows Server 2003 computer • Manage disks using Check Disk, Disk Defragmenter,
and disk quotas
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UNDERSTANDING WINDOWS SERVER 2003 DISK STORAGE
• Disk - The physical device
• Partition - An area of the disk that functions as a physically separate unit of storage
USING BASIC STORAGE
• Supported by all versions of Windows and MS-DOS • The default storage type for Windows Server 2003 • Each disk is divided into partitions, which can be
either primary or extended
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USING DYNAMIC STORAGE
• Supported by Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
• One disk, one partition
• Volumes are created within the partition • Supports spanning, striping, and RAID
implementations
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BASIC VS. DYNAMIC DISKS
• By default, all disks are basic.
• Basic disks can be easily converted to dynamic disks.
USING DISK MANAGEMENT
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ADDING STORAGE
• Physically install the disk(s). • Initialize the disk.
• On a basic disk, create partitions. On a dynamic disk, create volumes.
• Format the volumes.
• Assign drive letters to the volumes.
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INSTALLING A DISK
• Physically install the disk.
• Windows Server 2003 should recognize the new device automatically.
INITIALIZING THE DISK
• All disks must be initialized before they can be used.
• Initialization causes the MBR (basic disk) or GPT (dynamic disk) to be written.
• The Initialize And Convert Disk Wizard should launch automatically after a new disk is installed.
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CREATING BASIC DISK PARTITIONS
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CONVERTING A BASIC DISK TO A DYNAMIC DISK
• Make a backup before converting.
• Partitions and logical drives are converted to simple volumes.
CREATING DYNAMIC DISK VOLUMES
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CREATING SIMPLE VOLUMES
• A simple volume can be created from free space on a single disk.
• A simple volume can be extended using free space on the same disk, as long as it is not the system/ boot volume.
• To create a simple volume using the New Volume Wizard, in the Disk Management console, right-click unallocated space on a disk and select New Volume.
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CREATING OTHER VOLUME TYPES
• Spanned Uses space from multiple disks appearing as single volume
• Striped (RAID-0) Uses space from multiple disks appearing as single volume; data is written across all drives in the striped set at the same rate.
WORKING WITH MIRRORED VOLUMES
• Data is written to both drives simultaneously. • Can be used to provide fault tolerance to the
system/boot volume on a Windows Server 2003 system.
• Does not degrade performance.
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CONVERTING A SIMPLE VOLUME TO A MIRRORED VOLUME
• Only requirement is a drive with sufficient space to hold the mirrored data.
• Data is copied to the new drive sector by sector. • Drive’s status in the Disk Management console
shows as resynching while data is copied.
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WORKING WITH RAID
• Non-fault-tolerant RAID implementations
• RAID-0: Disk striping without parity
• Fault-tolerant RAID implementations
• RAID-1: Disk mirroring • RAID-5: Disk striping with parity
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CHOOSING A RAID TECHNOLOGY
M
Miirrrroorreedd VVoolluummeess ((RRAAIIDD--11)) SSttrriippeedd VVoolluummeess wwiitthh PPaarriittyy ((RRAAIIDD--55)) Can protect system
or boot partition Cannot protect system or bootpartition Requires two hard disks Requires a minimum of three
hard disks and allows a maximum of 32 hard disks Has a higher cost per MB Has a lower cost per MB 50 percent redundancy 33 percent maximum
redundancy Has good read and write
performance Has excellent read andmoderate write performance Uses less system memory Requires more system memory
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FORMATTING VOLUMES
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EXTENDING DYNAMIC VOLUMES
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MANAGING DISK STORAGE
USING CHECK DISK
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USING DISK DEFRAGMENTER
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ENABLING QUOTAS
• Quotas are enabled on a volume-by-volume basis • Exceptions to quotas can be configured on a
per-user basis
• Every file owned by a user counts toward her quota total
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CONFIGURING QUOTA DEFAULTS
• Set warning levels to alert users when they approach their quota limit.
• Set restrictions to prevent users from exceeding their quota limit.
• Logging related to quota events can be enabled.
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EXPORTING QUOTA ENTRIES
• Allows quota settings to be applied to another volume.
• Destination volume must be formatted with NTFS. • Only limits and configurations are exported, not the
current quota usage.
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MONITORING QUOTAS AND STORAGE
• Quota limits and percentage used can be viewed through the Quota Entries dialog box.
• The Quota Entries dialog box can be accessed by viewing a volume’s properties in Windows Explorer or Disk Management.
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SUMMARY
• Windows Server 2003 supports two types of storage, basic and dynamic, and three file systems, FAT, FAT32, and NTFS.
• Basic disks and the FAT file system provide back-ward compatibility with older Windows operating systems but are limited in their capabilities. • Dynamic disks provide flexible and powerful options
SUMMARY (continued)
• Basic disks can be converted to dynamic disks with no data loss, but all data and volumes must be deleted to convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk. • Dynamic disks support simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5 volumes, to provide storage according to capacity, performance, and fault tolerance requirements.
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SUMMARY (continued)
• Fault tolerance is provided by mirrored (RAID-1) volumes and striped-with-parity volumes (RAID-5). • Simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped volumes
(RAID-0), and all basic disk logical drives are not fault tolerant.
• You use the Disk Management snap-in to create and manage basic and dynamic disks.
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SUMMARY (continued)
• Disk volumes can become corrupted or fragmented and often fill to capacity. You can manage existing volumes using tools such as Check Disk, Disk Defragmenter, and Quota Manager.