With Windows Server 2012, Server manager includes simple and easy to use, user interface that enables management of Windows Storage Spaces and other Storage Subsystems such as EMC Clariion VNX and Dell EqualLogic (but not limited to these) storage arrays with supporting SMI-S and SMP based Storage provider respectively. By using Server Manager’s File and Storage Services Role user interfaces, you can create and manage storage objects such as storage pools and virtual disks.
In the following post, we will cover common storage spaces administrative tasks by using the “File and Storage Services” pages on Server Manager. For more information on the Windows Storage Spaces technology please read:
(**Some other disks configurations such as using dynamic disks or disk associated to a windows server cluster storage will also mark the physical disk as not appropriate to be added to a storage pool.)
1.1. Launch Server Manager and navigate to the “File and Storage Services” page.
1.2. Navigate to the Storage Pools page.
1.3. Refresh the UI by clicking on the Refresh button.
The following sections describe the common storage management actions of creating a storage pool and a virtual disk on it using Server Manager.
1.1 Logon as a user with admin privileges to your server, launch Server Manager, and then navigate to the “Storage Pools” page within the File and Storage Services Role.
1.1.1 Right-click the “Available Disks” pool for the Storage Spaces subsystem and launch the New Storage Pool Wizard.
OR
Launch the New Storage Pool Wizard from the TASKS list.
1.1.2 In the New Storage Pool Wizard, enter desired pool name and optional description. Make sure that you have selected the Primordial pool for the Storage Spaces subsystem.
1.1.3 Select the number of disks needed for pool creation. If you want to designate a physical disk as a hot spare, then select the “Hot Spare” allocation type.
1.1.4 Confirm the selected settings and initiate pool creation by selecting “Create” on the “Confirm selections” page.
2.1. Right-click the concrete pool that you just created (the pool where type value is Storage Pool), and then launch the New Virtual Disk Wizard.
2.1.1. In the New Virtual Disk Wizard, make sure that you have selected the appropriate pool. Enter the desired virtual disk name and optional description.
2.1.2. Select the desired storage layout and provisioning scheme as per your storage requirements.
2.1.3. On the “Specify the size of the virtual disk” page, enter the desired size for the new virtual disk or pick the “Maximum size” option.
2.1.4. Confirm the settings and initiate virtual disk creation by selecting “Create” on the “Confirm selections” page.
1) Storage Space creation using PowerShell cmdlet :
Below are a couple of PowerShell cmdlet examples that demonstrate the same provisioning action as described above using Server Manager.
$PhysicalDisks = Get-StorageSubSystem -FriendlyName "Storage Spaces*" | Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $True;
New-StoragePool -FriendlyName CompanyData -StorageSubsystemFriendlyName "Storage Spaces*" -PhysicalDisks $PhysicalDisks;
New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName CompanyData -FriendlyName DataWarehouse –ResiliencySettingName Mirror -Size 100GB -ProvisioningType Thin;
We hope that you found the information above on how to use Server Manager to provision storage useful. For even more resources and further reading, please have a look at the list of links below.
1) Storage Spaces Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
2) Storage Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell
3) How to Configure a Clustered Storage Space in Windows Server 2012
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