The Essentials Series

Why You Need to Defragment

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by Greg Shields

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Article1:FragmentationIsaProblem!...........................................................................................................1 Fragmentation,theSilentKiller....................................................................................................................1 TheCostofFragmentation..............................................................................................................................2 SolvingtheProblem...........................................................................................................................................3 Article2:YouNeedtoDefragment!..................................................................................................................4 FragmentLessIstheGoal...............................................................................................................................4 Continuous>Scheduled..............................................................................................................................4 Proactive>Continuous................................................................................................................................5 FragmentationImpactsEverything.............................................................................................................6 DefragmentationEqualsPerformance.......................................................................................................8 Article3:DoesntWindowsHaveThis?..........................................................................................................9 LimitationsoftheNativeDefragger.........................................................................................................10 ImpactsonServers......................................................................................................................................10 ImpactsonManagement..........................................................................................................................11 WindowsDoesHaveThis,But................................................................................................................12

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

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The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Article1:FragmentationIsaProblem!
Whydowedefragment?Simplyput,becausewemust! Datafragmentationonacomputersdiskdrivesquicklycreatesamajorsourceof performanceloss.Itincreasesthetimerequiredtoaccomplisheverytaskonyoursystem, includinglaunchingapplications,workingwithdata,interactingwithpagefilesand hibernationfiles,allthewaytotheotherwiseinnocuousstartupandshutdownactivities.It addsanunnecessarylayerofcomplexitytothestorageoffilesandfolders,shatteringthe contiguousstorageofondiskdataintodozensorevenhundredsofindividualpieces.Its constantreorderingmakesdatalessreliabletorestoreinthecaseofalossandmore difficulttoreassemblewhenneededforprocessing. FragmentationonthedisksofWindowsserversandworkstationshasbeenaroundsince theveryfirstdisk.Itisanecessaryevilofdiskbasedstorage,andisanalmostunavoidable consequenceoftheeverpresentprocessofreading,writing,deleting,andwritingagainto acomputersstorage.Leftunmanaged,virtuallyeverytimeapieceofdataistouchedbya Windowscomputersfilesystem,itsactionforcesthecreationofyetanotherfragment. Inessence,ifyouveworkedwiththeMicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystem(OS)forany periodoftime,youveheardofthisproblem.Butinhearingaboutfragmentation,doyou trulyunderstanditsmeaning?Doyourecognizewhyfragmentationisanendemicproblem oneachandeveryWindowscomputer,onethatmustbecontinuouslymanagedifitistobe keptundercontrol?Wereyouawareofthetruescopeoffragmentation,andhowmany fragmentsanaverageknowledgeworkersdesktopproduceseachandeveryweek?Ifnot, readon.

Fragmentation,theSilentKiller
Testinghasshownthatanaveragedesktop,onecommonlyusedinabusinessnetwork environment,canaccumulateupwardsof12,000individualfragmentsperweek(Source: http://downloads.diskeeper.com/pdf/RealTimeDefragWhitepaper.pdf).Thisnumberis cumulative,meaningthatadditionalweeksaddadditionalfragmentsoverthetop.Thenet resultisalinearlyscalingleveloffragmentationonacomputersharddrivethatmustbe managed.Withouttoolstoreassemblefragmentsintocontiguousfilesondiskorprevent theiroccurrenceinthefirstplace,thisproblemwilleventuallyscaletoslowtheoverall performanceofthatsystem. Fragmentationisanaturallyoccurringphenomenonthatisassociatedwiththestorageof filesystemdataonacomputer.Theprocessoffragmentingafileisnotsomethingthatcan bestoppedinafilesystemwithouttheassistanceofspecificthirdpartyalgorithms.To combatitseffects,aseparateprocessmustbeincorporatedtomanagethereassemblyof filefragmentsinparallelwithafilesystemsoperation.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Datafragmentationoccurswhenaunitofdataonacomputersharddiskisbrokenupinto manypieces.Thishappensduetothenaturaluseandexpansionofdatawithinacomputer system.Computerdisksstoredatalinearly,meaningthataunitofdataislaiddownina contiguousfashionbyadiskshead.Therotationofthatdiskcausestheheadtopassbythe disksplatter,readingandwritingdataacrossthatdiskssectorsandtracks.Thisis representedinFigure1,wheredisksatthreepointsintimeareshownasrectangles.Inthe toprepresentation,FileAiswrittentothedisk.Inthenextunitoftime,FileBiswrittento thediskasshowninthemiddlerectangle.

