Mar 06, 2014

Do you frequently feel listless and bored? Do you find yourself doing the same things over and over again, day in and day out? Are you performing tasks simply because The Man (or The Woman; no sexism for our authoritarian figures here!) tells you to do them, even though you find them difficult and a waste of time? Well, there's a word for that: ennui! Ennui is a funny-sounding word. It's pronounced like "on-wee" - a phrase that we "borrowed" from the French (so maybe I should have said it sounds like "on-oui"). The all-knowing Internet defines it as "a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement."  Its synonyms include boredom, tedium, listlessness, lethargy, lassitude, languor, restlessness, weariness, sluggishness, and enervation. Since identifying a problem is the first step of the solution, you're probably feeling better already!  Well, the next really good news is that the awesomeness that is data deduplication in Windows Server 2012 is the final solution for ennui! Data deduplication was introduced as part of the file storage services in Windows Server 2012.  It's here to stay; so it is also included in Windows Server 2012 R2. Though it's not officially included in Windows 8 or 8.1, there are workarounds that allow you to add this functionality to those operating systems (click here for Windows 8 and for Windows 8.1.) Note, however, that these workarounds will not be supported by Microsoft. So, for your production environment, I do not recommend using data deduplication except for on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. Here's how data deduplication works - it examines the files on a volume (not a system or boot volume) and then separates the data in those files into small, variably-sized segments. If it finds two or more of these segments that are repeated, either in the same file or in other files on the volume, it only stores one of them and replaces the other(s) with a pointer directed to the stored segment. Thus, the files stored on the volume are replaced with a series of pointers that reference all the segments that make up that file. If you have large files that have a lot of data in common, such as daily snapshots of a virtual machine, the saving of storage space with data deduplication can be quite significant. Since the segments will all be compressed, there will be even more space saved. Scott Johnson, a Program Manager on the Windows File Server team, used data deduplication to save 1.7 TB of data on a 200 GB drive!  In production environments, storage space savings of 30-90% are common. Let me show you a sample to represent this. Let's say we have two Microsoft Word files. File #1 contains the following text:

Data Deduplication is awesome! Microsoft Word is awesome! Windows Server 2012 is awesome! Windows Server 2012 R2 is awesome R2! The power of Christ compels you! All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

File #2 contains this text:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  REDRUM!  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  REDRUM!  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  REDRUM!  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUM REDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUMREDRUM All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

The entire contents of these two files could be broken down into the following segments/chunks:

! . 2012 a All and awesome boy Christ compels Data Deduplication dull is Jack makes Microsoft no of play power R2 REDRUM Server The Windows Word work you

Thus, storing just the words in the list above, along with a series of pointers, would allow Windows Server 2012 (or R2) to recreate both files. Note that this is designed as a representation of the idea of data deduplication.  The actual segmenting of the files on a Windows Server 2012 file system would be different. So, you see how this solves your issues of ennui, right?  No longer do you have to do the same things over and over again, Windows Server 2012 (or R2) will do it for you! Deduplicate your life! Break it down, compress it, and replace the repetition with pointers. When The Man/Woman tells you to do that difficult or time-wasting task again, just send them a pointer to your own compressed chunk.  Feel the excitement of opening the space of your life again!