Transcript Deploying Windows File Servers, Windows

Deploying
Windows File Servers,
Windows-Powered NAS,
And Distributed
File Systems
David Golds
Group Program Manager
Microsoft Corporation
Deployment Motivation
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What do you have today?
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Probably a lot of Windows NT 4.0 file servers
Where do you want to go?
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Lower TCO
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Higher availability
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Consolidation, high utilization, …
Recoverability, re-allocation, …
How to get there?
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The maps – documentation and resources
Avoiding ‘bumps in the road’
Goals For Your File Service
6.
File server consolidation
Flexible storage re-allocation
Availability
Data recovery
File server security
Maintaining performance
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Valuable new Resource Kit document
1.
2.
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4.
5.
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“Designing and Deploying File Servers” guide
1. File Server Consolidation
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Windows 2000 is a great consolidated file server
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Customer example (clustered file server)
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Each node has 4 x 700Mhz CPUs, 4GB RAM
Each node has 11 x 170GB volumes
AntiVirus software
~3000 active users per node, ‘no perf issues’
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Tuned per Q312362 to avoid ‘2020’ event messages
Customer example (non-clustered)
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“Great reliability, so no need to cluster”
0.5 GB RAM*
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Note – 4GB would be better: (a) file cache, (b) CHKDSK
1TB of disk
Third-party quota product
~1500 active users
File Server Consolidation
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Windows Server 2003 even better
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SAN friendly: Manual volume
mounting for SANs
StorPort: Enhanced SAN performance
Multipath IO (MPIO) for SAN
IA64 great for file servers
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IA64 gives huge virtual address space
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File caching
Huge ‘paged pool’ area
2. Flexible Storage Allocation
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Use DFS to provide a ‘file service abstraction’
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Provide users with long-lived logical file paths
Administrators free to change servers/storage
Sometimes known as “NAS virtualization”
Online storage growth
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Dynamic disks – using the diskmgmt.msc snap-in
Basic disks – using diskpart.exe
VDS – In Windows Server 2003
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Common api/cmd for managing RAID/storage virtualization
Volume Mount-points
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Mount a volume into an NTFS folder
Now supported in Windows Server 2003 clusters
3. Availability
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Different techniques for a highly available file service
1.
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3.
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Clustering
DFS with FRS file replication,
DFS + Storage on a SAN – reallocate to another server in case
of failure
Need to consider ways to make data highly available
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Multiple NICs
For SAN, Multiple paths from file server to disks
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(MPIO: multiple independent fiber channel paths)
Different RAID levels
Online volume growth, backup
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See next slide
Availability: ISV Driver Quality
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You run anti-virus, quota, replication products?
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These use ‘file system filter drivers’
These are complex drivers – how to ensure quality?
Answer: Microsoft Plugfests, better dev kits,
logo tests
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Plugfests: Quarterly week-long ISV workshops in Redmond
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WHQL certification for anti-virus products
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8 weeks of events held since mid-1999
Focus on robustness, performance, transparency
For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
We’ve measured significant progress
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No FS filters in Windows ‘OCA’ top 100 ISV bluescreens
Huge change from 3 years ago
4. Data Recovery
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Windows Server 2003 goes far beyond
backup/restore
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Volume Shadow copy Restore
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Open File Backup
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Empower users to undo their own mistakes
Backup open files without extra device drivers
Available to backup products which use ‘VSS’
Automated System Recovery (ASR)
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Bare-metal restore of systems
Supported by NTBackup
Supported by third-party backup products
Shadow Copy Restore
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Client Side
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Note: Flash demo
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Server Side
Look under www.microsoft.com/storage
Shadow Copy Restore At
Microsoft
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Microsoft “ITG” pilot
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"ITG manual restore versus shadow copy
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ITG manual restore took 24-72 hours and required 3 escalations before “backup/restore”
team was properly engaged
Restore cost for ITG manual restore could cost $300+ for support and escalation costs
plus lost time while restore takes place
Previous versions – Shadow Copy client restore takes 5 minutes for the initial install and
5 minutes to do the restore
Shadow Copy previous versions restore can take place on the spot
High client satisfaction (end user quotes)
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Total of 57 servers over a 3 month pilot
10% space allocation provides two weeks worth of recovery, taking two shadow copies
per day
“I have to say that is one of the coolest features I have ever seen! It worked flawlessly!
Thanks!”
