Creating User folder heirarchy with scripting or program

[jlondon]

Hello All,

I am absolutely new to this forum but feel like I have done due diligence and looked through for this particular issue. If you find something I missed my apologies.. So with that said...

 

 

Looking to create a folder for each user with the following perms in place on each folder

Username <-- All have list with domain admins as folder owner

Public <-- All have read and write access on this folder

Private <--only the user has access READ, WRITE, EDIT

Dropbox <-- user has full access others can only write to this folder

I would like to be able to script this but am open to software solutions as well.

My previous solution of creating these folders with a good old perl script don't work any longer on server 2008

help!!

I would even be fine with getting the basics of how to append to my initial script and be able to add the command to my broken perl script.

On my pre Server 2008 boxes, could create and set up these shares but alas now it bombs out.

mkdir E:\Faculty\username

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111111010

mkdir E:\Faculty\username\public

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username\public /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111111010

mkdir E:\Faculty\username\private

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username\private /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111100010

mkdir E:\Faculty\username\dropbox

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username\dropbox /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111100110mkdir E:\Faculty\username

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111111010

mkdir E:\Faculty\username\public

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username\public /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111111010

mkdir E:\Faculty\username\private

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username\private /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111100010

mkdir E:\Faculty\username\dropbox

macfile directory /path:E:\Faculty\username\dropbox /owner:"USAdmins" /group:username /permissions:11111100110

 

while macfile is no longer a usable or recognizable command for Windows 2008 with the support of AFP going away, I would appreciate the commands to set the permissions for the SMB share. We are now using ExtremeZ-IP and it wil handle the sharing portion for our MAC users.

 

Thank you for your time!!

Joe

[dhicks]

Looking to create a folder for each user with the following perms in place on each folder

 

Don't you just need to list your users somehow, then iterate over that list to create the folders and set the permissions you want? I seem to remember Visual Basic Script has something built-in to do that, but I'm sure there's a command-line utility you could run from a Perl script and just read the output of, line by line.

 

This page would seem to tell you how to set file / folder permissions via the command line:

 

Set Permissions for Shared Folders

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

My previous solution of creating these folders with a good old perl script don't work any longer on server 2008

 

I would even be fine with getting the basics of how to append to my initial script and be able to add the command to my broken perl script.

Joe

 

David, That is correct. It can be done with a script I have accomplished simple folder creation in the past with software like dovestones, and had success in the past with creating not only the users folders and a nested heirarchy from a perl script. My perl script was for setting security on afp shares so it is now broken.

Thank you for responding and will take a look at this resource. What is such a bummer is the script that i have not only made folders but also would parse out an nt file to feed into ad to create the accounts, build a bat file to run on the server to make their user folders, and then created a script to build their FirstClass email accounts. It was very slick and for 1100 accounts, pretty important :-)

Thanks a lot for reading and replying. Your time it is much appreciated.

 

Best Regards,

Joe London

[dhicks]

My perl script was for setting security on afp shares so it is now broken.

 

Right, have I got this traight here: you have a Windows domain controller, but you store your user file areas on a Mac server. The root folder for the user folder is available as a share of some kind (SMB?) from the Mac server, and is mounted as drive E: on your domain controller (or wherever it is you're trying to run this script from). Is that correct?

 

So, you now can't use the "macfile" command-line tool to set permissions on folder stored on E: drive. Does the "mkdir" command still work - can you still create folders and so on okay?

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

Right, have I got this traight here: you have a Windows domain controller, but you store your user file areas on a Mac server. The root folder for the user folder is available as a share of some kind (SMB?) from the Mac server, and is mounted as drive E: on your domain controller (or wherever it is you're trying to run this script from). Is that correct?

 

So, you now can't use the "macfile" command-line tool to set permissions on folder stored on E: drive. Does the "mkdir" command still work - can you still create folders and so on okay?

 

--

David Hicks

 

David,

You are correct that this is a DC but the shares are created and live on this server. The server used to be 2003 STD but is the new server is SVR 2008 R2. With Server 2008 support for mac shares has gone away. We are using ExtremeZ-IP to handle the AFP shares. I can still make folders but the challenging part is that now to set perms, will need to do this with NTFS permissions. I thought I would throw this out on the edugeek forums to see what other admins use to make their student folders every year.

So to be clear, the shares do live on this server, it is a windows box, and the end goal is to run a script against a csv file that will build a nested series of folders with specific rights for each user.

 

Best Regards,

Joe

[dhicks]

We are using ExtremeZ-IP to handle the AFP shares.

 

Does ExtremeZ-IP have an equivilent command line utility you could use? What Mac clients do you have to connect to the Windows machines - if they're all Mac OS X, do you actually need AFP shares or could you switch to SMB shares and mount them from the Mac clients with Samba? Could you run the script on a Mac - will it let you set appropriate file permissions from there?

 

the end goal is to run a script against a csv file that will build a nested series of folders with specific rights for each user.

 

Why a CSV file, and where does that CSV file come from - is it typed in by hand, or generated from something else? Could you just get your script to get a list of current users from your Active Directory server each time it ran?

