This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Storage at Microsoft articles.
First published on TECHNET on Apr 24, 2018Heya folks, Ned here again. The folks over at Windows Server Insiders just dropped the new album: Build 17650. For those interested in having a job after a disaster strikes, there are three new Storage Replica options available::
- Storage Replica Standard
- Storage Replica Log v1.1
- Storage Replica Test Failover
Storage Replica Standard
SR is now available on Windows Server 2019 Preview Standard Edition, not just on Datacenter Edition. When installed on servers running Standard Edition, SR has the following limitations:
- SR replicates a single volume instead of an unlimited number of volumes.
- Servers can have one partnership instead of an unlimited number of partners.
- Volume size limited to 2 TB instead of an unlimited size.
The experience is otherwise unchanged. You can still use standalone servers, cluster to cluster, or stretch clusters. You can still manage it all with Windows Admin Center or the built-in PowerShell. You can still pick between synchronous and asynchronous replication.
These limits are not decided. See below for feedback options. If you ask for all the unlimited Datacenter features in SR though, I will only nod politely. :)
Storage Replica Log v1.1
We made performance improvements to the SR log system, leading to far better replication throughput and latency, especially on all-flash arrays and Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) clusters that replicate between each other. To take advantage of this update, you must upgrade all servers participating in replication to Windows Server 2019. We're not done here - we have an entirely new log we've been working on - but this optimization in the existing CLFS-based system makes big improvements.
Storage Replica Test Failover
It's now possible to mount a writable snapshot of replicated destination storage, in order to perform a backup of the destination or simply test your data and failover strategy. By grabbing an unused volume, we can temporarily mount a snapshot of the replicated storage. Replication of the original source continues unabated while you perform your tests; your data is never unprotected and your snapshot changes will not overwrite it. When you are done, discard the snapshot. For steps on using this, check out https://aka.ms/srfaq under section " Can I bring a destination volume online for read-only access? "
Here's a quick demo:
https://youtu.be/8EKPfBZRmh8
Please let us know how things go using https://windowsserver.uservoice.com or the Windows 10 Feedback Hub ( Category: Server, Subcategory: Storage ). We are very interested in your feedback, the sooner the better.
-- Ned "Yes, you finally got Standard Edition, Aidan" Pyle