Looking for some migration advice

[RJGNOW]

Long time DP and Scanner user for my home, but I've just been tasked with converting my employers file and remote servers into one machine running 2012 Essentials.

 

Existing Systems:

 

The "Remote" server (2008 R2) sole purpose was to allow 3 users access to some, on server, software programs, via RDS. (7 year old machine)

 

The "File" server is a WHS 2011 machine and it's sole purpose is to house shared folders and backup all the desk top machines (All Windows 7 Pro). (8 year old machine)

 

New System:

 

New server is a i7 16Gigs of RAM and will serve both roles ( I understand the 3 users will have to use Anywhere Access to connect to their physical machines instead of RDP)

 

Questions:

 

What do you guys think about Drivepool in a small business (7 users) environment?  I'm now thinking about adding the CloudDrive solution also..?

 

I would really appreciate any migration advice you can extend also, which includes the equipment, OS, etc...?

 

TIA

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Well, I'd recommend using Windows Server 2012R2 Essentials, specifically. There are some slight differences, but they're worth having.

 

If you already have the software, then that's fine.

 

 

As for migration, move the pooled drives over. They'll be recognized in the new machine as a pool (as long as you have StableBit DrivePool installed). But you may want to run the WSS troubleshooter on the system, to reshare the pooled files for you:

http://dl.covecube.com/WssTroubleshoot/Release/download/Wss.Troubleshoot_2.0.0.1.exe

 

 

As for StableBit DrivePool, it depends on the work load here.  If you're doing very IO intensive tasks, then a good RAID card may be much more worthwhile here, as you'll get MUCH faster reads and writes (depending on the array type).  
However, for backups and other tasks that are not IO intensive, then I think it's a great fit for the small business environment. (especially with StableBit Scanner).  

Just remember to backup the data, and make sure it ends up offsite at some point, just in case.  And yes, StableBit CloudDrive may be great for that purpose, actually.

[RJGNOW]

 

Well, I'd recommend using Windows Server 2012R2 Essentials, specifically. There are some slight differences, but they're worth having.

 

If you already have the software, then that's fine.

 

 

As for migration, move the pooled drives over. They'll be recognized in the new machine as a pool (as long as you have StableBit DrivePool installed). But you may want to run the WSS troubleshooter on the system, to reshare the pooled files for you:

http://dl.covecube.com/WssTroubleshoot/Release/download/Wss.Troubleshoot_2.0.0.1.exe

 

 

As for StableBit DrivePool, it depends on the work load here.  If you're doing very IO intensive tasks, then a good RAID card may be much more worthwhile here, as you'll get MUCH faster reads and writes (depending on the array type).  

However, for backups and other tasks that are not IO intensive, then I think it's a great fit for the small business environment. (especially with StableBit Scanner).  

Just remember to backup the data, and make sure it ends up offsite at some point, just in case.  And yes, StableBit CloudDrive may be great for that purpose, actually.

 

1) It's R2 so that's good.

2) There is no DrivePool installed or setup on the existing WHS 2011 Machine, I want to use it due to my own personal experience with it. (and I really don't want to mess with a RAID configuration)

3) How do I define "Very IO Intensive Tasks"?  I think the most IO action will be related to accessing a MS Access database. Would that be considered IO intensive?

 

The current File Server is made up of both SSD's (used to house all the working data and one for the OS) and Standard 7200 RPM drives used for backups.  Is there a way to configure DrivePool to use an SSD as a type of landing drive for faster IO to the network, and duplicate across the slow 7200 RPM drives?

 

Thanks again for your help!

[Christopher (Drashna)]

1. Glad to hear that, and that should be good.
2. Okay, though if they have existing data, you'll probably want to seed the pool (move the files in to the hidden PoolPart folder and remeasure the pool). 
3. As for IO intenstive, I mean stuff like massive databases, hyperv, etc.  However, it sounds like it''s not going to be very data intensive at all, (otherwise, you'd be using SQL, I'd think, but I could be wrong).  And that should work great with StableBit DrivePool.

As for the SSD stuff, you mean like the SSD Optimizer?

https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

It places new files on the SSD, and then moves them off to the "archive" drives. 

 

And you can use the File Placement rules to "lock" frequently accessed files to specific drives, as well.

[RJGNOW]

 

1. Glad to hear that, and that should be good.
2. Okay, though if they have existing data, you'll probably want to seed the pool (move the files in to the hidden PoolPart folder and remeasure the pool). 
3. As for IO intenstive, I mean stuff like massive databases, hyperv, etc.  However, it sounds like it''s not going to be very data intensive at all, (otherwise, you'd be using SQL, I'd think, but I could be wrong).  And that should work great with StableBit DrivePool.

As for the SSD stuff, you mean like the SSD Optimizer?

https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

It places new files on the SSD, and then moves them off to the "archive" drives. 

 

And you can use the File Placement rules to "lock" frequently accessed files to specific drives, as well.

 

 

 

I'm looking for file safety and speed, will the File Placement rules to that?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

File Placement rules specifically "lock" files to specific disks.  This means that if you used the file placement rules, you could ensure that the specific files/folders stay on the SSDs. 

 

However, this will count against the capacity of the drives.  Depending on what exactly you're doing, you may need larger drives or it may not work well.

 

 

 

However, normally, for the SSD Optimizer balancer plugin, when you write new files to the pool, it checks for the duplication status of that folder. If it's duplicated, it writes the files to two (or more) disks at the same time.  If one is not a SSD, it will slow down the write speed.

During the next duplication pass, it will then attempt to move the files off of the SSD drives and onto the slower drives.

