Create the Folder Structure

The folder structure is not the same as the shared folder structure because shares are regrouped by content type. You can create shares through the File Services node in Server Manager, but this process works only for one share at a time. Since you need to create a complete folder structure, use Windows Explorer. It will be much faster.

1. Launch Windows Explorer from the Quick Launch area.
2. In Windows Explorer, navigate to Computer | Data (D:).
3. Begin by creating the top-level folders. Right-click in the details pane, and select New | Folder from the context menu. Name the folder and press enter. Create three folders: Administration, Applications, and Data.
4. Next, apply NTFS security settings for each folder. Security settings are applied according to the details in Table-1. To do so, right-click each folder name and select Properties. Move to the Security tab. Add the appropriate groups, and assign appropriate security settings to each group. Also, modify the default security settings as per the requirements of Table 8-1. You modify security settings now because they are inherited whenever you create subfolders. Thus, you will only need to fine-tune subfolder security settings from now on instead of re-creating them all.
5. Next, create all of the subfolders for each section:
   • In Administration, create HotFixes$, ServicePacks$, Sources$, and SupportTools$.
   • In Data, create Departments and Projects. These subfolders are parent folders for each of the department-specific and project-specific shared folders. Also create Public and UserData$ at this level.
   • Within Departments and Projects, create the required subfolders for each department and each project.
6. Modify the NTFS security settings for each folder. Remember to modify the parent folders before creating the subfolders in order to simplify your creation process. Your folders are ready.

TIP: Once the folder creation process is complete, create a new folder called FolderStructure. Then make a copy of the entire structure into the FolderStructure folder. This way, you will not have to re-create the entire folder structure each time you create a file server. You will simply have to copy it from this file structure template. Ensure that this master folder structure is always up to date in order to simplify the file server creation process.