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MCTS 70-643 Exam Cram: Windows Server 2008 Storage

Learn what options are available and how to configure a server’s physical and virtual disk drives so that the server can meet the needs of network applications while providing reliability.
This chapter is from the book

Terms you’ll need to understand:

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Virtual Disk Specification (VDS)

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IDE Drives

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SCSI Drives

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Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)

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network-attached storage (NAS)

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storage area network (SAN)

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iSCSI

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fibre channel

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Storage Manager

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iSCSI initiator

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partition

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Master Boot Record (MBR)

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GUID partition table (GPT)

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basic disks

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dynamic disks

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diskpart.exe command

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simple volumes

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spanned volumes

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striped volumes

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mirrored volumes

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RAID-5 volumes

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mount points

Techniques/concepts you’ll need to master:

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Connect to a NAS and SAN, using Windows Server 2008.

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Use Storage Explorer to view and manage Fibre Channel and ISCSI Fabrics.

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Manage disks using the Disk Management console and diskpart.exe command.

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Enable and configure RAID, using Windows Server 2008.

When working with Windows, you have to work with disks. Although simple servers have you install Windows Server 2008 on a local IDE (parallel and serial) or SCSI hard drive, more complex systems may use an attached remote computer storage device such as a storage area network (SAN) or network-attached storage (NAS). Therefore, you need to know what options are available and how to configure a server’s physical and virtual disk drives so that the server can meet the needs of network applications while providing reliability.

The Virtual Disk Specification (VDS) protocol provides a mechanism for remote configuration of disks, partitions, volumes, and iSCSI initiators on a server. Through the VDS protocol, a client can change the configuration of disks into partitions, partitions into volumes, and volumes into file systems. In the VDS protocol, two entities are involved: the server whose storage is configured and the client who needs to change the server storage configuration.

IDE and SCSI Drives

Today’s hard drives are either integrated drive electronics (IDE) or small computer system interface (SCSI, pronounced “skuzzy”) drives. IDE drives are designed as fast, low-cost drives. Traditional IDE drives were based on the parallel AT attachment (ATA) standard that used a parallel 40-pin connector. Today’s IDE drives follow the serial ATA standard (SATA), which uses a connector that is attached with only four wires and a smaller power connector. Although the serial ATA uses fewer wires/connectors, it provides faster throughput then parallel ATA IDE drives.

Servers and high-performance workstations typically use SCSI drives. SCSI drives typically offer faster performance and throughput than IDE drives and SCSI drives support a larger number of drives to be attached through the same interface.

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