Question

what are the reasons behind enabling Deduplication on windows servers?

Benefits of implementing storage pool and RAID in general?

Benefits of implementing Active Directory to manage users and AGDLP as a best practice?

Possible Troubleshooting methods adapted in the Windows server environment?

Could someone please provide answers to this question?

Answer 1

Q 1. What are the reasons behind enabling Deduplication on windows servers?

Answer: Microsoft has included an innovative technology called data deduplication, which can dramatically reduce the amount of actual disk space required to store your data. Deduplication works by removing redundancy from your data. If there is no redundancy, then there is nothing for a deduplication engine to remove. For example, volumes containing lots of compressed media files (MPEG files, MP3 files, etc.) tend not to benefit from deduplication because these file types are already compressed. The same can also be said for encrypted files and for compressed archives (ZIP files, CAB files, etc.).

Data deduplication works by finding portions of files that are identical and storing just a single copy of the duplicated data on the disk. The technology required to find and isolate duplicated portions of files on a large disk is pretty complicated. Microsoft uses an algorithm called chunking, which scans data on the disk and breaks it into chunks whose average size is 64KB. These chunks are stored on disk in a hidden folder called the chunk store. Then, the actual files on the disk contain pointers to individual chunks in the chunk store. If two or more files contain identical chunks, only a single copy of the chunk is placed in the chunk store and the files that share the chunk all point to the same chunk.

Microsoft has tuned the chunking algorithm sufficiently that in most cases, users will have no idea that their data has been deduplicated. Access to the data is as fast as if the data were not deduplicated. For performance reasons, data is not automatically deduplicated as it is written. Instead, regularly scheduled deduplication jobs scan the disk, applying the chunking algorithm to find chunks that can be deduplicated.

Q 2. Benefits of implementing storage pool and RAID in general?

Using a storage pool provides the following benefits:

• Multiple volumes can be created on a storage pool, enabling you to divide the storage space among different users and applications.

• Disks of different sizes and types can be mixed into one large storage space.

• Disks from connected expansion units can be mixed with disks in the NAS to form a storage pool.

• Extra disks can be added while the storage pool is in use, increasing storage capacity without interrupting services.

• Qtier provides auto-tiering when a storage pool contains a mix of SATA, SAS, and SSD disks. Qtier automatically moves frequently accessed hot data to the faster SSDs, and infrequently accessed cold data to the slower disks.

• Snapshots can only be used with storage pools. Snapshots record the state of the data on a volume or LUN at a specific point in time. Data can then be restored to that time if it is accidentally modified or deleted.

• Multiple RAID 5 or RAID 6 can be striped together to form a RAID 50 or RAID 60 pool.

Using a RAID provides the following benefits:

1. Large Storage

First of all, undoubtedly, one of the most obvious advantages is that the RAID has much more storage space than a single drive. It’s known that RAID arrays usually consist of two or more disks. Also, if you want more extra storage, you can simply insert an additional hard drive into the array. Apparently, it is pretty convenient.

2. Fault Tolerance

In most RAID levels, data backup in the array will be automatically created. This is achieved by data parity of RAID, generally called data redundancy. Moreover, in this way, RAID system becomes fault tolerant. In face of this feature, many users treat RAID as a backup. Whereas, as a matter of fact, data loss still can happen on RAID systems now and then. Therefore, you still should make backups for the data stored in the RAID arrays so as to avoid data recovery, like PST recovery.

3. Continuous System Running

On a computer which contains only one hard drive, if the drive fails, the operating system will stop at once. However, in a RAID arrays, if a hard disk fails, the system will be able to keep running normally for a certain time. In this process, users can seize the time to replace the failed drive with a new appropriate one.

4. Parity Check

Furthermore, modern RAID comes endowed with an extremely important and excellent function – parity check. This feature can check for any potential system crashes and warn you. At that time, you should figure out the reasons behind the issues and fix them as soon as possible.

5. Fast Speed

Last but not least, RAID systems are able to work much faster than a single drive. It’s because that in the array, reading and writing of data can be done at the same time. Therefore, the transmission rate is improved. Users can achieve better disk performance.

Q 3. Benefits of implementing Active Directory to manage users and AGDLP as a best practice?

The major benefits of Active Directory Domain Services are:

• Centralized resources and security administration.
• Single logon for access to global resources.
• Simplified resource location.

AGDLP is a practice that can greatly reduce administrative headaches related to account management and permissions management.

The advantages of AGDLP are: It makes it equally straightforward to implement user and group authorizations (through membership in the domain local group). Assuming that the relevant groups for each resource already exist, permissions can easily be changed via the Active Directory console (by adding memberships).

Other advantages of AGDLP are:

• You can assign local resource access to users in other domains.
• A user's access to a resource can be removed, simply by removing their account from the appropriate group.

Q 4. Possible Troubleshooting methods adapted in the Windows server environment?

Method 1: Memory dump

A complete memory dump file records all the contents of system memory when the computer stops unexpectedly. A complete memory dump file may contain data from processes that were running when the memory dump file was collected.

Method 2: Data sanity check

Use the Dump Check Utility (Dumpchk.exe) to read a memory dump file or verify that the file was created correctly. You can use the Microsoft DumpChk (Crash Dump File Checker) tool to verify that the memory dump files are not corrupted or invalid.

Method 3: Performance Monitor

You can use Windows Performance Monitor to examine how programs that you run affect your computer's performance, both in real time and by collecting log data for later analysis.

Method 4: Microsoft Support Diagnostics

1. In the search box of the Microsoft Support Diagnostics Self-Help Portal, type Windows Performance Diagnostic.

2. In the search results, select Windows Performance Diagnostic, and then click Create.

3. Follow the steps of the diagnostic.

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