ReFS vs NTFS

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ReFS vs NTFS

When discussing backup solutions for data on Windows fileservers, most of the discussion would go around exceeding 3-2-1 backup rule, or backup (all in one) appliance solutions.

Not so much attention is given to local storage formatting and file systems used in the process, of course, in case you prefer local storage over file based share.

An interesting topic was shared lately on Novosco’s Technical Architect Craig Rodgers, under the title “ReFs vs. NTFS, Calm Seas vs. Stormy Waters” regarding exactly the point.

As a part of his role in Novosco (technical validation of projects and solutions), Mr. Rodgers tested the ReFS and NTFS capabilities and differences in 8 week period, with daily copy of 8 virtual servers to 8 different repositories.

Test goal was a direct comparison between the various block sizes, file systems, compression and deduplication settings, which are often used in backup copy jobs

His team created 2TB LUNs from SAN ( Storage Area Network) and presented it to the server as drives.

Data flow from host to repositories used BaaS node, copied varied roles and change rated VM’s data to another location via backup copy jobs, then copied from the Baas note do the test repositories outside of the normal backup window.

Testing was made with Veem backup platform configured to create backup copy jobs that targeted servers, with 7 incremental and 8 weekly backup copies configured via GFS retention policy on 8 different type of servers :

  • Application
  • Web Application
  • Database
  • Domain Controller
  • Exchange Hybrid
  • Web Server
  • Light Application
  • Network Services

8 Week period test results came very interesting. According to Mr. Rodgers;  64K ReFS formatted drives have an additional file system overhead once formatted when compared to 4K.

Veem made solid results on data reduction, especially on DB server, which structured data achieved the best reduction in space. Raw uncompressed data achieved the best levels of deduplication, with ReFS repository data included for comparison, there was no post process operation on the ReFS repositories.

Initially, the capacity savings of processed data in the NTFS uncompressed repositories is impossible to ignore, however, the additional space required to ingest the data cannot be ignored too.  If a long-term retention repository is a goal, then within the constraints of NTFS deduplication, (1TB officially, seen 4TB restored without issue in testing) uncompressed offers huge gains regarding data reduction, 20:1, with Windows.

The big flaw of ReFS is a disability for the RAID, which Microsoft is working on, so keep in mind usage of hardware virtualized RAID alternative, if you want to use ReFS in a future deployment.

ReFS, for the most part, is working well now and is probably the best bet for a primary or indeed secondary backup repository. With regards to a second copy, ReFS is great for fast transforms however you may be happy trading performance for retention, in which case backup copies can target an NTFS volume.

In conclusion, although ReFS has some major advantages over NTFS filesystem, like Automatic integrity checking, data scrubbing techniques, better protection against data degradation, built-in drive recovery, and redundancy, etc., by comparison to NTFS, it still has flaws: cannot be used with Clustered Shared Volumes, no conversion capability between NTFS and ReFS, no file-based deduplication, and no disk quotas. Regarding that flaws, and Microsoft announcement to move it just to windows workstation distribution, It doesn’t look like ReFS, in a state that is now, can threaten NTFS’ position as the main system.

 

 

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Quota Management in Windows Server 2016

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Quota management is a valuable feature that enables users to restrict the storage capacity of shared resources in Windows Server 2016. If you create quotas, you will limit the space allocated to a volume or a folder—allowing you to practice capacity management conveniently.

Quota Management in Windows Server 2016

To set quotas in Windows Server 2016, you’ll need to use a tool called File Server Resource Manager (FSRM). This tool assists in managing and organising data kept on file servers.

The File Server Resource Manager tool consists of the following five features.

  • File classification infrastructure—this feature allows you to organise files and implement policies.
  • File management tasks—it enables you to implement conditional policies or tasks.
  • Quota management—it assists you to restrict the space available on shared folders.
  • File screening management—it allows you to limit the type of files that users can keep. For example, you can set a file screen to prevent users from creating MP3 files on the files server.
  • Storage reports—with this feature, you can generate reports to understand trends in disk utilisation and how data is organised, which enables you to spot unauthorised activities.

In this article, we are going to talk about the quota management feature in FSRM.

Setting up File Server Resource Manager

We need to install the File Server Resource Manager tool before using it for quota management.

A quick way to complete its setup is through the GUI server manager.

Here are the steps for installing the tool.

1. Start by logging into the Windows Server 2016. Then, on the Server Manager’s dashboard, click on “Manage” and select “Add Roles and Features”.

