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Storage Replica 
Storage Replica is a new feature in Windows Server 2016 with which you can set up storage-agnostic, 
block-level, synchronous replication between clusters or servers for disaster recovery. You also can 
use it to stretch a failover cluster across sites for high availability. Synchronous replication makes it 
possible for you to mirror data in physical sites with crash-consistent volumes, ensuring zero data 
loss at the file-system level. Asynchronous replication gives you the ability to extend sites beyond 
metropolitan ranges with the possibility of data loss. Storage Replica does not operate at a file level as 
does DFS Replication. Instead, it replicates data blocks and is therefore immune to issues of file locks, 
open handles, and so on. 
More info 
Storage Replica is a new feature in Windows Server 2016 and the software-defined 
datacenter, there are no previous enhancements. For more information, go to
http://aka.ms/sroverview
.
Synchronous replication 
Synchronous replication guarantees that the application writes data to at least two locations at the 
same time before completion of the write operation. This replication is most suitable for mission-
critical data because it requires network and storage investments and carries a risk of degraded 
application performance. Synchronous replication is suitable for both high availability (HA) and 
disaster recovery (DR) solutions. 

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CHAPTER 2 | Software-defined datacenter 
As Figure 2-51 illustrates, when application writes occur on the source data copy (1), the originating 
storage does not acknowledge the I/O immediately. Instead, those data changes replicate to 
the remote destination copy (2) and log data is written (3). The remote site then returns an 
acknowledgment (4). Only then does the application receive the I/O acknowledgment (5). This ensures 
constant synchronization of the remote site with the source site, in effect extending storage I/O across 
the network. In the event of a source site failure, applications can failover to the remote site and 
resume their operations with assurance of zero data loss.