You can also use the Computer Management snap-in or Shared Folders snap-in to monitor which users are currently accessing shared folder resources on a server from a remote computer, and you can view the resources to which the users have connections. You can disconnect users and send administrative messages to computers and users, including those not currently accessing network resources.
You can use the Computer Management snap-in or Shared Folders snap-in to view which users have a connection to open files on a server and the files to which they have a connection. This information enables you to determine which users you should contact when you need to stop sharing a folder or shut down the server on which the shared folder resides. You can disconnect one or more users to free idle connections to the shared folder, to prepare for a backup or restore operation, to shut down a server, or to change group membership and permissions for the shared folder.
You use the Sessions folder in the Computer Management snap-in or Shared Folders snap-in to view a list of the users with a current network connection to the computer that you are monitoring (see Figure 15.3).
Figure 15.3 Sessions folder of the Shared Folders snap-in
Table 15.5 describes the information that is available in the Sessions folder.
Table 15.5 Information Available in the Sessions Folder
Column name | Description |
---|---|
User | The users with a current network connection to this computer |
Computer | The name of the user's computer |
Type | The operating system running on the user's computer |
# Open Files | The number of files that the user has open on this computer |
Connected Time | The time that has elapsed since the user established the session |
Idle Time | The time that has elapsed since the user last accessed a resource on this computer |
Guest | Whether this computer authenticated the user as a member of the built-in Guest account |
You can disconnect one or all users with a network connection to a computer so that you can do any of the following:
After you disconnect a user, he or she can immediately make a new connection. If the user gains access to a shared folder from a Windows-based client computer, the client computer automatically reestablishes the connection with the shared folder. This connection is established without user intervention unless you change the permissions to prevent the user from accessing the shared folder or you stop sharing the folder to prevent all users from accessing it.
You can disconnect a specific user as follows:
If you want to disconnect all users, click Sessions in the console tree, and then, on the Action menu, click Disconnect All Sessions.
To prevent data loss, you should always notify users who are accessing shared folders or files that you are ready to stop sharing a folder or shut down the computer.
You can send administrative messages to one or more users or computers. Send them to users with a current connection to a computer on which network resources are shared to notify them when there will be a disruption to the computer or resource availability. Some common reasons for sending administrative messages are to notify users when you intend to do any of the following:
Use the Shared Folders snap-in to send administrative messages to users. By default, all currently connected computers to which you can send a message appear in the list of recipients. You can add other users or computers to this list even if they do not have a current connection to resources on the computer.
In this practice, you use the Shared Folders snap-in to send a console message.
If your computer is not connected to a network, you will notice that Send is unavailable and that the Recipients list box is empty.
The Select Computer dialog box appears.
Pro1 should be the name of your computer. If you did not name your computer Pro1, type the name of your computer in the Recipients text box.
Notice that Send is now available.
A message box briefly appears, showing that the message is being sent, and then the Messenger Service dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 15.4. It confirms that a message was sent from Pro1 to Pro1, indicates the date and time the message was sent, and displays the message that was sent.
Figure 15.4 Messenger Service dialog box
The following questions will help you determine whether you have learned enough to move on to the next lesson. If you have difficulty answering these questions, review the material in this lesson before beginning the next lesson. The answers are in Appendix A, "Questions and Answers."