Implement Storage Replica by using Windows Admin Center

  • 10 minutes

The simplest method you can use to implement Storage Replica is the intuitive graphical interface of Windows Admin Center.

Validate prerequisites

Before you proceed with the implementation, you should first validate that all Storage Replica prerequisites are in place:

  1. Identify the data volume you intend to use for replication and create a corresponding destination volume. For each destination volume, create a corresponding log volume on its respective servers.

    Tip

    Log volumes should reside on the faster storage, preferably solid-state drive (SSD)-based.

    Important

    You should allocate at least 8 GB for the log volumes. For a more accurate assessment, run the Windows PowerShell Test-SRTopology cmdlet and refer to the results.

  2. Install the Storage Replica feature and the File Server role service on the source and destination server.

    Note

    The File Server role is required to run Test-SRTopology.

  3. Use the Test-SRTopology cmdlet to determine whether the source and destination volumes meet Storage Replica's requirements. You can use the cmdlet in requirements-only mode by specifying the IgnorePerfTests parameter first. If that's successful, rerun the cmdlet in the performance evaluation mode without the IgnorePerfTests parameter, as in the following example:

    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path 'c:\Temp' -Force
Test-SRTopology -SourceComputerName S2D001 -SourceVolumeName C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 -SourceLogVolumeName C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2 -DestinationComputerName S2D101 -DestinationVolumeName C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1 -DestinationLogVolumeName C:\ClusterStorage\Volume2 -DurationInMinutes 30 -ResultPath 'c:\Temp'

  4. Review the TestSrTopologyReport.html report to ensure that your configuration meets Storage Replica's requirements.

Implement Storage Replica by Using Windows Admin Center

  1. In the Windows Admin Center, navigate to the source or destination server.

  2. From the Storage Replica panel, use the Replica with another server interface to define a new partnership and replication group, and complete or select the following settings:

    • Source server
    • Replication group name
    • Destination server
    • Destination group name
    • Enable synchronous replication
    • Log size
    • Use blocks already seeded on the target to speed up initial synchronization
    • Encrypt replication traffic
    • Enable consistency groups

Demonstration

The following video demonstrates how to implement Storage Replica by using Windows Admin Center.

The main steps in the process are:

  1. Create an AD DS environment:
    1. Create a single-domain AD DS forest that includes two domain member servers with four data disks each.
    2. Create a management workstation running Windows 10.
  2. On each domain member server, initialize the source and destination disks:
    1. Create an ReFS-formatted volume on each disk and assign drive letters to each disk.
    2. On the domain member servers, use Server Manager to initialize the source and destination disks.
    3. Create an ReFS-formatted volume on each disk and assign drive letters to each disk.
  3. Use Windows PowerShell to enable CredSSP on the two domain member servers.
  4. Use Windows Admin Center to configure Storage Replica between the two domain member servers.
  5. Use Windows Admin Center to validate the Storage Replica configuration.

Quick review

1.

Which authentication mechanism facilitates implementation of Storage Replica by using Windows Admin Center?