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Please help superboyac build a server (2013 edition).
Stoic Joker:
Is that for the WHS version, the new version, or both? I've never had occasion to play with it ... But I've got all my VMs on an 8 disk hardware RAID5 array.
-Stoic Joker (August 05, 2013, 10:31 PM)
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It was for the WHS version.
-wraith808 (August 05, 2013, 11:29 PM)
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Ah! Okay. I remember that debacle. But supposedly they got that all fixed...supposedly... They were pitching it as the best thing since sliced bread at the last MS show I went to. Guess we'll have to wait for 40 to chime in on the clarification then. Thanks.
-Stoic Joker (August 06, 2013, 06:43 AM)
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The first iterations worked ok as long as you didn't push it too much. Then something went terribly wrong a few updates later. Microsoft 'fixed' it by the simple expedient of removing the drive pooling feature from WHS.
But it's kinda moot now. Unless I missed something WHS has been officially discontinued. Microsoft is suggesting its very stripped down "Windows Server Essentials" server as the replacement.-40hz (August 06, 2013, 08:26 AM)
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There's a variant of disk pooling available with Server 2012. I never did have a chance to play with it, and can't now (production system). But the MS guy at the last show was demoing add/remove/etc. disks to/from a MS Hyper-V server storage pool of some kind.
This was the same show I found out about the toss running VM from server to server without shutdown capabilities of the new Hyper-V servers. I tried it a few times (just had to), and it really is just as slick, easy, and smooth as they said it was at the show.
40hz:
There's a variant of disk pooling available with Server 2012.
-Stoic Joker (August 06, 2013, 12:04 PM)
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Yes indeed. But that puppy is an entirely different breed of tech from what they had in WHS.
I've never done anything with pooling in a Windows server production environment. But I did get some (brief) hands-on with it in a lab setting. Looked impressive. But that's one of those things you need to have up long-term before you can say for real how well it works in contrast to something like tossing VMs back and forth. With that, you have immediate feedback if something isn't what they say it is.
I'd have no problem implementing Microsoft's pooling capabilities however, if I were anyplace that would benefit from it. Microsoft's mainline server technology is rock solid. As good - or better - than anything else that's out there in the situations it's intended for.
I've never encountered any real systemic faults with MS Server. Truth is, with Windows Server, most problems I've run into were caused by either a bad initial setup, or by somebody messing with things they were warned were best left alone.
If you follow the directions (RTFM is particularly appropriate advice when doing up a server) and observe what Microsoft considers to be 'best practices' whenever deploying one of their server products, they really are extremely capable and (mostly) worry free. Windows servers that are correctly provisioned (hardware-wise) and which get set up "by the book," offer years of virtually flawless performance. And with minimal management or maintenance.
One of the reasons I tend to be so hard on Microsoft is because I know what levels of technical excellence they're capable of achieving. So if I'm more critical of what they do than some other companies, it's because I do respect them. And I also expect more of them because of it.
Stoic Joker:
There's a variant of disk pooling available with Server 2012.
-Stoic Joker (August 06, 2013, 12:04 PM)
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Yes indeed. But that puppy is an entirely different breed of tech from what they had in WHS.
I've never done anything with pooling in a Windows server production environment. But I did get some (brief) hands-on with it in a lab setting. Looked impressive. But that's one of those things you need to have up long-term before you can say for real how well it works in contrast to something like tossing VMs back and forth. With that, you have immediate feedback if something isn't what they say it is.-40hz (August 06, 2013, 12:59 PM)
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Indeed, time will tell as they say. But with SB's desire for flexible access to...stuff. It sounds right down his alley ... Assuming he doesn't decide to go the Linux route. I just thought it best to clarify before preclusively eliminating an option.
I've never encountered any real systemic faults with MS Server. Truth is, with Windows Server, most problems I've run into were caused by either a bad initial setup, or by somebody messing with things they were warned were best left alone.-40hz (August 06, 2013, 12:59 PM)
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But, I love stupid people ... They pay for my house! ;)
superboyac:
So I'm trying to compare the drive pooling features of ZFS+FreeNAS vs. Storage Spaces in MS Server 2012 R2. Here are some notes:
http://www.zdnet.com/windows-server-2012-r2-a-first-look-7000017675/
Storage and BYOD
Storage Spaces, Microsoft's storage virtualisation technology, also gets an overhaul in Windows Server 2012 R2. Microsoft has added support for storage tiering, letting you mix traditional hard drives and solid-state disks. With storage tiers, you can identify slow and fast disks in a Storage Space, and Windows will move data between them automatically to give you the best performance — putting data that's accessed regularly on SSD, and data that's not needed so often on slower, cheaper hard drives.
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Considering that most other operating systems make due with single root mount points, having 26 can be seen as quite sufficient.
You know, you *can* mount any volume anywhere you so desire.
Server 2012 R2 sports storage spaces. As a single volume. You can mount anywhere.
How does that buggy and not-quite-sufficient ZFS work for you on Linux? Or BtrFS - is that ready for production yet? No - I didn't think so, they are still work-in-progress. Server 2012 is production ready, robust, resilient and secure.
Do you run a Linux server? Has it been compromised by Darkleech yet? It soon will be, since nobody can figure out how the servers are being compromised, but they *are* being infected at a steady rate. By someone with root privileges, mind you. You know what they call a server where somebody else has root? Total *pwnage*!
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40hz:
There's a variant of disk pooling available with Server 2012.
-Stoic Joker (August 06, 2013, 12:04 PM)
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Yes indeed. But that puppy is an entirely different breed of tech from what they had in WHS.
I've never done anything with pooling in a Windows server production environment. But I did get some (brief) hands-on with it in a lab setting. Looked impressive. But that's one of those things you need to have up long-term before you can say for real how well it works in contrast to something like tossing VMs back and forth. With that, you have immediate feedback if something isn't what they say it is.-40hz (August 06, 2013, 12:59 PM)
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Indeed, time will tell as they say. But with SB's desire for flexible access to...stuff. It sounds right down his alley ... Assuming he doesn't decide to go the Linux route. I just thought it best to clarify before preclusively eliminating an option.
-Stoic Joker (August 06, 2013, 03:02 PM)
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Actually, if you're most comfortable with Windows and don't really feel like putting the time into getting over the learning curve on an entirely new OS environment, there's no intrinsic need to look at Linux except maybe to save some significant money and more fully own your server.
I'd definitely be inclined to download a trial copy of a Windows server and give it a try with a project like this one.
One catch would be the hardware compatibility issue. It's important to remember that if your chosen devices aren't on Microsoft's list, they'll make no representations about them working correctly (or remaining stable) when used with their server software.
I've never encountered any real systemic faults with MS Server. Truth is, with Windows Server, most problems I've run into were caused by either a bad initial setup, or by somebody messing with things they were warned were best left alone.-40hz (August 06, 2013, 12:59 PM)
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But, I love stupid people ... They pay for my house! ;)
-Stoic Joker (August 06, 2013, 03:02 PM)
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Don't know about love - but yeah...I'm somewhat dependent on their mistakes and lack of knowledge for my own income too. ;D
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