UWB Crest

IT Services

Active Directory and NAS

The Active Directory (AD) Project

New Data Storage Model

 

As part of the move to the new Bangor University data storage systems (commonly referred to as the NAS Project) a number of changes will be made to how user, group and project data is stored. The following sections detail how the data storage model has changed and how it affects users.

The most significant changes are:

  • UNIX and Windows user file stores are now separate.
  • Separate quotas for Windows, UNIX / Mail, and Group areas.
  • More accessible paths for many resources. e.g. \\home-srv-002\homes-002\issxxx will become $HOME
  • New U:\ University drive.
  • Addition of Large Dataset Storage Facility (Coming Soon).

UNIX and Windows Home Directories Now Separate (M:\ and $HOME)

The most significant change the new model brings is the separation of user's Windows and UNIX home directories. For the vast majority of users this will present very little noticeable change, as most users do not interact directly with their UNIX data in their home directory.

Windows Home Directory

Once you M drive has been moved your Windows home directory will include everything except:

    • Mail/ folder and all subdirectories
    • public_html/ and all subdirectories.
    • All dotfiles such as .bash_profile or .gnome/

These will remain on your UNIX Home directory.

Whats different about the new M?

  • No NFS access to Windows Home Directory (this may be added again in the future).
  • More stringent quota policy (Coming Soon).
  • separate quotas for Mail / UNIX, Windows and Mail.
  • The ability to recover you own files from the previous day with a "Previous Versions" tab.
  • No longer contains the Mail/ and public_html/ folders.

The Windows Home Directory will be available via the following paths and protocols:

Path Protocol Description
M:\ Local Drive (over CIFS) Mapped drive. The main access method for all users.
\\ad.bangor.ac.uk\system\homes\<username> CIFS via DFS This is a DFS path to the user's Windows home directory. This abstracts away the need to know which server and partition the user's home directory is on. This is mainly used by IT Support staff to access user's home directories to resolve support issues.
\\home-srv-<Server ID>\homes-<Server ID>\<username> CIFS This is the path that M:\ is mapped to. This is for system use only and is the value stored in the AD attributehomeDirectory. This path may be required for debugging certain home directory problems and is currently required to identify the partition the user's home directory is on in order to manipulate user quotas.
sftp://<username>@remote.bangor.ac.uk/M: SFTP Remote access path used by the user to gain access to their Windows home directory from outside the Bangor University Network. This is the preferred access method for remote workers, home workers, wireless users and ResNet users.

UNIX Home Directory

Once your M drive has been moved your UNIX home directory will include only the following :

    • Mail/ folder and all subdirectories.
    • public_html/ and all subdirectories.
    • All dotfiles such as .bash_profile or .gnome/

The following notes apply to the new UNIX home directories:

  • Initially these will remain on the same server systems as the old M:\ drives.
  • They will be migrated to the NAS in the future.
  • They will  not be mounted as the M:\ drive.
  • They will not appear in Windows as a mounted drive automatically.
  • Unix home directories will gain distinct quotas. This quota is shared with the user's Mail.
  • When UNIX home directories move to the NAS NFS versions prior to NFSv4 will no longer be supported as mount protocols.

The UNIX Home Directory will be available via the following paths and protocols:

Path Protocol Description
/homedir/<username> NFS Mount into Local File System This will continue to the path users see as their $HOME location. This is the primary access method for users that use IT Services UNIX systems. This is the value stored in the unixHomeDirectory AD attribute.
XXhome:/export/home{0,1}/XX/<username> NFS Export Point This is the path to the NFS export on the host server. This information is stored in the LDAP based automount maps. Essentially this is the path on the servers that is mounted.
\\XXhome\<username> CIFS This is the path UNIX users should use to get to their UNIX home directory from Windows until the UNIX home directories are moved to the NAS.
\\ad.bangor.ac.uk\system\unix\<username> CIFS via DFS This is a DFS path to the user's UNIX home directory. This abstracts away the need to know which server and partition the user's home directory is on. This is mainly used by IT Support staff to access user's home directories to resolve support issues.
sftp://<username>@publix.bangor.ac.uk SFTP Remote access path used by the user to gain access to their UNIX home directory from outside the Bangor University Network. This is the preferred access method for remote workers, home workers, wireless users and ResNet users.

Group Drives (N:\)

  • Now distinct from user quotas.
    • Data user owns on the group drive will no longer contribute to Home Directory quota usage.
  • Quotas enforced to prevent data explosion.

University Drive (U:\)

The U drive provides simplified access to the shared data currently held on various group drives and accessed by mapped shares.  The U drive is organised by College and School or Service Departments.

Remote File Access

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/itservices/knowledgebase/faq/filestore.php#FROMHOME