Figure1:WhenFileAmustexpandinsize,itmustfragmenttothenextavailablearea ofstoragespace. Atthispointintheexample,thetwofilesremaincontiguousondiskbecausetheywere initiallycreatedandhavenotyetexperiencedgrowthinsize.Thatgrowthisrepresentedin thebottomrectangleasthethirdperiodoftime.PerhapsFileAwasaMicrosoftWord documentthatneededabitofextrawork.MaybeFileAwasasystemDLLthatwasupdated byapatchorasystemroutine.Ineitherofthesecases,thisadditionalprocessingofFileA requiredanadditionalbitofspaceondisk;however,nocontiguousspaceisavailable.Thus, FileAmustbefragmentedtothenextavailablepieceofspace,whichislocatedafterFileB. Thisexactsituationiswhathappensupwardsof12,000timesperweekoneachandevery harddriveinyourcomputer.Thedailyoperationsofacomputersystemrequirethe constantexpansionoffiles,thedeletionoffiles,andtheplacementoffilesintoopenspaces thataremadeavailable.Asthisprocessiterates,individualfilescanbecomefragmented dozensorhundredsoftimes.

TheCostofFragmentation
Theresultisthatasinglefilecanrequiremultiplediskpassestobecompletelyreadinto memoryforprocessing.Ratherthanreadinganentirefileatonce,thedisksheadmust locateandreadeachindividualfragment,whileatthesametimereassemblingeachof thesefragmentsintouseabledata.Astheleveloffragmentationincreases,theprocessing overheadassociatedwiththeseactionsdramaticallyimpactsyourcomputers performance.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Howmuchperformanceislostthroughthisaccumulatedprocess?Studiesshowthatoncea diskisdefragmented,theentiresystemcanseeaperformancegainofupto80%,withan averagerealizedbenefitof10%to20%(Source: http://downloads.diskeeper.com/pdf/TheImpactOfDiskFragmentationOnServers.pdf). Obviously,theimprovementinperformanceisdirectlyrelatedtotheamountof fragmentationthatcanbeeliminated,withmorefragmentationcausingmoreslowness problems.

Figure2:Accumulatedfragmentationalsoimpactstheavailabilityoffreespaceona disk. Asecondarysetofproblemsthatgrowsworseastheleveloffragmentationincreaseshas todowithyoursystemsavailablefreespace.Figure2showsanexampleofadiskthathas beennaturallyfragmentedduetothetypicaloperationsofaWindowsOS.There,youcan seehowtheiterativewriting,expansion,deletion,andrewritingoffileshasforcedthefile systemtocreateholesofavailablediskspace.Overtime,thecountoftheseholesgrows whilethesizeofeachholeactuallygoesdown.Thisreductioninsizeoffreespacesegments impactstheperformanceoffuturewrites,becauseanyfuturewritingoffilesautomatically startsinafragmentedstate.Ineffect,fragmentationbegetsmorefragmentation.

SolvingtheProblem
Thenetresultofthesefactorsmeansthatunmanagedfragmentationdirectlyimpactsthe abilityforyouruserstogettheirjobsdone.AsanaturalprocessoftheWindowsOS, fragmentationisntgoingaway.Andwithouttherightdefragmentationtoolsinplace,your userswillexperienceunnecessaryslowdownsinperformance,yourserverswillservice theirclientswithreducedeffectiveness,andyoumayfindyourselfpurchasingnewand fasterhardwarethatneedntbeapartofyourbudget. Thenexttwoarticlesinthisserieswilldiscussjustthoseproblems.Articletwowillfurther honeinonthefactthatYouNeedtoDefragment!,explainingwhereandwhyfragmentation impactssystemperformanceandhowgoodpracticesindefragmentationimproveyour overallnetworkinfrastructure.Articlethreecontinuestheconversationbyansweringthe questionDoesntWindowsHaveThis?,explainingwhynativeOStoolsareinsufficientto trulygetthejobdone.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Article2:YouNeedtoDefragment!
Canweallagreethattheresnothingmorefrustratingthanaslowcomputer?Youve probablyexperiencedthefollowingsituations,becausetheycanallbecommontoyour dailyinteractionwiththeWindowsoperatingsystem(OS): Youneedtofinishthatspreadsheetbeforeheadinghometodinnerandfamily,but insteadyourewatchingthehourglasstickby. Maybeitsaquickemailcheckbeforeboardingthatflight,butyouforegothe opportunitybecauseyourlaptoptakes4excruciatingminutestoboot. Or,yourestackedwithmeetingsandPowerPointchartsbutfindyourselfina waitingpatternasyourebootthatuncooperatingconferenceroomPC.

