WSA M03: Storage & File Services

Module 03: Storage & File Services

Master disk management, volume configuration, and file sharing in Windows Server.

Learning Objectives

Understand disk types: Basic vs Dynamic, MBR vs GPT
Initialize, partition, and format disks using GUI and PowerShell
Configure Storage Spaces for resilient storage
Create and manage SMB file shares
Apply NTFS and share permissions correctly

AZ-800 Alignment

Domain: Manage storage and file services (15-20%)

This module covers physical disk management, Storage Spaces, SMB shares, and the permission model - all key exam topics.

Module Components

Presentation - Theory and concepts (you are here)
GUI Lab - Disk Management MMC hands-on
PS Lab - PowerShell storage cmdlets
Quiz - Knowledge validation

Disk Types: Basic vs Dynamic

Basic Disks

Default disk type in Windows
Uses partitions (primary, extended, logical)
MBR: Up to 4 primary partitions
GPT: Up to 128 partitions
Simple, well-understood
Compatible with all OS versions

Dynamic Disks

Uses volumes instead of partitions
Supports spanning across disks
Enables RAID (striping, mirroring)
Can resize without reboot
Not bootable on some systems
Being replaced by Storage Spaces

Best Practice

Use Basic Disks with GPT for most scenarios. For advanced storage features like redundancy and pooling, use Storage Spaces instead of Dynamic Disks.

Partition Styles

Feature	MBR (Master Boot Record)	GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Max Disk Size	2 TB	18 EB (exabytes)
Max Partitions	4 primary (or 3 + extended)	128
Boot Mode	BIOS (Legacy)	UEFI
Redundancy	Single partition table	Backup table at disk end

Disk Management Console

The Disk Management MMC snap-in (diskmgmt.msc) is the primary GUI for managing storage.

Console Layout

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Volume List (Top Pane) │ │ ┌───────┬────────┬──────┬────────┬────────┬──────────┬────────┐ │ │ │Volume │ Layout │ Type │ FS │ Status │ Capacity │ Free │ │ │ ├───────┼────────┼──────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ │ │(C:) │ Simple │ Basic│ NTFS │Healthy │ 256 GB │ 128 GB │ │ │ │(D:) │ Simple │ Basic│ NTFS │Healthy │ 500 GB │ 400 GB │ │ │ └───────┴────────┴──────┴────────┴────────┴──────────┴────────┘ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Graphical View (Bottom Pane) │ │ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│ │ │ Disk 0 ┌─────┬────────────────────────┬──────┐ ││ │ │ GPT │ EFI │ Windows (C:) 256 GB │Recov.│ ││ │ │ 500 GB │100MB│ NTFS │500 MB│ ││ │ │ Online └─────┴────────────────────────┴──────┘ ││ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Partition Color Coding

EFI
System

C:
Windows (Boot)

D:
Data

Recovery

Unallocated

Common Operations

Initialize Disk - Set partition style (GPT/MBR) for new disks
New Simple Volume - Create partition and format
Extend Volume - Grow into adjacent unallocated space
Shrink Volume - Reduce volume size to free space
Change Drive Letter - Assign/modify mount point
Format - Apply file system (NTFS, ReFS)

Disk Cmdlets

PowerShell provides complete storage management through the Storage module.

List all physical disks attached to the server to see their status and partition style.

# List all physical disks and their current state
PS C:\> Get-Disk
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
Number  Friendly Name       Serial Number   HealthStatus  OperationalStatus  Total Size  Partition Style
──────  ─────────────       ─────────────   ────────────  ─────────────────  ──────────  ───────────────
0       Virtual HD          WD-ABC123       Healthy       Online             256 GB      GPT
1       Virtual HD          WD-DEF456       Healthy       Online             500 GB      GPT
2       Virtual HD          WD-GHI789       Healthy       Offline            1 TB        RAW
                

Before a new disk can hold partitions, initialize it with a partition style.

# Initialize Disk 2 with GPT partition style
PS C:\> Initialize-Disk -Number 2 -PartitionStyle GPT
                

Pipe a disk to Format-List to see every property, including bus type and firmware version.

