Contents

Azure Stack HCI

Hyper-V
Storage Spaces Direct
Failover Clustering
Software Defined Networking
Windows Admin Center
Connect to Azure
 Azure Stack HCI overview
3/26/2019 • 2 minutes to read • Edit Online

Applies to: Windows Server 2019

Azure Stack HCI is a hyper-converged Windows Server 2019 cluster that uses validated hardware to run
virtualized workloads on-premises, optionally connecting to Azure services for cloud-based backup, site-recovery
and more. Azure Stack HCI solutions use Microsoft-validated hardware to ensure optimal performance and
reliability, and include support for technologies such as NVMe drives, persistent memory, and remote-direct
memory access (RDMA) networking.

The Azure Stack family

Azure Stack HCI is part of the Azure and Azure Stack family, using the same software-defined compute, storage,
and networking software as Azure Stack. Here's a quick summary of the different solutions:
Azure - Use public cloud services
Azure Stack - Operate cloud services on-premises
Azure Stack HCI - Run virtualized apps on-premises, with optional connections to Azure

To learn more:
Register for our Hybrid Cloud Virtual Event on March 28, 2019.
Learn more at our Azure Stack HCI solutions website.
Watch Microsoft experts Jeff Woolsey and Vijay Tewari discuss the new Azure Stack HCI solutions.

Hardware partners
You can purchase validated Azure Stack HCI solutions that run Windows Server 2019 from 15 partners. Your
preferred Microsoft partner gets you up and running without lengthy design and build time and offers a single
point of contact for implementation and support services.
Visit the Azure Stack HCI website to view our 70+ Azure Stack HCI solutions currently available from these
Microsoft partners: ASUS, Axellio, bluechip, DataON, Dell EMC, Fujitsu, HPE, Hitachi, Huawei, Lenovo, NEC,
primeLine Solutions, QCT, SecureGUARD and Supermicro.

FAQ
What do Azure Stack and Azure Stack HCI solutions have in common?
Azure Stack HCI solutions feature the same Hyper-V based software-defined compute, storage, and networking
technologies as Azure Stack. Both offerings meet rigorous testing and validation criteria to ensure reliability and
compatibility with the underlying hardware platform.
How are they different?
With Azure Stack, you run cloud services on-premises. You can run Azure IaaS and PaaS services on-premises to
consistently build and run cloud applications anywhere, managed with the Azure Portal on-premises.
With Azure Stack HCI, you run virtualized workloads on-premises, managed with Windows Admin Center and
familiar Windows Server tools. You can optionally connect to Azure for hybrid scenarios such as cloud-based site
recovery, monitoring, and others.
Why is Microsoft bringing its HCI offering to the Azure Stack family?
Microsoft’s hyperconverged technology is already the foundation of Azure Stack.
Many Microsoft customers have complex IT environments and our goal is to provide solutions that meet them
where they are with the right technology for the right business need. Azure Stack HCI is an evolution of the
Windows Server 2016-based Windows Server Software-Defined (WSSD ) solutions previously available from our
hardware partners. We brought it into the Azure Stack family because we have started to offer new options to
connect seamlessly with Azure for infrastructure management services.
Will I be able to upgrade from Azure Stack HCI to Azure Stack?
No, but customers can migrate their workloads from Azure Stack HCI to Azure Stack or Azure.
What Azure services can I connect to Azure Stack HCI?
For an updated list of Azure services that you can connect Azure Stack HCI to, see Connecting Windows Server to
Azure hybrid services.
How do I buy Azure Stack HCI solutions?
Follow these steps:
1. Buy a Microsoft-validated hardware system from your preferred hardware partner.
2. Install Windows Server 2019 Datacenter edition and Windows Admin Center for management and the ability
to connect to Azure for cloud services
3. Optionally use your Azure account to attach cloud-based management and security services to your workloads.
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2 minutes to read
 Storage Spaces Direct overview
3/26/2019 • 7 minutes to read • Edit Online

Applies to: Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016

Storage Spaces Direct uses industry-standard servers with local-attached drives to create highly available, highly
scalable software-defined storage at a fraction of the cost of traditional SAN or NAS arrays. Its converged or
hyper-converged architecture radically simplifies procurement and deployment, while features such as caching,
storage tiers, and erasure coding, together with the latest hardware innovations such as RDMA networking and
NVMe drives, deliver unrivaled efficiency and performance.
Storage Spaces Direct is included in Windows Server 2019 Datacenter, Windows Server 2016 Datacenter, and
Windows Server Insider Preview Builds.
For other applications of Storage Spaces, such as Shared SAS clusters and stand-alone servers, see Storage Spaces
overview. If you're looking for info about using Storage Spaces on a Windows 10 PC, see Storage Spaces in
Windows 10.

