Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed (219 page)

Managing Windows Server 2008 R2 Disks

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and disks 6 and 7 are online and basic. The online or offline status is listed in the

Status column and a dynamic disk is shown in the Dyn column with a * symbol.

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FIGURE 28.4

Listing disk status using diskpart.exe.

11. Based on the disk configuration detailed in Figure 28.4, disk 6 and disk 7 need to be

converted to dynamic disks.

12. In the Command Prompt window, type select disk 6 and press Enter.

13. In the Command Prompt window, type convert dynamic and press Enter.

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14. In the Command Prompt window, type select disk 7 and press Enter.

15. In the Command Prompt window, type convert dynamic and press Enter. Leave

diskpart.exe running in the Command Prompt window.

16. Now that all of the disks are initialized, online, and dynamic, we can create the

RAID-5 volume.

17. In the Command Prompt window, type Select disk 2 and press Enter.

18. In the Command Prompt window, type Create volume RAID disk 2,3,4,5,6,7 and

press Enter.

19. Now that the RAID-5 volume is created, we will format it, but the volume will need

to be identified. In the Command Prompt window, type List volume and press Enter.

20. The new volume should be listed as a RAID-5 volume. In Figure 28.5, the new

volume is listed as volume 2.

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FIGURE 28.5

Identifying the new RAID-5 volume using diskpart.exe.

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21. In the Command Prompt window, type Select volume 2 and press Enter.

22. In the Command Prompt window, type Format FS=NTFS label=New_RAID5_Volume,

and press Enter to format the volume. This will perform a full format of the volume.

23. When the format completes, the window details if the format completed success-

fully. If the format completed successfully, once the volume is formatted, type

Assign Letter=F and press Enter to assign the new volume the letter F.

24. When the drive letter is assigned, in the Command Prompt window, type Exit, and

press Enter to close diskpart.exe.

25. In the Command Prompt window, type Exit, and press Enter to close the Command

Prompt window.

The new RAID-5 volume should now be accessible from the operating system.

Working with Virtual Hard Disks

Virtual hard disks have been around since virtual machines appeared on the scene in the

late 1990s. Windows Server 2008 R2 can create and directly attach Microsoft virtual hard

disks or VHD files. VHD files are used in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008

R2 Hyper-V guest machines, as well as Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 and Microsoft Virtual

PC, although not all VHD versions are 100% interchangeable. Starting with Windows

Server 2008 R2, VHD files can be easily created and attached to the host operating system

using Disk Manager. To create and attach a new VHD file, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system with an account with administrator

privileges.

Managing Windows Server 2008 R2 Disks

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2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Server Manager.

3. In the tree pane, double-click the Storage node, and select Disk Management.

4. Right-click Disk Management and select Create VHD.

5. In the Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk window, click Browse to select the

volume and folder to place the new VHD file.

6. In the Browse Virtual Disk Files window, locate the correct volume and folder, type

in the name of the new VHD file, and click Save.

7. Back in the Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk window, enter the size of the new

virtual hard disk and pull down the menu to select MB, GB, or TB. For our example,

we will create a 10GB file on the E: drive called NEW-Virtual-Disk.vhd.

8. In the Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk window, after the location, name, and

size of the new virtual disk are defined, select the Fixed Size option button to create

the file and allocate all the space to file, as shown in Figure 28.6, and click OK to

create the new virtual hard disk.

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FIGURE 28.6

Creating and attaching a new virtual hard disk.

9. Once the process completes, scroll down in the Disk Management tasks pane to

locate the new virtual hard disk, which should be listed as the last disk and should

be listed as Unknown and Not Initialized. Right-click the disk in the left section of

the tasks pane and select Initialize Disk.

10. In the Initialize Disk window, choose to create an MBR partition style for the disk,

ensure that the correct disk is checked in the window, and click OK to initialize the

disk.

11. Once initialized, the disk will be listed as basic and online. Right-click the unallo-

cated space in the tasks pane and select New Simple Volume.

12. Follow the steps to format the disk as NTFS and assign a drive letter.

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13. Once the process has completed, the virtual hard disk will be available in My

Computer and Windows Explorer just as any other local drive.

14. Once the usage of the disk is complete, from within Disk Manager, right-click the

attached virtual hard disk and select Detach VHD.

15. In the Detach Virtual Hard Disk window, the disk that was selected will be listed; if

the virtual hard disk file will be used again, do not check the box to delete the virtu-

al disk as part of detaching it. Click OK to detach the disk.

