IT Pro Windows Server 2012 Labs Part 2 - Hyper-V Storage

Article
10/05/2012

This lab assumes that you have completed the prior installation and configuration lab found here:

Lab Guide – Windows 2012 RTM Install and Configure Windows and Hyper-V

Word Version: https://aka.ms/tplabguideword

PDF Version: https://aka.ms/tplabguidepdf

Lab 1 – Storage Spaces.

Lab 2 – Deduplication.

Overview

In Lab 1, you will see how Windows Server 2012 implements a new technology known as Storage Spaces or Storage Pools. A storage pool is a collection of disks that can contain virtual disks and volumes. All disks in a storage pool are monitored and managed as a unit.

In Lab 2, you will see how Windows Server 2012 implements data deduplication. You will implement deduplication on an existing storage pool.

Objectives

In this series of exercises, you will explore the following:

· Creation of a Storage Pool.

· Creation and provisioning of a virtual disk to use a Storage Pool.

· Creation of volumes on a Storage Pool.

· Adding additional physical disks to a Storage Pool.

· Implement data deduplication on an existing Storage Pool.

Prerequisites

· Knowledge of Hyper-V

· Light Familiarity with Windows PowerShell

Lab 1 – Storage Spaces

Tasks in this lab module

1) Create and Attach Storage

2) Create a Storage Pool

3) Create a virtual disk and provision it to use a Storage Pool

4) Create a volume on a Storage Pool

5) Add additional physical disks to a Storage Pool

1) Create and Attach Storage

Log on to Host Server
In Hyper-V Manager, Create 4 Hard Disks with the following characteristics:
1. Names: disk1.vhd, disk2.vhd, disk3.vhd, disk4.vhd
2. Default size, Dynamically Expanding
3. Place these in the D:\Images\Disks folder
Right Click the machine named Storage and select Settings.
Select SCSI Controller and click Add.
Browse to D:\Images\Disks and select disk1.vhd and click Apply.
Repeat Steps 3 - 5 to attach disk2.vhd, disk3.vhd and disk4.vhd. Click OK.
Click DVD Drive under IDE Controller 1.
For Media, select Image File and browse to you ISO image of Windows Server 2012.

2) Create a Storage Pool

Log on to Storage as Administrator Account
Open Server Manager.
Click File and Storage Services, and then click Storage Pools.
Under Storage Pools, click Tasks, and then click New Storage Pool.
Click Next.
In Name, type Pool1, and then click Next.
Check PhyscialDisk1, PhyscialDisk2, PhysicalDisk3, and then click Next.
Click Create, and then click Close.

3) Create a virtual disk and provision it to use a Storage Pool

Click Pool1, and then in Virtual Disks, click Tasks, and select New Virtual Disk.
Click Next.
Click Next to accept the selection Pool1.
In Name, type “VirtualDisk1-Parity”, and then click Next.
In Layout, select Parity, and then click Next.
In Provisioning type, click Thin, and then click Next.
In Size, type 1, select “TB”, and then click Next.
Click Create.
Click Close. The New Volume Wizard will appear.

4) Create a volume on a Storage Pool

In the New Volume Wizard, click Next.
Select Disk 5, and click Next.
Accept the default size, and click Next.
Continue clicking Next, and click Create.
Click Close.

5) Verify that your new E: volume is there

Open Windows Explorer

Click on Computer, and notice your drive New Volume E: of .99TB in size.

Close Windows Explorer.

5) Add additional physical disks to a Storage Pool

Right-click Pool1, and then click Add Physical Disk.
Check PhysicalDisk4, and then click OK.
Click Close.

Lab 2 – Deduplication

Tasks in this lab module

1) Install Deduplication

2) Enable and configure Deduplication on an existing volume

3) Observe the results of Deduplication

IMPORTANT: You must complete Lab 1 prior to performing this lab.

1) Install Deduplication.

Log on to Storage as Administrator account.
Open Windows PowerShell.
Type the following command and press ENTER.

Get-WindowsFeature *Deduplication* | Install-WindowsFeature

2) Enable and configure Deduplication on an existing volume

In Windows PowerShell, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each.

Enable-DedupVolume e:

Get-DedupStatus e:

Open Server Manager.
Click File and Storage Services.
Click Disks,and then select VirtualDisk1-Parity.
In Volumes, click E: .
Right-click E: , and then click Configure Data Deduplication.
In Deduplicate files other than (in days) , type 0.
Click OK.

3) Observe the results of Deduplication

Open Windows Explorer.
Copy D:\Sources\Boot.wim to E: and then create a second copy of the same file on E: , such that there are two identical copies of the file present. (Hint: put one in a new folder on E: )

Note: You are creating two identical files to observe the results of deduplication.

Click Windows PowerShell.
Type Start-DedupJob -Type Optimization -Volume E: , and then press ENTER.
Type Get-Dedupjob, and then press ENTER. Run this command every few seconds until there are no active jobs.
Type Get-DedupStatus, and then press ENTER.

Note: This series of commands will initiate a deduplication of the volume, and save you approximately 200 MB, which is the size of one of the Boot.wim files you copied earlier.