# Display all properties for Disk 0
PS C:\> Get-Disk -Number 0 | Format-List *
                

Partition & Volume Cmdlets

Create a partition that fills the entire disk and automatically assigns a drive letter.

# Partition Disk 2 using all available space
PS C:\> New-Partition -DiskNumber 2 -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
DiskNumber  PartitionNumber  DriveLetter  Offset           Size       Type
──────────  ───────────────  ───────────  ──────           ────       ────
2           1                E            1048576          1 TB       Basic
                

Format the raw partition with NTFS and give it a descriptive label.

# Format the new volume as NTFS with a label
PS C:\> Format-Volume -DriveLetter E -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "Data"
                

Check all volumes on the system to verify drive letters, file systems, and free space.

# Display all volumes and their health
PS C:\> Get-Volume
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
DriveLetter  FriendlyName  FileSystemType  DriveType  HealthStatus  SizeRemaining   Size
───────────  ────────────  ──────────────  ─────────  ────────────  ─────────────   ────
C            Windows       NTFS            Fixed      Healthy       128 GB          256 GB
D            Storage       NTFS            Fixed      Healthy       400 GB          500 GB
E            Data          NTFS            Fixed      Healthy       1 TB            1 TB
                

Pipeline Magic - One-Liner

Chain the entire disk setup into a single pipeline -- initialize, partition, and format in one shot.

# Initialize, partition, and format a disk in one pipeline
PS C:\> Get-Disk 2 | Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle GPT -PassThru |
    New-Partition -UseMaximumSize -AssignDriveLetter |
    Format-Volume -FileSystem NTFS -NewFileSystemLabel "Backup"
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
DriveLetter  FriendlyName  FileSystemType  DriveType  HealthStatus  SizeRemaining   Size
───────────  ────────────  ──────────────  ─────────  ────────────  ─────────────   ────
E            Backup        NTFS            Fixed      Healthy       1 TB            1 TB
                

GUI vs PowerShell

Disk Management is great for one-off tasks. PowerShell shines when you need to:

Configure multiple servers identically
Automate disk provisioning
Script disaster recovery procedures
Work on Server Core (no GUI)

Storage Spaces: Architecture

Storage Spaces pools physical disks into virtual storage with built-in resilience.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Virtual Disk (Volume) │ │ "Documents" │ │ Mirror (2-way) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Storage Pool │ │ "Primary Pool" │ │ Capacity: 8 TB │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────┬───────┴───────┬─────────────┐ │ │ │ │ ┌────┴────┐ ┌────┴────┐ ┌─────┴────┐ ┌────┴────┐ │ Disk 1 │ │ Disk 2 │ │ Disk 3 │ │ Disk 4 │ │ 2 TB │ │ 2 TB │ │ 2 TB │ │ 2 TB │ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └─────────┘

Storage Spaces: Resiliency Types

Type	Description	Min Disks	Efficiency
Simple	Striping only (no redundancy)	1	100%
Mirror	2 or 3 copies of data	2	50%
Parity	RAID 5/6 equivalent	3	67-88%

Pool all available physical disks into a single Storage Space for flexible provisioning.

# Create a storage pool from all available disks
PS C:\> New-StoragePool -FriendlyName "DataPool" -StorageSubSystemFriendlyName "*Spaces*" `
    -PhysicalDisks (Get-PhysicalDisk -CanPool $true)
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
FriendlyName  OperationalStatus  HealthStatus  IsPrimordial  IsReadOnly  Size
────────────  ─────────────────  ────────────  ────────────  ──────────  ────
DataPool      OK                 Healthy       False         False       8 TB
                

Create a mirrored virtual disk within the pool for data redundancy.