2. On the “Before You Begin” screen click “Next”.

3. Select “Role-based or feature-based installation” and click “Next”.

4. Select your destination server and click “Next”.

5. On the “Select Server roles” dashboard, expand “File and Storage Services” and “File and iSCSI Services”.

Then, select “File Server Resource Manager” and click “Next”.

6. On the window that pops up, Click the “Add Features” button to incorporate the required features.

Click “Next”.

7. If you do not need to add any extra features, just leave the default settings and click “Next”.

8. Confirm the installation selections and Click “Install” to start the process.

9. After the installation process is complete, click the “Close” button.

10. You can now access the File Server Resource Manager from the administrative interface and use it to create quotas.

Creating Quotas Using FSRM

As earlier mentioned, quota management enables you to set restrictions and define the extent of space available for users in the server. For example, you can limit all users to a maximum of 5GB on a shared folder. As such, the users cannot add data to the folder that exceeds 5GB.

You can also configure the File Server Resource Manager tool to be sending notifications whenever the specified usage limit is reached. For example, you can specify that an email is to be sent if 85% of the space has been consumed.

Creating quotas using the FSRM tool is a two-step process:

  • Create a template
  • Create a quota

a) Create a template

Before setting quotas, you need to either create a quota template or choose a default template already available on the File Server Resource Manager tool.

It is recommended that you create quotas solely from templates. This way, you can easily manage your quotas by making changes to the templates rather than the individual quotas. The one central location for managing quotas eases the enactment of storage policy rules.

Here are the steps for creating a quota template.

1. Under the “Quota Management” Section, right-click the “Quota Templates” button and go for “Create Quota Template”.

2. On the window that pops up, enter the Template name and the space limit. If you choose the “Hard quota” option, users will be unable to surpass the specified limit. A hard quota is good for controlling the amount of data allowed on a folder or a disk.

On the other hand, if you select the “Soft quota” option, users will be able to exceed the allocated limit. A soft quota is mostly used for monitoring space usage and producing notifications.

3. Lastly, to set notification thresholds, press the “Add” button. On the window that pops up, input your notification specifications.

You can specify that an email is to be sent, an entry is to be made to the event log, a command is to be run, or a report is to be generated. For example, you can state that whenever usage reaches 85%, send an email message to the administrator.

Thereafter, click “OK” to complete creating the quota template.

b) Create a quota

After setting up the quota template or using a default quota template, you need to create the quota.

Here are the steps for creating a quota.

1. On the File Server Resource Manager’s dashboard, right-click on “Quotas” and go for “Create Quota”.

2. On the “Create Quota” window, in the “Quota path” section, browse the path to the volume or folder that the storage capacity restriction will be applied.

Then, choose either the “Create quota on path” or the “Auto apply template and create quota…” option.

If you select the first option, quota will only be applied to the primary folder. For example, if you limit the parent folder to only 5GB, then the other subfolders will share the space specified in the main folder.

On the other hand, if you choose the second option, then the quota will also be applied to the subfolders. For example, if you restrict the main folder to 5GB, then the subfolders will also have individual quotas of 5GB each.

Subsequently, on the “Derive properties from this quota template” option, choose the template you created previously.

If satisfied with the quota properties, click “Create”.

After you’ve created the quota, you can see it on the File Server Resource Manager’s dashboard. Thereafter, you’ll be able to limit the amount of space allowed on your shared resources.

We hope this article has cleared things up.

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Optimizing File Server Performance in Windows Server 2016

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If you have a file server system in your company, you may want to tune some parameters and settings to enhance its performance.

For example, you may want the highest possible throughput on your server to meet the growing workload needs.

This article gives a set of guidelines that you can implement to optimize the file server settings in Windows Server 2016 and benefit from optimized performance.

How to Optimize File Server Performance

1. Choose a Proper Hardware

Foremost, you should go for a good hardware that will sufficiently support your performance incremental efforts. If the hardware cannot meet the expected file server load, the software adjustments may not yield significant fruits.

Here are some important hardware parameters you should optimise.

  • Response times
  • Growth expectations
  • Loading factors—such as average load and peak load
  • Capacity level

2. Optimise SMB Parameters

The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol is included into the Windows Server to enhance the sharing of files and other resources across the network.

The latest version available on Windows Server 2016 is 3.1.1, and it comes with several helpful features you can optimise to get the most of it.

Here are some tips on how to optimise the various SMB parameters.

a) Practice the “least privilege” principle

You can practice the principle of least privilege by limiting access to some services or features. If a file server or a file client do not need any feature, just disable it. Period.