Intheseanddozensofothersituations,youreatthemercyofyourcomputersprocessing. Whenitdoesntperformtotheneedsofyourdailyworkflow,itcanfeellikeyoureworking foritinsteadofitworkingforyou.Invirtuallyallthesescenarios,thatcomputerslackof performancecanbedirectlyimpactedbyitsleveloffragmentation.

FragmentLessIstheGoal
Articleoneinthisseriesoutlinedtheproblemoffragmentation.Itexplainedhow fragmentationisanaturallyoccurringsideeffectofacomputersdiskactivity.As somethingthatcannotbenaturallystopped,diskfragmentationmustinsteadbemanaged tokeepitsspreadfromslowingyourprocessing. Tothatend,thereareanumberofestablishedbestpracticesassociatedwithmanaging defragmentationaswellastoolsthatenableproactivedefragmentation.Althoughnotall solutionsarecreatedequal,smartorganizationsselectthosewiththerightsetof capabilitieswhichensurefragmentlesssystemsbothinthedesktopandthedatacenter. Onelongheldmechanismtoaccomplishthisrelatestothewindowinwhich defragmentationcanoccur.

Continuous>Scheduled
Traditionaldefragmentationsolutionsofferoptionsforschedulingthedefragmentation passonyoursystems.Thispassneedstobescheduledtooccuratoffhourintervals,asits impactonsystemresourcescanbedramatic.Thereassemblyoffileandfolderfragments tendstobeofgreatimpacttothefilesystemaswellasthedisksubsystemasawhole.Its processingcanrequireasubstantialamountofprocessorandmemoryresourcesasthe defragmentationpasscompletes.Theseresourcesarenecessaryduetothemultistep processassociatedwithanalyzingadiskdrive,lookingforfiles,andcorrectlyassembling themintoalogicalorder.Shouldtheseactivitiesoccurwithoutproperresourcethrottling andpoorscheduling,thedefragmentationprocessitselfcanbeamajorimpactonyour usersexperience.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Yetalthoughthisconceptofscheduleddefragmentationhasbeenadefactonormformany years,manydefragmentationsolutionstodayleverageanalternativeapproachto optimizingfilestructures.Eliminatingtheschedulealtogether,thesesolutionsinsteadopt foracontinuousapproachtofindingandfixingfragments. Considerhowthisalternativeapproachimprovestheentireprocess.Articleonediscussed howthesheernumberoffragmentsgrowsdramaticallyasacomputersystemisused. Computerswithlargernumbersofwritesandagreatercountoffilestendtohavealarger quantityoffragments.Thus,oncethetimeintervalgoesbybetweenfragmentationpasses, thedefragmenterstartsatadisadvantage:Toreturnavolumetoadefragmentedstate,it mustcatchuptoandeventuallygetaheadofthedataprocessingofthesystem. Thisproblemtendsnottobeaschallengingwithdesktopsystems.Usersofthesesystems oftendontusethem24hoursaday.Thus,anaturalperiodexistswhenprocessingislow anddefragmentationcancatchup.However,scheduledjobsondesktopscanbe problematicwhenusersdontleavethosesystemspoweredonduringthescheduled interval.Dependingonthesolutionavailable,apoweredoffsystemcaneithermissthe defragmentationscheduleorbeforcedtorunitshortlyafterthesystemispoweredback onandtheuserisreadytomakeuseofitagain. Withservers,theproblemssurroundingthisapproachgrowevenmoreinsidious.Imagine thetypicalfileserverordatabaseserver,whichtendstoprocessitsworkloadduringthe businessday.Highresourceuseactionsforserverssuchaspatching,backups,and defragmentationtendtocollectduringtheeveninghours.Thecoprocessingofthese intensivetasksovertheshortperiodawayfrombusinesshourscanaggregateto dramaticallyincreasetheoveralltimetoaccomplisheach. Contrastthissituationwiththecontinuousapproach.Here,acomputersfilesystemis alwaysbeingmonitoredbythedefragmentationsolution.Whenfragmentsappear,those fragmentsarehandledalmostimmediately.Todaysenterprisedefragmentationsolutions leveragetheintersticesbetweenuserrequeststoaccomplishthedefragmentationprocess. Asalowlevelservicethatoccursincombinationwiththefilesystemswrites,this incrementalapproachensuresthatyourdisksremaindefragmentedandhighlyoptimized atalltimes.

