The mirror storage space configuration requires a minimum of two physical disks
Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 Show
This topic describes how to deploy Storage Spaces on a stand-alone server. For information about how to create a clustered storage space, see Deploy a Storage Spaces cluster on Windows Server 2012 R2. To create a storage space, you must first create one or more storage pools. A storage pool is a collection of physical disks. A storage pool enables storage aggregation, elastic capacity expansion, and delegated administration. From a storage pool, you can create one or more virtual disks. These virtual disks are also referred to as storage spaces. A storage space appears to the Windows operating system as a regular disk from which you can create formatted volumes. When you create a virtual disk through the File and Storage Services user interface, you can configure the resiliency type (simple, mirror, or parity), the provisioning type (thin or fixed), and the size. Through Windows PowerShell, you can set additional parameters such as the number of columns, the interleave value, and which physical disks in the pool to use. For information about these additional parameters, see New-VirtualDisk and the Windows Server storage forum.
From a virtual disk, you can create one or more volumes. When you create a volume, you can configure the size, drive letter or folder, file system (NTFS file system or Resilient File System (ReFS)), allocation unit size, and an optional volume label. The following figure illustrates the Storage Spaces workflow. Figure 1: Storage Spaces workflow
PrerequisitesTo use Storage Spaces on a stand-alone Windows Server 2012−based server, make sure that the physical disks that you want to use meet the following prerequisites. AreaRequirementNotesDisk bus types- Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) - Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) - iSCSI and Fibre Channel Controllers.You can also use USB drives. However, it's not optimal to use USB drives in a server environment. Storage Spaces is supported on iSCSI and Fibre Channel (FC) controllers as long as the virtual disks created on top of them are non-resilient (Simple with any number of columns). Disk configuration- Physical disks must be at least 4 GB - Disks must be blank and not formatted. Do not create volumes.HBA considerations- Simple host bus adapters (HBAs) that do not support RAID functionality are recommended - If RAID-capable, HBAs must be in non-RAID mode with all RAID functionality disabled - Adapters must not abstract the physical disks, cache data, or obscure any attached devices. This includes enclosure services that are provided by attached just-a-bunch-of-disks (JBOD) devices.Storage Spaces is compatible only with HBAs where you can completely disable all RAID functionality.JBOD enclosures- JBOD enclosures are optional - Recommended to use Storage Spaces certified enclosures listed on the Windows Server Catalog - If you're using a JBOD enclosure, verify with your storage vendor that the enclosure supports Storage Spaces to ensure full functionality - To determine whether the JBOD enclosure supports enclosure and slot identification, run the following Windows PowerShell cmdlet: Get-PhysicalDisk | ? {$_.BusType –eq "SAS"} | fc If the EnclosureNumber and SlotNumber fields contain values, then the enclosure supports these features. To plan for the number of physical disks and the desired resiliency type for a stand-alone server deployment, use the following guidelines. Resiliency typeDisk requirementsWhen to useSimple- Stripes data across physical disks - Maximizes disk capacity and increases throughput - No resiliency (does not protect from disk failure) Requires at least one physical disk.Do not use to host irreplaceable data. Simple spaces do not protect against disk failure. Use to host temporary or easily recreated data at a reduced cost. Suited for high-performance workloads where resiliency is not required or is already provided by the application.Mirror - Stores two or three copies of the data across the set of physical disks - Increases reliability, but reduces capacity. Duplication occurs with every write. A mirror space also stripes the data across multiple physical drives. - Greater data throughput and lower access latency than parity - Uses dirty region tracking (DRT) to track modifications to the disks in the pool. When the system resumes from an unplanned shutdown and the spaces are brought back online, DRT makes disks in the pool consistent with each other.Requires at least two physical disks to protect from single disk failure. Requires at least five physical disks to protect from two simultaneous disk failures.Use for most deployments. For example, mirror spaces are suited for a general-purpose file share or a virtual hard disk (VHD) library.Parity - Stripes data and parity information across physical disks - Increases reliability when it is compared to a simple space, but somewhat reduces capacity - Increases resiliency through journaling. This helps prevent data corruption if an unplanned shutdown occurs.Requires at least three physical disks to protect from single disk failure.Use for workloads that are highly sequential, such as archive or backup. Step 1: Create a storage poolYou must first group available physical disks into one or more storage pools.
