SpaceGuard 4.2
I installed SpaceGuard on the Win2K Server system from a CD-ROM that the company supplied. The installation program prompted me for licensing information and an installation directory. For the SpaceGuard service logon, I specified an account that I created for that purpose. I also specified that the account should be a member of the local administrators group. The software then prompted me to enter the name of a configured Messaging API (MAPI) profile to use for email notifications. (You can use MAPI or SMTP for email notifications.) The entire installation took about 2 minutes.
After the installation program finished copying files to the server, the SpaceGuard Client Setup program launched and prompted me for a directory path to which to install client files.
Setuprem.exe is a command-line utility you use to install SpaceGuard on remote servers. The program requires that you use arguments to supply all the setup parameters—the result is a long, cumbersome command string. After I executed the command with the appropriate arguments, the system installed SpaceGuard Server on the remote NT Server system and the service started automatically.
The SpaceGuard Client
To launch the SpaceGuard Client, I clicked the SpaceGuard icon on the Start menu. The client UI, which Figure 4 shows, isn't as complex as other quota products' UIs. From the File menu, you can choose Monitor, Configure, or Overview. The monitor window shows quota information for an individual server. You can open multiple monitor windows to view quotas on different servers. You use the configuration window to add and manage quotas. The overview window shows summary information for multiple SpaceGuard servers. From the overview window, you can launch the monitor window for a specified server.
You can customize all three windows' views to display relevant information. After you configure the SpaceGuard Client to your liking, you can save the desktop for future use. Choosing Service Options from the Tools menu opens the SpaceGuard service configuration program, which you use to change general configuration items, alter SpaceGuard Client window-refresh rates, and modify notification messages.
Quota Types
SpaceGuard offers only standard and auto-add quotas. Both types of quotas apply to directories, but the auto-add quota configures itself for all existing and newly created subdirectories. An obvious limitation of SpaceGuard's few quota options is the inability to manage usage by user for any shares available to multiple users.
Adding and Managing Quotas
In the configuration window, you can add or alter quotas. When you first open the configuration window, the Microsoft Windows Network is the only displayed item. You must navigate to the servers on which you've installed SpaceGuard and right-click the object to which you want to apply a quota. Then, choose Add Quota from the pop-up menu to access the Quota Configuration dialog box. The dialog box has four tabs: Specification, User Actions, Administrator Actions, and Detection.
On the Specification tab, you configure the quota's warning limit and maximum limit. Also on this tab, you can select the Include subdirectories check box to ensure that files stored in subdirectories count toward the quota. The Detection tab lets you choose the method for monitoring changes on disk objects. The two available methods are Automatic on changes, with a user-specified delay in seconds, or Every interval, with a user-specified interval in minutes.
I configured quotas for each partition on both of my servers: I entered a warning limit and a maximum limit in megabytes, then chose Automatic on changes with a delay of 5 seconds. In the other products, which support user-based quotas, I gave each user 50MB. Because I couldn't create user-based quotas in SpaceGuard, I used a standard quota for the Files share and multiplied the number of users by 50MB to equal the same total disk consumption.
To create an auto-add quota on the user home directories, I selected the E:\users directory and chose Auto add from the Quota menu. (The Auto add Quota Configuration dialog box looks like the standard Quota Configuration dialog box, but after I finished my configuration, I verified in the monitor window that the software had set a quota on each user's home directory.)
Thresholds and Actions
On the Quota Configuration dialog box's User actions and Administrator actions tabs, you can configure actions based on the product's two threshold levels (i.e., the warning limit and the maximum limit). You can choose to display a popup message, send an email message, revoke user-write access, or execute a command. You can configure both the warning limit and the maximum limit to trigger any combination of the actions—with the exception of revoking user-write access, which you can set only for maximum-limit violations. You can specify only one user for access revocation, so this action works well only for a user home directory scenario. The pop-up and email messages are predefined, but you can use the SpaceGuard service configuration program to modify them.
Monitoring and Reporting
You monitor quotas from each SpaceGuard server's monitor window. Figure 4 shows monitor windows labeled PRODUCTION and CORP. To modify a monitor window's contents so that it displays relevant data, right-click the header and choose Configure Column. From the resulting drop-down list, you can choose from a large selection of counters.
You can also provide users with a utility called Quota Query Tool, which gives them a way to monitor quota information as it affects them. SpaceGuard doesn't offer tools for creating reports.
Perhaps Too Simple
SpaceGuard is extremely easy to use. Unfortunately, the product's ease-of-use is due largely to its lack of functionality. If you need only to implement quotas on users' home directories, SpaceGuard might be a good choice. But if you need user-based quotas or reporting features, you'll need to look elsewhere.