Windows-powered NAS devices and snapshots

This chapter excerpt from Inside Windows Storage, by Dilip C. Naik is printed with permission from Addison-Wesley/Prentice Hall, Copyright 2003. Click here for the chapter download or purchase the entire book here.

Microsoft offers a version of Windows NT that is sometimes referred to as "Embedded NT" and more often as the Server Appliance Kit, or SAK. This offering is based on Windows 2000, which does not have a volume shadow copy service. For the benefit of original equipment manufacturers that use the SAK to build NAS devices, Microsoft has licensed a snapshot solution and included it in the SAK. This snapshot product is the Persistent Storage Manager (PSM) from Columbia Data Products. This section provides a quick overview of PSM architecture and functionality.

PSM architecture is shown in Figure 5.9. PSM has a user mode component that facilitates snapshot management, including initiation and scheduling of snapshot creation. The snapshots are created via the services of the PSM filter driver that is layered over the disk class driver as shown in Figure 5.9.

PSM offers the ability to create multiple snapshots and manage them. Snapshots can be created according to a schedule, and older snapshots may be saved or written over. One can also "mount" the older snapshots and use them for backup or other purposes. Each snapshot has a date and timestamp associated with it.

WINDOWS BACKUP AND RESTORE TECHNOLOGIES

  Introduction
 Tip #1: Reasons for backup and restore
 Tip #2: Backup problems
 Tip #3: Backup classifications
 Tip #4: Windows 2000 backup utility
 Tip #5: Techniques to create a volume snapshot
 Tip #6: XP and Windows 2003 volume shadow copy service
 Tip #7: Windows-powered NAS devices and snapshots
 Tip #8: Network Data Management Protocol
 Tip #9: Practical implications
 Tip #10: Summary

About the author: Dilip C. Naik has more than twelve years of experience in various roles at Microsoft, including software engineer, program manager, and technical evangelist. His contributions include writing CIFS/SMB code, CIFS-related RFCs, code and documentation for the Windows NT Installable File System Kit, as well as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and performance/management (including storage management) features for the Windows platform. Dilip has also represented Microsoft on a number of industry standards organizations.

Rate this Tip To rate tips, you must be a member of SearchWindowsServer.com. Register now to start rating these tips. Log in if you are already a member. Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us    RELATED CONTENT Inside Windows Storage A look at common Windows backup problems Practical implications of Windows high-end storage backup and restore Breaking down Network Data Management Protocol for Windows Getting to know the Windows 2000 backup utility Techniques to create a volume snapshot in Windows Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 volume shadow copy service Classifying Windows backup schemes Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Management for Windows Backup and recovery for data migrated to networked storage Moving structured data sources to networked storage Making the move from DAS to SAN and NAS OpenFiler turns any server with attached storage into SAN or NAS appliance NAS gateways help admins improve storage utilization How will networked storage affect application performance? How to choose an architecture for branch office storage Consolidate NAS devices with Windows Storage Server 2003 Networked-attached storage has limits Company builds virtual tape library out of low-cost Open E-NAS software Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Management for Windows Research Windows Storage Management Keeping an eye on network disk space with Windows Server 2008 Moving dynamic disks to a new Windows server A first look at Storage Explorer for Windows Server 2008 Give your system memory a boost with x64 Backup and recovery for data migrated to networked storage Disk management basics for iSCSI deployments Making financial sense of disk-to-disk backup solutions Moving structured data sources to networked storage Making the move from DAS to SAN and NAS Data Protection Manager 2007: Relief from branch office backup headaches RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary DISCLAIMER: Our Tips Exchange is a forum for you to share technical advice and expertise with your peers and to learn from other enterprise IT professionals. TechTarget provides the infrastructure to facilitate this sharing of information. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of the material submitted. You agree that your use of the Ask The Expert services and your reliance on any questions, answers, information or other materials received through this Web site is at your own risk.