Windows PowerShell equivalent commands for creating storage poolsThe following Windows PowerShell cmdlet or cmdlets perform the same function as the preceding procedure. Enter each cmdlet on a single line, even though they may appear word-wrapped across several lines here because of formatting constraints. The following example shows which physical disks are available in the primordial pool. Get-StoragePool -IsPrimordial $true | Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True The following example creates a new storage pool named StoragePool1 that uses all available disks. New-StoragePool –FriendlyName StoragePool1 –StorageSubsystemFriendlyName "Windows Storage*" –PhysicalDisks (Get-PhysicalDisk –CanPool $True) The following example creates a new storage pool, StoragePool1, that uses four of the available disks. New-StoragePool –FriendlyName StoragePool1 –StorageSubsystemFriendlyName "Windows Storage*" –PhysicalDisks (Get-PhysicalDisk PhysicalDisk1, PhysicalDisk2, PhysicalDisk3, PhysicalDisk4) The following example sequence of cmdlets shows how to add an available physical disk PhysicalDisk5 as a hot spare to the storage pool StoragePool1. $PDToAdd = Get-PhysicalDisk –FriendlyName PhysicalDisk5 Add-PhysicalDisk –StoragePoolFriendlyName StoragePool1 –PhysicalDisks $PDToAdd –Usage HotSpare Step 2: Create a virtual diskNext, you must create one or more virtual disks from the storage pool. When you create a virtual disk, you can select how the data is laid out across the physical disks. This affects both reliability and performance. You can also select whether to create thin- or fixed-provisioned disks.
Windows PowerShell equivalent commands for creating virtual disksThe following Windows PowerShell cmdlet or cmdlets perform the same function as the preceding procedure. Enter each cmdlet on a single line, even though they may appear word-wrapped across several lines here because of formatting constraints. The following example creates a 50 GB virtual disk named VirtualDisk1 on a storage pool named StoragePool1. New-VirtualDisk –StoragePoolFriendlyName StoragePool1 –FriendlyName VirtualDisk1 –Size (50GB) The following example creates a mirrored virtual disk named VirtualDisk1 on a storage pool named StoragePool1. The disk uses the storage pool's maximum storage capacity. New-VirtualDisk –StoragePoolFriendlyName StoragePool1 –FriendlyName VirtualDisk1 –ResiliencySettingName Mirror –UseMaximumSize The following example creates a 50 GB virtual disk named VirtualDisk1 on a storage pool that is named StoragePool1. The disk uses the thin provisioning type. New-VirtualDisk –StoragePoolFriendlyName StoragePool1 –FriendlyName VirtualDisk1 –Size (50GB) –ProvisioningType Thin The following example creates a virtual disk named VirtualDisk1 on a storage pool named StoragePool1. The virtual disk uses three-way mirroring and is a fixed size of 20 GB.
New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName StoragePool1 -FriendlyName VirtualDisk1 -ResiliencySettingName Mirror -NumberOfDataCopies 3 -Size 20GB -ProvisioningType Fixed Step 3: Create a volumeNext, you must create a volume from the virtual disk. You can assign an optional drive letter or folder, then format the volume with a file system.
Windows PowerShell equivalent commands for creating volumesThe following Windows PowerShell cmdlet performs the same function as the previous procedure. Enter the command on a single line. The following example initializes the disks for virtual disk VirtualDisk1, creates a partition with an assigned drive letter, and then formats the volume with the default NTFS file system. How many disks minimum are needed for mirror storage layout?For example, two-way mirror only requires a minimum of two disks, while a three-way mirror requires a minimum of five disks which helps ensure quorum in the event of some break in disk communication.
What is the amount of physical disk's needed in disk mirroring to create resilient volumes?You can use the “Mirror” space to store two or three copies of the data across the set of physical disks. The Two-way mirror requires at least two physical disks to protect from single disk failure, however, the Three-way mirror requires at least five physical disks to protect from two simultaneous disk failures.
What is the minimum number of disks required for each data resiliency type?What is the minimum numbers disks required for each data resiliency type? Three-way mirroring requires a minimum of 5 disk to allow. Two-way mirroring requires a minimum of 2 disk. How does thin provisioning allow you to allocate more storage space to users than is available in the pool?
How many disk failures can a twoA two-way mirror can tolerate one physical disk failure, while a three-way mirror can tolerate up to two physical disk failures. – Parity VD — Data is striped across the physical disk along with parity information.
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