Understand Plan
Overview (you are here) Hardware requirements
Understand the cache Using the CSV in-memory read cache
Fault tolerance and storage efficiency Choose drives
Drive symmetry considerations Plan volumes
Understand and monitor storage resync Using guest VM clusters
Understanding cluster and pool quorum Disaster recovery
Cluster sets

Deploy Manage
Deploy Storage Spaces Direct Manage with Windows Admin Center
Create volumes Add servers or drives
Nested resiliency Taking a server offline for maintenance
Configure quorum Remove servers
Upgrade a Storage Spaces Direct cluster to Windows Extend volumes
Server 2019 Update drive firmware
Performance history
Delimit the allocation of volumes
Use Azure Monitor on a hyper-converged cluster

Troubleshooting Recent blog posts

Troubleshoot health and operational states 13.7 million IOPS with Storage Spaces Direct: the new
Collect diagnostic data with Storage Spaces Direct industry record for hyper-converged infrastructure
Hyper-converged infrastructure in Windows Server 2019 -
the countdown clock starts now!
Five big announcements from the Windows Server
Summit
10,000 Storage Spaces Direct clusters and counting...

Videos
Quick Video Overview (5 minutes)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/raeUiNtMk0E
Storage Spaces Direct at Microsoft Ignite 2018 (1 hour)
Watch on YouTube
Storage Spaces Direct at Microsoft Ignite 2017 (1 hour)
Watch on YouTube
Launch Event at Microsoft Ignite 2016 (1 hour)
Watch on YouTube

Key benefits
Simplicity. Go from industry-standard servers running Windows Server 2016 to your first Storage Spaces Direct
cluster in under 15 minutes. For System Center users, deployment is just one checkbox.

Unrivaled Performance. Whether all-flash or hybrid, Storage Spaces Direct easily exceeds 150,000 mixed 4k
random IOPS per server with consistent, low latency thanks to its hypervisor-embedded architecture, its built-in
read/write cache, and support for cutting-edge NVMe drives mounted directly on the PCIe bus.

Fault Tolerance. Built-in resiliency handles drive, server, or component failures with continuous availability. Larger
deployments can also be configured for chassis and rack fault tolerance. When hardware fails, just swap it out; the
software heals itself, with no complicated management steps.

Resource Efficiency. Erasure coding delivers up to 2.4x greater storage efficiency, with unique innovations like
Local Reconstruction Codes and ReFS real-time tiers to extend these gains to hard disk drives and mixed hot/cold
workloads, all while minimizing CPU consumption to give resources back to where they're needed most - the VMs.

Manageability. Use Storage QoS Controls to keep overly busy VMs in check with minimum and maximum per-
VM IOPS limits. The Health Service provides continuous built-in monitoring and alerting, and new APIs make it
easy to collect rich, cluster-wide performance and capacity metrics.

Scalability. Go up to 16 servers and over 400 drives, for up to 1 petabyte (1,000 terabytes) of storage per cluster.
To scale out, simply add drives or add more servers; Storage Spaces Direct will automatically onboard new drives
and begin using them. Storage efficiency and performance improve predictably at scale.

Deployment options
Storage Spaces Direct was designed for two distinct deployment options:
Converged
Storage and compute in separate clusters. The converged deployment option, also known as 'disaggregated',
layers a Scale-out File Server (SoFS ) atop Storage Spaces Direct to provide network-attached storage over SMB3
file shares. This allows for scaling compute/workload independently from the storage cluster, essential for larger-
scale deployments such as Hyper-V IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) for service providers and enterprises.
Hyper-Converged
One cluster for compute and storage. The hyper-converged deployment option runs Hyper-V virtual machines
or SQL Server databases directly on the servers providing the storage, storing their files on the local volumes. This
eliminates the need to configure file server access and permissions, and reduces hardware costs for small-to-
medium business or remote office/branch office deployments. See Deploy Storage Spaces Direct.

