HOW TO: Use Remote Storage in Windows Server 2003

This step-by-step article describes how to set up and use Remote Storage. You can use Remote Storage to create virtual disk storage from a tape or other storage media. If you use this service, files that you access infrequently are moved to remote storage media. Remote storage volumes are well suited for data that you access only occasionally.

If you use Windows Server 2003 Remote Storage, you can increase disk space on a server without adding more hard disks by using tape or optical drives to extend an NTFS file system volume. Remote Storage automatically monitors the free space that is available on local hard disks. If the free space drops to a specified level, Remote Storage automatically moves infrequently used files to the remote storage media to provide additional free disk space. Files are still readily available after you move them to the remote storage media. When you view the files stored using Remote Storage, the files look as if they are still located on the hard disk and not on the remote storage media.

Before you use Remote Storage, make sure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Remote Storage is not available on Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, or Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition.
• You cannot install Remote Storage on a Windows Server 2003-based computer that is configured in a server cluster configuration. Remote Storage does not failover to the other computer node. You cannot use Remote Storage to manage a shared disk resource, but you can install Remote Storage and manage a local disk that is not part of the cluster.
• You must be logged on with administrative permissions to use Remote Storage.
• You must verify that a sufficient number of tapes are available in a free media pool. (Use Removable Storage to perform this task.)

Install Remote Storage

1. Configure your computer to use the supported storage device that you plan to use for Remote Storage.
   
   Note Remote Storage does not detect devices that are added after you install Remote Storage. If you add devices after you install Remote Storage, remove and then reinstall Remote Storage to configure the devices.
2. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
3. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
4. Click to select the Remote Storage check box, and then click Next.
5. Click Finish.
6. Click Yes to restart your computer.
7. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
8. In the Remote Storage Setup Wizard, click Next.
   
   The wizard detects any compatible storage devices and checks the security settings.
9. Click to select the NTFS volumes that you want to use Remote Storage with, and then click Next.
10. Type the minimum free space that you want to have available on the managed volumes in the Desired Free Space box.
11. Type the size of the smallest files that you want Remote Storage to move to tape if you require more disk space in the Larger Than box.
12. Type the number of days that the file is not accessed before the file is moved to tape in the Not Accessed In box, and then click Next.
13. Click the media that you want Remote Storage to use in the Media Types box, and then click Next.
14. Click Change Schedule to change the date and the time that Remote Storage copies files to tape.
    
    If you want to use the present schedule, click Next.
15. Verify your settings, and then click Finish.

Configure Remote Storage

The following sections describe how to manage local volumes and remote storage media.

Add Volumes with Remote Storage

To add additional storage volumes after you complete the initial set-up:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Right-click Managed Volumes, point to New and then click Managed Volume(s).
3. Follow the instructions that appear in the Add Volume Management Wizard.

Change Volume Settings

To change the settings that Remote Storage uses to manage remote storage files:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Click Managed Volumes, right-click the volume that you want to configure in the details pane, and then click Settings.
3. On the Settings tab, click the UP or DOWN arrow in the Desired free space box to increase or decrease the value.
4. Under File criteria, click the UP or DOWN arrow in the Larger than box to set the file size value.
5. Under File criteria, click the UP or DOWN arrow in the Not accessed in box to change the time value.
6. To add a new rule:
   1. Click Add, and then type the folder path of the file in Path.
      
      Note Do not include the drive letter.
   2. In File type, type the wildcard character and file name extension. For example, type *.jpg.
   3. To exclude matching files when the rule is applied, click Exclude Matching Files. To include matching files when the rule is applied, click Include matching files.
   4. To apply the rule to any matching files that are stored in subfolders, click to select the Apply Rule to Subfolders check box.

Note Remote Storage is optimized for copying large files. If a managed volume contains many small files that are eligible to be copied to Remote Storage, the data transfer rate may not match the rating for the tape library.

Manage Remote Storage Tasks

The following section describes basic Remote Storage management tasks.

Manually Perform Remote Storage Tasks

You can manually perform certain Remote Storage tasks. To either copy files to remote storage immediately, validate files, or create free space on the managed volume:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Double-click Remote Storage, and then click Managed Volumes.
3. In the details pane, right-click the applicable volume, click All Tasks, and then click Copy Files to Remote Storage.
4. To update volume statistics and verify placeholders, right-click the applicable volume, click All Tasks, and then click Validate files.
5. To remove cached data from files that have been moved to remote storage media, right-click the applicable volume, click All Tasks, and then click Create Free Space.

View and Set Properties for Remote Storage Tasks

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Click the item that you want to view the properties of.
3. Right-click the object, and then click Properties.
4. Review the settings, and then make the appropriate changes.

View Events for Remote Storage

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Double-click Remote Storage, and then double-click Event Viewer.
3. Click a log, and then double-click the entry that you want to view in the details pane.

View Remote Storage Tasks

Remote Storage uses the Windows Server 2003 Scheduled Tasks folder to manage both automatically and manually assigned tasks. You can either view or reschedule Remote Storage Scheduled tasks in the same way that you view any other Windows Server 2003 scheduled tasks:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Scheduled Tasks.
2. Right-click the task, and then click Run to perform a scheduled task immediately.
3. Right-click the task, and then click End Task to cancel a task.
4. Right-click the task and then click Properties to view the properties.
   
   Note You can also change the task schedule in the task properties.

Change Remote Storage Task Schedules

To change the schedule that Remote Storage uses to perform tasks:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Right -click Remote Storage, click Properties and then click the Schedule tab.
   
