Windows Server 2016 introduces several new features including software defined storage, Hyper-V improvements, automation enhancements, and Nano Server. Storage Spaces Direct enables hyper-converged infrastructure, Storage Replica allows for volume replication, and Resilient File System provides improved integrity and performance. Hyper-V gains features like cluster rolling upgrades and shielded VMs. Automation is focused on a graphical authoring experience and Linux/Azure support. Nano Server offers a headless deployment optimized for cloud workloads.

1. Windows Server 2016 “sneak peak”
THOMAS MAURER
MVP Hyper-V
itnetx gmbh
Blog: www.thomasmaurer.ch
Twitter: @thomasmaurer
MICHAEL RUEEFLI
MVP Cloud & Datacenter Management
itnetx gmbh
Blog: www.miru.ch
Twitter: @drmiru

2. Session Objectives
Get a “sneak peak” of Windows Server 2016 on:
• Software defined Storage, the next level
• Hyper-V
• Automation
• Nano Server

3. Software defined Storage (current)
I can’t implement a Microsoft Storage Solution because…
“Replication on Storage-Level
is missing”
“I wanna do Hyper-
Converged”
“I don’t trust Microsoft doing
Storage”

4. Software defined Storage v3.0
• Volume based Storage Replication (sync / async)
• Storage Spaces direct
• Hyper-Converged
• ReFS
• Distributed Storage QoS
• Deduplication Enhancements

5. Current SDS with Server 2012 R2 (1 / 2)
SoftwareDefinedStorageSystem
• Scale-Out File Server
• Cluster Shared Volumes
• Storage Spaces
• Hardware
Shared JBOD Storage

6. Storage Spaces Direct logical View
Software Defined Storage System
Storage
Node
Storage
Node
Storage
Node
Storage
Node
Storage Pool
Storage Space Virtual Disks
Scale-Out File Server FileServerShare
Cluster Shared Volumes C:ClusterStorage
SMB3 Storage Network Fabric
Software Storage Bus
• Local Storage (inline or JBOD)
• Support for SATA and NVMe SSD
• Fault Tolerance to disk and node failures
• Hyper-V VM Storage
• Backup Storage
• Converged
• Hyper-converged

7. Scenarios
Hyper-converged Converged (Disaggregated)
Compute and Storage resources together
Compute and Storage scale and are managed together
Typically small to medium sized scale-out deployments

8. Storage Spaces Direct - Data Placement
• Virtual Disks
• Virtual disks consists of extents
• Extents are 1GB, so a 100GB virtual disks has 100 extents
• Scale-Out
• Extents are distributed across disks and servers
• Rebalancing occurs if adding more nodes
• Resiliency
• A 2nd copy of an extent is placed on a different server
• A 3rd copy of an extent is placed on yet another server
Server EServer B Server C Server DServer A
A A’ A’’B B’ B’’C C’C’’

9. Storage Spaces Direct: Requirements (TP2)
• 4 up to 12 Storage Nodes
• 10 Gbps RDMA (RoCE)
• Min. 1 SSD per Node
• Supported HW Model (VMs for LAB)

10. Storage Spaces Direct Development Partners
Quanta D51PH
HP Apollo 2000 System
Dell PowerEdge R730xdCisco UCS C3160 Rack Server
Intel® Server Board S2600WT-Based Systems Lenovo System x3650 M5
Fujitsu Primergy RX2540 M1

11. DEMO
STORAGE SPACES DIRECT

12. Storage Replica
BCDR
Synchronous or asynchronous
Cluster <-> Cluster
Server <-> Server
Microsoft Azure Site Recovery orchestration
Stretch Cluster
Synchronous stretch clusters across sites for HA
Benefits
Block-level, host-based, volume replication
End-to-end software stack from Microsoft
Works with any Windows volume
Hardware agnostic; existing SANs work
Uses SMB3 as transport

