Training
Module
Maintain disks and volumes - Training
This module explores file system fragmentation and the tools that you can use to reduce fragmentation. Students will learn how Windows can compress files to take up less space on the hard disk.
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[Beginning with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, the Virtual Disk Service COM interface is superseded by the Windows Storage Management API.]
A volume object models a logical storage unit that is created by a software provider and presented to the file system as a disk. Each volume comprises at least one volume plex, which is in turn composed of extents from one or more disks.
VDS supports five volume types: simple, spanned, striped, mirrored, and striped with parity. Simple, spanned, and striped volumes are non-fault tolerant; mirrored and parity volumes are fault tolerant. The remainder of this section describes each of the VDS volume types.
Basic and dynamic software providers support partially directed volume creation; a caller specifies only those attributes that are of particular interest, and allows the provider to choose the rest. VDS mounts a newly created volume automatically, except on Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition platforms.
Always create a volume within the same pack as the disks that contribute to it. Use the IVdsPack::CreateVolume method to create a new volume object. You can determine the volumes that are contained within a specific pack by invoking the QueryVolumes method, also exposed by IVdsPack. A caller can get a pointer to a specific volume by selecting the desired volume object from the enumeration that is returned by QueryVolumes. With a volume object, you can set the status; query for plexes; extend and shrink the volume; add, break, and remove plexes; and delete the volume.
In addition to an object identifier, a name, and a serial number, volume object properties include the volume type, size, status, health, transition state, flags, and a recommended file system type.
The following table lists related interfaces, enumerations, and structures.
Type | Element |
---|---|
Interfaces that are always exposed by this object | IVdsVolume, IVdsVolumeMF, IVdsVolumeMF2*, IVdsVolumeOnline*, and IVdsVolumeShrink*. |
Associated enumerations | VDS_VOLUME_FLAG, VDS_VOLUME_STATUS, VDS_VOLUME_TYPE, and VDS_DISK_EXTENT_TYPE. |
Associated structures | VDS_VOLUME_PROP and VDS_VOLUME_NOTIFICATION. |
*Windows Server 2003: These interfaces are not supported until Windows Vista.
Training
Module
Maintain disks and volumes - Training
This module explores file system fragmentation and the tools that you can use to reduce fragmentation. Students will learn how Windows can compress files to take up less space on the hard disk.