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Create ONTAP SMB home directory configurations using the %w and %d variables

Contributors netapp-aherbin netapp-aaron-holt netapp-thomi netapp-ahibbard
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You can create a home directory configuration using the %w and %d variables. Users can then connect to their home share using dynamically created shares.

Steps

  1. Create a qtree to contain user's home directories: volume qtree create -vserver vserver_name -qtree-path qtree_path

  2. Verify that the qtree is using the correct security style: volume qtree show

  3. If the qtree is not using the desired security style, change the security style using the volume qtree security command.

  4. Add a home directory share: vserver cifs share create -vserver vserver -share-name %w -path %d/%w -share-properties homedirectory\[,...\]

    -vserver vserver specifies the CIFS-enabled storage virtual machine (SVM) on which to add the search path.

    -share-name %w specifies the home directory share name. ONTAP dynamically creates the share name as each user connects to their home directory. The share name will be of the form windows_user_name.

    -path %d/%w specifies the relative path to the home directory. The relative path is dynamically created as each user connects to their home directory and will be of the form domain/windows_user_name.

    -share-properties homedirectory[,…​]+ specifies the share properties for that share. You must specify the homedirectory value. You can specify additional share properties using a comma delimited list.

  5. Verify that the share has the desired configuration using the vserver cifs share show command.

  6. Add a home directory search path: vserver cifs home-directory search-path add -vserver vserver -path path

    -vserver vserver-name specifies the CIFS-enabled SVM on which to add the search path.

    -path path specifies the absolute directory path to the search path.

  7. Verify that you successfully added the search path using the vserver cifs home-directory search-path show command.

  8. For users with a home directory, create a corresponding directory in the qtree or volume designated to contain home directories.

    For example, if you created a qtree with the path of /vol/vol1/users and the user name whose directory you want to create is mydomain\user1, you would create a directory with the following path: /vol/vol1/users/mydomain/user1.

    If you created a volume named “home1” mounted at /home1, you would create a directory with the following path: /home1/mydomain/user1.

  9. Verify that a user can successfully connect to the home share either by mapping a drive or connecting using the UNC path.

    For example, if user mydomain\user1 wants to connect to the directory created in Step 8 that is located on SVM vs1, user1 would connect using the UNC path \\vs1\user1.

Example

The commands in the following example create a home directory configuration with the following settings:

  • The share name is %w.

  • The relative home directory path is %d/%w.

  • The search path that is used to contain the home directories, /home1, is a volume configured with NTFS security style.

  • The configuration is created on SVM vs1.

You can use this type of home directory configuration when users access their home directories from Windows hosts. You can also use this type of configuration when users access their home directories from Windows and UNIX hosts and the file system administrator uses Windows-based users and groups to control access to the file system.

cluster::> vserver cifs share create -vserver vs1 -share-name %w -path %d/%w -share-properties oplocks,browsable,changenotify,homedirectory

cluster::> vserver cifs share show -vserver vs1 -share-name %w

                      Vserver: vs1
                        Share: %w
     CIFS Server NetBIOS Name: VS1
                         Path: %d/%w
             Share Properties: oplocks
                               browsable
                               changenotify
                               homedirectory
           Symlink Properties: enable
      File Mode Creation Mask: -
 Directory Mode Creation Mask: -
                Share Comment: -
                    Share ACL: Everyone / Full Control
File Attribute Cache Lifetime: -
                  Volume Name: -
                Offline Files: manual
Vscan File-Operations Profile: standard

cluster::> vserver cifs home-directory search-path add -vserver vs1 ‑path /home1

cluster::> vserver cifs home-directory search-path show
Vserver     Position Path
----------- -------- -----------------
vs1         1        /home1
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