Shares

A share is a file folder that is available to users across the network. You can assign permissions and settings to a share to suit the security needs of different applications and organizations.

Shares can have shadow copies that are automatically added to a designated folder. You can use a shadow copy to recover deleted, overwritten, or modified files.

Two formats are available for a share file:

• Server message block (SMB)—Standard for Windows PCs and compatible with Mac and Linux.
• Network file service (NFS)—Typically used with UNIX or Linux-based PCs.

Share Profiles

Server Manager simplifies the creation of shares by providing predefined share profiles.

• SMB Share – Quick—For Windows, Mac, and Linux computers sharing standard user data, such as documents and spreadsheets.
• SMB Share – Advanced—Adds options such as quotas on file space and defining default access permissions to the Quick profile. To use this profile, the File Server Resource Manager must be installed as a service on the server.
• SMB Share – Applications—Use if the volume is used with server applications that manage databases or virtual machines.
• NFS Share – Quick—For UNIX and Linux computers sharing standard user data, such as documents and spreadsheets.
• NFS Share – Applications—Use if the volume is used with server applications that manage databases or virtual machines.

Add a shared folder

1. In Server Manager, select File and Storage Services.
2. Select Shares.
3. Select Tasks > New Share.
4. Use the New Share wizard to create the shared folder.
   If you do not specify a directory, the share is added to the \Shares directory on the selected volume.
5. To complete the share creation, specify permissions for the folder and which users or groups can access it.

Install the File Server Resource Manager

To use the SMB Share Advanced profile, the File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) must be installed as a service on the server.

1. In Server Manager, select All Servers in the left column.
2. Right-click the server on which to enable the FSRM, and select Add Roles and Features.
3. Use the Add Roles and Features wizard to add the FSRM.
4. Under Installation Type, select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next.
5. Select the server and click Next.
6. Under File and Storage Services > File and iSCSI Services, select File Server Resource Manager.
7. Complete the installation.
   You might be prompted to restart the server.

Shadow Copies

Shadow copies allow you to automatically create copies of files in designated folders. Although convenient, you should not use shadow copies as an alternative to a true server backup. They are not stored off site, and they cannot be easily managed.
The shadow copy system can store up to 64 copies of a file.

Enable shadow copies

1. In Server Manager, select Tools > Computer Management.
2. In the left menu, under Storage, select Disk Management.
3. Right-click the volume to shadow and select Properties.
4. Select the Shadow Copies tab.
5. If the volume to shadow is not selected, click it.
6. Click Settings below the list of volumes.
7. In the dialog box, under Storage Area, specify the volume on which to store the shadow copies.
8. Under Maximum Size, specify the amount of space to allocate for shadow copies.
9. Click the Schedule button.
10. In the Schedule dialog box, select the days and times to create the shadow copies.
11. Click OK.
    The Volume Name Properties window appears. Next Run Time shows when the system will next create shadow copies.
12. If a time is not listed, click Enable under the volume list.
13. To make shadow copies immediately, click Create Now.
14. Click OK to close the Volume Name Properties window.

Important: If you implement shadow copies on a clustered file server, ensure that the %SystemRoot% resolves to the same name on both the principal system and the failover system. If they do not match, shadow copies fail. For example, if %SystemRoot% is C:\Windows on one system and C:\Win on the other, the service that runs the shadow copy task can fail in the event of a system failover.