Configuring File Services
Lesson 6
Skills Matrix
Technology Skill
Objective Domain
Objective #
Configuring a File Server
Configure a file server
4.1
Using the Distributed File
System
Configure Distributed File
System (DFS)
4.2
File Sharing
• Planning for file sharing on a large network
requires you to assess a number of factors,
including:
– Scalability
– Navigation
– Protection
– Abuse
– Diversity
– Fault tolerance
– Availability
File Server
• Implementing basic file server functions requires
only a default Windows Server 2008 installation.
– The File Server role is available on all versions of the
Windows Server 2008 software.
• The process of deploying and configuring a simple
file server using Windows Server 2008 includes
many of the most basic server administration
tasks, including installing disks, creating shares,
assigning permissions, and mapping drive letters.
Working with Disks
• When you install additional storage on a Windows
Server 2008 computer, you must address the
following tasks:
– Select a partitioning style.
– Select a disk type.
– Divide the disk into partitions or volumes.
•Many professionals use the terms partition and
volume interchangeably.
•Create partitions on basic disks, and volumes on
dynamic disks.
– Format the partitions or volumes with a file system.
Partition Style
• Two hard disk partition styles can be used in
Windows Server 2008:
– MBR — The MBR partition style has been around as
long as Windows and is still the default partition
style for x86-based and x64-based computers.
– GPT — GPT has also been around for a while, but no
x86 version of Windows prior to Windows Server
2008 and Windows Vista supports it. (Windows XP
Professional x64 Edition does support GPT.) Now
you can use the GPT partition style on x86- as well
as x64-based computers.
Basic Disks and Partitions
• When you work with basic disks in Windows
Server 2008:
– You can create up to four primary partitions.
– Or 3 three primary partitions and one
extended partitions.
Partitions
Dynamic Disks
• A dynamic disk can contain an unlimited
number of volumes that function a lot like
primary partitions on a basic disk, but you
cannot mark an existing dynamic disk as an
active partition.
Simple and Spanned Volumes
• Simple volume
– Consists of free space contained on a single physical
disk.
– You can configure all of the available space on a disk
as a simple volume, or you can configure multiple
simple volumes using the space on a single disk.
• Spanned volume
– Made up of free space from multiple physical disks.
– Spanned volumes are not fault-tolerant.
•If you lose one disk in the volume, you will lose all
data contained on all disks.
– Created on 2 to 32 disks.
Striped Volume
• Made up of free space from multiple disks.
• Unlike a spanned volume, though, a striped volume
uses RAID-0 striping to interleave the data across
the disks.
• Improves the read performance of the volume.
• Striped volumes are also not fault-tolerant and will
not withstand the loss of a disk in the volume.
• A striped volume can be created on a minimum of
2 disks and a maximum of 32 disks.
Mirrored Volume
• Fault-tolerant volume consisting of two
physical disks, in which the data on one disk
is copied exactly onto the second disk.
• This provides data redundancy, such that if
one disk in the mirror fails, the other disk will
continue to function without loss of data.
RAID-5 volume
• A fault-tolerant volume where data is interleaved
across three or more disks much in the same way
as in a striped volume.
• Has additional information known as parity.
• If one disk in a RAID-5 volume fails, the data
contained on the failed disk can be rebuilt using
the parity information stored on the disks in the
rest of the volume.
• A RAID-5 volume can be created using a minimum
of three disks and a maximum of 32 disks.
Disk Management Console
File Sharing
• Once you have configured disk drives and
installed a Windows Server 2008 file server,
you will need to decide how users should
store their files on that server and who
should be permitted to access them.
• This process includes designing a strategy
for offering file shares on one or more
servers on your network, securing those
shares against unwanted access, and
determining how your user base will access
the information in question.
File Sharing
• On most enterprise networks, the principle
of “least privilege” should apply.
Users should have only the privileges they
need to perform their required tasks and no
more.
File Sharing
• A user’s private storage space should be exactly that,
private and inaccessible, if not invisible, to other users.
• This is a place in which each user can store his or her
private files, without exposing them to other users.
• Each user should therefore have full privileges to his or
her private storage, with the ability to create, delete,
read, write, and modify files.
• Other users should have no privileges to that space at
all.
• The easiest way to create private folders with the
appropriate permissions for each user is to create a
home folder through each Active Directory user object.
File Sharing
• Sharing folders makes them accessible to
network users.
• Once you have configured the disks on a file
server, you must create shares for network
users to be able to access those disks.
File Sharing
Offline Settings
File Sharing
Shared Folders Snap-in
Permissions
• Permissions are privileges granted to
specific system entities, such as users,
groups, or computers, enabling them to
perform a task or access a resource.
– Share permissions.
– NTFS permissions.
– Registry Permissions.
– Active Directory permissions.
Share Permissions
• By default, the Everyone special identity
receives the Allow Read share permission to
any new shared folders you create.
Share Permissions
File Services Role
• A default Windows Server 2008 installation
includes all of the components needed for a basic
file server deployment.
• You can manage the server’s disk drives, share
folders, map drives, and control access to those
shares with no additional software installations.
