Windows Server 2012 iSCSI Part 4

Introduction

This would be the last blog on iSCSI, by now you should know what would be the next. On this last blog, I will show you how to assign a disk to iSCSI. I hope you all enjoy reading the articles and help you in provisioning a new iSCSI.

Windows Server 2012 iSCSI Part 3

Introduction
In the previous article, I am sure now you should have a better understanding on what iSCSI is. On the rest of the chapter, you will learn on how to connect the pieces together and you can provisioning the infrastructure in a very short time.

Windows Server 2012 iSCSI Part 2

Introduction

It's always good to have all the features bundle and use it. As some of you who have use the iSCSI version 3.3 before you would need to download the component from Microsoft website and configure on both client and server. Now with the latest version, installation is getting simpler and easy. Have a look at the below how you can get started to install a iSCSI server.

Windows Server 2012 iSCSI Part 1

Introduction

I have find the explanation on searchstorage. It give a very good explanation on what iSCSI mean. The articles is explain as below.

"iSCSI is Internet SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), an Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities, developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage storage over long distances. The iSCSI protocol is among the key technologies expected to help bring about rapid development of the storage area network (SAN) market, by increasing the capabilities and performance of storage data transmission. Because of the ubiquity of IP networks, iSCSI can be used to transmit data over local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), or the Internet and can enable location-independent data storage and retrieval.

Windows Server 2012 Data Deduplication Part 5

The 5 master key

It is very important to have a planning for migration or an upgrade of the infrastructure before applying any changes on the infrastructure. I always have this in my practice, you must be crystal clear on what you need to implement as for this you can justified it why you do it. This articles going to be long compare to the previous few articles on data deduplication, as I believe not just for these area we need to emphasize with more effort. But then again, best practice it is not something mandatory, as it is a practice to avoid any disappointment or failure. To get started , I will run through with you on the 6 areas key question.

Windows Server 2012 Data Deduplication Part 4

Overview of Powershell for Data-Deduplication

This is not a new information for some of you have read it before. If you did follow my previous post, you will see that I use a lot of powershell to configure the settings, in this articles I would like to give you an overview of what are those command are use for.

To get started, you must know the 3 basis command which as shown as below. This is important for you get understand what are those use for and learn it by your self.

Get-Help -Detailed
Get-Help -Examples
Get-Help -Full

I also have included a list of the command that you must know in data deduplication, however if you would like to use the GUI version that is fine too. This is just served as alternative if you are bored with GUI.

cmdlet	Description
Disable-DedupVolume	Disables further data deduplication activity on one or more volumes.
Enable-DedupVolume	Enables data deduplication on the specified volumes, using default settings.
Get-DedupJob	Returns status and information for currently running or queued deduplication jobs.
Get-DedupMetadata	Returns a Deduplication Metadata object for every volume that has data deduplication metadata.
Get-DedupSchedule	Returns the Deduplication Job Schedule objects defined on the system.
Get-DedupStatus	Returns a Deduplication Status object for every volume that has data deduplication metadata.
Get-DedupVolume	Returns a Deduplication Volume object for each volume that has data deduplication metadata.
New-DedupSchedule	Creates a new data deduplication schedule and returns a Deduplication Schedule object.
Remove-DedupSchedule	Deletes the specified Deduplication Schedule object.
Set-DedupSchedule	Sets data deduplication schedule settings.
Set-DedupVolume	Sets data deduplication volume settings.
Start-DedupJob	Queues a new data deduplication job of the specified type for the specified volumes.
Stop-DedupJob	Cancels one or more specified data deduplication jobs.
Update-DedupStatus	Scans one or more specified volumes to compute fresh data deduplication savings information and returns a Deduplication Status object.

The above table is from Microsoft Technet.

Reference

Part 1 : Introduction of data deduplication  

Part 2 : Data Deduplication resouces utilization 

Part 3 : Data Deduplication removal steps

Part 4 : Powershell in data deduplication 

Part 5 : Planning for data deduplication  

Summary 

Let us know what you though , learns and hope for next articles!. Connect with us on GOOGLE+ , TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

Windows Server 2012 Data Deduplication Part 3

Removal instruction on Data Deduplication
As few of my post by now you should have an idea what you should do next with the awesome feature that was built-in. I don't have a reason to remove it from the operating system. But in some cases, you might want to remove it to limit the number of item running on the operating system.

You can do it by 2 approach, the first approach will be using server manager to remove the feature or the 2nd one will be using the powershell method. They will be 2 steps for removal, but if you do run on the production environment make sure 2 of the item I have mention below is fulfill.

First is when you try to remove the feature, the size of the storage will increase, so please make sure you have the enough capacity to cope for those.

Second, make sure you have the the plan downtime.As the removal process will required system reboot, before the settings can reflect.

How to remove
a)Unoptimize the storage by issuing the command start-dedupjob -e: -type unoptimization as what you have see in the screenshot below. The removal process will take sometime depending on the storage usages and also your hardware specification.

b)After the unoptimize process finish, you can proceed to remove the features by issuing the command remove-windowsfeature -name -fs-data-deduplication. Upon the completion of the process, you will be prompt to reboot your machines. You can reboot the machine by issuing the command shutdown -f -r -t 0.

Reference

Part 1 : Introduction of data deduplication  

Part 2 : Data Deduplication resouces utilization 

Part 3 : Data Deduplication removal steps

Part 4 : Powershell in data deduplication 

Part 5 : Planning for data deduplication 
Summary 

Let us know what you though , learns and hope for next articles!. Connect with us on GOOGLE+ , TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

Windows Server 2012 Data Deduplication Part 2

Deduplication utilization

As for now, you should have the capabilities on installing and also configuring the data deduplication feature. As you can see the steps it won't be so difficult. On this articles I would like to share more on the other findings with you regard to the performances of the machines and overview of it. I have test this on a VM which  which is running on Hyper-V 3.0 Windows Server 8 beta. I would like to share my hardware specification with you all.

Physical Host

MotherBoard : Intel

Phsical Memory : 16 GB

Processor : Intel i5

Disk : Sata without any raid configuration

Network : 100 Mbps

OS : Windows Server 2012 aka Windows Server 8 beta

Virtual machine configuration

Memory : 1 GB

Processor : 1 vCPU

Disk : virtual hard drive

OS : Windows Server 2012 aka Windows Server 8 beta