Trying to use parity in Windows Server 2019 Storage Spaces

[SilentKagemusha]

I am trying to create either a raid 5, or a raid 6 array in my new R730XD running Windows Server 2019, but I am running into a problem. I can create a simple (raid 0), and a mirrored (raid 1) array just fine, but when I try to use any kind of parity I receive an odd error. It errors and says: "The storage pool does not have sufficient eligible resources for the creation of the specified virtual disk." I have 8 x 14TB Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives in the machine, and I am trying to create the raid array with four of them, using a fifth for a hot spare. Please Help! I am testing this out now, and must get this working before I deploy it to a client.

[Electronics Wizardy]

what command are you using to make the array?

 

Are you using powershell, don't use the gui here.

 

What did you set number of collumns to?

 

 

[SilentKagemusha]

9 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

what command are you using to make the array?

 

Are you using powershell, don't use the gui here.

 

What did you set number of collumns to?

 

 

I'm using the GUI, because I am still unfamiliar with PowerShell. I am taking online courses to learn it though.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, 無声影武者 said:

I'm using the GUI, because I am still unfamiliar with PowerShell. I am taking online courses to learn it though.

 

you really gotta use powershell with storage spaces, the gui is bad.

 

Also you don't need a powershell class to do this, all you have to do is read the new-virtual disk doc and  punch in the size and pool name as needed.

[SilentKagemusha]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you really gotta use powershell with storage spaces, the gui is bad.

 

Also you don't need a powershell class to do this, all you have to do is read the new-virtual disk doc and  punch in the size and pool name as needed.

Thanks, I'll try that and post my results here when I'm done.

[BloodKnight7]

Um... Storage Spaces is about providing fault tolerance, often called 'resiliency', for your data. Its implementation is similar to RAID, except distributed across servers and implemented in software.

 

Single parity keeps only one bitwise parity symbol, which provides fault tolerance against only one failure at a time. It most closely resembles RAID-5. To use single parity, you need at least three hardware fault domains – with Storage Spaces Direct, that means three servers. Because three-way mirroring provides more fault tolerance at the same scale, we discourage using single parity.

 

Dual parity implements Reed-Solomon error-correcting codes to keep two bitwise parity symbols, thereby providing the same fault tolerance as three-way mirroring (i.e. up to two failures at once), but with better storage efficiency. It most closely resembles RAID-6. To use dual parity, you need at least four hardware fault domains – with Storage Spaces Direct, that means four servers.

Resiliency	Minimum required fault domains
Two-way mirror	2
Three-way mirror	3
Dual parity	4
Mixed	4

 

[SilentKagemusha]

8 hours ago, BloodKnight7 said:

Um... Storage Spaces is about providing fault tolerance, often called 'resiliency', for your data. Its implementation is similar to RAID, except distributed across servers and implemented in software.

 

Single parity keeps only one bitwise parity symbol, which provides fault tolerance against only one failure at a time. It most closely resembles RAID-5. To use single parity, you need at least three hardware fault domains – with Storage Spaces Direct, that means three servers. Because three-way mirroring provides more fault tolerance at the same scale, we discourage using single parity.

 

Dual parity implements Reed-Solomon error-correcting codes to keep two bitwise parity symbols, thereby providing the same fault tolerance as three-way mirroring (i.e. up to two failures at once), but with better storage efficiency. It most closely resembles RAID-6. To use dual parity, you need at least four hardware fault domains – with Storage Spaces Direct, that means four servers.

Resiliency	Minimum required fault domains
Two-way mirror	2
Three-way mirror	3
Dual parity	4
Mixed	4

 

When you say server, do you mean drive? I must confess, I am a little confused by this.

[BloodKnight7]

4 hours ago, 無声影武者 said:

When you say server, do you mean drive? I must confess, I am a little confused by this.

Nope... I mean servers as in server nodes. S2D hyperconverged infrastructure in Windows server depends of the number of servers which should have similar (same preferred) hard drive configurations.

[SilentKagemusha]

6 minutes ago, BloodKnight7 said:

Nope... I mean servers as in server nodes. S2D hyperconverged infrastructure in Windows server depends of the number of servers which should have similar (same preferred) hard drive configurations.

Okay, in that case it would be better to create the raid array using the physical raid card than in the Server OS it's self?

[BloodKnight7]

What are you exactly wanting to do? just data protection? I mean depending on what PERC you R730 has.... that could be a good idea or atleast a much more simpler one. You have all your firmwares in the latest version, correct?

[SilentKagemusha]

42 minutes ago, BloodKnight7 said:

What are you exactly wanting to do? just data protection? I mean depending on what PERC you R730 has.... that could be a good idea or atleast a much more simpler one. You have all your firmwares in the latest version, correct?

All firmware is up to date. I am just looking at creating a raid 5 or 6 with hot spare for my client's file server. My machine has this: PERC H730p 2GB NV -12G SAS,6G SATA- (RAID 0,1,5,6,10,50,60).

[BloodKnight7]

H730 is good enough for a raid 5 or 6 for windows server, just make sure that if all your drives are mechanical that you leave cache enabled (Defult values should be ok) but if you are using SSDs disable write cache and put it in passthrough mode.

[SilentKagemusha]

28 minutes ago, BloodKnight7 said:

H730 is good enough for a raid 5 or 6 for windows server, just make sure that if all your drives are mechanical that you leave cache enabled (Defult values should be ok) but if you are using SSDs disable write cache and put it in passthrough mode.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll do so.