• The File Services role, which implements the
Distributed File System (DFS), a service that allows
you to simplify the view of file shares located
across multiple servers as they appear to your user
base, as well as other useful technologies for
implementing file sharing on a Windows Server
2008 network.
File Server Roles
File Server Roles
File Server Roles
Distributed File System (DFS)
• Includes two technologies:
– DFS Namespaces.
– DFS Replication.
• Enable administrators to do the following:
– Simplify the process of locating files.
– Control the amount of traffic passing over WAN
links.
– Provide users at remote sites with local file server
access.
– Configure the network to survive a WAN link failure.
– Facilitate consistent backups.
DFS Namespace
• DFS is a virtual namespace technology that
enables you to create a single directory tree that
contains references to shared folders located on
various file servers, all over the network.
• This directory tree is virtual; it does not exist as a
true copy of the folders on different servers.
• It is instead a collection of references to the
original folders, which users can browse as though
it was an actual server share.
• The actual shared folders are referred to as the
targets of the virtual folders in the namespace.
DFS Namespace
DFS Namespace
• All versions of the Windows Server 2008 and
Windows Server 2003 operating systems
can function as DFS namespace servers.
– The Standard Edition and Web Edition
products can host only a single DFS
namespace.
– The Enterprise Edition and Datacenter
Edition versions can host multiple
namespaces.
DFS Namespace
• The DFS Namespaces role service supports:
– Stand-alone and domain-based.
– Domain-based namspaces come in two
modes: Windows Server 2008 mode and
Windows 2000 mode.
•Based on the domain functional level of the
domain hosting the namespace.
DFS Namespace
DFS Management Console
Creating DFS Namespace
Creating DFS Namespace
DFS Replication
• DFS Replication is a multiple master
replication engine that can create and
maintain copies of shared folders on
different servers throughout an enterprise
network.
• Provides:
– Data distribution.
– Load balancing.
– Data Collection.
DFS Replication
• To enable replication for a DFS folder with multiple
targets, you must create a replication group, which
is a collection of servers, known as members, each
of which contains a target for a particular DFS
folder.
• In its simplest form, a folder with two targets
requires a replication group with two members: the
servers hosting the targets.
• At regular intervals, the DFS Replication engine on
the namespace server triggers replication events
between the two members, using the RDC protocol,
so that their target folders remain synchronized.
DFS Replication
• DFS Replication need not be so simple, however,
as it is also highly scalable and configurable.
• A replication group can have up to 256 members,
with 256 replicated folders, and each server can
be a member of up to 256 replication groups, with
as many as 256 connections (128 incoming and
128 outgoing).
• A member server can support up to one terabyte of
replicated files, with up to eight million replicated
files per volume.
DFS Replication
Summary
• Planning is a critical part of a file server
deployment. Your deployment plan should
specify how many file servers you need, what
hardware they should have, how you will
configure them, how you will share the
server data, and how you will protect that
data.
Summary
• Windows Server 2008 supports two hard disk partition
types: MBR and GPT; two disk types: basic and dynamic;
five volume types: simple, striped, spanned, mirrored,
and RAID-5; and two file systems: NTFS and FAT.
• Creating folder shares makes the data stored on a file
server’s disks accessible to network users.
• Windows Server 2008 supports two hard disk partition
types: MBR and GPT; two disk types: basic and dynamic;
five volume types: simple, striped, spanned, mirrored,
and RAID-5; and two file systems: NTFS and FAT.
• Creating folder shares makes the data stored on a file
server’s disks accessible to network users.
Summary
• Windows Server 2008 has several sets of
permissions that operate independently of
each other including NTFS permissions,
share permissions, registry permissions, and
Active Directory permissions.
Summary
• NTFS permissions enable you to control
access to files and folders by specifying just
what tasks individual users can perform on
them.
• Share permissions provide rudimentary
access control for all of the files on a
network share.
• Network users must have the proper share
and NTFS permissions to access file server
shares.
Summary
• The File Services role includes several role
services that you can choose to install,
including Distributed File System and
Services for Network File System.
• Selecting individual role services can add
extra configuration pages to the Add Roles
Wizard.
Summary
• The Distributed File System (DFS) includes
two technologies: DFS Namespaces and DFS
Replication, which can simplify the process
of locating files, control the amount of traffic
passing over WAN links, provide users at
remote sites with local file server access,
configure the network to survive a WAN link
failure, and facilitate consistent backups.
Summary
• DFS is a virtual namespace technology that
enables you to create a single directory tree
containing references to shared folders
located on various file servers all over the
network.
Summary
• A namespace server functions just like a file
server except that when a user requests
access to a file in the DFS directory tree, the
namespace server replies—not with the file
itself, but with a referral specifying the file’s
actual location.
Summary
• DFS Replication works in tandem with DFS
Namespaces to provide unified services
such as data distribution, load balancing,
and data collection.
• To enable replication for a DFS folder with
multiple targets, you must create a
replication group, which is a collection of
servers known as members, each of which
contains a target for a particular DFS folder.