Proper way to do shares

I'm using a two-node Win2K3 cluster in active/active mode to provide two
virtual servers that give access to shared folders (home directories and
other shares). The shares are on drives created on a SAN.

We have about 1500 users, so I have that many home directories, and each
section has a "common" shared folder, and certain groups would have shared
folders, so we have about 500 of those.

I assume I just share these 2000 folders individually, using user or group
rights to provide type of access?

With Novell, we had our user and common shared folders within section
folders (made it easier to do changes to an entire section), so, if I want
to do something similar in Windows, would I create a share for each section
only, then use NTFS rights to allow access to folders within the section
folder, or share both section folder and individual folders, or what?

Thanks!

Bill Bradley wrote:
> I'm using a two-node Win2K3 cluster in active/active mode to provide
> two virtual servers that give access to shared folders (home
> directories and other shares). The shares are on drives created on a
> SAN.
>
> We have about 1500 users, so I have that many home directories, and
> each section has a "common" shared folder, and certain groups would
> have shared folders, so we have about 500 of those.
>
> I assume I just share these 2000 folders individually, using user or
> group rights to provide type of access?

You don't need to share the home directories individually unless you have
NT/Win9x clients (and not necessarily even then, if you use SUBST in your
login script). Set up a parent home dir folder and grant administrators,
system, users, full control. Share the parent home directory folder as home$
so it's hidden, adjust the share permissions so everyone=full control, and
then in each users ADUC properties, you can specify
\\server\home$\%username% - the folder should be automatically created if
it's set up right, and the permissions should be adjusted appropriately. I'm
writing this from memory & don't have anything to test with right now, so
corrections are welcome (esp. as concerns automatic adjustment of
permissions)...

You may want to set up the 'group' or shared folders as individual shares,
but you don't have to. Depends on what you want users to see. With Windows,
folders won't be hidden from view just because users don't have access to
them - unlike in Netware.
>
> With Novell, we had our user and common shared folders within section
> folders (made it easier to do changes to an entire section), so, if I
> want to do something similar in Windows, would I create a share for
> each section only, then use NTFS rights to allow access to folders
> within the section folder, or share both section folder and
> individual folders, or what?

I'm not sure what you mean by "section". I haven't used Netware since 4x...
or do you mean "department" or "group" ?
>
> Thanks!

Hope this helps.

Thanks. This is what I thought, but, wasn't sure, and the MS books are
kinda vague on this subject. By "section", I mean department or group (we
call them services or sections).
"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<(E-Mail Removed) ahoo.com> wrote in message
news:%23tEwK%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Bill Bradley wrote:
>> I'm using a two-node Win2K3 cluster in active/active mode to provide
>> two virtual servers that give access to shared folders (home
>> directories and other shares). The shares are on drives created on a
>> SAN.
>>
>> We have about 1500 users, so I have that many home directories, and
>> each section has a "common" shared folder, and certain groups would
>> have shared folders, so we have about 500 of those.
>>
>> I assume I just share these 2000 folders individually, using user or
>> group rights to provide type of access?
>
> You don't need to share the home directories individually unless you have
> NT/Win9x clients (and not necessarily even then, if you use SUBST in your
> login script). Set up a parent home dir folder and grant administrators,
> system, users, full control. Share the parent home directory folder as
> home$
> so it's hidden, adjust the share permissions so everyone=full control, and
> then in each users ADUC properties, you can specify
> \\server\home$\%username% - the folder should be automatically created if
> it's set up right, and the permissions should be adjusted appropriately.
> I'm
> writing this from memory & don't have anything to test with right now, so
> corrections are welcome (esp. as concerns automatic adjustment of
> permissions)...
>
> You may want to set up the 'group' or shared folders as individual shares,
> but you don't have to. Depends on what you want users to see. With
> Windows,
> folders won't be hidden from view just because users don't have access to
> them - unlike in Netware.
>>
>> With Novell, we had our user and common shared folders within section
>> folders (made it easier to do changes to an entire section), so, if I
>> want to do something similar in Windows, would I create a share for
>> each section only, then use NTFS rights to allow access to folders
>> within the section folder, or share both section folder and
>> individual folders, or what?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "section". I haven't used Netware since
> 4x...
> or do you mean "department" or "group" ?
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>

Hi Lanwench, why do you recommend a hidden share for the home folder and not
each individual user folder? Why make the home folder a hidden share at all?
Thanks in advance for your reply.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> Bill Bradley wrote:
> > I'm using a two-node Win2K3 cluster in active/active mode to provide
> > two virtual servers that give access to shared folders (home
> > directories and other shares). The shares are on drives created on a
> > SAN.
> >
> > We have about 1500 users, so I have that many home directories, and
> > each section has a "common" shared folder, and certain groups would
> > have shared folders, so we have about 500 of those.
> >
> > I assume I just share these 2000 folders individually, using user or
> > group rights to provide type of access?
>
> You don't need to share the home directories individually unless you have
> NT/Win9x clients (and not necessarily even then, if you use SUBST in your
> login script). Set up a parent home dir folder and grant administrators,
> system, users, full control. Share the parent home directory folder as home$
> so it's hidden, adjust the share permissions so everyone=full control, and
> then in each users ADUC properties, you can specify
> \\server\home$\%username% - the folder should be automatically created if
> it's set up right, and the permissions should be adjusted appropriately. I'm
> writing this from memory & don't have anything to test with right now, so
> corrections are welcome (esp. as concerns automatic adjustment of
> permissions)...
>
> You may want to set up the 'group' or shared folders as individual shares,
> but you don't have to. Depends on what you want users to see. With Windows,
> folders won't be hidden from view just because users don't have access to
> them - unlike in Netware.
> >
> > With Novell, we had our user and common shared folders within section
> > folders (made it easier to do changes to an entire section), so, if I
> > want to do something similar in Windows, would I create a share for
> > each section only, then use NTFS rights to allow access to folders
> > within the section folder, or share both section folder and
> > individual folders, or what?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by "section". I haven't used Netware since 4x...
> or do you mean "department" or "group" ?
> >
> > Thanks!
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
>