# Create a 500GB mirrored virtual disk from the pool
PS C:\> New-VirtualDisk -StoragePoolFriendlyName "DataPool" -FriendlyName "Mirrored" `
    -ResiliencySettingName Mirror -Size 500GB
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
FriendlyName  ResiliencySettingName  OperationalStatus  HealthStatus  Size
────────────  ─────────────────────  ─────────────────  ────────────  ────
Mirrored      Mirror                 OK                 Healthy       500 GB
                

SMB File Shares: Creating Shares

Server Message Block (SMB) is the Windows file sharing protocol. SMB 3.x is the current standard.

GUI: Server Manager

File and Storage Services
Shares
Tasks → New Share
Select profile (Quick/Advanced)
Set path and permissions

PowerShell

# Create a share with access control
PS C:\> New-SmbShare `
  -Name "Data" `
  -Path "D:\Shared\Data" `
  -FullAccess "Admins" `
  -ChangeAccess "Users"

SMB File Shares: Share Types

Share Name	Example	Description
Standard	\\Server\Data	Visible in network browse
Hidden ($)	\\Server\Data$	Must know exact name to access
Administrative	\\Server\C$, \\Server\ADMIN$	Built-in admin shares

Enumerate every share on the server, including hidden administrative shares.

# List all SMB shares on this server
PS C:\> Get-SmbShare
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
Name     ScopeName  Path                 Description
────     ─────────  ────                 ───────────
ADMIN$   *          C:\Windows           Remote Admin
C$       *          C:\                  Default share
Data     *          D:\Shared\Data       Company Data
IPC$     *                               Remote IPC
                

Check active sessions to see which users are currently connected to your shares.

# Show active SMB sessions (connected users)
PS C:\> Get-SmbSession
                

View which files are currently open over the network for troubleshooting locks.

# List files currently open by remote users
PS C:\> Get-SmbOpenFile
                

Share Permissions

Windows uses two permission layers. Understanding how they interact is critical.

Apply only over network
Three levels: Read, Change, Full
Coarse-grained
Set on share properties
Don't affect local access

NTFS Permissions

Apply always (local + network)
Granular: Read, Write, Modify, Full, etc.
Inheritance from parent folders
Set on folder/file Security tab
The "real" permissions

The Golden Rule

Most restrictive wins! If share grants Full but NTFS grants Read, user gets Read. Best practice: Set share to "Everyone: Full Control" and control access via NTFS.

PowerShell Permission Management

Inspect the NTFS access control list on a folder to see who has what level of access.

# Display NTFS permissions on the Data folder
PS C:\> Get-Acl "D:\Data" | Format-List
                

# Expected output:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::D:\Data
Owner  : BUILTIN\Administrators
Group  : HEXWORTH\Domain Users
Access : BUILTIN\Administrators Allow FullControl
         HEXWORTH\Domain Users Allow ReadAndExecute
                

Grant Change-level access on a share to a specific group.

# Give the ITGroup Change access on the Data share
PS C:\> Grant-SmbShareAccess -Name "Data" -AccountName "Domain\ITGroup" `
    -AccessRight Change -Force
                

Build an NTFS access rule object and apply it to a folder to grant Modify rights.

# Add an NTFS Modify rule for Domain Users
PS C:\> $acl = Get-Acl "D:\Data"
$rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule(
    "Domain\Users", "Modify", "Allow")
$acl.AddAccessRule($rule)
Set-Acl "D:\Data" $acl
                

Module Summary

Key Takeaways

GPT over MBR - Use GPT for disks larger than 2TB or UEFI systems
Basic Disks - Preferred for most scenarios; use Storage Spaces for advanced features
Storage Spaces - Pool disks for resilience without hardware RAID
SMB 3.x - Modern file sharing with encryption and multichannel
NTFS Permissions - Use NTFS as primary access control; set shares to Full

Key Cmdlets

Task	Cmdlet
List disks	`Get-Disk`
Initialize disk	`Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle GPT`
Create partition	`New-Partition -UseMaximumSize`
Format volume	`Format-Volume -FileSystem NTFS`
List volumes	`Get-Volume`
Create share	`New-SmbShare -Name X -Path Y`

Ready for Labs!

You're now prepared to practice storage management in both the GUI Lab (Disk Management) and PowerShell Lab. Complete both to master the concepts!