Windows Storage Server

Windows Storage Server 2012 benefits

Windows Storage Server 2012 offers many user benefits that help organisations save money and streamline operations.

Excellent economics for shared storage

Windows Storage Server 2012 significantly reduces the cost of storage by offering resilience and performance similar to high-cost storage solutions, such as Fibre Channel or SAN devices, by taking advantage of industry-standard hardware and file-based storage.

File storage for virtualisation and applications

With Windows Storage Server 2012, customers can deploy and manage storage for applications such as Hyper-V, SQL Server, and IIS in the same manner as they manage storage for traditional file serving.

Datacenter-ready

Windows Storage Server 2012 offers capabilities such as high reliability, availability, scale, and performance traditionally seen only in datacenter deployments due to their high value to customers of all sizes.

Simplified deployment and management

Windows Storage Server 2012 is deployed as an appliance, which means the hardware and software are preconfigured dramatically reducing the deployment effort normally associated with a new storage solution. Furthermore, with Windows Storage Server 2012, organisations can manage storage in the same way as they manage a Windows Server, meaning that they can gain leverage from Windows Server management experience and tools including Active Directory, Windows PowerShell, and Microsoft System Center.

Windows Storage Server 2012 innovations

Innovations in Windows Storage Server 2012 provide organisations with greater flexibility, availability, and reliability.

Flexible storage options

Aside from addressing core file-serving requirements, Windows Storage Server 2012 offers file-based shared storage for applications such as Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft SQL Server, and Windows Server 2012 Internet Information Services (IIS). organisations can more easily deploy, manage, and provision application storage as they would with their file shares. Because Windows Storage Server 2012 uses the Server Message Block 3.0 protocol, organisations can achieve high performance similar to that of some storage area network (SAN) devices and high levels of availability on industry-standard hardware, to make file-based storage for server applications a powerful and cost-effective storage option. Windows Storage Server 2012 also includes support for the Network File System (NFS) file protocol and for a block storage option through the built-in Microsoft iSCSI Software Target.

Continuous availability

Windows Storage Server 2012 protects against a wide range of failures at different tiers of storage, network, and compute. organisations of all sizes can benefit from higher levels of availability with transparent failover of applications and the ability to maintain clustered environments without service disruption.

Performance and reliability

Because Windows Storage Server 2012 uses hardware offload and multiple redundant paths from the server to the storage, it can deliver Fibre Channel SAN-like performance with better throughput. In addition, Windows Storage Server 2012 includes capabilities such as online corruption repairs and storage pooling that can enhance reliability.

Key Features

Windows Storage Server 2012 offers a number of greatly enhanced capabilities and benefits when compared with previous versions of Windows Storage Server. Most importantly, it offers:

High-performance and Reliable File Storage for Virtualisation and Applications

With Windows Storage Server 2012 you can deploy and manage storage for server applications such as Hyper-V, SQL and IIS in the same manner you manage storage for traditional file serving. Windows Storage Server 2012 helps reduce the cost of storage significantly by delivering FiberChannel/SAN-like performance on industry-standard hardware with excellent throughput and multiple redundant paths from the server to the storage. In addition, it includes advanced capabilities such as on-line corruption repairs and storage pooling to enhance its reliability. Best of all, your organisation will be able to leverage existing skillsets and easily deploy, manage and provision application storage in the same way as it would for their file shares.

Flexible, Cost-effective Options for Shared Storage

Windows Storage Server 2012 includes a robust range of file serving and storage capabilities. It addresses heterogeneous environments, enables more efficient storage utilisation and is delivered as a turnkey, file based storage solution on industry standard hardware. Delivering a similar level of performance and reliability as more expensive storage solutions, it offers unified storage with support for both file (SMB and NFS) and block (iSCSI) protocols, allows for a flexible mix of configurations and enables efficient storage utilisation with thin provisioning and data de-duplication technologies. Allowing you to manage storage in the same way as Windows Server workloads, Windows Storage Server 2012 takes advantage of your Windows Server management skill sets and tools including Active Directory, PowerShell and System Center.

Continuous Availability for Enterprise-Class Operations

Windows Storage Server 2012 helps preserve uptime by enduring failures, at multiple tiers, including storage, network and compute, without noticeable service interruption. organisations of all sizes will be able to benefit from higher levels of availability with transparent failover of applications and the ability to maintain clustered environments without service disruption. Windows Storage Server 2012 offers high levels of availability, reliability, and performance that were traditionally only seen in datacenter deployments, but are valuable to customers of all sizes.