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A Scale-Out File Server is a cluster role that offers the same SMB file share (or set of shares) on every node of the cluster. As clients come in, they are spread across the nodes using a round-robin mechanism based on DNS. In the common case of having many clients and just a few file server cluster...

I have been working with Bob Hunt at the TechNet Radio team to provide a series of webcasts with information about SMB 3.0 and the File Server role in Windows Server 2012. These are fairly informal conversations, but Bob is really good at posing interesting questions, clarifying the different scenarios...

1. Introduction I have been doing storage-related demos and publishing blogs with some storage performance numbers for a while, and I commonly get questions such as “How do you run these tests?” or “What tools do you use to generate IOs for your demos?”. While it’s...

These are some PowerShell snippets to configure a specific set of systems for Hyper-V over SMB testing. Posting it here mainly for my own reference, but maybe someone else out there is configuring a server with 48 disks split into 6 pools of 8 disks. These systems do not support SES (SCSI Enclosure Services...

One smart MVP was doing some testing and noticed that SMB Multichannel did not trigger immediately after an SMB session was established. So, he asked: How much traffic needs to pass between the SMB Client and Server before Multichannel actually starts? Well... SMB Multichannel works slightly different...

If you're an IT Administrator, you're likely to use the new SMB PowerShell cmdlets to manage your SMB 3.0 file shares. You can find details about those at http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2012/06/27/the-basics-of-smb-powershell-a-feature-of-windows-server-2012-and-smb-3-0.aspx However, if...

I got a question the other day about one of the scripts I published as part of a step-by-step for Hyper-V over SMB , Here's the relevant line from that script: New-SmbShare -Name VMS3 -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\VMS -FullAccess FST2.Test\Administrator, FST2.Test\FST2-HV1$, FST2.Test\FST2-HV2$...

A while back, I showed how to use PowerShell V2 and our old SMB WMIv1 object to explain how to find the free space behind a file share (essentially the free space for the volume that contains the file share). That post is available at http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2010/04/08/using-powershell...

Windows Server 2012 includes a built-in mechanism called Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) to check your configuration and make sure everything is set to the proper values. These set of rules, which come in specific sets for each role you install, can be run through Server Manager or also via PowerShell...

1. Introduction I have been presenting our solution in Windows Server 2012 for File Storage for Virtualization (Hyper-V over SMB) and Databases (SQL Server over SMB) for a while now. I always start the conversation talking about how simple and easy it is for an IT Administrator or an Application...

1 – Overview Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 introduced a new set of PowerShell cmdlets to manage File Servers and File Shares. If you're not familiar with them, I would recommend reviewing my blog on The Basics of SMB PowerShell . With the rule that cmdlets have to be written in a way...

Outline 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview 1.2. Hardware 1.3. Software 1.4. Notes and disclaimers 2. Install Windows Server 2012 2.1. Preparations 2.2. Install the OS 2.3. Rename the computer 2.4. Enable Remote Desktop 3. Configure the Hyper-V Host 3.1. Install the Hyper-V role to the server 3.2...

1. Overview 1.1. Introduction Windows Server 2012 provides Windows PowerShell cmdlets and WMI objects to manage SMB File Servers and SMB File Shares. These new tools are aimed at both System Administrator and Developers. 1.2. Benefits SMB PowerShell cmdlets allow an IT Administrator...

A quick blog post to highlight that I participated in an episode of “From End to Edge and Beyond”, recorded during TechEd North America 2012 with Tom Shinder and Yuri Diogenes. This show is focused on security, so the main focus was on the new SMB Encryption feature in Windows Server 2012...

One of the preferred methods for creating VMs in a shared environment is to have one or more base VHDs that you use as a template for new VMs. While having a base VHD is a constant, there are a few different methods to choose when you implement your provisioning process for new VMs. This post looks at...

IMPORTANT: This blog post is now obsolete. For the latest version of this content, please visit: http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2012/08/23/windows-server-2012-scale-out-file-server-for-sql-server-2012-step-by-step-installation.aspx 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview In this document...

This blog posts lists a few of the common test cases for the new "Hyper-V over SMB" scenario in Windows Server 2012 Beta. If you are not familiar with this new scenario in Windows Server 2012 Beta, please read the following TechNet articles before proceeding: High-Performance, Continuously Available...

Introduction For a while now, I have let go of the old CMD.EXE command line and moved over to POWERSHELL.EXE for good. As you probably know, you can run any old command from the new Windows PowerShell. However, there are times when the name or the syntax of old tools might create issues. But it can...

1. Overview Some time ago, I was automating a few tasks with PowerShell and needed to set NTFS permissions on a folder. I was tempted to use the good old ICACLS.EXE command line, but I wanted to keep it all within PowerShell. While there are a number of different permissions you could want to set...

I recently blogged about the PowerShell cmdlets included with the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 . That included the details on all the 10 cmdlets available, including the one used to create VHD files, which is New-IscsiVirtualDisk. If you’re paying close attention to the list of new features...

1. Overview One of the new features in the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 (included in Windows Storage Server 2008 R2) is the inclusion of PowerShell cmdlets for management. In this blog post, we will examine the details of the cmdlets available to manage targets and their associated virtual...

While many of the Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) administrators have moved from the old CLUSTER.EXE command-line to the new PowerShell interface, I know at least a few holdouts out there. It’s probably the fact that they have used the old CLI since the early days of Microsoft Cluster Services...

One of the interesting things about PowerShell is how easy it is to discover its cmdlets and parameter. In PowerShell itself or in the ISE, you can just start typing a command and then press the <TAB> key complete it. One other interesting bit is how you can use the Get-Command cmdlet to discover...

I was trying to figure out why people use the more complicated [System.DateTime]::Now instead of the simple Get-Date. They do the same thing and they both return an object of type "System.DateTime". PS C:\> Get-Date Thursday, April 08, 2010 10:46:48 PM PS C:\> [System.DateTime]::Now...

Overview In a previous blog post, I have examined some of PowerShell’s control structures and included an example gathered some information from web. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it at http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2010/04/04/experimenting-with-powershell-v2-scripting-variables...