What's New in Storage Management
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On This Page
 | Introduction |
| Benefits |
| New Features and Improvements |
| Summary |
Introduction
The Windows Server 2003 family introduces new and enhanced features for storage management, making it easier and more reliable to manage and maintain disks and volumes, backup and restore data, and connect to Storage Area Networks (SANs). This article provides an overview of benefits, new features, and improvements for storage management services in Windows Server 2003 family og products.
Benefits
Improvements in the operating system help reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), strengthening Windows as a mission-critical platform.
| Benefit | Description |
Lower TCO for Managing Data and Storage Infrastructure | A primary cost component for businesses today is managing multivendor storage infrastructure and the data on the infrastructure. Windows Server 2003 significantly reduces the complexity of managing multivendor storage from direct attach disks to SANs and the data on those disks through improved disk and data management architecture. The Volume Shadow Copy service and Virtual Disk service (VDS) are part of a storage framework that provides heterogeneous interoperation of storage hardware, storage software, and applications. Support costs are also reduced, as users are empowered to self-maintain or "undelete" accidentally lost or deleted files with new shadow copy restore technology. Easy-to-configure file shares through distributed file system (DFS) technology make managing and configuring network storage both more reliable and cost-effective. |
Lower TCO Through Increased Availability | Another crucial component of TCO is availability: keeping mission critical and customer-facing applications online. Through improved high availability solutions such as multipathing, clustering, and data backup/recovery and protection services, Windows Server 2003 reduces the number of hours required for planned downtime. Less downtime and maintenance result in lower costs. With vendor support, multipathing software provides multiple paths from the server to the storage device, providing an alternate path if the primary path fails. Customers thus have greater choice in multivendor storage and multipathing solutions. |
New Features and Improvements
Windows Server 2003 provides an integrated set of storage management features reducing costs and increasing availability.
| Feature | Description |
File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) – Feature specific to Windows Server 2003 R2 | The File Server Resource Manager is designed to help effectively manage the spiraling growth of data which is so common in today organizations of all sizes. FSRM includes a new Quota Management tool that allows administrators to monitor and manage disk space per volume, folder or share which help control the storage growth. To help better plan how to deploy storage resources, FSRM also provides a simple way to quickly identify, monitor, and fix inefficiencies in storage resource management. Administrators can request reports in predefined outputs, including by: file size, least recently used, owner, duplicates or alternatively, they can create their own specialized reports. Working in tandem with the capacity planning tool, FSRM includes a file screening tool that enables administrators to restrict the use and propagation of non-business files throughout the organization. File screening rules apply to all users in a folder tree or volume; exceptions limiting inheritance of screening policies can be configured. |
Storage Manager for SANs (SMfS) – Feature specific to Windows Server 2003 R2 | The new Microsoft Storage Manager for SANs offers IT administrators basic SAN functionality without requiring the specialized consulting services typically needed for successful deployment and trouble-free maintenance of storage area networks. Storage Manager for SANs leverages the Virtual Disk Service (VDS) infrastructure of Windows Server 2003, allowing the management tool to integrate with a number of key Windows storage platform attributes (including iSCSI), as well as enabling core SAN functionality of device discovery and storage resource provisioning. With this tool, the most often required tasks in SAN provisioning (Create, Delete, Monitor LUNs, multi-pathing management, sever assignment) are all available from the Windows host which greatly simplify deployments. |
Multivendor Storage Management—Virtual Disk Service (VDS) | Virtual Disk service (VDS) enables multivendor storage devices to interoperate in Windows. VDS has APIs to storage hardware and to management programs that manage the storage hardware. Administrators can discover multivendor storage devices and configure those resources with a unified interface. Without VDS, each vendor's storage device often had its own management interface, resulting in many management interfaces in a mixed storage environment. View a Flash demo of this feature. (To view this demo, you need Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Macromedia Flash Player.) |