Proactive>Continuous
Yeteventhiscontinuousapproachremainsareactivebandaidtoaneverendingproblem. Defragmentationproductsthatrelyexclusivelyonevenacontinuousapproachfind themselvesworkingtoresolveaproblemthatcouldbebestsolvedbyensuringitnever happensinthefirstplace.Thismodernproactiveapproachtodefragmentation dramaticallychangesthewaysinwhichfragmentsaremanagedbyacomputersystem.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Forexample,considerthesituationwhereanewfileisaddedtoaperfectlydefragmented disk.Eventhoughthisdiskiscompletelyfreeoffragments,holesoffreespacetendtolie acrossmultipleareasonthedisk.Whenthisnewfileisadded,thecomputersfilesystem attemptstolocateaholeoffreespacewithinwhichtostorethefile.Usingnativetools alone,thatfilesystemislikelytostorethefileintoaholethatisntquitelargeenoughto storetheentirecontentsofthefile.Immediately,afragmentiscreatedasthefilescontents arespreadacrossmultipleholes. Usingthecontinuousapproach,oncethefilesystemcompletesitswrite,itisthejobofthe defragmentationenginetolocateandrepositionthatfile(aswellasothersthatsurroundit whennecessary)intoalocationwhereitisnolongerfragmented.Usingthisprocess,the defragmentationengineisconstantlyforcedtoreacttopoordecisionsthataremadebythe filesystem.Whenthatfilelaterexpands,thisdoublingofeffortrepeatsitselfalloveragain. Contrastthissituationwithonewherethedefragmentationengineandthefilesystem worktogetherinsteadofatoddswitheachother.Usingthisapproach,anynewfilecanbe automaticallywrittentothesystemsdiskinsuchamannersothatlittleorno fragmentationoccurs.Filewritesandexpansionsarecompensatedforbythe defragmentationenginewiththesupportofthefilesystemitself.Inessence,whenusing theproactiveapproach,acomputersdisklargelypreventsfilefragmentationatanypoint. Solutionsthatleveragetheproactiveapproachaccomplishthesamegoalofafragmentless systembutwithfarlesseffort,impactonsystemresources,andtheassurancethatmostfile writescanbedonewithoutfragmentationeveroccurring.

FragmentationImpactsEverything
Ultimately,thesolepurposeofdefragmentingacomputeristoincreaseperformance.That pointhasbeenrepeatedthoroughlyinthisseriesalready.Butwhatkindsofprocessesare impactedbyfragmentation?Whattypesofuseractivitiescanbeimprovedbythe implementationofeffectiveenterprisedefragmentation?Thefirstsetofareasworth reviewingrelatestotheindividualdesktopsandlaptopsofyourusersthemselves. Considerthefollowinguseractivitiesthatareimprovedthroughtheassuranceofan alwaysoptimizedfilesystem: SlowapplicationandOSresponsetime.TestingusingthePCMarkperformance benchmarkingtoolhasshownthatafragmentedfilesystemcanhaveadramatic impactondesktopperformance(Source: http://downloads.diskeeper.com/pdf/NSTL_20Tests_20Diskeeper_20vs_20Built_20 In.pdf).Therunningofthistoolgeneratesametricthataggregatesoverallsystem performanceandisintendedtobeusedincomparisonwithothernumbersfromthe sametool.Here,fragmenteddesktopsscoreda4763.2,whilethosewhichleverage theservicesofexternaldefragmentationsolutionsscoreda5484.6.Thus,thenet gaininoverallsystemperformanceinthissingletestwasaround14%.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Increasedtimetopoweron.Itcanbearguedthatoneofthemostresourceintensive activitiesonanydesktoporlaptopsystemisrelatedtoitspoweringon.The bootstrappingaswellasshellanduserinterfaceinstantiationprocessesrequirethe involvementofnumeroussystemcomponents,allofwhichmustoccurinavery shortperiodoftime.SimilartestingusingMicrosoftsXperf.exetoolhasshownthat afullyoptimizeddiskdrivecanimprovepoweronperformancebyanaverageof3 to5seconds.Althoughthismaynotbedramaticfordesktopusers,thistimesavings isaboonforlaptopusers.Thisimprovementinperformancealsoextendstothe hibernationprocess,wherebyalaptopisputtosleepandlaterrevivedwithout requiringafullpoweronprocess.Asthisprocessrequiresthecreationand maintenanceofalargehibernationfile,itsfragmentationfurtherincreasesthe processtoreviveasleepinglaptop. Systemcrashesandfreezes.Asdiscussedinthefirstarticle,theprocessof fragmentationquicklyspreadsindividualpiecesofdataintomultiplelocations.This widespreadshatteringofindividualdatafilesincreasesthechancethattheirlater reassemblymayfail,ormayforceasystemfreezeduringthereassemblyprocess. Eliminatingfragmentationonafilesystemremovesthisvariablefromfilesystems, ensuringthatfilescanbegatheredfromdiskinacontiguousfashion. Performanceimpacttoexistingenterpriseservices.Lastly,theimpactof fragmentationhasadramaticeffectonotherenterpriseservices,notablythosethat haveahighrelianceondiskandfilesystemresources.Considercommonbusiness servicessuchasantivirusandantimalware.Themissionoftheseagentbased solutionsistomonitorthefilesystemandprocessingforthepotentialintrusionof maliciouscodeontothesystem.Bothrealtimeandscheduledscansareoften requiredforfullassurance,sotheirprocessingisdirectlyaffectedbythe performancelossassociatedwithdatafragmentation.

