SpaceGuard SRM – Disk Quota Management

Increasing storage demands require effective methods to regulate and control disk space usage. Simply expanding storage capacity will not solve this problem as it will only add another point of failure, more operational costs and additional back-up requirements. This has forced network administrators to critically look at the effective use of disk space. Users tend to quickly fill up all the available space with Internet downloads, MP3 and video files, email attachments and their documents. resulting in a huge effect on storage capacity.

By implementing SpaceGuard SRM, network admins will be able to enforce disk space quotas easily, saving the company both time and money.

Active Directory integration

SpaceGuard SRM saves time and configuration hassle by automatically reading information from the Active Directory. You can also include any Active Directory attribute in the notifications, such as telephone number or address information.

Integration with other applications

SpaceGuard SRM offers a fully automated interface allowing administrators to manage quotas with an external application. If the organization uses an application to manage the resource settings for network users, this can be integrated seamlessly with SpaceGuard SRM. SpaceGuard SRM is unique in offering this ability.

Set directory quotas

SpaceGuard SRM offers numerous possibilities to regulate directory quotas, such as:

Auto-Add quota’s:: An Auto-Add disk quota removes the need to add a disk quota each time a directory is added. Each time a directory is created, inside a specified directory, a quota is set on using a predefined policy or custom sizes/limits. The SpaceGuard SRM service continuously scans the local computer's file system for directory changes. If a new subfolder is created under the branch where the Auto-Add disk quota is active, SpaceGuard SRM automatically creates a new quota according to the Auto-Add policy. Also, whenever subfolders under an Auto-Add quota root are removed, the related quota is automatically removed.

Quota enforcement: The revoke access alert action can be used to deny write access to the quota’s directory for a single user or an entire group of users. When linked to a certain quota limit, SpaceGuard SRM will revoke the access rights by setting explicit ‘Deny’ write in the directory's ACL. When the limit is no longer exceeded, SpaceGuard SRM will revert back to the original access rights and restore the ACL including the owner to its original state. This also occurs when deleting a quota that was previously revoked by SpaceGuard SRM.

Unlimited quota levels: Each disk quota can have one or more limits. A limit is a percentage based on the disk quota size. For example if you have a fixed disk quota size of 50MB and you define a limit of 100% and assign an alert, the alert will be executed when the 50MB has been exceeded. This way, you can assign multiple limits to a single quota, for instance:
Fixed disk quota size, 50MB: Limit 1: 80%, send a popup to the user assigned to the quota (executed at 40MB).
Limit 2: 90%, send a popup to the administrator (executed at 45MB).
Limit 3: 100%, revoke the write access of the user assigned to the quota (executed at 50MB).

SmartQuota Technology:: SpaceGuard SRM is SmartQuota enabled which allows for rapid deployment and mass quota reconfiguration. Using SmartQuota technology, you can quickly add new quota limits to all existing quotas based on a percentage of the current limits. If for instance company policy changes and users are allowed to store 25% more on their home directories, simply select all quotas and change the default revoke access limit from 100% to 125%. All other settings will be applied automatically in the background.

User alerting

SpaceGuard SRM supports a wide range of notifications and actions. You can send popup messages, email, both SMTP and Exchange MAPI are supported, Pager/SMS messages with global provider coverage and built-in modem connection software. SpaceGuard SRM can also write entries to the Windows event log, and execute command line actions. Each alarm action can access quota-related keywords to include quota status information.

File extension blocking

SpaceGuard offers the ability to block files before they reach your disk (mp3, wav, exe). This prevents unwanted programs from being installed or unwanted media from being stored.

Time savings

SpaceGuard SRM will save network administrators time by managing disk space on all hard drives and directories within their network. SpaceGuard effectively manages end-user quotas, restricting access to drives once a user has exceeded their pre-set quota and sending out alerts and warning notices when users are nearing their pre-set limits.

Lower network TCO

By using an effective storage control solution, you can dramatically reduce your costs for purchasing and maintaining storage resources, which leads to a lower overall network TCO and increased efficiency.

Enhanced security

SpaceGuard’s ability to efficiently block unwanted file extensions also assists in preventing end-users from downloading undesirable file types, and can also aide in the prevention of downloading viruses.

Greatly surpasses standard Windows quota functionality

SpaceGuard SRM offers far more control over user disk space consumption than the standard native Windows quotas. By using directory quotas, SmartQuota technology, extensive alerting capabilities (pop-up, e-mail, event log, and more), and rapid deployment configuration options, SpaceGuard SRM surpasses Windows quotas in functionality, performance and ease of use.

Software requirements

Note: 64 bits machines do not support the SpaceGuard File filter.

Minimal Hardware requirements

Processor: Pentium III (Pentium 4 or higher recommended)
Memory: 512 MB RAM (1 GB or more recommended)
Hard disk space: 256 MB (1 GB or more recommended)

Depending on the exact configuration and used components the system requirements may vary.