Lesson 4: Managing Disk Quotas on NTFS Volumes

You use disk quotas to manage storage growth in distributed environments. Disk quotas allow you to allocate disk space to users based on the files and folders that they own. You can set disk quotas, quota thresholds, and quota limits for all users and for individual users. You can also monitor the amount of hard disk space that users have filled and the amount that they have left against their quota.

Windows 2000 disk quotas track and control disk usage on a per-user, per-volume basis. Windows 2000 tracks disk quotas for each volume, even if the volumes are on the same hard disk. Because quotas are tracked on a per-user basis, every user's disk space is tracked regardless of the folder in which the user stores files. Table 8.5 describes the characteristics of Windows 2000 disk quotas.

Table 8.5 Disk Quota Characteristics and Descriptions

Characteristic	Description
Disk usage is based on file and folder ownership.	Windows 2000 calculates disk space usage for users based on the files and folders that they own. When a user copies or saves a new file to an NTFS volume or takes ownership of a file on an NTFS volume, Windows 2000 charges the disk space for the file against the user's quota limit.
Disk quotas do not use compression.	Windows 2000 ignores compression when it calculates hard disk space usage. Users are charged for each uncompressed byte, regardless of how much hard disk space is actually used. File compression produces different degrees of compression for different types of files. Different uncompressed file types that are the same size might end up to be very different sizes when they are compressed.
Free space for applications is based on quota limit.	When you enable disk quotas, the free space that applications is Windows 2000 reports to for the volume the amount of space remaining within the user's disk quota limit.

To monitor and control hard disk space usage, system administrators can do the following:

• Set a disk quota limit to specify the amount of disk space for each user.
• Set a disk quota warning to specify when Windows 2000 should log an event, indicating that the user is nearing his or her limit.
• Enforce disk quota limits and deny users access if they exceed their limit.
• Log an event when a user exceeds a specified disk space threshold. The threshold could be when users exceed their quota limit or when they exceed their warning level.

After you enable disk quotas for a volume, Windows 2000 collects disk usage data for all users who own files and folders on the volume. This allows you to monitor volume usage on a per-user basis. By default, only members of the Administrators group can view and change quota settings. However, you can allow users to view quota settings.

You can enable disk quotas and enforce disk quota warnings and limits for all users and for individual users.

If you want to enable disk quotas, in the Properties dialog box for a disk, on the Quota tab, configure the options that are described in Table 8.6.

Table 8.6 Quota Tab Options

Option	Description
Enable Quota Management	Select this check box to enable disk quota management.
Deny Disk Space To Users Exceeding Quota Limit	Select this check box so that when users exceed their hard disk space allocation, they receive an "out of disk space" message and cannot write to the volume.
Do Not Limit Disk Usage	Click this option when you do not want to limit the amount of hard disk space for users.
Limit Disk Space To	Configure the amount of disk space that users can fill.
Set Warning Level To	Configure the amount of disk space that users can fill before Windows 2000 logs an event, indicating that a user is nearing his or her limit.
Quota Entries	Click this button to open the Quota Entries window, where you can add a new entry, delete an entry, and view the properties for a quota entry.

If you want to enforce quota limits for all users, you would do the following:

1. In the Limit Disk Space To box and the Set Warning Level To box, enter the values for the limit and warning level that you want to set.
2. Select the Deny Disk Space To Users Exceeding Quota Limit check box.

Windows 2000 will monitor usage and will not allow users to create files or folders on the volume when they exceed the limit.

If you want to enforce quota limits for a specific user, you would do the following:

1. In the Properties dialog box for a disk, on the Quota tab, click the Quota Entries button.
2. In the Quota Entries window (see Figure 8.6), double-click the user account for which you want to set a disk quota limit or create an entry by clicking New Quota Entry on the Quota menu.
3. Configure the disk space limit and the warning level for the individual user.



Figure 8.6 Configuring disk quotas

You can determine the status of disk quotas in the Properties dialog box for a disk. A traffic light icon designates the status (see Figure 8.6):

• A red (top) light indicates that disk quotas are disabled.
• A yellow (middle) light indicates that Windows 2000 is rebuilding disk quota information.
• A green (bottom) light indicates that the disk quota system is active.

You use the Quota Entries window to monitor usage for all users who have copied, saved, or taken ownership of files and folders on the volume. Windows 2000 will scan the volume and monitor the amount of disk space in use by each user. Use the Quota Entries window to view the following:

• The amount of hard disk space that each user fills.
• Users who are over their quota-warning threshold, which is signified by a yellow triangle (see Figure 8.6).
• Users who are over their quota limit, which is signified by a red circle (see Figure 8.6).
• The warning threshold and the disk quota limit for each user.

In this practice, you will configure the quota management settings for drive C to limit the data that users can store on the volume. You will then configure custom quota settings for a user account. Finally, you will remove the quota management limits.

1. Log on to your domain as Administrator and start Windows Explorer.
2. In Windows Explorer, right-click the drive C icon, and then click Properties.

Windows 2000 displays the Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box with the General tab active.

3. Click the Quota tab.

Notice that disk quotas are disabled by default.

4. On the Quota tab, click the Enable Quota Management check box.

Notice that the default disk space limit for new users is set to 1 KB.

5. Type 10 in the Limit Disk Space To box, and select MB in the drop-down list box to the right.
6. Type 6 in the Set Warning Level To box and select MB in the drop-down list box to the right.
7. Click Apply.

Windows 2000 displays the Disk Quota message box, warning you that the disk volume will be rescanned to update disk usage statistics if you enable quotas.

8. Click OK to enable disk quotas.

1. In the Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box, click the Quota Entries button.

Windows 2000 displays the Quota Entries For Local Disk (C:) window. It may take a couple of minutes for the names to be filled in.

2. On the Quota menu, click New Quota Entry.

Windows 2000 displays the Select Users dialog box.

3. In the Look In box, ensure your domain is selected.
4. Near the top of the dialog box, in the Name column, select User Three, the user for which you want to set up a quota, and then click Add.

User Three appears in the list at the bottom of the dialog box.

5. Click OK.

Windows 2000 displays the Add New Quota Entry dialog box.

What are the default settings for the user you just set a quota limit for?

6. Click OK to accept the default settings and return to the Quota Entries For Local Disk (C:) window.
7. Close the Quota Entries window and the Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box, and then click OK to close the Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box.

Answers

In this exercise, you will disable quota management settings for drive C.

1. Ensure you are logged on to your domain as Administrator and that Windows Explorer is open.
2. Right-click the drive C icon, and then click Properties.

Windows 2000 displays the Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box with the General tab active.

3. Click the Quota tab.
4. On the Quota tab, clear the Enable Quota Management check box.

Notice that all quota settings for drive C are no longer available.

5. Click Apply.

Windows 2000 displays the Disk Quota message box, warning you that if you disable quotas, the volume will be rescanned if you enable them later.

6. Click OK to close the Disk Quota message box.
7. Click OK to close the Local Disk (C:) Properties dialog box.
8. Close all applications.

Disk quotas are used to allocate disk space usage to users. You can set disk quotas, quota thresholds, and quota limits for all users and for individual users. You can also monitor the amount of hard disk space that users have filled and the amount that they have left against their quotas. Windows 2000 ignores compression when it calculates hard disk space usage. You can apply disk quotas only to NTFS volumes created by Windows 2000.

Windows 2000 disk quotas track and control disk usage on a per-user, per-volume basis. Windows 2000 tracks disk quotas for each volume, even if the volumes are on the same hard disk. Because quotas are tracked on a per-user basis, every user's disk space is tracked regardless of the folder in which the user stores files.