TheimpactsonindividualdesktopsandlaptopsareimportanttoensuringhighlevelsofIT customersatisfaction.Yettheroleofdefragmentationdoesntstopatthedatacenters doorway.InsidethatdatacenterareanothersetofWindowsOSsthatoperateinaserver role.Theytooareimpactedbytheperformancelossassociatedwithfilefragmentation, althoughanyperformancereductionshereareexperiencedbyamuchlargeraudiencethan withanysingledesktoporlaptop.Considertheiradditionalsituations: Decreaseinoverallperformance,particularlywithverylargefiles.Implementinga proactiveapproachensuresthatfilesmaketheirwaytodiskinanonfragmented state,andthereislittletononeedforlaterdefragmentationtooccur.Reactive defragmentationcanbeaffectivetoresourcesonserverswithverylargestorage requirements.Itisparticularlyresourceintensivewhenfilesareexceptionallylarge, suchasthoseusedbyvirtualmachinesordatabases.Leveragingadefragmentation solutionthatusestheproactiveapproachmeanseliminatingthisperformance impacttoyourservers.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Reductioninbackupperformanceandincreaseinbackupwindows.Filesandfolders mustbereassembledbeforetheycanmaketheirwaytotape.Thus,theincremental processofarchivingcopiesofyourserversdatacantakedramaticallylongerwhen notproperlyoptimizedforperformance.Thisdelayisfurtherproblematicasit increasesthewindowoftimerequiredtocompletebackups,potentially complicatingotheroffhourtasksrequiredinthedatacenter. Reducedabilitytoundeletefiles.Whenafileisfragmentedintomultiplepieces,that fileisspreadacrossthedisksarea.Incaseswherefilesareaccidentallyor maliciouslydeletedandrequireundeletion,suchafragmentedfilehasa dramaticallylowerchanceofasuccessfulrestore.Thishappensbecauseits individualpieceshaveamuchgreaterlikelihoodofbeingoverwrittenbyotherdata afterthedeletionevent.Thischancegrowsastheamountoftimebetweenthe deletioneventpasses,givingthefilesystemmoreopportunitiestooverwritepieces oftheoriginalfile. Dramaticallyreducedperformanceofvirtualmachines.Withtheirentiredisk subsystemconsolidatedintosinglefilesonanotherserversdisk,theprocessingof virtualmachinesisexceptionallydependantonfilesystemperformance.Whenthe verylargediskfilesassociatedwithvirtualmachinesgrowfragmentedasituation thatisparticularlyproblematicwhenvirtualmachinediskfilesareconfiguredto growasneededtheresultingreductioninthevirtualmachinesperformancecan bedramatic.Thisisthecaseforboththevirtualmachinesfileonitshostdiskas wellasfragmentationwithinthevirtualmachinesdiskdrives.

