Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Edition includes significant enhancements to Failover Clustering, a key technology that supports disaster recovery (DR) and high availability by allowing you to combine multiple servers to form a fault-tolerant cluster on physical hardware or in virtual machines. A major enhancement is Storage Replica, Microsoft's first native solution for zero-data-loss disaster recovery, Storage Replica allows organizations to configure separate sites within a metro area to mirror data with crash-consistent volumes in order to ensure full data recovery in the event of a site outage. Windows Server 2016 includes a number of other important new and enhanced features for Failover Clusters, offering significant benefits in areas including availability and fault tolerance, Hyper-V virtualization, storage and infrastructure costs, ease of deployment, manageability, security, scale, performance, hybrid cloud support, health monitoring and audit reporting.
Windows Server 2016 is a cloud-tested platform that takes technology proven in Microsoft's vast Azure public cloud, including Azure's software-defined data plane, and makes it available for on premises deployments. As hybrid networks have become the norm, the migration of cloud technology to private data centers has made enterprise-class disaster recovery solutions practical for organizations of virtually any size.
Progent's team of disaster recovery consultants and certified Windows Server experts have the knowledge and experience to help you plan, deploy, test, maintain and troubleshoot a disaster recovery solution based on Windows Server 2016 that aligns with your business goals and IT budget. Progent's information assurance experts can help you prove compliance with regulatory requirements for disaster recovery, and Progent's business continuity consultants can help you integrate your disaster recovery strategy into a broader plan to keep your business operating at an acceptable level in the event of a predictable widespread catastrophe. By showing you practical and affordable ways to deploy Windows Server 2016 to improve your Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO), Progent can help ensure that your investment in current disaster recovery and clustering technology adds maximum business value to your information network.
Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica
The headline disaster recovery feature of Windows Server 2016 is Storage Replica, Microsoft's first foray into zero-data-loss DR. Storage Replica allows you to mirror data between sites located within metro distances by using synchronous replication over a low-latency (5 ms or better round trip) TCP/IP or RDMA network using an SMB3 transport. If a protected site (also called a source or primary site) suffers a complete shutdown, you can switch quickly to the recovery site (also called destination or secondary site) without losing any data written to disk storage. Storage Replica can also be used for disaster avoidance, where users are seamlessly switched over to a recovery site in expectation of an imminent catastrophe such as a flood, wildfire or hurricane. For sites separated by longer distances or otherwise subject to higher latencies, Storage Replica supports an asynchronous replication mode that provides minimal data loss.
Storage Replica uses block-level replication between clusters or servers. This means that protected applications write data to at least two locations before the completion of any write operation. Because Storage Replica operates below the file level, it avoids the restrictions of technologies like DFS Replication, which requires that files be closed before replication and is subject to issues like files locks and open handles. Progent can help you upgrade from low-end disaster recovery solutions like DFS Replication to a zero-data-loss DR solution based on Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica.
For higher latency networks that span longer distances, Storage Replica supports asynchronous replication. Since Storage Replica asynchronous replication is continuous, not checkpoint based, the amount of data at risk of being lost is far lower than DR solutions based on snapshots. In addition, Storage Replica works at the partition layer, so it replicates all Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshots, allowing application-consistent data snapshots for point-in-time recovery.
Topologies supported by Storage Replica include stretch clusters, cluster-to-cluster, and server-to-server. These configurations can run on physical hardware or VMs based on Hyper-V, VMware, Citrix XenServer, or other leading virtualization platforms. Stretch cluster configurations allow you to orchestrate and automate the failover process for workloads like Hyper-V private cloud clusters and SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) and can be managed with Failover Cluster Manager. Storage Replica with stretched clusters can use Storage Spaces, SAN, iSCSI, and RAID through persistent reservation and can be run with two or more nodes.
The cluster-to-cluster configuration utilizes uses two distinct clusters and allows administrators to control the failover process manually. This topology is suited for environments where the secondary site set up solely for disaster recovery rather than as an active data center. With a cluster-to-cluster configuration, Storage Replica supports the cost-saving Storage Spaces feature of Windows Server 2016 and can be run with four or more nodes.
