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Server 2012 R2 DrivePool folder permissions setup question


rbrenner87

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Just purchased another bundle license of DrivePool, Scanner and CloudDrive for my new big dog home server.

 

I am running Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (needed 2 VMs and more than 64GB of memory limit of Essentials). If I only need 2 PC's to have read and 1 PC read/write access to the folders within the DrivePool. Is it worth it to setup active directory and domain or is there a simpler access option for my scenario?

 

This is my first run with Windows Server 2012 R2 (running WHS 2011 on my other file server). I read about adding local users on the server, setting up the share and setting the permissions for each user. Best practices seems to frown upon this method but in my case I'm wondering should I go this route, something similar, or take the time to research proper active directory and domain setup/configuration?

 

Most of the comparable examples online are for small office setups that are much more complex with 10-50 client PC's. I would really appreciate any input on the best way to go about configuration in server 2012 R2 for accessing/transferring files and folders to the DrivePool.

 

Apologies in advance: if these questions are not geared toward DrivePool enough, feel free to remove the posting or let me know and I will do so.
 
Thanks
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(I'm moving this to the "Off-Topic" forum, as this is more about Windows Server 2012R2 than StableBit DrivePool. )

 

 

 

I am running Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (needed 2 VMs and more than 64GB of memory limit of Essentials). If I only need 2 PC's to have read and 1 PC read/write access to the folders within the DrivePool. Is it worth it to setup active directory and domain or is there a simpler access option for my scenario?

 

Well, you do get downgrade rights to Essentials, as part of Standard, actually. So you can run Essentials in one VM and Standard in another. 

(The licensing can get downright confusing though) 

 

As for Active Directory, this entirely depends on you. There are some caveats for using it, but there are some advantages. 

For instance, if your domain controller fails, you need to have a secondary domain controller or you need to have good backups.  If you don't have one or the other, the domain users on the client machines are lost. You will be able to log onto them for a while, but you'll need to wipe them out if you reinstall the domain controller. 

 

However, if you've ever used "secpol.msc" or "gpedit.msc" to affect changes on your system, you're just "Local Group Policies" on the system, and these can be implemented on the "whole domain". One of the better features for this is "Folder Redirection", where your user folders (documents, desktops, downloads, etc) are redirected to a network share, and are shared and synced between computers.   

 

Additionally, Active Directory makes authentication of other apps very easy (as long as they support LDAP authentication). 

 

 

 

And if you do want to use Essentials, there is a registry entry to skip the domain join part, so you can use it like WHS2011.

https://tinkertry.com/how-to-make-windows-server-2012-r2-essentials-client-connector-install-behave-just-like-windows-home-server

 

 

If you want a good listen, I've been a guest on one of the Home Server Show "sub-podcasts" and have talked about this topic:

http://homeservershow.com/byob-episode-139.html

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