Quick way to do per-user quotas?

[boomam]

Hi.

Im in the process of tightening the security/restrictions on our network to make it as water tight as possible. Ive already done some file screens to prevent executables being put on the network.

Next, i want to implement per-user quotas. With the kids limited to about 100Mb and the staff 500Mb.

Problem is, i cant quite work out how to do it on a per-user basis, or, en-mass.

 

Any guides around? Ive googled to no avail. .

 

Thanks in advance all. .

[localzuk]

Do you use Windows 2k3 R2? If so, the file server resource management administrative tool allows this to be set up in minutes.

[boomam]

Do you use Windows 2k3 R2? If so, the file server resource management administrative tool allows this to be set up in minutes.

 

Yes.

 

I can see a way to add the quota templates to folders, but im unsure if that does it per user or not, any guides i find are very vague?

 

At the moment i have 4 templates:

Pupil 100Mb

Pupil 100Mb

Staff 500Mb

Staff 1Gb

[ChrisH]

It's easy to do if your folders are well structured. I just point the settings at the year folders and the top level staff folder.

[localzuk]

It's easy to do if your folders are well structured. I just point the settings at the year folders and the top level staff folder.

 

Same here - Each year has it's own quota and they are applied to the top level folder.

[boomam]

Each year has its own folder with all the users in, as does the staff.

 

So if i apply a quota to, for example, the Pupil100 one to \\server\home$\intake05.

Would that mean that every user in intake05 would be bound to the pupil100 quota rule?

 

+ does the paths in the quota management have to be UNC, or local paths?

 

Thanks.

[Ric_]

@booman: The R2 quotas are per directory, as opposed to per user, so you will need a sensible folder structure.

[sahmeepee]

I haven't used R2, but are you guys saying they've removed features from stock WS2003?

 

In basic WS2003 up to SP2 (and in XP Pro) I can get the properties of a volume, go to the quotas tab, enable quota management, set the settings there, then click on "Quota Entries..."

 

In that window you can do:

quota > new quota entry

advanced > find now

**twiddle thumbs**

select all the users > OK

OK again

 

You then have all your users (assuming you don't have too many to be returned by the search) in the list and you can tweak quotas per-user accordingly. Our usernames start with a year-group letter which makes picking them out and bulk-fixing their quotas much easier.

 

Possible in R2 or not?

[Ric_]

@sahmeepee: The R2 features we are talking of are in addition to the original quota features which relied upon ownership of the files. Without the FSRM features, you can set a quota of 100MB on a user but their homedrive could baloon to any size if they didn't have ownership of all the files.

 

The old quota style is still available but you don't get to use the fancy MMC to control it.

[sahmeepee]

Cheers for clearing that up Ric (I suspect I'll be missing out R2 altogether now Longhorn is within spitting distance). In that case I reckon it'd be pretty easy to use the old-fashioned method to achieve the desired results:

 

Scripts can be used to fix any ownership problems (bearing in mind this is home folders rather than shared areas it should be easy)

Assuming the worst case of usernames being entirely random:

You can add quota entries for a year's worth of users by the "find" method above based on their OU

Change their quotas to something non-default en-masse (97MB say)

Add another year's worth

Sort the list by the quota allocation

Change their quotas to 98MB.

Add another year's worth

Sort the list by the quota allocation

Change their quotas to 99MB.

 

Once you've got all your users in it's easy to tweak the entries user-by-user as required.

 

Of course, this all falls down if you have other user storage on that volume as the settings are volume-wide...

Edited January 23, 2008 by sahmeepee
formatting was to-cock

[Ric_]

@sahmeepee: The whole ownership thing is why there is a script to mass-change ownership on the wiki. I used to find myself having to do bits and pieces and ownership would get messed up... a real PITA.

[boomam]

@booman: The R2 quotas are per directory, as opposed to per user, so you will need a sensible folder structure.

They are in a sensible folder structure.

 

So basically, im gonna have to go to each users home directory, and add a quota to each one manually!?

I dont think i'll bother if thats the case, theres hundreds to do!

There must be an automated/quicker way of doing it?

[localzuk]

They are in a sensible folder structure.

 

So basically, im gonna have to go to each users home directory, and add a quota to each one manually!?

I dont think i'll bother if thats the case, theres hundreds to do!

There must be an automated/quicker way of doing it?

 

No, you apply a template to the top level directory in R2. It then propagates that to the sub directories.

[boomam]

No, you apply a template to the top level directory in R2. It then propagates that to the sub directories.

 

So, step-by-step:

Create Quota template.

Apply to, for example, \\server\home$\pupil05

That then applys to all folders underneath that too one level?

 

So anything in for example \\server\home$\pupil05\test is limited to the 100Mb limit that is put on 'test'. Or does it propogate down to all folders, so even folders under test get another X amount of Mb?

 

Do i need to enable quotas on the properties of the volume? As there is no mention of it in the guides i see?

 

Plus, I was under the impression that i could edit each users quota manually too? To bump up another X amount as needed?

[localzuk]

This is what I did

 

1. Created template

2. Clicked 'Add Quota' in the FSRM console

3. Entered a path to the top level of one of our years (E:\users\pupils\03\)

4. Chose the 'Auto apply template and create quotas on existing and new subfolders' option

5. Chose my template.

6. Done

 

It propagates to the top level of sub directories only AFAIK.

 

You don't need to enable volume quotas.

[boomam]

This is what I did

 

1. Created template

2. Clicked 'Add Quota' in the FSRM console

3. Entered a path to the top level of one of our years (E:\users\pupils\03\)

4. Chose the 'Auto apply template and create quotas on existing and new subfolders' option

5. Chose my template.

6. Done

 

It propagates to the top level of sub directories only AFAIK.

 

You don't need to enable volume quotas.

I tested it a min ago and it appeared to work correctly.

 

I take it that i can create extra quotas under that master quota for custom ones?

So if i want Folder X to have more space, i just assign that folder its own template?

[localzuk]

I tested it a min ago and it appeared to work correctly.

 

I take it that i can create extra quotas under that master quota for custom ones?

So if i want Folder X to have more space, i just assign that folder its own template?

 

You can just right click on a single user's folder and select 'edit quota' and change it individually. Or you can add another template to affect them.

[boomam]

Brillient. Thanks.

Take a while for it to load the quota folders that its doing, but otherwise, it appears to work. .

 

The only thing ive noticed, is that it lists the root folder of one of the quotas that ive setup as being 8500% over?.