{"id":3776,"date":"2015-06-22T08:47:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T13:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/?p=3776"},"modified":"2015-06-12T14:42:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T19:42:10","slug":"how-to-create-local-storage-with-windows-server-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/how-to-create-local-storage-with-windows-server-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create Local Storage with Windows Server 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve talked previously about some of the features newly introduced with Windows Server 2012. In this article we\u2019ll discuss Storage Spaces, a feature that allows you to provision storage to remove servers by creating storage pools. With Storage Spaces you can utilize physical inexpensive disks that once configured react just like a SAN (storage area network) device. In small enterprises that don\u2019t require dedicated devices for storage space or high I\/O operations, Storage Spaces provides a good alternative in achieving similar results.<\/span><\/p>\n

To configure Storage Spaces you\u2019ll need one or multiple unpartitioned physical disks (two for mirroring, three for mirroring with parity). Note that this technology offers support for SCSI, SATA, SAS and USB so it will suit you well for most configurations. Disks may be provided either externally or internally and can even be used in JBOD configuration. Storage spaces is a feature that will be installed by default on all Windows Server 2012 machines because it\u2019s part of the File and Storage Services role, so you\u2019ll not need to cover the installation part.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll continue by installing and configuring a storage pool and then create a VHD that can be used by other machines. Note that in the context of SAN, a VHD is referred to as a LUN (Logical Unit Number). When talking about Storage Spaces we can use these terms interchangeably because they basically offer similar functionalities. Note that disks initialized for Storage Space will use the GPT partition style<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve created a testing VM on my VirtualBox environment and I\u2019ve attached two extra disks to be able to show you how to configure Storage Spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"WinSrv2012<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you login on the machine, open the Server Manager<\/i> console and navigate to the File and Storage Services\/Storage Pools<\/i> Section:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Storage<\/a><\/p>\n

In the bottom right section of the window, you\u2019ll see the physical disks attached on the machine. Note that in order to be able to create a storage pool, the disk must be at least 10 GB in size. All disks will be automatically added to the Primordial<\/i> pool which contains all storage available on the server from which you can create storage pools. Use Ctrl<\/i> to select multiple disks, right click<\/i> and select Now Storage Pool<\/i> or use the Tasks<\/i> menu in the upper right corner of the panel. When the wizard starts, enter a name for the storage pool and then make sure that the desired disks are selected:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Storage<\/a><\/p>\n

There are three options available in the allocation section:<\/span><\/p>\n