Windows Server 2016 Data Storage for Servers

Windows Server 2016 will include several storage enhancements that could enable the OS to serve as a highly available Windows file server storage solution. The Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) cluster technology will build on these storage enhancements to provide low-cost file storage for server applications and virtualizing systems using Microsoft’s Hyper-V. Use of Windows Server as a SOFS cluster requires server-based applications to be optimized for it, and servers running the applications must be running on Windows Server 2012 or newer.

Scale-Out File Server Clusters and Windows Server

The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol has traditionally been used primarily for file storage by Windows clients, but Windows Server 2012 delivered updates to SMB that allow Windows file servers to provide highly available file storage to applications running on other Windows servers.

Improvements first available in SMB 2 in Windows Server 2012 delivered a new feature, Windows Server SOFS clustering, which allows a group of two to eight servers to appear as a single server and file share to other Windows 2012 or newer servers. Shares on an SOFS cluster appear largely the same as a traditional Windows file share (ex: \servershare) to recent versions of Windows, but the SMB file-sharing protocol underneath has been specifically optimized to provide high-performance, highly available storage specifically for use by server applications.