How it works
Storage Spaces Direct is the evolution of Storage Spaces, first introduced in Windows Server 2012. It leverages
many of the features you know today in Windows Server, such as Failover Clustering, the Cluster Shared Volume
(CSV ) file system, Server Message Block (SMB ) 3, and of course Storage Spaces. It also introduces new technology,
most notably the Software Storage Bus.
Here's an overview of the Storage Spaces Direct stack:
Networking Hardware. Storage Spaces Direct uses SMB3, including SMB Direct and SMB Multichannel, over
Ethernet to communicate between servers. We strongly recommend 10+ GbE with remote-direct memory access
(RDMA), either iWARP or RoCE.
Storage Hardware. From 2 to 16 servers with local-attached SATA, SAS, or NVMe drives. Each server must have
at least 2 solid-state drives, and at least 4 additional drives. The SATA and SAS devices should be behind a host-bus
adapter (HBA) and SAS expander. We strongly recommend the meticulously engineered and extensively validated
platforms from our partners (coming soon).
Failover Clustering. The built-in clustering feature of Windows Server is used to connect the servers.
Software Storage Bus. The Software Storage Bus is new in Storage Spaces Direct. It spans the cluster and
establishes a software-defined storage fabric whereby all the servers can see all of each other's local drives. You can
think of it as replacing costly and restrictive Fibre Channel or Shared SAS cabling.
Storage Bus Layer Cache. The Software Storage Bus dynamically binds the fastest drives present (e.g. SSD ) to
slower drives (e.g. HDDs) to provide server-side read/write caching that accelerates IO and boosts throughput.
Storage Pool. The collection of drives that form the basis of Storage Spaces is called the storage pool. It is
automatically created, and all eligible drives are automatically discovered and added to it. We strongly recommend
you use one pool per cluster, with the default settings. Read our Deep Dive into the Storage Pool to learn more.
Storage Spaces. Storage Spaces provides fault tolerance to virtual "disks" using mirroring, erasure coding, or
both. You can think of it as distributed, software-defined RAID using the drives in the pool. In Storage Spaces
Direct, these virtual disks typically have resiliency to two simultaneous drive or server failures (e.g. 3-way
mirroring, with each data copy in a different server) though chassis and rack fault tolerance is also available.
Resilient File System (ReFS ). ReFS is the premier filesystem purpose-built for virtualization. It includes dramatic
accelerations for .vhdx file operations such as creation, expansion, and checkpoint merging, and built-in checksums
to detect and correct bit errors. It also introduces real-time tiers that rotate data between so-called "hot" and "cold"
storage tiers in real-time based on usage.
Cluster Shared Volumes. The CSV file system unifies all the ReFS volumes into a single namespace accessible
through any server, so that to each server, every volume looks and acts like it's mounted locally.
Scale-Out File Server. This final layer is necessary in converged deployments only. It provides remote file access
using the SMB3 access protocol to clients, such as another cluster running Hyper-V, over the network, effectively
turning Storage Spaces Direct into network-attached storage (NAS ).

Customer stories
There are over 10,000 clusters worldwide running Storage Spaces Direct. Organizations of all sizes, from small
businesses deploying just two nodes, to large enterprises and governments deploying hundreds of nodes, depend
on Storage Spaces Direct for their critical applications and infrastructure.
Visit Microsoft.com/HCI to read their stories:

Management tools
The following tools can be used to manage and/or monitor Storage Spaces Direct:

NAME GRAPHICAL OR COMMAND-LINE? PAID OR INCLUDED?

Windows Admin Center Graphical Included

Server Manager & Failover Cluster Graphical Included

Manager

Windows PowerShell Command-line Included

 NAME GRAPHICAL OR COMMAND-LINE? PAID OR INCLUDED?

System Center Virtual Machine Graphical Paid

Manager (SCVMM) & Operations
Manager (SCOM)

Get started
Try Storage Spaces Direct in Microsoft Azure, or download a 180-day-licensed evaluation copy of Windows Server
from Windows Server Evaluations.

See also
Fault tolerance and storage efficiency
Storage Replica
Storage at Microsoft blog
Storage Spaces Direct throughput with iWARP (TechNet blog)
What's New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server
Storage Quality of Service
Windows IT Pro Support
 Applies to: Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server (Semi-Annual Channel)

 T IP

Looking for information about older versions of Windows Server? Check out our other Windows Server libraries on
docs.microsoft.com. You can also search this site for specific information.