“Worked like a charm; You are my hero for the foreseeable future”
ITG praise
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“The best new feature in Windows Server 2003”
“Extremely easy to enable and setup”
Automated System Recovery
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New feature for Windows Server 2003
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Quickly bring a non-bootable system to a restorable state
Backup of only system, applications, and settings – No data
unless on boot volume
System and settings change less frequently than data
Target system requirements
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Hardware must be same as original system
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Except hard disks, video cards, and NICs
Enough disks to restore all the Critical System Disks
Storage capacity of each critical disk must be >=
corresponding original disk
ASR state file (asr.sif) must be accessible through a local
floppy drive
Automated System Recovery
Windows XP, Windows Server 2003
Bring a non-bootable system quickly to a
state from which a restore can be performed
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Backup App
Install Media
(Optional)
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Re-configure physical storage to its
original state
Restore the OS, applications and all settings
Data backup Media
Windows CD
On-Line
Retail
Media
Provides a mechanism for
third-party vendors to incorporate
ASR-related features
ASR B/U Media
ASR Floppy
ASR Floppy
4. Data Recovery
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CHKDSK
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Reminder – NTFS is a mature journaling file system
NTFS uses database-like logging techniques in order to remain
consistent, even in case of a power fail or crash
CHKDSK required only if
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Hardware does not honor ‘write-through’ of the journal file
Hardware corrupts data in some way
There’s an NTFS bug – hence the emphasis on ‘mature’
CHKDSK in Windows Server 2003
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CHKDSK performance gains
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See http://etestinglabs.com/main/reports/mschkdsk.pdf …showing >
1271% perf gain in their largest test configurations.
Online CHKDSK filesystem verification
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In Windows Server 2003 RESKIT: ‘verfydsk.exe’
Uses VSS to create a Shadow copy of volume
5. File Server Security
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Anti-virus
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Broad range of anti-virus products for Windows
Vendors working closely with development team
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Availability
Performance
Shares now read-only by default
“Effective permissions’
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New tab in ACL dialog
What can Joe really do?
6. Maintaining Performance
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Key method is disk defragmentation
Windows Server 2003 defrag enhancements
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Scriptable using DEFRAG.EXE command line
Online MFT defrag for NTFS Volumes
Finer-grain defrag NTFS API support
Significantly faster defrag algorithm
Efficient defrag of ‘Shadow Copies’
Windows Server 2003 NetBench gains
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1 CPU +23%. 2 CPU +63%. 4 CPU +94%. 8 CPU +116%
Windows Distributed File
System (DFS)
Benefits Of DFS
Virtual paths
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DFS provides ‘Virtual UNC paths’
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DFS allows users and applications to use virtual,
administrator defined UNC paths
These paths are independent of the physical
resources backing these paths
Example
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\\corp\docs\2002
\\corp\docs\2003
\\corp\tools\sales
\\corp\tools\engineering
\\corp\projects\foobar
\\corp\users\dgolds
Microsoft DFS – Architecture
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Multi-protocol
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Uses SMB/LM protocol to
communicate between DFS
client and DFS server
Then, uses any underlying
remote filesystem protocol to
connect to remote share
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DFS Client
DFS
SMB/LM for Windows
Anything client has a RDR
installed for (e.g., NCP for
Netware, NFS for Unix Servers)
LAN
or
WAN
Secure
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DFS Server
DFS only involved in name
redirection
Existing security of underlying
OS and file system is used to
access shares
Netwar
e
Windows
Unix
Benefits Of DFS
Multiple link targets
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DFS Links can have Multiple targets
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A ‘link’ is a mapping from the ‘virtual’ DFS path to
one or more shares (known as ‘targets’)
Example
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\\corp\docs\2002 -> \\docs1\2002, and \\docs2\2002
A DFS path can point to another DFS path
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Example
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\\corp\sales\demos -> \\demosrus\public
Benefits Of DFS
Load balancing, site selection
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In case of multiple targets, the DFS server sorts
targets in 2 phases
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Phase 1: Sort into groups by ‘site’
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Windows 2000 site selection
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Windows Server 2003 ‘closest-site-selection’
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Groups #1 … #N sorted by AD-defined site costing
Phase 2: Within each ‘group’, randomize order
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Group #1 is same site,
Group #2 is rest-of-the-world
Provides load balancing
DFS client behavior
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Use the first available target in the referral list
Failover to next in list when necessary
DFS: Multiple Link Targets
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A single DFS link can
point to multiple physical
shares (“targets”)
\\corp\docs\2002
DFS Client
In
Seattle
DFS Server
DFS
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DFS selects one of
the replicas
\\docs1\2002
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Replicas within the
