Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Rely on the Search Service

One of the greatest features of Windows networks in terms of knowledge management is the ability to index data. WS08 can index all sorts of information and documents inside shared folders and on internal and external web sites. Windows Server 2008 relies on the search engine that is included in Windows Vista. PCs running Vista will now be able to rely on the indices generated by the server instead of having to perform all of the indexing on their own, as they did with networks running any previous version of Windows Server.

WS08 also includes the Windows Server 2003 Indexing service for backwards compatibility purposes, but you should always rely on the Search service instead, since it is much more powerful than the Indexing service will ever be.

You can install the Search service as you configure your file server. This service will index documents in the following formats:

• Text
• Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
• Office 95 and later
• Internet Mail and News
• Any other document for which a filter is available

For example, Adobe Corporation provides an indexing filter for documents in the PDF format. This filter can be found at http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/ all/ifilter50.exe. Installing this filter will ensure that all PDF documents will be indexed and searchable. In addition, the Search service can index files for which it doesn't have specific filters. In this case, it will do the best it can, but performance will be slower.

In general, the default settings of the Search service are sufficient for shared folders storing data and documents. This is because even though all documents on a file server are indexed, users will only see the query results for which they have access rights. So even if you have five documents about system administration on a file share, but the user performing the query has access to only one of those, Search will respond with only one query result.

Offline File Caching

By default, each share that is created with Windows Server 2008 is set to allow the user to determine if they want to make the files available offline. Offline file caching allows users to transport files with them if they are using a portable computer or to continue working in the event of a network failure. Through offline files, users actually work on local copies of the files and the Windows Sync Center automatically synchronizes files between the server and the client. Sync Center includes a conflict resolution process, allowing even multiple users to work with offline files without fear of damaging information created by one or the other. Offline files are part of Microsoft's original zero administration for Windows (ZAW) initiative. One of the basic principles of ZAW was to use processing power wherever it was available; therefore, storing information in a local cache and uploading it to a server when done makes sense. Caching options include:

• Manual caching: Users specify which files to make available offline (this is the default setting).
• Automatic caching: This supports either documents or applications and can be optimized for performance.
• No caching: Offline files are turned off.

Offline files are a boon, especially for mobile users, because they offer local access to files while at the same time allowing central backup and protection of data.

Simple SAN

As outlined in the previous section discussing the implementation and preparation of the resource pool that will run the VSOs, network attached storage is becoming more and more important in organizations of all sizes, because it provides access to shared storage as well as storage virtualization-the abstraction of the physical disk drives from the logical storage structure viewed by your servers. Because of this, Microsoft has added a new feature to the file management infrastructure of Windows Server-it was actually added in Windows Server 2003 R2-a feature called Storage Manager for SANs (SMFS).

SMFS provides a graphical interface for SAN configuration and administration through Server Manager. When you add the File Server role to WS08, you can install this graphical component to provide a direct interface into your SAN's configuration, no matter who the manufacturer is. This provides a single way to maintain SAN environments. But since your hardware infrastructure-the actual infrastructure tied to the SAN-is running only Server Core, you will most likely not rely on SMFS to manage your disk volumes and logical storage units. SMFS does not work on Server Core except through the DISKPART and DISKRAID commands. Therefore, you should concentrate on these two commands to manage and modify your networked attached storage structures.