"Building Better Geeks Since 2004"
A look at the latest updates to software-defined storage with Storage Spaces Direct, new with Windows Server 2016. Elden Christensen explains the advantages in terms of cost, performance and reliability.
Also, find out what your deployment options are from hyper-converge or branch offices to converge for enterprise scale workloads. Finally aucasinosonline, you’ll see how this applies to disaster recovery.
Source: Microsoft Mechanics Library
Tonight (Wed 12/18/2013) I had the privilege of giving my talk on
“Performance Benchmarking in Storage Spaces 2012 R2” for the
Cincinnati Networking Professionals Association (CiNPA).
For those who attended, and those interested in Storage Spaces, here are the resource links mentioned during the presentation:
Video – Storage Spaces: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC-B218 
Blog – Step-By-Step: Deploy Hyper-V on SMB 3.0
http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2013/12/18/step-by-step-deploy-hyper-v-on-smb-3-0.aspx 
Download – Iometer
http://iometer.org/doc/downloads.html 
eBay – Dell PowerEdge C1100 (2 proc, quad core, 24 GB, 1U) for $335
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Poweredge-C1100-1U-2X-XEON-QC-L5520-2-26GHZ-NO-HDD-24GB-DDR3-Tested-/261199263261 
Blog – Step-by-step for Storage Spaces Tiering in Server 2012 R2
http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2013/08/28/step-by-step-for-storage-spaces-tiering-in-windows-server-2012-r2.aspx 
Training – Free MVA Networking Fundamentals course
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/networking-fundamentals 
Training – Free MVA Windows Server 2012: Storage
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/windows-server-2012-storage 
Training – Free MVA Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage Jump Start: New Choices
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/windows-server2012-r2-storage-jump-start-new-choices 
Video – Using Microsoft Visio 2013 for Network Documentation (Parts 1-3)
Misc – My Pinterest #Bacon Collection
http://www.pinterest.com/timbarrett/insane-bacon-stuff/ 
Western Digital has been around for a while with their WD Sentinel SMB storage appliances, and now Seagate has joined the fray.
Enter the Seagate Business Storage Windows Server 4-Bay NAS.
OK, so right about now you’re saying, “Hey, a NAS and Storage Spaces aren’t the same thing.” But, if you look closer at the specs you’ll notice that this little box includes Windows Storage Server 2012 Workgroup, which means (drumroll please) it includes Storage Spaces.
Plus, it comes in four flavors:
With a posted speed of up to 200 MB/sec you’re not exactly in SSD territory speed-wise, but you do get a lot of storage for your money.
Rather than listen to me re-hash all the specs, check out the blog post by Scott Johnson or cruise over to the official Seagate website for the NAS.
Props: @supersquatchy