Chapter 4: Storage Configurations
Explain the types of storage available to a virtual machine. Windows Server
provides various types of storage to a virtual machine. VHDX files provide a
completely abstracted and self-contained virtual container for filesystems available to
virtual machines, and 2012 R2 and above allow a VHDX file connected to the SCSI bus
to be shared between multiple virtual machines, providing shared storage.
Additionally, storage can be exposed to virtual machines that are hosted in SAN
environments through the use of iSCSI running inside the guest operating system or
through the new virtual Fibre Channel capability.
Master It Why is MPIO required?
Solution When multiple paths are available to storage for resiliency purposes, the
storage will be seen multiple times by the operating system. MPIO makes the
operating system aware of the multiple paths to the storage and consolidates the
storage view to one object for each storage instance.Identify when to use Virtual Fibre Channel and when to use VHD Sets and
the benefits of each. Virtual Fibre Channel allows virtual machines to be directly
connected to a Fibre Channel SAN without the host requiring zoning to the storage,
but it requires knowledge of the storage fabric. A VHD Set provides shared storage to
the virtual machine without requiring the users of the VHD Set to have knowledge of
the storage fabric, which is useful in hosting the type of scenarios where all aspects of
the physical fabric should be hidden from the users. VHD Sets also maintain features
such as host-level backup and replication, which are not available when using Virtual
Fibre Channel.
Articulate how SMB 3 can be used. SMB 3 went through a huge upgrade in
Windows Server 2012, providing an enterprise-level file-based protocol that can now
be used to store Hyper-V virtual machines. This includes additional storage options
for Hyper-V environments, including fronting existing SANs with a Windows Server
Scale-Out File Server cluster to extend the SAN’s accessibility beyond hosts with direct
SAN connectivity.
Master It Which two SMB technologies enable virtual machines to move between
nodes in an SoFS without any interruption to processing?
Solution SMB Transparent Failover and SMB Scale-Out enable the movement of
SMB clients between servers without the need for LUNs to be moved and with no
loss of handles and locks.