Once the virtual hard disk is detached, if the disk was not deleted, it can be copied to any

other Windows Server 2008 R2 system and mounted or attached to the host operating

system or a Hyper-V guest virtual machine. One use of this new feature is to easily preload

software and files on virtual disks that will be used for Hyper-V guest machines or to mount

up virtual disk for disk repair, data copies, backup, or a number of different functions.

To attach an existing virtual disk to a Windows Server 2008 R2 system, the server adminis-

trator can open Server Manager, right-click the Disk Management node, and select Attach

VHD, and then the administrator can choose to attach the VHD in read-only mode to

avoid changing or modifying any data stored within the disk.

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System File Reliability

In each release of Microsoft Windows for the workstation or server, Microsoft has made

great attempts to increase the reliability of the system by extending the number of

included hardware drivers. This holds true today for Windows Server 2008 R2 and

Windows 7, which to date have the most complete set of hardware and device drivers. Of

course, Windows Server 2008 R2 is only available in 64 bit, which does limit hardware

compatibility to a certain degree. Microsoft works hand in hand with software and hard-

ware manufacturers to provide the means for these manufacturers to create the best

drivers for Windows that will provide the highest level of reliability for the client and

server operating systems.

System File Stability

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 allow an administrator to control the level of

security associated with hardware drivers. Because Microsoft works closely with indepen-

dent hardware vendors (IHVs), Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 support extensive

brands of hardware and client/server peripherals. When an IHV tests its hardware and

passes certain Microsoft requirements, its hardware driver is certified, digitally signed by

Microsoft, and, in most cases, added to the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for the

particular platform or operating system. If the driver is certified early enough in the oper-

ating system development process, the driver is included with the operating system.

Most new hardware will be detected by Windows and will prompt to search the local file

system or Windows Update to find the driver. If the hardware was tested and verified by

Microsoft before the production release of Windows, it should be found and added auto-

matically. If the hardware was certified after the release of Windows, it might be included

System File Reliability

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in Windows Update or the administrator might be required to locate, download, and

install the driver right from the manufacturer’s website.

In most cases, administrators should only install drivers provided by Microsoft and digi-

tally signed by Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher. In other cases,

however, especially when it comes to connecting to external disk storage, it might be pref-

erential and required to use the driver provided by the manufacturer. Unsigned drivers are

not accepted by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and

Windows Server 2008 R2. These drivers are not fully tested and can cause issues. Make

sure to check with the hardware manufacturer for compatibility before purchasing any

new or used hardware that will be attached to a new Windows Server 2008 R2 system. In

particular, disk controllers and disk access are critical to server stability and administrators

should always try to configure their disk controller firmware version and driver version to

match the recommended manufacturer and Microsoft specification; otherwise, data

corruption or loss might result.

File Signature Verification (
Sigverif.exe
)

File Signature Verification is a graphic-based utility that can be used when it is suspected

that original, protected, and digitally signed system files or drivers have been replaced or

overwritten after an application or device installation. This tool checks the system files

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and drivers to verify that all the files have a Microsoft digital signature. When unsigned or

incorrect version files are found, the information, including filename, location, file date,

and version number, is saved in a log file and displayed on the screen.

To run this tool, click Start, Run, and in the search pane, type Sigverif.exe, and press

Enter. When the window is open, click Start to run a check for signed drivers and system

files in the operating system. This starts a scan of the devices drivers and if they all pass, a

window will open stating that the files have been scanned and verified and digitally

signed. Click OK to close the pop-up and click Close to close the File Signature

Verification window.

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System File Checker (
Sfc.exe
)

The System File Checker is a command-line tool that is similar in function to the File

Signature Verification tool, but any detected incorrect files are automatically replaced with

the Microsoft version of the detected file. This tool can be dangerous and cause serious

problems if the administrator is not sure if certain Windows files or unsigned drivers are

required for the operating system to function properly. This tool should be used if operat-

ing systems become unstable and drivers or system files are suspected or logged as possible

causes of problems.

NOTE

Sfc.exe scans and replaces any system files that it detects are incorrect. If any

unsigned drivers are necessary for operation, do not run this utility; otherwise, the files

might be replaced and cause your hardware to operate incorrectly, producing data cor-

ruption, loss of functionality, or actually producing different problems.