Inside Windows Storage: Server Storage Technologies for Windows® 2000, Windows® Server 2003 and Beyond [Paperback]

Dilip C. Naik (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 032112698X | ISBN-13: 978-0321126986 | Publication Date: July 25, 2003 | Edition: 1

"Dilip Naik's Inside Windows Storage is an invaluable reference for developers and customers alike and is a must-read for anyone wishing to implement Windows-based storage networking." --Tom Clark, Director, Technical Marketing, Nishan Systems The Windows and enterprise storage markets are converging. Migrating upwards from low-end servers, Windows is becoming a genuine platform for running mission-critical applications. The enterprise storage market is moving from high-end servers to also include medium range servers. Thanks to a slew of enterprise storage related features, Microsoft Windows storage technologies are rapidly gaining widespread acceptance. System administrators, programmers, and technical managers need to learn to appreciate and to tap the full potential of Windows enterprise storage. Inside Windows Storage is the first book to provide a comprehensive look at new and emerging Microsoft storage technologies. The text begins with an overview of the enterprise storage industry and Windows Server architecture, including the Windows NT I/O subsystem.With that foundation in place, readers explore the ins and outs of current Windows offerings, upcoming Windows server releases, and third-party products. Key topic coverage includes: *Direct Attached Storage, including the new Windows Storport driver model *Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks (SANs) *Network Attached Storage (NAS), including the Windows NT network stack and an overview of CIFS *Backup and restore technologies, including Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow Copy Service *File systems and disk virtualization, including a detailed overview of NTFS as well as a study of Windows cluster file systems *Storage management, including the new Windows Virtual Disk Service *IP Storage and Infiniband *High availability, including RAID mirroring as well as multi path I/O solutions This extensive guide concludes by tracing Windows NT storage features as they appear in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003, and by offering a preview of what to expect from future Windows server releases. In short, Inside Windows Storage will help IT professionals gear up for the major role that Windows servers will surely play in the future of enterprise storage.032112698XB06302003

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Dilip Naik's Inside Windows Storage is an invaluable reference for developers and customers alike and is a must-read for anyone wishing to implement Windows-based storage networking."
—Tom Clark, Director, Technical Marketing, Nishan Systems

The Windows and enterprise storage markets are converging. Migrating upwards from low-end servers, Windows is becoming a genuine platform for running mission-critical applications. The enterprise storage market is moving from high-end servers to also include medium range servers. Thanks to a slew of enterprise storage related features, Microsoft Windows storage technologies are rapidly gaining widespread acceptance. System administrators, programmers, and technical managers need to learn to appreciate and to tap the full potential of Windows enterprise storage.

Inside Windows Storage is the first book to provide a comprehensive look at new and emerging Microsoft storage technologies. The text begins with an overview of the enterprise storage industry and Windows Server architecture, including the Windows NT I/O subsystem. With that foundation in place, readers explore the ins and outs of current Windows offerings, upcoming Windows server releases, and third-party products.

Key topic coverage includes:

• Direct Attached Storage, including the new Windows Storport driver model
• Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks (SANs)
• Network Attached Storage (NAS), including the Windows NT network stack and an overview of CIFS
• Backup and restore technologies, including Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow Copy Service
• File systems and disk virtualization, including a detailed overview of NTFS as well as a study of Windows cluster file systems
• Storage management, including the new Windows Virtual Disk Service
• IP Storage and Infiniband
• High availability, including RAID mirroring as well as multi path I/O solutions

This extensive guide concludes by tracing Windows NT storage features as they appear in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003, and by offering a preview of what to expect from future Windows server releases. In short, Inside Windows Storage will help IT professionals gear up for the major role that Windows servers will surely play in the future of enterprise storage.

032112698XB06302003

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. He also helped develop Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and performance/management (including storage management) features for the Windows platform and represented Microsoft on a number of industry standards organizations.

032112698XAB06302003

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (July 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032112698X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321126986
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,688,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference for Windows Server Storage, November 20, 2003

By 

Richard T. Kingslan "Consultant for a Major S... (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Windows Storage: Server Storage Technologies for Windows® 2000, Windows® Server 2003 and Beyond (Paperback)

Given that there are not many references dealing with Windows Server Storage, this book has value for the developer in understanding the nuts and bolts of the technology as well as the administrator in learning how this technology and the operating system interoperate. Dilip Naik succeeds quite well in both areas.

The detail in the hardware requirements, types of devices, communication protocols - all important in understanding the technology if you are going to administer or program for it. How it communicates with Windows and the driver model is of particular interest to me as a Systems Engineer - if it's not functioning properly, I have to know - in detail, how it talks to the OS.

Eliminating layers is the only way to narrow down the possibilities. The diagrams and the associated detail of the kernel, driver, protocol and disk layers are invaluable to the topic at hand.

In the journey through this book, you start with a basic introduction to Windows NT and Windows NT storage devices. This is the basis for all that comes, but may be familiar to many who deal with driver and kernel technology. Next is Direct Attached Storage, Network Attached Storage, and an intro to Fibre Channel SAN. No storage technology is complete without discussion of backup and restoration. And, file systems are an important treatment in the book as well.

There is a chapter on storage management - and for an administrator, clearly this is the area in which the book is light. Much more could have been done with this, but the focus of the book is not on the administrator - but slanted more to aiding the developer in understanding the technology.

IP Storage, iSCSI, and InfiniBand are discussed, as is the Windows spin on the implementations. High Availability and RAID options are expanded upon, as well as some third party options.

Finally is a discussion of storage features by Windows version release, Windows NT, 2000 and Server 2003. Included is a short discussion of what's missing, and a discussion of futures.

Naik does an admirable job in delivering a book dealing with complex technology and attempting to provide information in which infrastructure technologists as well as developers can glean value from it. Though there is no code in the book, that's not the goal - it's about the technology.

If you're looking for a good reference in Windows Storage Technologies (and the supporting hardware, firmware, and software), this is one that should find it's way onto your shelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice introduction to Windows Storage Features, September 6, 2003

By 

"pkumar28" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside Windows Storage: Server Storage Technologies for Windows® 2000, Windows® Server 2003 and Beyond (Paperback)

This was kind of book which I was looking for sometime. Generally, one finds lot of books on Storage Technologies, SAN, Fibre Channel etc, written with system administrative perspective. This book is the next step. It gives nice technical intrduction of storage technologies and how they have been implemented on Windows Server. It is good resource for sys admins and management folks who want to understand storage feature in greater detail. The language is nice and easy. Though, sometime you feel the flow is not very smooth and its jerky sometimes. It covers pretty much all the storage features available on Windows. I believe this book is a good step in the right direction. It is technical to some level but obviously not enough for a system level programmer. Some of the details are missing( which might be intentional). Topics need to exploded further so that it can serve as a great reference. The book does not point to some of the challenges facing Windows Server Storage

4.0 out of 5 stars Good intro to various storage systems, November 14, 2003

By 

Gary Bushey (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Windows Storage: Server Storage Technologies for Windows® 2000, Windows® Server 2003 and Beyond (Paperback)

I found certain chapters way above my head ( I am a software person, not hardware) but other chapters, especially the ones dealing with SANs and RAID configurations) incredibly useful. It answered a lot of questions I had on the different RAID configurations