Server 2012 De-dupe

ubern00b

ubern00b

ubern00b

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Hi All

I am after someone with any experience of Server 2012 De-dupe. I have a volume that I have enabled de-duplication on and I am seeing very different data usage between the volume level and the file level. For instance:

This shows the size of the volume and free space:
YRFx3Pi.png


But if I go into the volume and select all the files/folders (yes I have show hidden files and system files enabled and I am a domain admin so UAC *shouldn't* be stopping me traversing folders) then this is what I see:

o8GYffp.png


Trying to figure out where my 7TB has gone as I cannot expand the volume any further and I wouldn't want to if I am meant to have 7TB somewhere. Any ideas are welcome!
 
Server manager shows:

GFTuxP2.png


Sooooo it shows it as correct, if my maths is in the correct ballpark?

Running some powershell though and seeing what the dedupe is up to, it has taken the optimization job about 4 hours to tick over from 13% to 14% and it doesn't appear that a GarbageCollection job has run in some time, so this may attribute to it.

a1zww06.png


I am clutching at straws though, since I know very little about the inner workings of Microsoft's de-dupe.
 
If the data is changed or deleted you need to run garbage collection at regular intervals, I would set this as once a week anyway.

Space savings at the file level is useless, always confirm through server manager. 51% savings isn't bad going though
 
Wizzkidy said:
If the data is changed or deleted you need to run garbage collection at regular intervals, I would set this as once a week anyway.

Space savings at the file level is useless, always confirm through server manager. 51% savings isn't bad going though
Click to expand...

Being SQL backups there are daily, weekly, monthly backups on there as well as hourly transaction logs. I should probably set it to de-dupe data older than 1 day instead of having it trying to de-dupe live data, do you think that would have any benefit?
 
ubern00b said:
Being SQL backups there are daily, weekly, monthly backups on there as well as hourly transaction logs. I should probably set it to de-dupe data older than 1 day instead of having it trying to de-dupe live data, do you think that would have any benefit?
Click to expand...

Set to 1 day by all means its not going to have a bad impact, Just run garbage collection at set intervals
 
I ran the garbage collection overnight and now have 4.5TB free, win. Thanks for your help, I will schedule garbage collection to run weekly as that seems to do the trick.
 
By default it *is* scheduled to run weekly. Here's mine:

PS C:\> Get-DedupStatus | FL

Volume : D:
VolumeId : \\?\Volume{61e9acb6-bab9-4a4c-b472-57bde8b4b369}\
Capacity : 2.73 TB
FreeSpace : 1.76 TB
UsedSpace : 994.37 GB
UnoptimizedSize : 1.14 TB
SavedSpace : 177.15 GB
SavingsRate : 15 %
OptimizedFilesCount : 120185
OptimizedFilesSize : 1.13 TB
OptimizedFilesSavingsRate : 15 %
InPolicyFilesCount : 120214
InPolicyFilesSize : 1.13 TB
LastOptimizationTime : 08/04/2015 10:45:09
LastOptimizationResult : 0x00000000
LastOptimizationResultMessage : The operation completed successfully.
LastGarbageCollectionTime : 04/04/2015 02:48:29
LastGarbageCollectionResult : 0x00000000
LastGarbageCollectionResultMessage : The operation completed successfully.
LastScrubbingTime : 04/04/2015 03:45:59
LastScrubbingResult : 0x00000000
LastScrubbingResultMessage : The operation completed successfully.
 
Also...

PS C:\> Get-DedupSchedule

Enabled Type StartTime Days Name
------- ---- --------- ---- ----
True Optimization BackgroundOptimization
True GarbageCollection 02:45 Saturday WeeklyGarbageCollection
True Scrubbing 03:45 Saturday WeeklyScrubbing
 
ubern00b said:
Hi All

I am after someone with any experience of Server 2012 De-dupe. I have a volume that I have enabled de-duplication on and I am seeing very different data usage between the volume level and the file level. For instance:

This shows the size of the volume and free space:
YRFx3Pi.png


But if I go into the volume and select all the files/folders (yes I have show hidden files and system files enabled and I am a domain admin so UAC *shouldn't* be stopping me traversing folders) then this is what I see:

o8GYffp.png


Trying to figure out where my 7TB has gone as I cannot expand the volume any further and I wouldn't want to if I am meant to have 7TB somewhere. Any ideas are welcome!
Click to expand...

When you view a folder on a dedupe enabled volume you're only seeing the delta sizing of the dedupe. The source files are stored in the hidden system information folder on the root of the volume; this can also be used to see the real volume usage however powershell is the recommended and preferred approach.

Size on disk is miss leading in its own merit when view in explorer and IMO it should be amended for dedupe volumes.
 
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