user’s site are
selected
preferentially
\\Docs1
\\Docs2
Deploying DFS
DFS types: Domain versus stand-alone
Characteristic
Domain-based
Stand-Alone
Administrator
access
Only Domain Admins can create new
domain-based DFS roots;
Local Administrators group members
on each of the root targets can
add/delete links or root targets
Local Administrators group
members on the local server can
create new stand-alone DFS roots
and add links to the roots
Where DFS root
information is stored
In Active Directory
In the registry of the root server
DFS namespace size
restrictions
5,000 links
50,000 links
Methods to ensure
DFS root availability
Create multiple DFS root targets in
the same domain
Create stand-alone DFS root on a
clustered file server
Methods to ensure
link target
availability
Create multiple link targets and
replicate files by using one of the
following methods
 Enabling FRS
 Copying files manually or by using
scripts
 Using a third-party replication tool
Create multiple link targets and
replicate files by using one of
the following methods
 Copying files manually or by
using scripts
 Using a third-party replication
tool
Deploying DFS
DFS types: Domain versus stand-alone
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Use stand-alone DFS namespaces when
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No Active Directory available
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You need to create a single namespace with more than
5,000 links
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Your organization does not use Active Directory, or
A domain admin will not create a DFS in their AD
If you can divide your links among two or more namespaces,
then domain-based DFS is an option
Use clustering to Ensure the availability of the stand-alone
DFS namespace
Use domain-based DFS namespaces when
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You plan to use FRS to replicate data
You want to ensure the namespace is available across
multiple sites
Deploying DFS
Size limits
Description
Recommendation*
Explanation
Number of DFS
roots per server
Varies
Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003,
Standard Edition
 One namespace root per server
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Editions
 No Limit
Number of links per
DFS namespace
5,000 for domain-based
DFS
50,000 links for
stand-alone DFS
These two stores (Active Directory, Registry) have
different restrictions on the size of their objects
Size of each DFS
Active Directory
object (applies to
domain-based DFS
namespaces only).
5 megabytes (MB)
The size of the Active Directory object is determined
by the number and path length of roots, links,
comments, and targets in the namespace. Microsoft
recommends using no more than 5,000 links in a
domain-based namespace to prevent the Active
Directory object from exceeding 5 MB.
Number of root
targets per domainbased DFS root
No fixed limit
If you do not enable “root scalability mode”,
Microsoft recommends using 16 or fewer root targets
to limit traffic to the server acting as the primary
domain controller (PDC)
Deploying DFS
Scaling hints and tips
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Keep comment fields to a minimum
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These take space in the DFS metadata & limit size
Cascade DFSes
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Build layers of DFS for large namespaces
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A top-level DFS, pointing to subordinate DFSes
3-tiers is common for Large deployments
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8 tiers is maximum supported
Use ‘root scalability mode’
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This is available for Windows Server 2003
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Enable using DFSUTIL /RootScalability
DFS root servers will get updates from a local domain controller
instead of the server acting as the PDC
Reduces network traffic to the PDC at the expense
of tight consistency
Deploying DFS
Site selection hints and tips
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Site is only determined by IP address range
Windows 2000 site selection hints
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Note that a target’s site is defined when it is added to the DFS
To refresh
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Manually remove/add the target
Or, use Windows Server 2003’s DFSUTIL /refresh
Windows Server 2003 site selection
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Note that a target’s site is dynamically defined
Site information in the DFS metadata is ignored
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The Windows Server 2003 DFS UI does not store it there
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Use DFSUTIL /refresh if using Windows 2000 DFS servers
“Closest site selection” mode requires Windows Server 2003 on
all ISTGs
File Replication Service
(FRS)
FRS In Windows Server 2003
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File Replication Service
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Windows Server 2003 improvements
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Used by DFS for keeping replicas in sync
Also used by Active directory for keeping logon scripts and
policy files in sync on DCs
Driven by the NTFS ‘USN Change journal’
Staging file space management.
Treat it as a LRU cache
Reduce the data that is shipped between replicas –
compression and suppression
“SONAR” monitoring tool and troubleshooting doc
Sharing violation override
See slides separate session for more info
FRS And DFS
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FRS can be used to keep DFS link targets
synchronized
Common scenarios
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Publication of applications
Publication of documents
Reverse publication
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central system collects files from regional files
Used for ‘backup’, ‘log collection’
Great combination with DFS site-selection
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Users use a common namespace
DFS refers customer to closest available server
FRS replicates content between servers
Summary
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Highly scalable, robust file server
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Performance
Recoverability
Security
Windows Server 2003 adds key new
shadow copy scenarios
© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.