If your hardware does not support clustering, you can run Storage Replica in a server-to-server configuration. In this case the failover process must be performed manually. This can be a cost-effective DR solution between branch offices and data centers, and with asynchronous replication can support significantly better RPO than can be achieved with DFS Replication.
Progent can help you determine which Storage Replica topology makes the most sense for you business and can also help you plan, deploy, manage and troubleshoot your Storage Replica solution. For other zero-data-loss disaster recovery platforms supported by Progent, see VMware Site Recovery Manager consulting and NetApp MetroCluster disaster recovery consulting.
Additional Features of Windows Server 2016 for Failover Clustering
Important new and enhanced features of Windows Server 2016 include:
When you create volumes from the storage pool, Storage Spaces Direct automatically generates a virtual disk and takes care of partitioning, formatting, and adding it to your Failover Cluster so it can be accessed by any node as a CSV. These shared volumes can tolerate drive, server, or component failures with uninterrupted availability, and you can replace failed hardware without downtime or complex management intervention. Performance can exceed 150,000 mixed random IOPS per server thanks to an integrated read/write cache and support for NVMe drives mounted directly on the PCIe bus. Storage Spaces Direct automatically utilizes the fastest storage available, such as SSDs, for its always-on cache.
System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager supports two models for configuring and managing Storage Spaces Direct clusters. In a converged deployment, also called disaggregated, compute and storage resources run on different clusters. This provides administrators with the flexibility to scale compute resources independently from storage and is suitable for enterprises with larger environments and the skills to manage complex deployments. With a hyper-converged deployment model, Hyper-V compute and storage share the same cluster. This model, which minimizes hardware costs and is easier to configure and manage, is appropriate for smaller organizations or branch offices.
Health Service can automate workflows in the disk retirement/replacement cycle by reporting a failed disk, copying data from the retired disk to the remaining disks to restore full resiliency, indicating a failed disk by blinking its disk or slot indicator light, verifying a replacement disk against a Supported Components Document, and substituting the replacement disk into the storage pool previously occupied by the retired disk.
Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade utilizes a new mixed-OS mode that allows nodes with different host operating system versions to run within the same cluster. This allows you to pause, drain, evict, and reformat any node in the cluster, install Windows Server 2016 on the node, and bring the node back online. The Failover Cluster continues operating during this procedure as it would during any node outage. You can then use Failover Cluster Manager or PowerShell to add the upgraded node back into the cluster. All nodes operate at the older Windows Server 2012 R2 functional level until every node in the cluster has been upgraded. When all nodes have been migrated to Windows Server 2016, the entire cluster can be upgraded at once to the new functionality level with a single PowerShell cmdlet.
Progent can guide you through the Cluster Operating System Rolling Upgrade process following best practices, help you load balance the upgraded cluster, and show you how to take advantage of the new features provided by Windows Server 2016.
Progent's information assurance consultants can help you achieve and prove compliance with regulatory and industry data security requirement such as SOX, ISO 27001, PCI DSS 3.2 and FedRAMP by showing you how to configure the powerful new security tools available with Windows Server 2016 including Windows Containers, Shielded Virtual Machines, Credential Guard, Remote Credential Guard and Just In Time (JIT) Privileged Access Management. (For a description of these security enhancements, see Windows Server 2016 integration consulting.)
Progent's information assurance consultants can help you deploy new security feature like Windows and Hyper-V Containers, Shielded Virtual Machines, Credential Guard, Remote Credential Guard and Just In Time (JIT) Privileged Access Management to make it easier for you to comply with regulatory and industry data security requirement such as SOX, ISO 27001, PCI DSS 3.2, and FedRAMP. Progent's roster of Cisco CCIE-certified network infrastructure consultants is one of the largest of any independent IT services firm in the U.S., and Progent can help you design, deploy and manage a hybrid network ecosystem that fully delivers the high-availability and disaster recovery capabilities of Windows Server 2016. To streamline the management of your Windows Server 2016 Failover Clusters, Progent can provide expertise with PowerShell scripting, Failover Cluster Manager, Hyper-V Manager, System Center 2016 migration, System Center 2016 Operations Manager (SCOM 2016) integration and Virtual Machine Manager 2016 (VVM 2016) hybrid cloud management consulting.