13. NODE1 in HVCLUS
SR over SMB3
NODE3 in HVCLUS
NODE2 in HVCLUS NODE4 in HVCLUS
ManhattanDC
JerseyCityDC
Stretch Cluster
• Single cluster
• Automatic failover
• Synchronous

14. Cluster to Cluster
• Two separate clusters
• Manual failover
• Synchronous or asynchronous
NODE1 in FSCLUS NODE2 in DRCLUS
NODE3 in FSCLUS NODE4 in DRCLUS
NODE2 in FSCLUS
NODE4 in FSCLUS
NODE1 in DRCLUS
NODE4 in DRCLUS
SR over SMB3
ManhattanDC
JerseyCityDC

15. Server to Server
• Two separate servers
• Manual failover
• Synchronous or asynchronous
SRV1
SR over SMB3
SRV2
ManhattanDC
JerseyCityDC

16. Storage Replica: Requirements (TP2)
• Any volume (SAS, SAN, iSCSI, Local)
• <5 ms round trip between sites for synchronous mirror
(at 1472 non-fragmented bytes packet size)
• RDMA NICs
• Identical size for source / target volume
• SSDs for log disks recommended
• Identical physical disk geometry

17. DEMO
STORAGE REPLICA

18. ReFS (Resilient File System)
• New Default FS for VM Workloads
• Metadata Checksums
• User Data Checksums
• Checksum Verification
• Autohealing of detected Corruption
• Lightening fast VM Checkpoint creation / merging
• Ultrafast fixed VHDX creation
• Autohealing of detected Corruption

19. DEMO
RESILIENT FILESYSTEM

20. Hyper-V
• Huge number of new features
• Cluster Rolling Upgrades
• Online Resize Memory
• Hot add / remove Network Adapters
• Software Defined Networking / Network Controller
• Improved Shared VHDX, Hyper-V Manager, Backup…
• Security
• PowerShell Direct

21. Challenges in protecting high-value assets

22. Shielded VMs
Host Guardian
Service
Spotlight capabilities
Shielded Virtual Machines can only run
in fabrics that are designated as owners
of that virtual machine
Shielded Virtual Machines will need
to be encrypted (by BitLocker or other
means) in order to ensure that only the
designated owners can run this virtual
machine
You can convert a running
Generation 2 virtual machine into a
Shielded Virtual Machine

23. PowerShell Direct to Guest OS
• You can now script PowerShell in the Guest OS directly from the
Host OS
• No need to configure PowerShell Remoting
• Or even have network connectivity
• Still need to have guest credentials
• Enter-PSSession –VMName “VM01” –Credentials $Cred
• Get-Service –VMName “VM01” –Credentials $Cred

24. Network Adapter Identification
• You can name individual network adapters in the virtual machine
settings – and see the same name inside the guest operating
system.
• PowerShell in host:
• PowerShell in guest:
Add-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName "TestVM" -SwitchName "Virtual Switch" -Name "Fred" -Passthru |
Set-VMNetworkAdapter -DeviceNaming on
Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty | ?{$_.DisplayName -eq "Hyper-V Network Adapter Name"} |
select Name, DisplayValue

25. Remote FX
• Support for OpenGL 4.4 and OpenCL 1.1 API
• Larger dedicated VRAM and configurable VRAM.

26. DEMO
HYPER-V

27. Automation

28. Automation vNext
• Hybrid Worker
• Graphical Authoring
• Linux Support
(DSC / SSH)
• Azure DSC Pull Server
• As Part of Azure Stack for
“on premises”

29. And last but not…..
THE (data)-BUS IS BACK!

30. DEMO
AUTOMATION VNEXT

31. Nano Server
• Headless Shit

32. •
•
•
Voice of the Customer (-> us!)

