Self Service File Shares : Scripts Setup

Self-Service File Server : Scripts Setup The scripting is the fun part! Let’s make it happen!

Please see my first posting overview if you haven’t already. And then my second post about server setup.

fyi :: Before you get all the way through this, I do use a third party tool to facilitate adding users to groups. But that can be automated away using native powershell. GroupID has a couple of nice features going for it though. GroupID by Imanami

Prerequisites

• Powershell v4 minimum
• Imanami GroupID Powershell Module
• Custom scripts I’ve included here

also fyi These scripts and steps are not a copy/paste to your setup. You’ll need to go in and modify for your understanding and your environment. This is more of a framework for a deployment in your environment. Plus the script that creates the share needs some work!

Script Descriptions

1. Create-ExpirationTask.ps1 - This script creates the file expiration task in FSRM to enable the automated migration of files to the Archive drive. This is a script because there is an option only available in the command line and not in the GUI.
2. Create-FileShareV2.ps1 - This is the main script that creates the file share and emails the end user.
3. Modify-LastAccessTime.ps1 - This is a test script to test the functionality of the FSRM Archive task. The script modifies the LastAccessTime of the files specified so that the FSRM Archive task automatically moves the files the next time the FSRM task runs.
4. MoveFile.ps1 - This is the script called by the FSRM task created by Creat-ExpiratoinTask.ps1. It does the actual move for the files from the source location to the Archive location. It is placed in the C:\windows\system32 folder. This file is sourced from a now defunct MS post.
5. Store-SecureCreds.ps1 - This file creates the password hash used to store the password securely in the Create-FileShareV2.ps1 file for the domain service account doing the actual work.

Other things to note in my scripts (besides the amaturity. heh )….. They aren’t optimized for use with variables for domain, servernames, etc.. You’ll have to go through the script and test lines for your environment. Man! There sure are a lot of fyi’s in this whole thing.

Step One

Install GroupID Powershell Module. The module is needed wherever the Create-FileShareV2.ps1 file is run. I won’t go over this but a minimal install of just the Powershell module is needed. You’ll need to script your own Powershell if you don’t have this 3rd party product.

Step One point Five

Create a D:\Scripts folder and place all your scripts there.

Step Two

Verify you’re using Powershell v4 minimum: $psversiontable.psversion

Step Two point Five

Create a service account in your domain that’ll do all the script work in the background. Eg. domain.com\s-erviceaccount. Store the password in your password vault.

This account will also need to have rights to in Active Directory to create, modify and delete groups.

Step Three

Now, this may not be the most secure way to do this. Do what’s best for your environment or how you best know to use passwords securely in a script.

Use the Store-SecureCreds.ps1 to create the hash of your service account password. Use the hash and place it in the ‘Create-FileShareV2.ps1’ script (line 20 for my example script).

Step Four

If you haven’t already done so, move the MoveFile.ps1 file into the C:\Windows\System32 folder. I haven’t looked into why, but I am guesing that this ensures that the script is able to be run by cmd.exe, by SYSTEM, which is in the same folder. The old MS article is now gone or archived on the Microsoft site. http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/05/11/customizing-file-management-tasks.aspx

Step Five

Open up Create-ExpirationTask.ps1 and edit the time you’d like to make for your archive process. I’ve set mine to 365 days from the date the file was last accessed. This file was also based on an old MS article which is now defunct or archived.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/05/11/customizing-file-management-tasks.aspx

Bonus Step

I included the Modify-LastAccessTime.ps1 script to test the archive process. The script modifies a file’s last access datestamp. Once changed to older than 365 days, or whatever you’ve set in your Create-ExpirationTask.ps1, run the scheduled task and if all is well, the file will get moved into the Archive folder.

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