DefragmentationEqualsPerformance
Asyoucanseethroughtheexamplesdiscussedinthisarticle,defragmentationisindeed primarilyaboutyoursystemsperformance.Byimplementingapolicyofdefragmentation thatcorrespondstoestablishedbestpracticesandmodernapproaches,youwillensurethe highestlevelsofperformanceforthesystemsinyournetwork.Thismakesusershappy whilereducingtheneedforcostlyandunnecessaryhardwareupgrades. Yet,throughoutallthisdiscussion,thequestionisbeggedDoesntWindowsHaveThis?A notinappropriatequestion,theWindowsOSdoesindeedarrivewithitsownbuiltin defragmentationsolution.Thethirdandfinalarticleinthisserieswilldiscusscompelling characteristicsofthatnativesolutioninrelationtothecapabilitiesyourbusinessneeds.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Article3:DoesntWindowsHaveThis?
Ofcourseitdoes.Butaswithmanyotherthingsinlife,withWindowsonboard defragmentationengine,yougetwhatyoupayfor.Microsoftsbuiltindiskdefragmentation toolisasolutionthatwasoriginallyobtainedfromitsthirdpartyecosystem.Startinginthe early1990s,Microsoftportedthisthirdpartycodeintoitsoperatingsystem(OS)asabuilt insolutionforaccomplishingbasicdefragmentationoperations. However,thecodebaseincorporatedwiththisportremainsdramaticallydifferentthan thoseavailablethroughtodaysthirdpartysoftwarevendors.Althoughthecore performanceofthissolutionisvisiblyimprovedinnewerOSssuchasWindowsVistaand Windows7,itsimplementationonWindowsXPsystemssimplydoesnotprovidethelevel ofdefragmentationrequiredbymostenterprises. EvenwithWindowsVista,Windows7,andWindowsServer2008R2,Microsofts defragmentationimplementationtodayremainsonlyastopgapmeasuretopreventthe grossestlevelsoffragmentation.Asanexampleofthis,referenceFigure1,wheretwo representationsofaWindowsfilesystemarepresented.

Figure1:FileperformancewiththestandardVistadefragger(top)andafterusinga thirdpartydefragmentationsolution.

The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Inthisfigure,theimageonthetoprepresentstheleveloffragmentationonaWindows Vistacomputerthathasusedonlythenativedefragmentationsolution.Thiscomputerhas beeninoperationfornearly2years,usingonlythenativeweeklydefragmentation availableinWindowsVista. Youllnoticeherethatanumberofareasaremarkedinred.Thesecorrespondtofilesand foldersthathavenotbeenfullydefragmentedandarenotoperatingatfullefficiency.Even thoughthenativedefragmentationsolutionwasscheduledtooccuronaweeklybasis,that defragmentationpasswasunabletofullycompleteitsmission.Comparethisgraphicwith thealternativeonthebottom,whichwastakenimmediatelyaftercompletinga defragmentationpassonthissamecomputerusingathirdpartydefragmentationsolution. Here,youllseethatthenumberofnonoptimizedfilesisdramaticallyreducedthroughjust asinglepassofthethirdpartysolution.

LimitationsoftheNativeDefragger
Articletwoofthisseriesdiscussedhowtodaysconventionalwisdomassociatedwith defragmentationhasdictatedaproactiveapproach.Usingtheproactiveapproach,thelevel ofresourcesrequiredbythedefragmentationengineisdramaticallyreduced. Defragmentationsimplyisntallowedtoexistonthesystem,whichmeansthatproactive managementalsoensuresafullyoptimizedfilesystem. Incontrast,thenativeWindowsdefragmentationsolutionleveragesalesseffective scheduledapproachtoitsprocessing.Bydefault,itinvokesadefragmentationpassevery Wednesdayat1:00amondesktops,whichcandirectlyimpactsystemperformancewhileit goesthroughitsmachinations.DuetothearchitectureoftheWindowsschedulingengine,if thisscheduledpassismissedduetothemachinebeingpoweredoff,thepasswillinstead occuratthenextpoweron. Further,thenativeWindowsdefraggingsolutionislimitedtoonlineoperationsonly.There aresomefilesintheWindowsfilesystemthatcannotbeoptimizedwhilethesystemis poweredon.Thesefiles,suchasthesystempagingfileandhibernationfilecanaccumulate theirownlevelsoffragmentationovertime,especiallywhenconfiguredforgrowth.One resultofthislimitationisaninabilitytoconsolidatefreespaceacrossthecomputershard disk,leavingtheaforementionedholesoffreespaceonadefragmenteddisk.Alternative solutionsthatenableproactiveandcontinuousdefragmentationarenecessaryforthese filestobefullyoptimized.