33. Security Impact

34. I want just the components
I need
and nothing more

35. IT Pro Server Journey
Windows NT to
Windows Server
2003
Windows/
WindowsNT
Server Roles/Features
Windows Server 2008
and
Windows Server 2008 R2
Server Core
Full Server
Windows Server 2012
and
Windows Server 2012 R2
Server Core
Minimal Server
Interface
GUI Shell
Windows NT /
Windows
Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012 R2

36. • Azure
• Patches and reboots interrupt service delivery
• (*VERY large # of servers) * (large OS resource consumption) => COGS
• Provisioning large host images competes for network resources
• Cloud Platform System (CPS)
• Cloud-in-box running on 1-4 racks using System Center & Windows Server
• Setup time needs to be shortened
• Patches and reboots result in service disruption
• Fully loaded CPS would live migrate > 16TB for every host OS patch
• Network capacity could have otherwise gone to business uses
• Reboots: Compute host ~2 minutes / Storage host ~5 minutes
Microsoft Cloud Journey

37. We need server configuration optimized for the cloud

38. • A new headless, 64-bit only, deployment option for Windows Server
• Deep refactoring focused on
• CloudOS infrastructure
• Born-in-the-cloud applications
• Follow the Server Core pattern
Nano Server - Next Step in the Cloud Journey
Server Core
Server with Local
Admin Tools
Basic Client
Experience
Nano Server

39. • Zero-footprint model
• Server Roles and Optional Features live outside of Nano Server
• Standalone packages that install like applications
• Key Roles & Features
• Hyper-V, Storage (SoFS), and Clustering
• Core CLR, ASP.NET 5 & PaaS
• Full Windows Server driver support
• Antimalware Built-in
• System Center and Apps Insight agents to follow
Nano Server - Roles & Features

40. • Web-based
• Includes replacements for local-only tools
• Task Manager
• Registry Editor
• Event Viewer
• Device Manager
• Sconfig
----------------------------
• Control Panel
• File Explorer
• Performance Monitor
• Disk Management
• Users/Groups Manager
• Also manages Server Core and Server with GUI
Remote Server Management Tools

46. • Born-in-the-cloud application support
• Subset of Win32
• CoreCLR, PaaS, and ASP.NET 5
• Available everywhere
• Host OS for physical hardware
• Guest OS in a VM
• Windows Server containers
• Hyper-V containers
• Future additions
• PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) & PackageManagement
• Additional Roles and Application Frameworks
Nano Server - Cloud Application platform

47. Servicing Improvements*
0
5
10
15
20
25
Critical Bulletins
Nano Server Server Core Full Server
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Important Bulletins
Nano Server Server Core Full Server
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Number of
Reboots
Nano Server Server Core
Full Server
23
8
2
9
23
26
6
11
3

48. Security Improvements
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Ports open
Nano Server Server Core
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Services running
Nano Server Server Core
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Drivers loaded
Nano Server Server Core
12
31
22
46
73
98

49. 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Boot IO (MB)
Nano Server Server Core
Resource Utilization Improvements
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Process Count
Nano Server Server Core
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Kernel memory in
use (MB)
Nano Server Server Core
26
21
61
139
150
255

50. 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Setup Time (sec)
Nano Server Server Core
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Disk Footprint (GB)
Nano Server Server Core
Deployment Improvements
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
VHD Size (GB)
Nano Server Server Core
.41
6.3
40
300
4.84
.4

51. • An installation option, like Server Core
• Not listed in Setup because image must be customized with drivers
• Separate folder on the Windows Server media
• Available in the Windows Server
Technical Preview 2 released
this week
Nano Server in Windows Server 2016

52. And more...
• PowerShell 5.0
• DSC
• Package Management (Find-Package *Office 2016* | Install-Package)
• IIS 10 (HTTP/2)
• Soft Restart (No Initializing of Hardware Components)
• Windows Defender (Windows Server Antimalware is installed and
enabled by default )
• Telnet Server (Is removed)
• ADFS

53. THANK YOU!
THOMAS MAURER
MVP Hyper-V
itnetx gmbh
Blog: www.thomasmaurer.ch
Twitter: @thomasmaurer
MICHAEL RUEEFLI
MVP Cloud & Datacenter Management
itnetx gmbh
Blog: www.miru.ch
Twitter: @drmiru