In this post, I'm providing a reference to the most relevant content related to Windows Server 2012 R2 that is related to the File Server, the SMB 3.0 features and its associated scenarios like Hyper-V over SMB and SQL Server over SMB. It's obviously not a complete reference (there are always new blogs and articles being posted), but hopefully this is a useful collection of links for Windows Server 2012 R2 users.
This post covers only articles that are specific to Windows Server 2012 R2. However, note that there’s also a Windows Server 2012 version of this post. Most concepts, step-by-steps and tools listed there also apply to Windows Server 2012 R2.
Overview articles on Windows Server 2012 R2 File Server and SMB 3.0 (and related topics)
- TechNet - What's New for SMB in Windows Server 2012 R2
- TechNet - Virtual Hard Disk Sharing Overview
- TechNet - What's New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2
- TechNet - What’s New in Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server Blog - Storage Transformation for your Datacenter
- In The Cloud Blog - What’s New in 2012 R2: IaaS Innovations (many additional storage links here)
Step-by-step instructions for Windows Server 2012 R2 File Server and SMB 3.0 (and related topics)
- Blog - Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage: Step-by-step with Storage Spaces, SMB Scale-Out and Shared VHDX (Virtual)
- Blog - Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage: Step-by-step with Storage Spaces, SMB Scale-Out and Shared VHDX (Physical)
- TechNet - Deploy a Guest Cluster Using a Shared Virtual Hard Disk
- TechNet - How to Create a Guest Cluster by Using a Service Template in VMM
TechEd 2013 presentations (with video recording) on Windows Server 2012 R2 File Server and SMB 3.0 (and related topics)
- MDC-B333 - Storage and Availability Improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2 (includes overview of new SMB, Storage Spaces and Clustering features in Windows Server 2012 R2)
- MDC-B335 - Understanding the Hyper-V over SMB Scenario, Configurations, and End-to-End Performance (includes new SMB features in Windows Server 2012 R2)
- MDC-B311 - Application Availability Strategies for the Private Cloud (includes details on the Shared VHDX feature in Windows Server 2012 R2)
- MDC-B331 - Upgrading Your Private Cloud with Windows Server 2012 R2 (includes details on upgrading a File Server clustering to Windows Server 2012 R2)
- MDC-B218 - Storage Spaces: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2 (includes details on the new Tiering and Write-back Cache features in Storage Spaces)
- MDC-B342 - Reduce Storage Costs with Data Deduplication (includes details on how to use Deduplication with live VHD files in a VDI scenario)
- MDC-B336 - Cluster in a Box in 2013: How Real Customers Are Making Their Businesses Highly-Available with… (updated view of the CiB solutions)
- MDC-B330 - Hyper-V - What's New in Windows Server 2012 R2 (include overview and/or demos of Storage QoS and Live Migration over SMB and Shared VHDX)
- MDC-B357 - What’s New in Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - Virtual Machine Manager (includes overview of VMM management of Storage Spaces, Scale-out File Servers and Shared VHDX)
Demos, Interviews and other video recordings
- Demo: SMB Scale-Out Rebalancing (only the demo from the MDC-B335 presentation above)
- Demo: SMB Direct Performance (only the demo from the MDC-B335 presentation above)
- Demo: Hyper-V Live Migration over SMB (only the demo from the MDC-B335 presentation above)
- Demo: Guest Clustering with Shared VHDX (only the demo from the MDC-311 presentation above)
- Channel 9 Live with Rick Claus - Storage Changes in Windows Server 2012 R2
- Carsten Rachfahl (MVP) - Interview with Jose Barreto about the SMB Enhancements in WS2012R2
Windows Server 2012 R2 download links
- TechNet Evaluation Center - Download Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview (public download)
- MSDN Subscriber Downloads - Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter Preview (x64) - DVD (English) (subscriber login required)
- Drivers - Chelsio - Latest RDMA drivers for Mellanox for Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview (public download, select latest Unified Wire driver)
- Drivers - Mellanox - Latest RDMA drivers for Mellanox for Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview (public download)
Blog posts by Microsoft MVPs on Windows Server 2012 R2 File Server and SMB 3.0 (and related topics)
- Aidan Finn - Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V – Guest Clustering With Shared VHDX
- Aidan Finn - Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V – Live Migration Improvements (Compression and SMB 3.0)
- Aidan Finn - Creating & Adding Lots Of Shared VHDX Files To VMs Using PowerShell
- Aidan Finn - Adding a Disk to a SOFS Clustered Storage Pool
- Aidan Finn - Creating a Virtual WS2012R2 SOFS with Shared VHDX & Storage Spaces
- Aidan Finn - A Converged Networks Design For SMB 3.0 Storage & SMB Direct Live Migration
- Didier Van Hoye - Verifying SMB 3.0 Multichannel/RDMA Is Working In Windows Server 2012 (R2)
- Didier Van Hoye - Shared Virtual Disks in Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Maximizes TCO/ROI
- Didier Van Hoye - Preliminary Results With Live Migration Over RDMA Speed & Useful Number Of NICs
- Didier Van Hoye - An Early Look At Live Migration Over TCP/IP & Multichannel In Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview
- Ray Lucchesi - Windows Server 2012 R2 storage changes announced at TechEd
Windows Server 2012 R2 File Server Tips and Q&A
- Coming soon
Protocol Documentation Preview
- [MS-SMB2-Preview]: Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol Versions 2 and 3 (preview of SMB protocol changes in version 3.02)
- [MS-SMBD-Preview]: SMB2 Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Transport Protocol (preview of SMB Direct v2 changes)
- [MS-SWN-Preview]: Service Witness Protocol (preview of the Witness changes)
- [MS-RSVD]: Remote Shared Virtual Disk Protocol (preview of the new Remote Shared Virtual Disk protocol)
Other relevant links related to Windows Server 2012 R2 SMB features
- Windows Server Catalog – JBODs certified for Storage Spaces
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Change tracking:
- 06/26/2013: Original post
- 07/11/2013: Added two demos, added Mellanox driver download, updated links
- 07/18/2013: Added more MVP blog links
- 07/31/2013: Adding additional blog links (including main In The Cloud blog, step-by-step guides)