To help you protect critical Microsoft workloads with Windows Server 2016's disaster recovery solutions, Progent offers services that include Exchange 2016 integration consulting, SQL Server 2016 consulting, and SharePoint development and integration. For hybrid environments that use public cloud services, Progent offers Office 365 Exchange Online consulting, Amazon AWS integration, and Google Cloud integration consulting.
Progent's Online Consulting and Troubleshooting Expertise
Progent is a pioneer in delivering online consulting and troubleshooting expertise and has provided remote solutions to organizations in every state in the U.S. (See Progent's Customer Testimonials.) Progent also offers onsite consulting services in major metropolitan areas across the United States and parts of Canada. Progent can provide as-needed guidance to help you resolve occasional technical issues or full project management outsourcing or co-sourcing services to make sure your Windows Server 2016 initiative is successfully completed on time and within budget.
If you need immediate online help from a Progent consultant, visit Progent's Online Technical Response Center.
Contact Progent for Windows Server 2016 Expertise
For more information about Progent's consulting and troubleshooting support for Windows Server 2016, call
High Availability Solutions Supported by Progent's Experts
Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-certified consultants can assist your business to implement an affordable, zero-downtime network that addresses major problems encompassing a broad array of infrastructure solutions and operations such as:
Workplace Recovery Planning
Progent's business continuity planning engineers can show you how to design a business continuity plan so you can restore IT operations in the event of an IT network disaster. Progent can help you to define a complete disaster recovery strategy that incorporates scheduled disaster recovery assessments and testing. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-authorized professionals can also show you how to build an affordable, high-availability network solution that addresses reliability issues involving a wide range of network technologies and processes. For details, see Disaster Recovery Consulting Services.
CRISC-Certified Network Risk Mitigation
The Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certification program was established by ISACA to verify an IT professional's ability to design, implement, and maintain IS controls to reduce risk. Progent offers the services of a CRISC-certified consultant to assist your company to create and execute a business continuity plan based on industry best practices promoted by CRISC and crafted to match your organization's risk appetite, business objectives, and IT budget. For more information, go to CRISC-Certified network risk mitigation specialists.
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 High Availability Failover Clustering
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 introduced important enhancements in scale, performance, manageability, cybersecurity, application compatibility, Linux co-existence, Kubernetes technology, and hybrid combinations of local and cloud assets. Top new features of Windows Server 2019 are Windows Admin Center for unifying the management of hybrid on-premises/cloud-hosted deployments, System Insights for taking advantage of advance predictive intelligence to control on-premises environments, Windows Defender ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) Exploit Guard for host-intrusion prevention, container orchestration with Kubernetes, Cluster Sets for deploying and administering large high-availability scale-out clusters, and Microsoft's Storage Migration Service for simplifying the upgrade process from legacy editions of Windows Server. For more information, see Windows Server 2019 Fault-tolerant Failover Clustering Expertise.
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Disaster Recovery Solutions
VMware's Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is an extension to VMware vCenter that allows you to orchestrate, automate and verify a consistent workflow for restoring applications and services rapidly following a breakdown. Site Recovery Manager supports centrally managed and automated recovery, application mobility, and non-disruptive site relocation, failback and site re-protect. Site Recovery Manager also allows transparent testing for disaster recovery, upgrades and patches and can generate audit reports to verify full service restoration, validate SLAs and demonstrate compliance. Progent offers the support of a VCDX certified VMware Site Recovery Manager consultant to assist your organization to design, deploy, test and administer a disaster recovery system powered by VMware SRM.
NetApp MetroCluster Disaster Recovery Technology
NetApp MetroCluster is a disaster recovery platform that combines array-based storage clustering with synchronous replication to deliver fast, zero data loss disaster recovery between sites located as far as 185 miles (300km) apart. Progent offers access to a NetApp MetroCluster expert who can help your business to plan, deploy, manage, update, test and repair a disaster recovery solution built around NetApp MetroCluster. Progent can help you to select an architecture for your MetroCluster deployment that aligns with your technical requirements and IT budget. Progent can make sure you follow leading practices for configuring your MetroCluster solution by providing guidance with procedures like assigning disk pools and shelf IDs, arranging aggregate layout, setting up FlexVol volumes, setting up Data ONTAP configuration replication service, installing switches, implementing a tiebreaker, designing a TCP/IP configuration replication network between your peered clusters, and verifying your MetroCluster disaster recovery system to prove compliance with information assurance standards and government mandates.
