Windows XP Permission Based Sharing

[Guest]

I'm in charge of a school network that has about 150+ systems all running
Windows XP Pro (SP1) and I'm trying to set up a file server that is
permissions based. The only problem is, we're not on a domain, and a domain
is *not* an option. All computers are configured with a static IP address,
and can see each other on the network just fine. The problem is that I want
to set up a folder share (with Quota enabled) to allow students access to the
share with only their name & password. We have a share set up on a central
server (Unix) but it's open to everyone who can log into the lab systems (so
stuff can get deleted easily). There's GOT to be a way that I can do this
outside of a domain... ideas?

 

[John Coode]

I'm in charge of a school network that has about 150+ systems all running
Windows XP Pro (SP1) and I'm trying to set up a file server that is
permissions based. The only problem is, we're not on a domain, and a
domain
is *not* an option. All computers are configured with a static IP
address,
and can see each other on the network just fine. The problem is that I
want
to set up a folder share (with Quota enabled) to allow students access to
the
share with only their name & password. We have a share set up on a
central
server (Unix) but it's open to everyone who can log into the lab systems
(so
stuff can get deleted easily). There's GOT to be a way that I can do this
outside of a domain... ideas?

If you are thinking of setting up this fileserver on an XP Pro machine
you should bear in mind that it will be limited to 10 simultaneous
incoming connections, surely not enough for 150 users.

I think it would be better to do some research on Unix file security and
try to harden security on your existing server.

 

[Ron Lowe]

I'm in charge of a school network that has about 150+ systems all running
Windows XP Pro (SP1) and I'm trying to set up a file server that is
permissions based. The only problem is, we're not on a domain, and a
domain
is *not* an option. All computers are configured with a static IP
address,
and can see each other on the network just fine. The problem is that I
want
to set up a folder share (with Quota enabled) to allow students access to
the
share with only their name & password. We have a share set up on a
central
server (Unix) but it's open to everyone who can log into the lab systems
(so
stuff can get deleted easily). There's GOT to be a way that I can do this
outside of a domain... ideas?

To set up shares with controlled access, you don't need a domain.
You need to:

1) Disable Simple File Sharing on the server machine;
2) Set up user accounts on the server for each user;
3) Set up share and / or NTFS permissions.

Here's a walk-through of the basics:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/

XP Pro would not be a good choice of server OS in your case,
it can only accept 10 incomming connections from other machines
at the same time.

You need to consider either a server OS like win server 2003, or a
non-windows solution.

 

[Admiral Q]

If you are tying to set up a UNIX NFS, then you need to read up on
"UNIX" Permissions, Groups, and how they relate to File and Directory
Security - very few true UNIX OS's (except the Linux flavors) have GUI
interfaces for doing this. It is all done with "command line" aka DOS like
programs. Another option you can explore is SMB aka SAMBA, but again, it is
all manual setup, no nifty GUI things like windows, although some are
starting to create GUI interfaces, but then you have to setup and run an
Xserver on the UNIX box and an Xclient on the UNIX and/or Windows Box.
Another thing, getting into Quota management in UNIX, well again it's
doable, but its all manual processes - that is unless you have an
"experienced" UNIX admin who really knows how to write scripts to automate
much of the labor intensive work.
A plus would be if you have a Win2k/Win2k3 Server with AD and LDAP in a
domain environment which can be interfaced with UNIX LDAP and security admin
becomes almost (not entirely) transparent between the two.
Bottom Line - no domain - lots of work, domain, medium overhead to
setup, but very little to maintain - I come to the conclusion the School
Board who fork the dollars over for the domain, because you working 24x7 is
cheaper (you are most likely salaried, exempt), it'll just take a little
longer.

--
Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
"Google is your Friend!"
www.google.com

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