A failover cluster is a group of independent computers that work together to increase the availability and scalability of clustered
roles (formerly called clustered applications and services). The clustered servers (called nodes) are connected by physical cables
and by software. If one or more of the cluster nodes fail, other nodes begin to provide service (a process known as failover). In
addition, the clustered roles are proactively monitored to verify that they are working properly. If they are not working, they are
restarted or moved to another node.
Failover clusters also provide Cluster Shared Volume (CSV ) functionality that provides a consistent, distributed namespace that
clustered roles can use to access shared storage from all nodes. With the Failover Clustering feature, users experience a minimum
of disruptions in service.
Failover Clustering has many practical applications, including:
Highly available or continuously available file share storage for applications such as Microsoft SQL Server and Hyper-V virtual
machines
Highly available clustered roles that run on physical servers or on virtual machines that are installed on servers running Hyper-
V

What's new in Failover Clustering

Understand
Scale-Out File Server for application data

Cluster and pool quorum

Fault domain awareness

Simplified SMB Multichannel and multi-NIC cluster networks

VM load balancing

Cluster sets

Cluster affinity

Planning
Failover Clustering Hardware Requirements and Storage Options

Use Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs)

Using guest virtual machine clusters with Storage Spaces Direct

Deployment
Prestage Cluster Computer Objects in Active Directory Domain Services

Creating a Failover Cluster

Deploy a two-node file server

Manage the quorum and witnesses

Deploy a cloud witness

Deploy a file share witness

Cluster operating system rolling upgrades

Upgrading a failover cluster on the same hardware

Deploy an Active Directory Detached Cluster

Manage
Cluster-Aware Updating

Health Service

Cluster-domain migration

Troubleshooting using Windows Error Reporting

Tools and settings

Failover Clustering PowerShell Cmdlets

Cluster Aware Updating PowerShell Cmdlets

Community resources
High Availability (Clustering) Forum

Failover Clustering and Network Load Balancing Team Blog

 Windows Admin Center
3/27/2019 • 2 minutes to read • Edit Online

Applies To: Windows Admin Center, Windows Admin Center Preview

Welcome to Windows Admin Center!

Windows Admin Center (codenamed Project Honolulu) is an evolution of Windows Server in-box
management tools; it’s a single pane of glass that consolidates all aspects of local and remote server management.
As a locally deployed, browser-based management experience, an Internet connection and Azure aren’t required.
Windows Admin Center gives you full control of all aspects of your deployment, including private networks that
aren’t Internet-connected.

Introduction

Download the PDF

Quick start
You can get Windows Admin Center up and running in your environment in minutes:
1. Download
2. Install
3. Get started

Contents at a glance
Understand Plan
What is Windows Admin Center? What type of installation is right for you?
FAQ User access options
Case studies What Azure integration options are there?
Related management products
Videos

Deploy Configure
Prepare your environment Windows Admin Center settings
Install Windows Admin Center User access control and permissions
Enable high availability Extensions
Integrate with Azure
Manage Azure VMs with Windows Admin Center

Use Extend
Launch & add connections Overview of extensions
Manage servers Understanding extensions
Manage hyper-converged infrastructure Develop an extension
Manage failover clusters Guides
Manage virtual machines Publishing extensions
Leverage Azure services
Common troubleshooting steps
Logging
Known issues

Release history
Learn about our latest released features:
Version 1903 brings email notifications from Azure Monitor, the ability to add Server or PC connections from
Active Directory, and new tools to manage Active Directory, DHCP, and DNS.
Version 1902 added a shared connection list & improvements to software defined network (SDN )
management, including new SDN tools to manage ACLs, gateway connections, and logical networks.
Version 1812 added dark theme (in preview ), power configuration settings, BMC info, and PowerShell support
to manage extensions and connections.
Version 1809.5 is a GA cumulative update that includes various quality and functional improvements and bug
fixes throughout the platform and a few new features in the hyper-converged infrastructure management
solution.
Version 1809 was a GA release that brought features that were previously in preview to the GA channel.
Version 1808 added Installed Apps tool, lots of under the hood improvements, and major updates to the
preview SDK.
Version 1807 added a streamlined Azure connect experience, improvements to VM inventory page, file sharing
functionality, Azure update management integration, and more.
Version 1806 added show PowerShell script, SDN management, 2008 R2 connections, SDN, scheduled tasks,
and many other improvements.
Version 1804.25 - Maintenance update to support users installing Windows Admin Center in completely offline
 environments.
Version 1804 - Project Honolulu becomes Windows Admin Center and adds security features and role-based
access control. Our first GA release.
Version 1803 added support for Azure AD access control, detailed logging, resizable content, and a bunch of
tool improvements.
Version 1802 added support for accessibility, localization, high-availability deployments, tagging, Hyper-V host
settings, and gateway authentication.
Version 1712 added more virtual machine features and performance improvements throughout the tools.
Version 1711 added highly anticipated tools (Remote Desktop and PowerShell) along with other
improvements.
Version 1709 launched as our first public preview release.

