Find All True Windows Server 2003/2008/2012 File Servers

[chris_sarris]

Hello LanSweeper Support,
How do I detect Windows 2003, 2008 and 2012 servers configured as “true File Servers” and not merely listed in the report because someone shared out a single folder?

I have found the pre-configured report in LanSweeper called “Server: fileshares”

However, this shows any computer that has any folder shared rather than reporting on Servers that are specifically configured as a true File Server.

I did write a report that showed each servers “Role” using tblComputersystem.Roles As Roles, but I did not see a “Role” listed for “File Sharing Services” on my Windows 2008 and 2012 servers.

What are the values that tblComputersystem.Roles will show? I looked under CIM_System class at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa388503(v=vs.85).aspx but it did not list the Roles like DNS Server, Domain Controllers, File Server etc…

I do realize that Server 2003 systems will not list Roles like Server 2008 / 2012.

I have searched on the internet and the LS Forums.

Any thoughts how to detect true File Servers with LanSweeper?
Tks,
Chris

[chris_sarris]

Michael V,
THANKS for your input. This is the best answer so far! I wonder why the LAN Sweeper Support people couldn't have at least told me this much?

Interestingly this has reduced my hits to 269 Servers, down from the File Server built-in reports that listed 4,000+ servers. The original report detects on ANY SYSTEM and has even 1 folder shared out.

In the new report (thanks again) some servers are still listed where an IT Admin has not officially installed the "File Sharing" Role but someone has shared out 1 folder (and this has possibly triggered Windows 2008/2012 to turn on the File Sharing Role as a "Feature" - if that makes any sense.)

So there are still a lot of servers to wade through that are not true file servers - but I seems to be a lot closer.

I am still searching the internet for a Registry Key that would indicate that an IT Admin has installed the true File Server Role. We shall see. Tks!

[Michael_V · Accepted solution]

If you have the latest lansweeper version:
Check any windows asset/software/feature.

I believe "file server role" is what you need.

[chris_sarris]

I understand the tblComputerSystem.Roles - but that is not what I am talking about.

In Server 2008/2012 - "File Sharing Services" is added as a "Role" on the Windows server. (This does not occur in Server 2003 OSes)

I would like LanSweeper to detect what "Roles" are added/installed on a Windows Server... especially the "File Sharing Services" Role.

Can LAN Sweeper detect these Roles?

[Tom_P]

This question was answered by mail

There is currently no field that is scanned and stored in the database that will give back if the server is a 'True File Server'. In tblComputerSystem there are two roles. There is the DomainRoles which are the below:

• Stand-alone workstation
  
• Member workstation
  
• Stand-alone server
  
• Member server
  
• Backup domain controller
  
• Primary domain controller

The roles that are stored in tblComputersystem.Roles are the roles the system plays in the information technology environment. There is no list of roles that we can give back for this field as it is scanned from the Win32_ComputerSystem WMI class. You can refer to this MSDN page.

We will mark this ticket as a feature request to add a feature so that it may be possible to give back when a server is a 'True File Server'. We can however not give an estimated release date when this feature may be released.

As an alternative, there may be a registry key that will give back if an asset is a file server. You could use custom registry scanning to scan the registry and check the value. You can find more information on custom registry scanning in this knowledge base article.