Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) is a new feature of Windows Server 2016 that takes the ‘software-defined storage’ concept to the next level. The value proposition is that instead of deploying expensive SAN hardware, similar results can be achieved by pooling commodity storage and controlling it with commodity Windows Servers. Whereas the 2012 Storage Spaces release required SATA or SAS connected disks or JBOD enclosures, this new 2016 release can work with local-attached SATA, SAS and NVMe drives to each node in the cluster.
This means that not only can cheap storage be used but it also means that we can deploy this feature with Virtual Disks in the cloud! The value here is that we have a cluster with non-shared storage that acts like a shared storage one, all using Microsoft software end to end. And with this capability in place, we can then put a cluster-aware application like SQL Server on top of it and have a Failover Cluster Instance in the cloud.
Read the blog at https://www.pythian.com/blog/building-sql-server-failover-cluster-instances-cloud-windows-server-2016-storage-spaces-direct/
MAG.MOE - The MAG, The MOE.