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Single Instance Storage (SIS)

Wednesday, 08 February 2006 by Michel Roth

Have you heard about this new feature in Windows Storage Server R2? SIS is a storage feature available on Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 R2. Single Instance Storage (SIS) will probe all the files on your disk to find duplicate files. When it finds duplication files, it will move 1 version of it into a common store and set refence links to the common file instead of holding multiple files. This way disk savings of up to 60% are possible...

Benefits of SIS
� SIS reduces disk space consumption by eliminating duplicate files--our own IT department (MS-IT) saved 14 TB (40%) on servers hosting MS products
� SIS is a set it and forget it feature. It does not require daily maintenance.
� SIS is transparent to the end users and applications
� SIS provides a backup API that allows backup apps to determine if file is SIS�d and only back up the file once (most major Backup application vendors support SIS)

Requirements for Using SIS
� SIS can be enabled on a per-volume basis on up to 6 volumes on a server running Windows Storage Server 2003 R2
� SIS evaluates files >32 KB by default
� SIS can be used only on local NTFS volumes
� SIS cannot be used on the system or boot volume or on remote drives

Here's some more info on SIS:
� Single Instance Store (SIS) Basics
� SIS Design
� The SIS Common Store and Common-Store Files

Keep an eye on this blog for more information.