File classification the automated way with Windows Server 2008 R2

Dealing with data is one of the most painful parts of a Windows administrator's job. Even the smallest IT environments easily support thousands of individual files, and each and every one is important to somebody.

For the sum total of IT's history, we administrators have been responsible for just two aspects of file administration -- security and backup. Making sure that the right people access the proper files is important to security, while protecting our users against their own accidental deletion is important to their sanity. But today's ever-growing landscape of regulation and sensitive information now forces us to look at more than just the object that is a Word file or an Excel spreadsheet. We also now find ourselves additionally responsible for managing the contents of those objects as well.

As if watching over ten thousand permissions wasn't enough, the rules of sensitive information and regulatory compliance now require us to properly handle the different kinds of data that is stored on our networks.

Thankfully, Microsoft also understands this new responsibility. Windows Server 2008 R2 offers new technologies that introduce the concepts of content administration. R2's File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) adds additional automation capabilities to the File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) role. In short, FCI enables FSRM to classify the sensitivity of individual files based on their content or location, while at the same time automating the elimination of files gone stale. Both go a long way in reducing the risk of storing sensitive business data.

Classified

First, install the File Server Resource Manager role service to your file server. This role service is a component of the File Services role. It was primarily used in the RTM version of Windows Server 2008 as the new location for quota management and storage reporting. Windows Server 2008 R2 adds two new nodes to this console; one for def...