SQL Server Magazine

Using Event Logs
If you enable logging, you can monitor disk-quota events in the System log and know when to cajole your users. The listings for disk-quota events have the following characteristics:

• Event Type: Information
• Event Source: Ntfs
• Event Category: Disk
• Event ID 36: A user hit their quota threshold
• Event ID 37: A user hit their quota limit
• The user name is displayed in the User column

You can use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to work with Event Viewer to check from your computer a remote computer that's running disk quotas. To accomplish this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Run. Type

   mmc

   then click OK.
2. Click File (in Windows XP) or Console (in Win2K), and select Add/Remove Snap-in.
3. On the Standalone tab, click Add.
4. Click Event Viewer, and click Add.
5. Click Another computer, then enter the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name for the remote computer or click Browse to find the computer.
6. Click Finish, click Close, and click OK.

MMC displays the remote computer's Event Viewer. Save the console for future use (I recommend that you use the remote computer name as the filename). If you're displaying Administrative Tools on the Programs menu, the console appears in the submenu.

Configuring Customized Quota Entries
Win2K's disk-quota feature lets you set customized quota levels or disable the feature for individual users for whom your default settings are too limiting (e.g., for users who create numerous or large files). To modify the quota settings for a user who has already used the hard disk in question, open My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click the icon for the hard disk you want to configure, and select Properties. Next, select the Quota tab, then click Quota Entries to open the Quota Entries for Local Disk window. The names of all users who have used this drive to save files will appear, as Figure 2 shows. Right-click a user listing or multiple user listings, and choose Properties. In the Quota Settings dialog box, which Figure 3 shows, change the disk-space limit and warning-level specifications or disable quotas for this user. If you select multiple users, the title bar says Multiple Users instead of displaying the name of an individual user.

As new users access the drive, the quotas you specified will automatically apply. Alternatively, you can customize individual specifications before new users access the drive for the first time (otherwise, you must change their settings by using the steps I described in the previous paragraph). To customize quotas for users who haven't yet accessed this drive (and for whom you don't want the default settings to apply), perform the following steps:

1. In the Quota Entries for Local Disk window, select Quota, New Quota Entry to open the Select Users dialog box.
2. From the Look in box at the top of the dialog box, select the entity from which to retrieve a user list:
• Choose the domain to see a list of all users in the domain (the default selection).
• Choose the local computer to see a list of all users on the computer.
• Choose Entire Directory to see a list of all users in Active Directory (AD), including all domains and forests.
3. Select a user (or multiple users), click Add, then click OK.
4. In the Add New Quota Entry dialog box, which Figure 4, page 62, shows, set the limits you require or turn off quotas altogether.

Managing Disk Quotas Remotely
After you establish disk quotas for your users, day-to-day quota administration isn't difficult. In fact, you can administer all the disk-quota systems you've set up from the comfort of your desk. To access the disk-quota information on a remote volume (to which you have administrative rights, of course), you must map a drive letter to the remote drive (which must be shared). To map a drive letter, perform the following steps:

1. Open My Network Places, browse to the machine that houses the target disk, and navigate to the drive share.
2. Right-click the icon for the disk, then choose Map Network Drive.
3. Select a drive letter and click Finish (it's also a good idea to select the Reconnect on Logon option).

When you open My Network Places, you might see shortcuts to network shares, including the disk you want to map. These shortcuts exist because you've accessed the share previously, but the shortcuts aren't the same as an icon for the share. You must open the Entire Network icon and navigate to the icon for the shared drive to see the Map Network Drive command on the shortcut menu. If you're working at an XP computer, the system periodically searches the network for new shares and adds shortcuts to those shares to the My Network Places folder, which makes the folder even more crowded than on a Win2K computer, which saves only shortcuts to accessed shares. If this XP behavior annoys you, you can disable this feature. Open any system window (e.g., My Computer), then choose Tools, Folder Options. Click the View tab, then clear the Automatically Search for Network Folders and Printers check box.

After you map the share, open My Computer, where an icon for the drive letter appears. Right-click the drive and choose Properties to view the Properties dialog box, which now has a Quota tab.

Using the Quota Entries Window
The Quota Entries for Local Disk window provides a quick review of the current status of each user's disk usage, as Figure 2 shows. With this information in hand, you can contact users who seem to be approaching their limits or who have exceeded their limits.

You can also use the information from the Quota Entries for Local Disk window to create reports, even though no commands are available to let you export data or print reports. Instead, you must select the entries you need (usually all users except Administrator), drag the entries into another application (e.g., Microsoft Word), and format the information.

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