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

Does ExtremeZ-IP have an equivilent command line utility you could use? What Mac clients do you have to connect to the Windows machines - if they're all Mac OS X, do you actually need AFP shares or could you switch to SMB shares and mount them from the Mac clients with Samba? Could you run the script on a Mac - will it let you set appropriate file permissions from there?

 

 

 

Why a CSV file, and where does that CSV file come from - is it typed in by hand, or generated from something else? Could you just get your script to get a list of current users from your Active Directory server each time it ran?

 

--

David Hicks

 

The source of the csv is output from a database. I am looking to create these folders, share them out on my windows server running 2008, and then pass along the smb shares for ExtremeZ-IP to handle sharing to the Mac users. This is my end goal.

 

Cheers and thanks for your input!

Joe

[dhicks]

The source of the csv is output from a database.

 

Why - are there users listed there that aren't in Active Directory, or is there some other difference between the two sets of users? Why do you need the CSV file as another intermediate step?

 

I am looking to create these folders, share them out on my windows server running 2008, and then pass along the smb shares for ExtremeZ-IP to handle sharing to the Mac users.

 

Your script can still do the first two parts, though, right - it can still create the directory tree to be shared out by your Windows Server 2008 machine? You just don't have the Windows "macfile" commandline tool to set Mac file permissions as you used to. Does ExtremeZ-IP not have an equivilent command line utility?

 

What Mac clients do you have to connect to the Windows machines - if they're all Mac OS X, do you actually need AFP shares or could you switch to SMB shares and mount them from the Mac clients with Samba?

 

Could you run the script on a Mac - will it let you set appropriate file permissions from there?

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

I am looking to do all of this on the server. ExtremeZ-IP does not have that capability it only takes the shares and perms the server has for the windows shares and hosts them as afp shares.

 

There has surely been someone else that has scripted out the creation of their users folders with some nested folders out there :-)

 

 

Setting up a script that will create the folders below and set appropriate permissions for each folder.

Username <-- All have list with domain admins as folder owner

Public <-- All have read and write access on this folder

Private <--only the user has access READ, WRITE, EDIT

Dropbox <-- user has full access others can only write to this folder

 

Best Regards,

Joe

[dhicks]

ExtremeZ-IP does not have that capability it only takes the shares and perms the server has for the windows shares and hosts them as afp shares.

 

So ExtremeZ-IP translates Windows file / folder permissions in to Mac permissions?

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

Yes it hosts the windows shares and also hosts printer shares for mac users.

[dhicks]

Yes it hosts the windows shares and also hosts printer shares for mac users.

 

Okay, so is this correct: you have a Windows 2008 Server machine that acts as an Active Directory server and a file server, so any Windows clients that connect to the server will see a bunch of file shares. It also runs ExtremeZ-IP, so when Mac users connect to the server they see the same file shares, with the same file permissions set by NTFS, but in a Mac-specific way? If that's right, can't you just set NTFS file permissions on the server with the "cacls" command line utility, i.e.:

 

for username in getListOfUsers():
   mkdir username
   mkdir username + "/Public"
   mkdir username + "/Private"
   mkdir username + "/Dropbox"
   system("cacls " + username + " ... ")
   ...

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

Okay, so is this correct: you have a Windows 2008 Server machine that acts as an Active Directory server and a file server, so any Windows clients that connect to the server will see a bunch of file shares. It also runs ExtremeZ-IP, so when Mac users connect to the server they see the same file shares, with the same file permissions set by NTFS, but in a Mac-specific way? If that's right, can't you just set NTFS file permissions on the server with the "cacls" command line utility, i.e.:

 

for username in getListOfUsers():


   mkdir username
   mkdir username + "/Public"
   mkdir username + "/Private"
   mkdir username + "/Dropbox"
   system("cacls " + username + " ... ")
   ...

 

--

David Hicks

 

David, I am not up on setting cacls but if it would work would be happy to try. Is this how you set your users folder up? I am trying to get examples of how other Network Managers go about setting up their users folders. Thank you for your help!

Sincerely,

Joe

[jlondon]

I have this nice script now thanks to Matthew Beattie on Technet Forums

What I now need is to get the permissions set for each folder. Any scripting gurus out there willing to take a look? Thank you thank you for your help and time!!

 

