Lesson 1: Sharing and Publishing File Resources

Microsoft Windows 2000 allows file resources to be shared from the computer or published to directory services based on Active Directory technology. Publishing to Active Directory directory services makes resources easier to find because all the published shares can be centrally accessed. This lesson introduces the Computer Management administrative tool and Active Directory tools necessary to publish file resources in Windows 2000.

The Computer Management tool is an administrator's primary computer configuration tool. It uses two panes—the console tree (left pane) for navigating and tool selection and the details pane (right pane) for displaying the selection's data or attributes. All of the Computer Management features can be used from a remote computer, so an administrator can troubleshoot and configure a computer from any other computer on the same network. Computer Management provides access to the primary Windows 2000 administrative tools for viewing events, creating shares, and managing devices (see Figure 8.1).

Figure 8.1 The Computer Management tool

There are three nodes in the console tree. In tree structures, a node is a location on the tree that has links to one or more items below it. Each of the three nodes in the console tree provides access to a set of management tools.

• System Tools. This node contains administrative tools including Event Viewer, Shared Folders, and Device Manager.
• Storage. This node contains the tools that relate to disks, including Disk Management and Logical Drives.
• Services And Applications. This node is dynamically populated depending on the computer that the tools are focused on. Examples of tools in the Services And Applications node include Services, Internet Information Services, and Indexing Service.

On computers running Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, you share folders to provide network users with access to file resources. When a folder is shared, users can connect to the folder over the network and gain access to the files that it contains, provided that they have the appropriate permissions.

You can use Windows Explorer or Computer Management to share a folder. Sharing a folder using Windows Explorer is the same in Windows 2000 as in Windows NT 4.0. To use Computer Management to share a folder, right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop, and then click Manage. In the Computer Management console tree, expand System Tools and click Shared Folders. Under Shared Folders, click Shares and all of the folders that are shared from the local computer appear in the details pane. You add a new shared folder by right-clicking the details pane and clicking New File Share. You can share an existing folder, or you can create and share a new folder. To complete the process of sharing a folder, follow the instructions in the wizard that appears. The new shared folder will then appear in the details pane of Computer Management.

Network administrators face many challenges in managing large, complex networks. One challenge is providing information about network resources to authorized users on a network, while at the same time keeping this information secure from unauthorized access. Another challenge is making it easy to find information on the network.

Active Directory directory services is designed to meet these challenges by storing information about network objects, offering rapid information retrieval, and providing security mechanisms that control access. Resources that you can make available (publish) in Active Directory directory services include objects, such as users, computers, printers, files, folders, and network services. Publishing information about shared resources, such as folders, files, and printers, makes it easy for users to find these resources on the network.

In Windows 2000, you can publish information about printers and shared folders in Active Directory directory services by using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool. To make a file resource accessible, you first share the resource and then publish the resource in the Active Directory database.

For example, to publish a folder, from the Administrative Tools menu, start the Active Directory Users and Computers tool. In the console tree, right-click the domain in which you want to publish the shared folders, point to New, and then click Shared Folder. You will be prompted for the Shared Folder Name and Network Path (see Figure 8.2). Enter the requested information and click OK. The shared folder name appears in the domain.

Figure 8.2 The New Object - Shared Folder dialog box

In this practice, you will share a folder using Windows Explorer. Then you will share and publish a folder using Computer Management. Finally, you will observe the difference between a published folder and a shared folder.

In this exercise, you will use first Windows Explorer and then the Computer Management tool to share a folder on a Windows NT file system (NTFS) partition.

1. Log on as Administrator with a password of password.
2. Start Windows Explorer.
3. Create a folder named C:\Engineering Documents.
4. Right-click Engineering Documents, and then click Sharing.

The Engineering Documents Properties dialog box appears.

5. On the Sharing tab, click the Share This Folder option and then click the Permissions button.

The Permissions For Engineering Documents dialog box appears.

6. Clear the Full Control check box and the Change check box in the Allow column, and then click the Add button.

The Select Users, Computers, Or Groups dialog box appears.

7. In the list of names, select Administrator, click Add, and then click OK.
8. Verify that Administrator is selected in the Name box, select the Full Control check box in the Allow column, and then click OK.
9. In the Engineering Documents Properties dialog box, click OK.

Notice that the Engineering Documents folder changes to a shared folder icon.

10. Close Windows Explorer.

1. Open Computer Management from the Administrative Tools folder, expand System Tools, expand Shared Folders, and then click Shares.

A list of shares on your computer appears.

2. Right-click Shares, and then click New File Share.

The Create Shared Folder wizard appears, prompting you for the location of the folder you want to share.

3. In the Folder To Share box, type C:\Research Documents and type RescDocs in the Share Name box. Then click Next.

The next wizard page appears and displays the available permissions for this shared folder.

4. Click Administrators Have Full Control; Other Users Have Read-Only Access and then click Finish.

The Create Shared Folder dialog box displays a message that the folder has been shared out successfully and asks if you want to create another shared folder.

5. Click No.

Notice that RescDocs is now listed in the Shares folder.

6. Close the Computer Management window.

In this exercise, you will publish a shared folder on the domain controller in Active Directory directory services.

1. From the Administrative Tools menu, start the Active Directory Users and Computers tool.
2. Expand domain.com, and then click Computers. This is the OU in which you'll publish a folder named Research Documents.
3. Right-click Computers, point to New, and then click Shared Folder.

The New Object — Shared Folder dialog box appears.

4. Type Research Documents in the Name box.

5. In the Network Path box, type \\Server1\rescdocs and then click OK.

Notice that Research Documents appears as a shared folder.

6. Close the Active Directory Users and Computers window.

Microsoft Windows 2000 allows file resources to be shared from the computer or published to Active Directory directory services. When a folder is shared, users can connect to the folder over the network and gain access to the files that it contains, provided that they have the appropriate permissions. You can use Windows Explorer or Computer Management to share a folder.

Publishing to Active Directory directory services makes resources easier to find because all the published shares can be centrally accessed. Active Directory directory services also provides security mechanisms that control access to resources. The resources that you can make available (publish) in Active Directory directory services include objects, such as users, computers, printers, files, folders, and network services.

You publish information about printers and shared folders in Active Directory directory services by using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool. To make a file resource accessible, you first share the resource and then publish the resource in Active Directory directory services. Published folders need to have unique names because the name of a published folder's scope is global (that is, the entire network) versus local (that is, the server).