ImpactsonServers
ItisnotawellknownfactthatWindowsnativedefragmentationsolutionisdisabledby defaultonWindowsServer2008.Butbeforeyougoaboutenablingitonallyoursystems, considertheimpact:Enablingthatschedulecanhaveadramaticimpactonperformance duringitsinitialandevenfuturepasses.Thisfactmeansthatmanybusinessnetworksare likelyoperatingtheirserverswithexceptionallyhighlevelsoffragmentation,potentially causingamajorimpactontheirserveroperations.

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The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Youcannotsimplyenablethisschedulewithoutexpectingsomeramifications.Althoughthe nativeWindowssolutionincorporateslimitedprocessthrottlingtopreventresource overuse,thatthrottlingisreactiveinnature.Assuch,toprotectyourselfagainstameasure ofpain,considertheuseofthirdpartysolutionsthatleverageproactivesolutionsfor resourceoverusepreventionbeforeeverturningonMicrosoftsnativesolutiononyour servers. Nowhereisthismoredramaticthanonserverswithverylargevolumes.Thesevolumes, whichmaymeasureinthehundredsofgigabytesoreventerabytes,havespecialneedsdue tothesheersizeoftheirdatastorage.Asthedefragmentationprocessrequires involvementfromprocessingandmemoryresourcesinordertoaccomplishits optimization,serverswithverylargevolumesshouldalsoconsidertheuseofexternal solutionsthataredesignedtoscale.

ImpactsonManagement
Finally,therearetwousefulmanagementelementsthataremissingfromthenative defragmentationsolutionintheWindowsOS.Thefirstoftheseisauserinterface(UI)that providestherightlevelofdetailtousers.AsyoucanseeinFigure2,theDiskDefragmenter wizardinWindows7isverylimitedintheinformationitpresentstoitsusers.

Figure2:TheUIinWindows7snativedefragmentationsolution.

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The Essentials Series: Why You Need to Defragment

Greg Shields

Inthisimage,theuserisinformedthatthedefragmentationprocessisoccurring,thatitis runningoneofaseriesofpasses,andthattheprocessis68%complete.Consideringthe performanceimpactsofthisprocessthathavealreadybeendiscussed,youmightwantto providemoreinformationtokeepyourusersinformedaboutthestatusoftheir defragmentationprocess. Thesecond,andmoreimportant,omissionrelatestothelevelofcentralizedcontrol availabletoadministrators.Inshort,Windowsnativediskdefragmenterhasnoexposure forpolicybasedconfiguration.Thus,administratorscannotcreateormodifyanenterprise defragmentationconfigurationusingtoolssuchasGroupPolicy.Norcanadministrators gainanunderstandingofsystemhealthacrosstheirmanagedcomputersthrough centralizedreporting.Assuch,usingtheWindowsnativedefragmentationsolutioninmany waystransferstheresponsibilityfordefragmentationawayfromadministratorsandtothe user.Theresultisthatadministratorslosetheabilitytotakeactionbasedoninformation gatheredthroughanycentralizedinformationgatheringsolution.

WindowsDoesHaveThis,But
Nativetoolsbynatureenableonlylimitedcapabilities.Tothatend,thisarticleserieshas attemptedtoshowthreethings:First,thatdefragmentationisindeedaproblemthatisa naturallyoccurringpartoffilesystemsoperations.Second,thatdefragmentationisa necessaryrequirementofanyWindowsbasednetwork.Third,therudimentarycapabilities toaccomplishthisprocessareapartoftheWindowsOS.However,ashasbeennotedin thisthirdarticle,theyarelimitedintheirfunctionalitywhileatthesametimecanadda performanceimpactonserversandworkstations. Inallofthis,neverforgetthatultimatelythesolepurposeofdefragmentationistoincrease systemperformance.Saveyourselftheheadacheoffreezes,crashes,andthepotentialfor expensivepurchasesdowntheline,andconsiderincorporatingtherightkindsof defragmentationsolutionsintoyourenvironment.

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