Option Explicit
Dim objFSO
On Error Resume Next
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
ProcessScript
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
 Wscript.Quit
End If
On Error Goto 0
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Functions Processing Section
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Name  : ProcessScript -> Primary Function that controls all other script processing.
'Parameters : None   ->
'Return  : None   ->
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function ProcessScript
Dim userNames, userName
Dim folderSpec, folderNames, folderName 
folderSpec = "C:\Data\Homedrives"
userNames = Array("user1","user2","user3")
folderNames = Array("Public","Private","Dropbox")
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Create the folder structure for each user.
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Each userName In userNames
 Do
  If Not CreateFolder(folderSpec & "\" & userName) Then
  Exit Do
  End If
  For Each folderName In folderNames
  Do
   If Not CreateFolder(folderSpec & "\" & userName & "\" & folderName) Then
    Exit Do
   End If
  Loop Until True
  Next
 Loop Until True
Next
End Function
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Name  : CreateFolder -> Recursive Function to Create a directory structure or single folder.
'Parameters : folderSpec -> Path of folder\folders to create.
'Return  : CreateFolder -> Returns True if the directory structure was successfully created otherwise False.
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function CreateFolder(folderSpec)
CreateFolder = False
If Not objFSO.FolderExists(folderSpec) Then
 If InStrRev(folderSpec, "\") <> 0 Then
  If Not CreateFolder(Left(folderSpec, InStrRev(folderSpec, "\") - 1)) Then
  Exit Function
  End If
 End If
 On Error Resume Next
  objFSO.CreateFolder folderSpec
  If Err.Number <> 0 Then
  Exit Function
  End If
 On Error Goto 0
End If
CreateFolder = True
End Function
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[dhicks]

I am not up on setting cacls but if it would work would be happy to try.

 

"cacls" is a command line utility used for setting permissions on file shares:

 

Set Permissions for Shared Folders

 

Just use it from your favourite scripting language, however that scripting language runs command-line utilities. Probably best to try it from a command prompt, manually, yourself first to see if it works correctly.

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

"cacls" is a command line utility used for setting permissions on file shares:

 

Set Permissions for Shared Folders

 

Just use it from your favourite scripting language, however that scripting language runs command-line utilities. Probably best to try it from a command prompt, manually, yourself first to see if it works correctly.

 

--

David Hicks

 

David, If you are wanting to quote me please note the entire posting was this:

David, I am not up on setting cacls but if it would work would be happy to try. Is this how you set your users folder up? I am trying to get examples of how other Network Managers go about setting up their users folders.

If you don't have experience with including cacls in scripting, please accept my thanks for your time and I will let you know what comes of this.

[jlondon]

Ok, I have a script here that creates the folders, now does anyone have experience with calcs that will help me set permissions ?

 

Option Explicit
Dim objFSO
On Error Resume Next
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
ProcessScript
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
 Wscript.Quit
End If
On Error Goto 0
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Functions Processing Section
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Name  : ProcessScript -> Primary Function that controls all other script processing.
'Parameters : None   ->
'Return  : None   ->
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function ProcessScript
Dim userNames, userName
Dim folderSpec, folderNames, folderName 
folderSpec = "C:\Data\Homedrives"
userNames = Array("user1","user2","user3")
folderNames = Array("Public","Private","Dropbox")
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Create the folder structure for each user.
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Each userName In userNames
 Do
  If Not CreateFolder(folderSpec & "\" & userName) Then
  Exit Do
  End If
  For Each folderName In folderNames
  Do
   If Not CreateFolder(folderSpec & "\" & userName & "\" & folderName) Then
    Exit Do
   End If
  Loop Until True
  Next
 Loop Until True
Next
End Function
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Name  : CreateFolder -> Recursive Function to Create a directory structure or single folder.
'Parameters : folderSpec -> Path of folder\folders to create.
'Return  : CreateFolder -> Returns True if the directory structure was successfully created otherwise False.
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function CreateFolder(folderSpec)
CreateFolder = False
If Not objFSO.FolderExists(folderSpec) Then
 If InStrRev(folderSpec, "\") <> 0 Then
  If Not CreateFolder(Left(folderSpec, InStrRev(folderSpec, "\") - 1)) Then
  Exit Function
  End If
 End If
 On Error Resume Next
  objFSO.CreateFolder folderSpec
  If Err.Number <> 0 Then
  Exit Function
  End If
 On Error Goto 0
End If
CreateFolder = True
End Function

[dhicks]

Ok, I have a script here that creates the folders, now does anyone have experience with calcs that will help me set permissions?

 

Have you tried running cacls to change a folder's permissions from the command line - can you get it to work okay from there? Searching for "cacls folder permissions" on Google brings up these two links:

 

CACLS - Windows utility modifify access control ACL

How To Automate Folder Permissions

 

which would seem to include step-by-step command-line examples and some example VBScript code.

 

Have you done much programming/scripting before, or are you simply trying to get a problem solved as best you can by pasting in code and hoping it works? Unless I've got the wrong idea here, the problem you are trying to solve is quite simple (make a bunch of folders, assign permissions) - do you need some help writing a script from scratch to get what you want done?

 

--

David Hicks

[jlondon]

Success! I am passing along this script for others to use. Let me give you some history on these user folders. Nested in the user folder, you have three sub folders that allow for one to be private where only the user and admins have access, one to be a dropbox where other users can put files but not access, and one to be completely public where other users can put files but not delete them.

A huge thank you to Matthew Beattie on Technet for writing this script! I can now put the vb book away.. for now :-)

 

The sample user file and script are attached.

Best Regards,

Joe

userfolder_3sub.vbs

UserNames.txt

[jlondon]

David,

Thank you for all of the effort you put forth in sharing your knowlege both of Vb scripting but also of cacls. I am not a programmer by trade so to answer your question, yes I was looking for sample code to paste and test (Hoping it works)

 

Kind Regards,

Joe London