Some of the features you can disable include:

  • SMB signing
  • SMB encryption
  • NTFS encryption
  • File system filters
  • Client-side caching
  • Scheduled tasks
  • IPSEC

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b) Configure power management mode

A constant high workload will reduce the speed and performance of your server. Therefore, for a comfortable working experience, you should make sure that the configurations for any BIOS as well as operating system power management is done correctly.

For example, this may consist of High Performance mode or even modified C-State. To avoid any bottlenecks, remember to install the most up-to-date, robust, and quickest storage and networking device drivers.

c) Follow file copying best practices

Users usually copy files from one location to the other on file servers. There are some best practices you can follow to enhance the speed of transferring files.

Windows has numerous utilities you can run on the command prompt and conveniently transfer files. For example, the recommended ones are Robocopy and Xcopy.

If using Robocopy, it’s advisable to include the /mt option to quickly copy and transfer several small files. It is also advisable to use the /log option to lessen console output by enabling redirection to NUL device or to a file.

If using Xcopy, you can significantly increase performance by including the /q option (which lowers CPU overhead) and /k option (which lowers network traffic) to your present parameters.

d) Practice SMB performance tuning

It is important to note that the performance of a file server will largely depend on the parameters set on the SMB protocol. If the parameters are well tuned, the file server performance can greatly improve.

Here is a table giving some of the registry settings that can influence the operation of the SMB file servers, together with some recommended practices.

ParameterRegistry SettingsRecommendations
Smb2CreditsMin

and

Smb2CreditsMax 		HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\Smb2CreditsMin

 

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\Smb2CreditsMax

The defaults are 512 and 8192 correspondingly.

 

Check SMB Client Shares\Credit Stalls /Sec to observe any problems with credits.

Additional
CriticalWorkerThreads		HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Executive\
AdditionalCritical
WorkerThreads		The default is 0. You could raise the value if the quantity of cache manager dirty data is consuming a larger percentage of memory.
MaxThreadsPerQueueHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\MaxThreadsPerQueueThe default is 20. In case the SMB2 work queues are increasing significantly, raise the value.
AsynchronousCreditsHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\MaxThreadsPerQueueThe default is 512. In case a big quantity of concurrent asynchronous SMB commands is needed, raise the value.

Here is an example of how the settings can be applied to achieve optimum file server performance on Windows Server 2016.

Note that the settings are not suited for all computing situations, and you should assess the effect of every individual settings before using them.

ParameterValueDefault
AdditionalCritical
WorkerThreads		640
MaxThreadsPerQueue6420

3. Optimise NFS Parameters

The Network File System (NFS) model available in Windows Server 2016 is important for enabling client-server communications in mixed Windows and UNIX environments.

Here is a table giving some of the registry settings that can influence the operation of the NFS file servers, together with some recommended practices.

ParameterRegistry SettingsRecommendations
OptimalReadsHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NfsServer\Parameters\OptimalReadsThe default is 0. Before making any changes to the setting, evaluate its effect on system file cache grow.
RdWrNfsHandleLifeTimeHKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NfsServer\Parameters\RdWrNfsHandleLifeTimeThe default is 5. Appropriately set it to ensure optimal control of the lifetime of NFS cache.
CacheAdd
FromCreateAndMkDir		HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NfsServer\Parameters
\CacheAdd
From
CreateAndMkDir		The default is 1. Adjust the value to 0 to deactivate the inclusion of entries to the cache in CREATE and MKDIR directories.
MaxConcurrent
ConnectionsPerIp		HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Rpcxdr\Parameters
\MaxConcurrentConnections
PerIp		The default is 16. Raise it to the highest value of 8192 to increase the number of connections for every IP address.

4. Uninstall Unused and Redundant Features

Windows Server 2016 has dozens of logging, monitoring, and debugging tools, most of which you may not find useful.

The amount of space available on the server is critical and allowing unused and redundant tools to just sit there is not doing any justice to your server.

On a regular basis, you should visit the “Service Control Manager” section and remove services and features that do not add value to your file server.

You should uninstall any utility or application that you find not useful, and your file server performance will greatly improve.

For example, you should always deactivate the DOS 8.3 short file names. For backward compatibility, your Windows Server 2016 may contain the DOS 8.3 file names, especially if you upgraded your server from an older version of Windows.

These days, the 8.3 short file name is unnecessary, and they do not add any value to the operation of the file servers. Therefore, disabling this feature will provide some additional speed to your Windows Server 2016.

References

Microsoft. (2017). Performance tuning for SMB file servers. Retrieved from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/performance-tuning/role/file-server/smb-file-server

Apachelounge. (2017). Performance tuning guidelines for Windows Server 2016. Retrieved from https://www.apachelounge.com/download/contr/Perf-tun-srv-2016.pdf

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