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The Basics of SMB Signing (covering both SMB1 and SMB2)
SMB Signing Overview Server Message Block (SMB) is the file protocol most commonly used by Windows. SMB Signing is a feature through which communications using SMB can be digitally signed at the packet...
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Currently available hotfixes for SMB and SMB2 File Server components in...
If you’re installing a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 file server, we always recommend getting the latest hotfixes from Windows Update. That will include all security updates and updates...
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FSCT test results detail the performance of Windows Server 2008 R2 File...
1. Introduction The File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) is a free download from Microsoft that helps you determine the capacity of a specific file server configuration (running Windows or any operating...
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Using 4k sector and advanced format drives in Windows. HotFix and support...
If you work with storage, you probably already heard about the “4K Sector Drives”, “Advanced Format Drives” and “512e drives”. These new “4K sector drives” abandon the traditional use of 512 bytes per...
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TechEd 2011 Session WSV317: Windows Server 2008 R2 File Services...
This week at TechEd 2011 I will be delivering a presentation about “Windows Server 2008 R2 File Services Consolidation - Technology Update”. If you’re attending the conference in Atlanta-GA, this is...
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Installing Windows Server 2008 on a headless server from a USB disk
I am installing Windows Server 2008 on a new server that has no video card and no DVD drive. It's an interesting challenge to make that one work and I'm relying on using a bootable USB disk and...
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The Basics of the Windows Server 2008 Distributed File System (DFS)
OverviewIn this blog post, we’ll cover the basics of the Distributed File System (DFS) in Windows Server 2008, which offers users simplified access to a set of file shares and helps administrators...
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New White Paper on Hyper-V and SQL Server Consolidation at Microsoft
A new white paper on how Microsoft IT is combining Hyper-V and SQL Server has just been published. This comes from a team that provides thousands of SQL Server instances for internal applications. It...
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Understanding Windows Server 2008 DFS-N by analyzing network traces
1 – OverviewThis blog post details the behavior of Windows Server 2008 DFS-N (Distributed File System - Namespaces) clients by looking at network traces. The main goal here is to show the interaction...
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Using the Windows Server 2008 DFSUTIL.EXE command line to manage DFS-Namespaces
The most common administration activities related to DFS-Namespaces can be performed using the “DFS Management” MMC. This will show up under “Administrative Tools” after you add the DFS role service in...
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Windows Storage Server 2008 and the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.2
I am glad to share that Windows Storage Server 2008 (WSS 2008) and the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.2 have been released to the Microsoft OEM partners. This is the successor to Windows Storage...
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How many DFS-N namespace servers do you need?
IntroductionWhenever you’re deploying Windows Server DFS-Namespaces, you will need to figure out how many servers will be required. Since I moved to the role of DFS-N PM, I noticed that the specific...
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Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit 1.2 available as a free download
Microsoft released the File Server Migration Toolkit version 1.2 (FSMT 1.2), which will help you migrate file shares from computers running Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2003...
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File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) Release Candidate available for download
The File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) is a capacity planning software for CIFS/SMB/SMB2 file servers. It’s also useful for identifying performance bottlenecks. FSCT results include the maximum number...
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Five ways to check your DFS-Namespaces (DFS-N) configuration with the...
IntroductionThe Distributed File System Namespaces (DFS-N) service is a role service of the File Service role for Windows Server.For a basic description of DFS-N, start with...
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Changes in Roles, Role Services and Features from Windows Server 2008 to...
Introduction This blog post covers the changes in the list of Roles, Role Services and Features from Windows Server 2008 (with Service Pack 2) to Windows Server 2008 R2 (used the latest RC build...
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Three ways to design your DFS Namespaces
IntroductionIn this blog post, we’ll showcase the flexibility you have with DFS-N by showing three distinct ways that you could design a namespace.Note: If you’re not familiar with DFS-N, please read...
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Windows Server DFS-Namespaces Performance and Scalability
The DFS-N test team has completed some extensive Performance and Scalability testing and we wanted to share some of the results.It includes results on standalone namespaces, "2000 mode" domain...
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File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) 1.0 available for download
Version 1.0 of the File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) was announced yesterday during a presentation by Jian Yan and Bartosz Nyczkowski at SNIA’s Storage Developer Conference in Santa Clara, CA. The...
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Windows Server DFS Namespaces (DFS-N) Reference
I get a number of questions regarding reference information for DFS Namespaces (also known as DFS-N). I gathered here the main links that can get you started on the subject:Here are my own blog posts...
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