MB on Server 2012 R2 Server Core

[whitestrat13 33]

I'm considering building a Server 2012 R2 box for use with storage spaces and media browser. We have done testing at work and the mirrored spaces perform super well. Add a pair of ssd cache drives and it flies. This is all without the need for gobs of ecc memory, like with ZFS.

 

I'm a Windows admin, I own PC'S, I know PowerShell, and I prefer to stay with Windows. I want to use this box for mixed file storage and backup too.

 

I'm wondering if MBS will run on a server core installation? Some applications have dependencies that just don't work without the whole GUI.

 

Thanks for the info! This is a great product and I appreciate it all the hard work you guys put in to develop it.

[JeremyFr79 228]

I'm no expert on this, but the installer is GUI, so I'd imagine you'd have to have the GUI to do the initial install.  Once install is complete everything is web based so doubt you'd need the GUI at that point.  But I'd wait for an answer from the likes of EBR or someone else who knows far better than I do.

[ebr 15186]

The installer has a very limited interface.  Just a progress window.  I believe we've had other folks run the server on 2012 core.

[Doozer 2]

Is the mirroring done through software? How does the performance compare to a traditional RAID array?

[whitestrat13 33]

Thanks @@ebr.  I didn't think there would be any real issues, I just didn't know if there were dependencies on window's built in media features.

 

I appreciate the fast response.

[whitestrat13 33]

@@Doozer

With each iteration, Storage Spaces is getting much much better.  The parity spaces are very disappointing when it comes to write performance.  The mirrored spaces are very much so on par with a hardware controller (in RAID 1 or 10).  Storage spaces will read from every drive that has the same block on it, as a result, it can sometimes beat a hardware controller in read performance.  Adding write back cache (SSD that can cache synchronous writes) can significantly improve writes (needed for virtualization workloads).  On widows server, you have the ability to cluster the hosts together, if you are using shared SAS drives, and automatic storage tiering.  In the preview for Server 10, Microsoft announced the addition of asynchronous replication to other sites.  They are effectively trying to put EMC, NETAPP and all the other SAN manufacturers out of business.

 

So in short, it is very good.  Some people complain about how slow parity spaces are.  It was intended to be used for massive archival storage that is rarely written to.  Can you tell i'm a fan?

 

You can play with some of the basic features of storage spaces if you have a Windows 8.1 machine.

 

If you want a decent read, There is a good comparison of storage spaces vs a few properly built ZFS servers in this forum post:

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/serer-2012-r2-storage-spaces-and-tiering.2470/

 

And yes, its all in software.  You can just use cheap, dumb HBA's (and even SAS expanders), not expensive raid controllers.

Edited February 18, 2015 by whitestrat13

[Doozer 2]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of setting that up. Makes it easier to sync to cloud storage from a single directory.