Hello,
I am currently in the process of setting up a new storage system and as a result of the WS2016 release some questions have popped up.
I could setup the system using my old settings from 2012R2, but after the release of 2016 some new features were added (Storage Spaces Direct) or updated (eg ReFS) and I would like to incorporate the available features if possible.
First the current HW:
4x JBOD enclosures (each with 3 HDDs (10K) & 1 SSD = 12 10K + 4 SSD)
2x Windows Server 2016 Server attached to JBOD using mSAS
Both servers are in a "Failover Cluster" and will later on host virtual machines using Hyper-V Cluster, where the storage is located on CSV volumes.
I want to setup a Pool using all JBOD drives using Storage Spaces (not Direct!). The Virtual disk resiliance should be a Two-Way Mirror.
Now here are my questions, I hope someone can help me with them:
1. Should I use tiering with the SSDs, because a collegue recommended just using the UsageType "Journal" for the SSDs and the will automatically work as a cache or even just setting the WriteBackCache to a custom size. I always thought that the Jounaling will only work on Parity "Virtual Disks"?
2. Should I use ReFS in this case, or should I stay with NTFS? Is ReFS even supported on CSV? I read that if I decide to use ReFS all access will be in "Redirected Mode" and I cannot leverage DirectIO is that correct. The technet articel about "Supported Scenarios for ReFS" did not provide sufficient information on this matter.
3. If I use ReFS will I have "Real-Time Tiering" or is this only in combination with Storage Spaces Direct?
I hope someone can help me with these questions as a could not find a satisfactory answer online.
Thanks in advance Paul