Windows Server 2003 R2 includes a File Server Resource Manager MMC snap-in that offers a set of tools for the administration of file servers. The File Server Resource Manager MMC can be used to enforce quotas on folders and volumes, perform real-time file screening, and create storage reports.
Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 both support disk quotas to track and control disk usage per user on NTFS volumes. The File Server Resource Manager MMC offers some improvements to the quota system.
The quota system in Windows 2000/2003 is limited to tracking quotas per user on a volume. This means that no matter where a users files are on the volume, they are included in the quota. Finally, the quota system only logs to the event log making tracking a bit more difficult.
The File Server Resource Manager MMC offers improvements to all three of those shortcomings. Quotas can be tracked on a per folder or per volume basis, allowing you to enforce a quota on the users home directory, while allowing them to store as many files in other directories on the volume. Disk usage is now calculated based on the actual file size and you can configure e-mail notifications, create reports, execute commands and log to the event logs.
To install the File Resource Manager MMC, open up Add/Remove Windows Components and select File Resource Manager under the Management and Monitoring Tools category. You will need the R2 CD to complete this task. Once installed the File Resource Manager MMC can be found in the Administrative Tools folder.
Expand Quota Management, and click on Quota Templates. There are a few templates included but you can create your own templates as well.
There are a number of options available within the templates. To start you can select a template to copy and then modify it to suit your needs. There are a number of options you can change including the Space Limit, whether it is a hard quota which will deny the user the ability to save to the volume/folder or a soft quota which will warn them. Finally there is a host of notification options including E-mail and Event Log notices, running a command, and listing usage in reports.
Click on Add below Notification Thresholds and you can configure at what percentage the notification should be generated at. Under the E-mail Message tab you can specify where the e-mail should be sent, a subject for the message as well as the message itself. the e-mail can be sent to an administrator and the offending user as well.
Under the Event Log tab, you can select to log the quota violation to the Event Log, as well as specify the information to log including offending user, the location on the file server, the % reached and the total amount of data. You can also log which administrator was sent the notification e-mail.
The Command tab allows you to specify a command and any arguments to run, as well as the working directory and whether the command runs as a Local Service, a Network Service, or a Local System account.
Finally the Report tab allows you to configure report generation with information on the status of the quota and the users under the watch of the quota. The reports can be emailed to the administrator, and the offending user(s). There is a lot of information that you can select to include with the report. By default all reports are also saved to C:\StorageReports\Incidents.
Once configured you can review the quotas in place. (I have closed the task pane on the right for easier viewing)
Once a user reaches a hard limit, the following error will be shown when they try to exceed the quota.
You can also see the change in the status of the quota.
This is just one component of the File Server Resource Manager! As you can see the quota management in R2 is greatly improved and should make the enforcement and management of quotas a lot more administrator friendly.