Fault Tolerant Load Balancing
Progent offers high availability load balancing support that addresses system load balancing, load balanced applications, LAN/WAN infrastructure routing, and content delivery technology including F5 Networks 3DNS. Non-stop load balancing solutions for which Progent offers consulting services include Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Network Load Balancing Manager, Citrix Metaframe and Presentation Server, Cisco CSS, Cisco Content Distribution Manager and LocalDirector 400 series, and F5 Networks BIG-IP. To read more, see High Availability Load Balancing.
Non-stop Data Centers
Progent's Data Center professionals can show you how to select zero-downtime data centers that meet the particular needs of your business. High availability co-location sites are especially attractive to small and mid-size organizations because of their low cost and simplified logistics in comparison to taking a do-it-yourself approach. Attempting to design an on-site data center with even a basic level of fault tolerance is financially prohibitive for the majority of small businesses. Progent is ready to help you reap all the advantages of 24x7 Internet data centers by providing a full array of consulting and maintenance services. For details, visit High-Availability Colocation Expertise.
Non-stop Interoffice Networking
Progent’s inter-site connectivity consultants can help organizations achieve fault tolerant multi-site connectivity via fully redundant networks with automatic failover. Progent’s Cisco-premier CCIE engineers can design and deploy fault-tolerant Inter-office networks based on zero-downtime EIGRP routers or fault tolerant OSPF configurations of Cisco routers. Progent can demonstrate how redundant connectivity and transparent fail-over offers economical non-stop interoffice networking. For details, go to Non-stop Inter-office Connectivity.
Fault Tolerant Internet Connections
Progent's Cisco-authorized network consultants can help you design an economical, fault tolerant Internet connection solution that can achieve 24x7 Internet access via a wide array of high availability Internet access solutions including fault tolerant BGP, transparent fail-over, and multiple ISPs. Progent offers Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert consultants to help you apply the latest technology for fault tolerant Internet connectivity to build an affordable, completely redundant Internet interface with automatic failover and other capabilities to deliver zero-downtime Internet access. For more information, see Non-stop Internet Access Solutions.
Backup and Restore Solutions Consulting
Progent can provide affordable remote support from IT engineers skilled in a broad range of products and technologies that deliver solutions for backing up Windows, Apple Mac, and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops plus notebooks and handhelds. Progent offers help for leading backup platforms including Acronis, Backup Exec, BackupAssist Software, HP Data Protector, Double-Take Backup, Mozy, Retrospect for Macintosh, Time Machine, VMware Data Recovery, and FLARs. Progent can assist you to implement, enhance, or troubleshoot backup/restore systems for a variety of architectures such as on-premises, remote, cloud-based, or a mix. For details, visit Backup and Restore Solutions Consulting Services.
Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) Backup and Recovery Consulting and Support Services
Progent's certified Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager consultants can help your company to create an effective workplace recovery strategy, implement a cost-effective high-availability IT infrastructure, install a Microsoft SCDPM-based backup and recovery solution, comprehensively test your DPM system, train your administrative staff or regular consultants how to manage Microsoft SCDPM, or provide extensive IT support outsourcing such as off-site hosting of Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager machines in Progent's world-class data center. To learn more, visit System Center Data Protection Manager Consulting Services.
Barracuda Backup Multi-site and Cloud Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Barracuda Backup is an affordable, subscription backup and disaster recovery service for small and medium-size organizations. A Barracuda Backup solution can include a custom-designed hardware appliance built by Barracuda or a virtual appliance with comparable functionality but which uses your own storage infrastructure. Barracuda Backup safeguards vital business data generated on-premises, at one or multiple remote locations, or in the cloud. For disaster preparedness, you can replicate data to the Barracuda Cloud, to Amazon Web Services (AWS), or to any location with a physical or virtual Barracuda appliance. Progent is a Barracuda partner and Progent's Barracuda Backup consulting experts offer a broad array of consulting support services to assist you to design, integrate, operate and repair a BDR system built on Barracuda Backup. For more information, see Barracuda Backup and disaster recovery consulting and management.
ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup Software for Backup and Disaster Recovery
Altaro VM Backup software offers small and mid-size businesses a dependable and budget-friendly solution for backing up and restoring Hyper-V and VMware-based virtual machines. Altaro VM Backup can be used for local, offsite, distributed, and cloud-hosted environments and also supports cost-effective backup to Microsoft Azure Block Blob storage. Progent is a certified Altaro partner and offers a broad range of remote or onsite consulting services to help you to plan, install, manage and troubleshoot a modern backup and disaster recovery solution based on Altaro VM Backup software. With ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, Progent offers a managed backup/restore service powered by on Altaro VM Backup software. To read more, see Altaro VM Backup consulting.
ProSight DPS Altaro O365 Total Backup Services
Microsoft 365 (previously named Office 365) provides simple archiving but does not include native support for vital data protection capabilities like Exchange Online backups or long-term point-in-time data recovery for OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online. Altaro O365 Total Backup delivers a feature-rich BDR solution for programmable backup and quick recovery of all your organization's O365 mailboxes, Microsoft Teams Chats, SharePoint documents, and OneDrive for Business data. Progent is an Altaro partner and offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) O365 Total Backup to deliver end-to-end managed services for Altaro's O365 back/restore product. ProSight Data Protection Services O365 delivers an affordable backup-as-a-service (BaaS) solution that guards O365 apps against data loss caused by human or software error, malicious deletion, and malware assaults like ransomware. To read more, go to ProSight DPS Altaro O365 Backup services.
Fully Managed Cloud Backup: ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO
ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO offer small and medium-sized businesses a low cost end-to-end solution for reliable backup/disaster recovery (BDR). Available at a fixed monthly price, ProSight DPS ECHO automates your backup processes and allow rapid restoration of critical data, applications and virtual machines that have become lost or corrupted due to component breakdowns, software glitches, disasters, human error, or malware attacks such as ransomware. ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO can help you back up, retrieve and restore files, folders, applications, system images, as well as Hyper-V and VMware virtual machine images. Critical data can be backed up on the cloud, to a local storage device, or to both. Progent's cloud backup consultants can provide world-class support to set up ProSight DPS ECHO to to comply with government and industry regulatory standards such as HIPAA, FINRA, PCI and Safe Harbor and, whenever necessary, can help you to restore your critical data. Find out more about ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO managed backup.
ProSight DPS 360 Backup Solutions
Progent's data protection experts can assist you to create, implement and troubleshoot a backup plan built around MSP360 software. MSP360 enables file/folder or image-based backup/recovery for virtual machines and physical machines, supports all leading public clouds, and permits you to build a backup solution with a minimum RTO and a granular RPO. With ProSight Data Protection Services 360 Backup, Progent offers end-to-end monitoring and management of your backup environment to prevent data loss resulting from human miscues, computer glitches, malicious users, and external assaults like ransomware. To learn more, see ProSight Data Protection Services 360 Backup services.
Consulting Services Double-Take Solutions for Data Backup and Recovery
Double-Take Software publishes a selection of products designed to provide small companies a range of affordable solutions for replicating and restoring vital workloads including Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server, Blackberry, and Microsoft Office SharePoint. Progent’s disaster recovery planning experts have extensive backgrounds integrating Double-Take Software technology into small business information systems to create an advanced level of availability and business continuity readiness at a budget-friendly cost. For details, visit Consulting Services Double-Take Software for Backup.
Why Choose Progent for Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning Solutions?
Because Progent is a Microsoft Partner and provides specialized application consulting for a wide variety of business software programs, Progent can help clients to arrive at complete IT solutions that substantially enhance the productivity of your IT network. As a Registered Partner with Cisco, Progent can provide the support of premier engineers and specialists with experience in designing, configuring and maintaining infrastructure solutions based on Cisco technology. The depth of Progent's IT experience and Progent's sensitivity to the requirements of small businesses make Progent a great partner for creating and maintaining a cost-effective, fault-tolerant information system.