Hi Folks – Back in September 2013, I blogged about how Broadberry (a long-time Windows Storage Server partner) and Mirasys—a video surveillance solution provider—were partnering to use Windows Storage Server 2012 as the storage component of a complete video surveillance solution. In this post, I’d like to share the perspective of Colin Broadberry, Managing Partner…
Microsoft OEM Engineering Services help storage partners bring embedded solutions to market and support them throughout the product lifecycle.
The Microsoft OEM Engineering Services team has some valuable services that Windows Storage Server partners can leverage to help design, deliver and support embedded storage solutions. Getting access to a Technical Account Manager (TAM) can really impact the success of a product. TAMs can escalate issues through the highest levels of Microsoft. TAMs can dig…
Configuring Failover Clusters with Windows Storage Server 2008
Storage appliances can be configured with a wide variety of hardware, and can be used as individual servers or combined into a high-availability solution using the failover cluster functionality in Windows. Windows Storage Server 2008 clusters can host highly available file services or iSCSI block storage using the optional iSCSI Software Target. This paper will…
Huawei Announces the N2000 NAS Appliance
As mentioned in my previous post, I recently traveled to China, where I spent time with Huawei—a new Windows Storage Server 2012 OEM. During the visit, I was really impressed by how all the people I met were very knowledgeable about storage and demonstrated strong expertise in hardware, software and networking. This picture was taken…
Reviewing the Western Digital DS6100–Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials NAS
Hi Folks,I had the pleasure of receiving a WD DS6100 Server at Microsoft and I’ve been playing with it all summer. I am happy to report that this little server cube is like Clark Kent, inside is a super-sized server with 16TB of storage just waiting to bust out when you need it. With two…
High Availability is Now Easier than Ever – Improvements to Failover Clustering and Hyper-V in Windows Storage Server 2012 R2
Hi Folks – In my list of top 10 new features in Windows Storage Server 2012 R2, I included two areas of functionality that make it faster and easier to deliver continuous availability: Improved Failover Clustering Enhanced support for Hyper-V Both technologies play essential roles in Microsoft’s high-level architecture for a cost-effective, resilient compute and…
Windows Storage Server 2012 Available with Seagate’s New 4-Bay Business Storage NAS
Hi Folks – Windows Server 2012 introduced advanced storage capabilities that lower the cost of storage and give customers options to reduce their infrastructure costs. Windows Storage Server 2012 gives customers the option of working with partners to purchase an appliance solution from a partner. One example of such a solution is the Seagate Business…
Shared storage for Windows Failover Cluster with MPIO
Microsoft released the iSCSI Software Target 3.3 on the download center in April. I have seen many people download, try it out, and gave great feedback. We had a question raised about the policy for supporting iSCSI Target with initiator clusters using MPIO configurations. The support statement and relevant articles have been updated to remove…
Lenovo ThinkServer RD330 and RD430 Running Windows Storage Server 2012
Hi Folks – Today I’d like to highlight Lenovo’s line of ThinkServers running Windows Storage Server 2012. Lenovo offers both 1U and 2U models, as shown in the below table. Recommended Configurations Lenovo recommends three base configurations: small, medium and large. For each configuration, drive sizes, type, and quantity can be tailored to your specific…
HP releases the HP 3PAR StoreServ File Controller running Windows Storage Server 2012 at HP Discover!
Hi Folks, I just returned from my fifth HP Discover conference in Las Vegas, where Microsoft was a diamond sponsor. The Microsoft pavilion was right in the center of the action, giving me the opportunity to talk to tons of people about Windows Storage Server 2012. As you might imagine, there was a lot of…