Information Systems:SuperServer

SuperServer is the file and print server used by all staff. All user created files such as Word or Excel files need to be saved on the SuperServer. All of the office area laser printers and copiers are shared from SuperServer.

The OS on this machine is Windows Server 2008R2 and the current hardware was installed in December 2010 with additional hard drives added in Q3 2015. The file and print server role is the only role that is installed on SuperServer. There may be additional features for the IIS FTP server, installed but they are not used and not needed.

The C: drive on the SuperServer only contains the OS and small applications for monitoring and controlling the RAID hardware. The D: and E: drives are used for file storage. Both the D: and E: have Shadow Copies turned on with a 100GB limit and the Shadow Copy service is on a schedule running every 2 hours from 7AM to 6PM daily.

The structure of the shared folders is either by department or by general function. Permissions are applied through Active Directory groups with either read or modify permissions. The "messiness" of the shared folders is mostly under control but there is room for improvement. There are very large numbers of files that are not used or opened but need to be retained. Be very careful if files dated as being old are deleted.

Most ( but not all ) users in Active Directory are roaming users which means their user profile on their workstation actually resides as a copy on the D:\Profiles share on the SuperServer. When a user logs off from their workstation, any file updates get copied to the SuperServer. Staff using laptops are not roaming users.

Office printers are shared from the SuperServer using a DNS hostname instead of an IP address. DONT use an IP address to share a printer. Both 32bit and 64bit drivers are installed for each shared printer. Try not to use generic universal print drivers, especially for copiers. Print driver isolation should also be turned on for all print drivers to protect the print spooler from crashing on badly coded print drivers.

All files on all volumes are backed up to tape Monday to Friday nights starting at midnight. Monthly backups also contain all files and those tapes are not recycled.