Using Storage Replica with Project Honolulu and Stretch Cluster scenario

Storage Replica is Windows Server feature that enables block replication of volumes between servers or clusters for disaster recovery. It also enables you to create stretch failover clusters that span two sites, with all nodes staying in sync.

• To learn more, see Storage Replica overview on Microsoft Docs web site.

Project Honolulu is a locally deployed, browser-based, management tool set that enables on-premises administration of Windows Servers with no Azure or cloud dependency. It gives IT administrators full control over all aspects of their server infrastructure and is particularly useful for management on private networks that are not connected to the Internet.

• To learn more, see Project Honolulu overview on Microsoft Docs web site.

All setup is easy and briefly discribed here!

Step 1: Install Project Honolulu and Storage Replica feature

1. Provision operating system, features, roles, storage, and network on the servers. For more information, see Server to Server Storage Replication or Cluster to cluster Storage Replication or Stretch Cluster Replication using Shared Storage.
2. Add the server machines and client to the same domain.
3. Download and install Project Honolulu on the client.
4. Download and install RSAT (Remote Server Administration tools) on the client to allow remote management of Windows Server.

Step 2: Configure Project Honolulu

1. On the management computer running Windows 10, open a PowerShell session as administrator by selecting the Start button, typing PowerShell, right-clicking Windows PowerShell, and then selecting Run as administrator.
2. Enter the “winrm quickconfig” command to enable the WS-Management protocol on the local computer and set up the default configuration for remote management on the client.

Step 3: Set up Storage Replica in Project Honolulu

Add the source server.

1. Select the Add button.
2. Select Add server connection.
3. Type the name of the server and then select Submit.
4. On the All Connections page, select the source server.
5. Select Storage Replica from Tools panel.
6. Select the New button to create a new partnership.
7. Provide the details of the partnership, and then select Create.

So cool and not complex to deploy!

To see the quick demo on Microsoft site, click this link.

Scenario: Stretch Cluster Replication Using Shared Storage

An interesting scenario consists to deploy a single stretch cluster, where two nodes share one set of storage and two nodes share another set of storage. Then block replication with Storage Replica feature keeps both sets of storage mirrored in the cluster to allow immediate failover.

These nodes and their storage should be located in separate physical sites, although it is not required. In this type of scenario, servers in different sites must be able to communicate with the other servers via a network, but not have any physical connectivity to the other site’s shared storage.

Note that unfortunately today this stretch cluster scenario is not yet supported with S2D hyper-converged storage running Windows Server 2016.

These nodes and their storage should be located in separate physical sites, although it is not required. In this type of scenario, servers in different sites must be able to communicate with the other servers via a network, but not have any physical connectivity to the other site’s shared storage.

About requirements:

• Active Directory forest (does not need to run Windows Server 2016).
• At least 2 servers running Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Edition installed. You can support up to 64 node per cluster. If you prefer, you can test this scenario with SR features in Windows Server 2019 already available in Preview for Insiders!
• 2 sets of shared storage, using SAS JBODs (such as with Storage Spaces), Fibre Channel SAN, Shared VHDX, or iSCSI Target. The storage should contain a mix of HDD and SSD media and must support Persistent Reservation. You will make each storage set available to two of the servers only (asymmetric).
• Each set of storage must allow creation of at least 2 virtual disks, one for replicated data and one for logs. The physical storage must have the same sector sizes on all the data disks. The physical storage must have the same sector sizes on all the log disks.
• At least one 1GbE connection on each server for synchronous replication, but RDMA is recommended (not required).
• At least 2GB of RAM and 2 cores per server. You will need more memory and cores for more virtual machines.
• Appropriate firewall and router rules to allow ICMP, SMB (port 445, plus 5445 for SMB Direct) and WS-MAN (port 5985) bi-directional traffic between all nodes.
• A network between servers with enough bandwidth to contain your IO write workload and an average of 5ms round trip latency, for synchronous replication. Note that asynchronous replication does not have a latency recommendation.
• The replicated storage cannot be located on the drive containing the Windows operating system folder.

So cool and not complex to deploy with all steps on Microsoft Docs here but remember that unfortunately today S2D does not support cluster strectch mode.

Enjoy Storage Replica feature in Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and test new SR features in Windows Server 2019 already available in Preview for Insiders!