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Definition
| A basic disk using the MBR partition style uses primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives to organize data. A primary partition appears to the operating system as though it is a physically separate disk and can host an operating system, in which case it is known as the active partition. |
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| Most computers, including servers, use direct-attached storage—that is, the hard drives are located inside the computer case. |
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| A variation on disk mirroring, called disk duplexing, uses duplicate host adapters as well as duplicate hard drives. Installing the drives on separate host adapters adds an extra measure of fault tolerance, enabling users to continue working if either a drive or a host adapter fails. Duplexing also enables the computer to mirror ATA drives effectively, because each disk is connected to a separate host adapter. |
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| Disk mirroring, in which the computer writes the same data to identical volumes on two different disks, is one of the simplest forms of fault tolerance to implement and manage, but it is also one of the more expensive solutions. By mirroring volumes, you are essentially paying twice as much for your storage space. |
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Term
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Definition
| When you use DiskPart.exe, a command-line utility included with Windows Server 2012 R2, to manage basic disks, you can create four primary partitions, or three primary partitions and one extended partition. The DiskPart.exe utility contains a superset of the commands supported by the Disk Management snap-in. In other words, DiskPart can do everything Disk Management can do, and more. |
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Term
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Definition
| The alternative to using a basic disk is to convert it to a dynamic disk. Converting a basic disk to a dynamic disk creates a single partition that occupies the entire disk. You can then create an unlimited number of volumes out of the space in that partition. Dynamic disks support several different types of volumes, as described in the next section. |
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Definition
| High-capacity servers often store hard drives in a separate housing, called an external drive array, which typically incorporates a disk controller, power supply, cooling fans, and cache memory into an independent unit. |
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Term
| GUID Partition Table (GPT) |
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Definition
| GUID Partition Table (GPT): GPT has existed since the late 1990s, but no x86 versions of Windows prior to Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista supports it. Today, most operating systems support GPT, including Windows Server 2012 R2. |
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Term
| Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD) |
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Definition
| AN and NAS arrays typically can concatenate multiple disks into a single addressable resource. No matter how many physical drives are mounted in the array, the array appears to operating systems and applications as though it is one large disk. By contrast, a JBOD array is just a housing for the drives. Each disk appears to the operating system as a separate resource, as though it was physically installed in the computer. |
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Definition
| The MBR partition style has been around since before Windows and is still a common partition style for x86-based and x64-based computers. |
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Term
| Network attached storage (NAS) |
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Definition
| A NAS drive array varies from a SAN array primarily in its software. NAS devices are essentially dedicated file servers that provide file-based storage services directly to clients on the network. A NAS array connects to a standard LAN, using traditional Ethernet hardware (see Figure 3-2), and does not require a separate computer to implement the file system or function as a file server. |
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Term
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Definition
| Parity is a mathematical algorithm that some disk storage technologies levels use to provide data redundancy in their disk write operations. To calculate the parity information for a drive array, the system takes the values for the same data bit at a specific location on each drive in the array and adds them together to determine whether the total is odd or even. |
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Term
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Definition
| The term partition style refers to the method Windows operating systems use to organize partitions on the disk. |
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Term
| Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) |
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Definition
| is a group of technologies that uses multiple disk drives in various configurations to store data, providing increased performance or fault tolerance, or both. |
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Term
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Definition
| ReFS (Resilient File System) is a new file system which debuted in Windows Server 2012 that offers practically unlimited file and directory sizes and increased resiliency that eliminates the need for error-checking tools, such as Chkdsk.exe. However, ReFS does not include support for NTFS features such as file compression, Encrypted File System (EFS), and disk quotas. ReFS disks also cannot be read by any operating systems older than Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows 8. |
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Term
| storage area network (SAN) |
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Definition
| This is a separate network dedicated solely to storage devices, such as drive arrays, magnetic tape autochangers, and optical jukeboxes |
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Term
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Definition
| A storage pool can span multiple drives invisibly, providing an accumulated storage resource that you can expand or reduce as needed by adding disks to or removing them from the pool. By using the space in the pool, you can create virtual disks of any size. |
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Term
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Definition
| Windows Server 2012 R2 includes a new disk virtualization technology called Storage Spaces, which enables a server to concatenate storage space from individual physical disks and allocate that space to create virtual disks of any size supported by the hardware. |
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Term
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Definition
| Once created, a virtual disk behaves much like a physical disk, except that the actual bits might be stored on any number of physical drives in the system. Virtual disks can also provide fault tolerance by using the physical disks in the storage pool to hold mirrored or parity data. |
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Definition
| Hyper-V relies on the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format to store virtual disk data in files that can easily be transferred from one computer to another. |
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Term
Which of the following statements are true of striped volumes?
a. Striped volumes provide enhanced performance over simple volumes.
b. Striped volumes provide greater fault tolerance than simple volumes.
