In this practical simulation, I built and managed RAID volumes and SAN storage in a virtualized lab using Hyper-V. I began by installing and configuring two Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Edition virtual machines—DC1 and SVR1—each with a base disk of at least 30GB. On DC1, I added four additional virtual hard disks, each 50GB in size, to simulate an environment with multiple storage drives for RAID configuration and volume management.

Next, I used Disk Management to create and manage simple volumes on the new disks. I then configured software-based RAID volumes using the same disks on DC1 to enhance data redundancy and performance. I then used Server Manager and Storage Spaces to manage simple and RAID volumes, demonstrating the flexibility and control of Windows Server’s built-in storage tools.

I extended the setup by implementing iSCSI SAN storage. I configured the iSCSI Target Server on DC1 and provided iSCSI storage to SVR1. Then, on SVR1, I used the iSCSI Initiator to connect to the storage and created a simple volume from the iSCSI virtual disk. To simulate real-world scalability, I extended the iSCSI virtual disk by 10GB and verified the changes by rescanning disks and expanding the volume on SVR1. Finally, I added a second 10GB iSCSI virtual disk using the existing target and formatted it with ReFS as a simple volume. This hands-on configuration showcases my ability to manage RAID and SAN environments using modern Windows Server tools.