Stay updated
|
 Connecting Windows Server to Azure hybrid services
3/26/2019 • 3 minutes to read • Edit Online

Applies to: Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016

You can extend on-premises deployments of Windows Server to the cloud by using Azure hybrid services. These
cloud services provide an array of useful functions, including the following:
Protect virtual machines and use cloud-based backup and disaster recovery (HA/DR ) with Azure Site Recovery.
Track what’s happening across your applications, network and infrastructure with the help of advanced analytics
and machine learning in Azure Monitor.
Simplify network connectivity to Azure with Azure Network Adapter.
Keep virtual machines up to date with Azure Update Management.
Azure hybrid services work with Windows Servers in the following configurations:
Stand-alone physical servers and virtual machines (VMs)
Clusters, including hyper-converged clusters, Azure Stack HCI, and Windows Server Software-Defined (WSSD )
While you can set up most Azure hybrid services using the Azure portal and a download or two, many are
integrated directly into Windows Admin Center to provide a simplified setup experience and a server-centric view
of the services.

Services for stand-alone servers and VMs

These are the Azure services that provide functionality to stand-alone servers and VMs:
Add an layer of security to Windows Admin Center by adding Azure Active Directory (Azure AD )
authentication
You can add an additional layer of security to Windows Admin Center by requiring users to authenticate
using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD ) identities to access the gateway. Azure AD authentication also lets
you take advantage of Azure AD’s security features like conditional access and multi-factor authentication.
For more info, see Configure Azure AD authentication for Windows Admin Center.
Protect your Hyper-V virtual machines with Azure Site Recovery
You can replicate workloads running on VMs so that your business-critical infrastructure is protected in case
of a disaster. Windows Admin Center streamlines setup and the process of replicating your virtual machines
on your Hyper-V servers or clusters, making it easier to bolster the resiliency of your environment with
Azure Site Recovery’s disaster recovery service.
For more info, see Protect your VMs with Azure Site Recovery and Windows Admin Center.
Back up your Windows servers with Azure Backup
You can back up your Windows servers to Azure, helping to protect you from accidental or malicious
deletions, corruption, and ransomware.
For more info, see Back up your servers with Azure Backup.
Monitor and get email alerts for all the servers in your environment with Azure Monitor for
Virtual Machines
You can use Azure Monitor, also known as Virtual Machines Insights, to monitor server health and events,
create email alerts, get a consolidated view of server performance across your environment, and visualize
apps, systems, and services connected to a given server.
 For more info, see Connect your servers to Azure Monitor and configure email notifications.
Centrally manage operating system updates for all your Windows Servers with Azure Update
Management
You can manage updates and patches for multiple servers and VMs from a single place, rather than on a
per-server basis. With Azure Update Management, you can quickly assess the status of available updates,
schedule installation of required updates, and review deployment results to verify updates that apply
successfully. This is possible whether your servers are Azure VMs, hosted by other cloud providers, or on-
premises.
For more info, see Configure servers for Azure Update Management.
Connect your on-premises servers to an Azure Virtual Network with an Azure Network Adapter
You can add an Azure Network Adapter to your on-premises servers to help you securely connect the
server to an Azure Virtual Network.
For more info, see Configure a point-to-site VPN connection between an on-premises Windows Server and
an Azure Virtual Network.
Manage Azure IaaS virtual machines with Windows Admin Center
You can use Windows Admin Center to manage your Azure VMs as well as on-premises machines. By
configuring your Windows Admin Center gateway to connect to your Azure VNet, you can manage virtual
machines in Azure using the consistent, simplified tools that Windows Admin Center provides. For more
info, see Configure Windows Admin Center to manage VMs in Azure..

Services for clusters

These are the Azure services that provide functionality to clusters as a whole:
Monitor a hyper-converged cluster with Azure Monitor
Protect your VMs with Azure Site Recovery
Deploy a cluster cloud witness