   The current schedule appears.
3. Click Change Schedule.
4. Click the Schedule Task arrow to select an interval.
5. In Start time, set the time by clicking the UP or DOWN arrow.
6. Under Schedule Task Daily, change the value in the Every box by clicking the UP or DOWN arrow, if it is required.
7. To set multiple schedules, click to select the Show Multiple Schedules check box.
8. Click either New or Delete to either add or remove schedules.

Set the Runaway Recall Limit

Remote Storage provides a default value for the maximum number of successive file recall processes that either a user or a program can make on any managed volume in the same session (this number is known as the runaway recall limit). After a file recall process is completed, if either the user or the program requests another recall in 10 seconds, the count is increased. File recall processes copy the data back to local volumes and decreases the available free disk space on your computer. Virus checking, data backup, indexing, and search programs typically read all files on your computer and can also cause many file recall processes.

You can use the runaway recall limit feature to prevent programs that are not compatible with Remote Storage (for example, backup programs, antivirus programs, and search programs) from recalling data from Remote Storage.

To configure the runaway recall limit:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Right-click Remote Storage and then click Properties.
3. On the Limits tab, change the value in the Maximum number of successive recalls box by clicking the UP or DOWN arrows.
4. To exempt users with administrative credentials from this limit, click to select the Limit does not apply to members of the Administrators group check box.

Protect and Recover Data from Data Loss

The following sections describe basic guidelines for protecting and recovering data.

Consider the following issues if you are restoring files on a managed volume using Backup or other data backup programs:

• You cannot recall Remote Storage files to a different computer.
• Although you can restore Remote Storage files to a volume that is not formatted with the version of NTFS that is used in Windows 2000 and the Windows Server 2003 family, some advanced NTFS features may be stripped from the original file.
• Remote Storage uses the same data format as Backup. In an emergency, you can use Backup to restore files.

Note Data protection is particularly important for remotely stored data because tape devices are not capable of fault tolerance. Plan a strategy for data protection so that you are prepared to recover your data if a major disaster occurs.

Create Media Copies

Remote Storage can back up the data on tapes that it uses. The original tape collection that is used to hold all files that are copied from local storage is referred to as the media master set. Remote Storage can automatically create copies from the media master. The collection of copies for a media master is referred to as a media copy set. You can specify up to three media copy sets.

Note

• Files that are copied to Remote Storage are not protected by mirroring or striping. The only way to obtain redundancy for data in Remote Storage is to create copies of your media masters.
• Media copies can be created only if two drives are available for use in a tape library.

Remote Storage uses available tapes in the Remote Storage media pool for media copies first, and then uses tapes from a free media pool. The free media pool is a collection of unused media that can be used when there is not sufficient storage space available in the Remote Storage media pool.

To specify the number of media copy sets you want to use:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Right-click Remote Storage, and then click Properties.
3. On the Media Copies tab, change the value in the Number of media copy sets by clicking the UP or DOWN arrow.

Remove Media Copies

You can use the procedure that is described in the "Create Media Copies" section of this article to decrease the number of sets that Remote Storage displays and accesses. However, you must delete the media copies if you want to free media space because the media is not deallocated when you decrease the number of sets.

To remove media copies:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Double-click Remote Storage, and then click Media.
3. In the details pane, right-click one or more of the media that appears, and then click Media Copies.
4. On the Media Copies tab, delete the copy or copies.

Validate files

Validation makes sure that all the files that are located on your managed volumes point to valid and correct data in remote storage. It also recalculates volume statistics. Validation is automatically performed two hours after you use a backup program to restore a Remote Storage file. Validation also detects files that either have been moved from one local volume to another or have been modified.

Perform validation regularily to both validate all files on a particular volume and correct any inconsistencies. Also perform validation after you restore files on a local volume or after disk errors have occurred on a volume. The validation operation is integrated with Scheduled Tasks and can be monitored using Scheduled Tasks.

Check the Status of Media Copies

To check on the status of a media copy:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. In the console tree, click Media.
3. Right-click the media master that is associated with the media copy that you want to view, and then click Media Copies.
4. View the status information of the media copies.

Synchronize Media Copies

When you synchronize media copies regularily, you make sure that data on a media copy matches the data on the media master. Synchronization updates media copies for all the media masters; however, you can only synchronize one media copy set at a time. Files cannot be managed or recalled while a media copy set is being synchronized, even if additional drives are available.

To synchronize media copies:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Right-click Media, and then click Synchronize Media Copies.
3. Follow the steps in the Media Copy Synchronization wizard.

Remove Remote Storage

You may want to remove Remote Storage for the following reasons:

• You want to perform a complete reinstallation of Windows Server 2003. If you recall the data from Remote Storage, you can either leave the data intact on the drive while you reinstall Windows or back up the data using a backup program that is not Remote Storage-aware.
• The storage media is full and you do not want the Remote Storage database to span multiple tapes. You can stop Remote Storage from managing a volume. If you do so, Remote Storage stops adding files to Remote Storage but it does not recall the files that are already being stored remotely.

Before you remove Remote Storage, click Recall copied files from remote storage in the Remove Volume Management wizard to discontinue all volume management. Otherwise, you may lose your file data. Use the Remove Volume Management Wizard to remove a managed volume from Remote Storage:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Remote Storage.
2. Right-click Managed Volumes.
3. Right-click the applicable volume, and then click Remove.
4. Follow the instructions that appear in the Remote Volume Management wizard.
   
   Note The managed volume must have sufficient free disk space to hold all the recalled files.
5. To stop Remote Storage from adding files to remote storage but to allow it to continue to manage the files that are currently being remotely stored, click to select Maintain Copied Files In Remote Storage, and then click Next.
6. Click Yes, verify your settings, and then click Finish.