c. You can extend striped volumes after creation.
d. If a single physical disk in the striped volume fails, all of the data in the entire volume is lost. |
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Which of the following are requirements for extending a volume on a dynamic disk?
a. If you want to extend a simple volume, you can use only the available space on the same disk, if the volume is to remain simple.
b. The volume must have a file system before you can extend a simple or spanned volume.
c. You can extend a simple or spanned volume if you formatted it using the FAT or FAT32 file systems.
d. You can extend a simple volume across additional disks if it is not a system volume or a boot volume. |
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Which of the following Windows Server 2012 R2 features enables users to access files that they have accidentally overwritten?
a. Offline Files
b. parity-based RAID
c. Windows Installer 4.0
d. Volume Shadow Copies |
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Which of the following RAID levels yields the largest percentage of usable disk space?
a. RAID 0
b. RAID 1
c. RAID 5
d. RAID 6 |
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Term
To use Shadow Copies, you must enable the feature at which of the following levels?
a. the file level
b. the folder level
c. the volume level |
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Which of the following are not true about differences between network attached storage (NAS) devices and storage area network (SAN) devices?
a. NAS devices provide a file system implementation; SAN devices do not.
b. NAS devices must have their own processor and memory hardware; SAN devices do not require these components
c. NAS devices require a specialized protocol, such as Fibre Channel or iSCSI; SAN devices use standard networking protocols.
d. NAS devices must run their own operating system and typically provide a web interface for administrative access; SAN devices do not have to have either one. |
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Definition
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Which of the following volume types supported by Windows Server 2012 R2 do not provide fault tolerance? (Choose all that apply)
a. Striped
b. Spanned
c. Mirrored
d. RAID-5 |
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Term
A JBOD drive array is an alternative to which of the following?
a. SAN
b. SCSI
c. RAID
d. iSCSI |
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Term
Best Answer:
In what scenario would an organization prefer centralized servers and storage to having individual servers and storage per department?
a. Each department typically works with its own applications and documents, rarely needing access to other departments.
b. Each department typically works with its own applications and documents, occasionally needing access to other departments.
c. Everyone in the organization works with his or her own individual resources.
d. Everyone in the organization works with the same set of resources. |
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Best Answer:
Concerning storage solutions, select the disk configuration that offers the least expensive disk consumption.
a. Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD)
b. Disk mirroring
c. RAID 5
d. RAID 3 |
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Definition
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Term
Best Answer:
Concerning storage solutions, select the disk configuration that offers the most protection in case of drive failure.
a. RAID 0
b. RAID 1
c. RAID 5
d. Large volume on a single drive |
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Term
Best Answer:
What is the next step after creating a virtual hard disk (VHD)?
a. Mounting it either through Server Manager or the Disk Management snap-in
b. Initializing the disk and creating volumes on it, just as you would a physical disk
c. Using the VHD (creation of the VHD file readies the disk for storage)
d. Mounting the VHD file to a Hyper-V virtual machine |
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Best Answer:
What is a key advantage of Server Manager over the Disk Management snap-in?
a. The Server Manager now offers disk-related functions from the navigational pane.
b. Server Manager is more user-friendly.
c. The Disk Management snap-in enables you to create VHD files and mount them on the computer.
d. Server Manager can perform many of the same functions for servers all over the network. |
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Term
Build a List:
Order the steps to create and mount a VHD.
a. Select the virtual hard disk format option (VHD or VHDX).
b. Select one of the following VHD types (Fixed size or Dynamically expanding).
c. Click OK for the system to create and attach the VHD file. The VHD appears as a disk in the Disk Management snap-in.
d. Log on with administrative privileges and open Server Manager.
e. Click Tools > Computer Management.
f. Specify the Location path and name for the new VHD file, and then specify the maximum size of the disk.
g. Click Disk Management, and then click Create VHD from the Action menu. |
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Order the steps to create a virtual disk.
a. Log on with administrative privileges and open Server Manager.
b. In the Virtual Disks tile, select New Virtual Disk from the Tasks menu.
c. From their respective pages, select the pool in which you want to create a virtual disk and type a name for the virtual disk.
d. Click Files and Storage Services > Storage Pools.
e. From the Select the Storage Layout page, choose among Simple, Mirror, and Parity options.
f. From the Specify the Provisioning Type, choose among Thin and Fixed options.
g. Specify the virtual disk size, and then click Create to confirm. |
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Definition
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Term
Order the steps to create a storage pool. Not all steps will be used.
a. Confirm selection and close the wizard.
b. In the Storage Pools tile, select the primordial space on the server where you want to create the pool. From the Tasks menu, select New Storage Pool.
c. Log on with administrative privileges and open Server Manager.
d. In the New Storage Pool Wizard, specify a storage pool name and subsystem.
e. Click Files and Storage Services > Storage Pools.
f. Specify a name, server, and physical disks for the pool. |
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