Data Management—Volume Shadow Copy Service | The Volume Shadow Copy service provides an infrastructure for creating a point-in-time copy of a single volume or multiple volumes. Used for managing data from direct attached storage to SANs, the Volume Shadow Copy service coordinates with business applications, backup applications, and storage hardware to enable application-aware data management. Solutions built on the Volume Shadow Copy service can produce much higher quality shadow copies than other technologies because of the ability to integrate with business applications and coordinate with storage hardware. As a result, high-fidelity backup recovery and data mining are possible without significantly affecting performance. In addition, the shadow copy restore feature enables Windows-based client computers to view and recover previous versions of their files without IT intervention, resulting in greater productivity at lower costs. View a Flash demo of this feature. (To view this demo, you need Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Macromedia Flash Player.) |
Data Protection—Encrypting File System | The Encrypting File System (EFS) is the technology used to store encrypted files on NTFS volumes. Encrypted files and folders are easy to use as they appear just like any other file or folder—transparent to authorized users but inaccessible to anyone else. EFS is particularly beneficial for mobile users who may face a higher risk of computer loss or theft. An unauthorized person who tries to access encrypted files or folders is prevented from doing so, even if the intruder has physical access to the computer. EFS improvements in Windows Server 2003 include the ability to authorize additional users to access encrypted files, the ability to encrypt offline files as well as store encrypted files in Web folders. |
Data Protection—Automated System Recovery | Automated System Recovery (ASR) enables bare metal restore of servers and consistent data recovery of servers, including "system state" and hardware configuration information. Using recovery mode, ASR ensures a server can be returned to its original state if a serious failure occurs. The backup application included with Windows can be easily configured to use ASR for system restores. Combined with Remote Installation Services (RIS), ASR provides an effective way to automate complete system restores across the network without user intervention. |
Availability—Multipath I/O | Multipathing is a high availability function that provides multiple paths from the host to the external storage device. Although multipath I/O (MPIO) is not a feature of the operating system, the MPIO Driver Development Kit (DDK) allows storage vendors to create interoperable multipathing solutions. Up to 32 paths are supported. Load balancing is an additional benefit that improves performance. |
Open File Backup | The backup utility included with Windows Server 2003 now supports "open file backup". In Windows 2000, files had to be closed before initiating backup operations. Backup now uses shadow copies to ensure that any open files being accessed by users are also backed up. |
Improved Check Disk Command | In Windows Server 2003, the performance of the Check Disk command, known as CHKDSK.exe, is between 20 percent and 38 percent faster than the version released with Windows 2000. The program, which checks for errors on Windows volumes (FAT or NTFS file systems), also provides improved reliability and error-handling capabilities to ensure the program only runs when serious errors occur, or when initiated by the user from the command line. CHKDSK for Windows Server 2003 will also be available for Windows 2000 Server. |
Storage Area Network Support | Storage Area Networks are significantly easier to use in Windows Server 2003. Administrators can control the mounting of volumes with the aid of a SAN friendly configuration, a benefit that protects volumes from unintentional access. Improved handling of fiber channel SANs and improved SAN Host Bus Adapter (HBA) interoperability further eases administration. With vendor support, the ability to boot from SAN is greatly enhanced in Windows Server 2003. |
DISKPART Command | The DISKPART.exe command-line program provides all the functionality of the Disk Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Snap-in, but via the command line. In addition, DISKPART enables storage administrators to expand basic disks, a disk type used by Microsoft Cluster Services, as more disk space is required. |
Distributed File System Improvements | The Distributed File System (DFS) eases locating and managing data on your network. DFS provides unified management and access of distributed servers across the enterprise. DFS unites files on different computers, making them appear to be a single "namespace," enabling a single, hierarchical view of multiple file servers and file server shares on your network. DFS is enhanced for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server, Datacenter Edition by allowing multiple DFS roots on a single server. You can use this feature to host multiple DFS roots on a single server, reducing administrative and hardware costs of managing multiple namespaces and multiple replicated namespaces. Using the Active DirectoryŽ service, DFS shares can be published as volume objects and administration can be delegated. Other improvements in DFS deliver more reliable load-balancing, better file replication between DFS sites and servers, and closest-site selection for users accessing the network. Closest-site selection ensures that users share files from the server closest to their network access point. |
Summary
New and improved storage management features make Windows Server 2003 easier to manage, more reliable, and more available. More efficient backup and restore operations combined with good operational practices result in lower TCO and greater customer return on investment.