 

However, if you're frequently modifying the files, the SSD Optimizer doesn't really help here.  Hence, why I mentioned the File Placement rules. By keeping them on the SSD  (and not allowing them to be moved off), this will speed up modification times, as well.  If you later don't need them on the SSD, you can move the files to a different folder or delete the rule.

[RJGNOW]

I trying to understand what I'm looking at here....  Iv'e setup the SSD for Folder Placement rules, and I want to make sure they are being duplicated for protection...

 

1) I'm always seeing a little blue folder to the right of every drive that says something like "File placement rules need to be applied"... What does that mean?

 

2) When I open the balancing plug-in, under file placement,  I'm seeing what looks like a warning... 13.3 Gigs could not be moved because a suitable destination could not be found......"

 

 

 

 

[Christopher (Drashna)]

The blue icon indicates that it's calculating and attempt to apply the file placement rules.  However, depending on the exact config, it may not be able to do so properly.

 

On thing that may help here is to set the options on the rules to "never" allow placement on other drives, and see if that helps.

 

If that doesn't help, try doing this:

* UNCHECK "File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins."
* CHECK "Balancing plug-ins respect file placement rules."
* UNCHECK "Unless the drive is being emptied."

[RJGNOW]

The blue icon indicates that it's calculating and attempt to apply the file placement rules.  However, depending on the exact config, it may not be able to do so properly.

 

On thing that may help here is to set the options on the rules to "never" allow placement on other drives, and see if that helps.

 

If that doesn't help, try doing this:

* UNCHECK "File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins."

* CHECK "Balancing plug-ins respect file placement rules."

* UNCHECK "Unless the drive is being emptied."

 

Does this mean that the data on the SSD will not be duplicated / Protected?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

The "never" allow placement means that it won't allow placement on other drives... unless that drive is completely full and there are no other suitable drives (such as in the case of duplication and selecting only one drive for the rules). 

 

 

The three settings I mentioned (sorry, they are in the main balancing tab), they control how the files are placed, in regards to the other balancers.  Unchecking the first, means that the file placement rules ignore the real time placement of the balancers. 

The Third means that it ignores the balancers if it tells them to empty a drive (such as what the SSD optimizer may do, and what the ordered file placement and drive usage limiter balancers do).

[RJGNOW]

The "never" allow placement means that it won't allow placement on other drives... unless that drive is completely full and there are no other suitable drives (such as in the case of duplication and selecting only one drive for the rules). 

 

 

The three settings I mentioned (sorry, they are in the main balancing tab), they control how the files are placed, in regards to the other balancers.  Unchecking the first, means that the file placement rules ignore the real time placement of the balancers. 

The Third means that it ignores the balancers if it tells them to empty a drive (such as what the SSD optimizer may do, and what the ordered file placement and drive usage limiter balancers do).

 

 

Ok, so this doesn't sound like I have any protection with this setup.  Not too mention, that even when implementing all your suggestions it's still gives me those warnings.. I can force a re-balance, which clears the blue folder warning (not the warning in yellow), but it doesn't last very long, and I'm back to the blue folder warnings...

 

Is there any way I can achieve my goal?  ie: Use the SSD as the drive for reading and writing but also balance those files to the other drives for safety?

 

[Christopher (Drashna)]

I think I may have misunderstood what you're trying to get at.

 

If you're using duplication, then you'll want to specify two disks in the File Placement rules. 

 

If you don't and the files are duplicated, it will pick a random disk to place the additional parts in, and degrade the pool's condition (as it's less than ideal). 

 

It's the same issue that the SSD Optimizer balancer has.  When the files are written, if they're duplicated, it needs to write them to both disks. If it can't find a "proper" disk, it falls back onto the "other disks".  However, the main difference is that the balancer plugin has no issue with this... but the File Placement rules cause the pool's condition to degrade when this happens.

[RJGNOW]

I think I may have misunderstood what you're trying to get at.

 

If you're using duplication, then you'll want to specify two disks in the File Placement rules. 

 

If you don't and the files are duplicated, it will pick a random disk to place the additional parts in, and degrade the pool's condition (as it's less than ideal). 

 

It's the same issue that the SSD Optimizer balancer has.  When the files are written, if they're duplicated, it needs to write them to both disks. If it can't find a "proper" disk, it falls back onto the "other disks".  However, the main difference is that the balancer plugin has no issue with this... but the File Placement rules cause the pool's condition to degrade when this happens.

 

So If I only have one SSD for storage, and the other drive I select in the file placement options is a standard HDD, then I'm back to the speed of the slowest drive?

[RJGNOW]

The OS drive is an SSD, Would it be OK to add the OS drive to the pool?  I tried to resize the hard drive to add another partition, but that didn't work.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

So If I only have one SSD for storage, and the other drive I select in the file placement options is a standard HDD, then I'm back to the speed of the slowest drive?

Yes, but only if the folders you're adding to are duplicated (but it looks like you're entire pool is duplicated, so that's all of them).

 

 

The OS drive is an SSD, Would it be OK to add the OS drive to the pool?  I tried to resize the hard drive to add another partition, but that didn't work.

 

Yea, you can definitely do that, though, we do recommend a different partition.

 

And we do recommend a dedicated partition for this, just to help prevent "fill issues" (if the system partition gets filled completely, it can cause instability, up to and including BSODs). 

 

As for resizing it ... try "defrag C: /X /h". This runs a free space consolidation pass, and runs it at a higher priority than normal. This may help with the resizing.  Otherwise, .... using a 3rd party disk tool (such as EaseUS Partition Master, or gparted) will work much better. Or installing something like Raxco's PerfectDisk on the system and setting the defrag method to "Prep for Shrink" may help.