Network SMB Share Information

SMB shares (sometimes called Windows shares, hereafter simply "Shares") provide a way for departments and working groups to share files.

Overview

• Location: Shares are hosted on campus.
• Backups: Shares have routine snapshots and offsite backups. The typical case is 30 days of daily snapshots. In the case of disaster, we also have off-site backups.
• Ownership: Each share has one or more designated owners. They are considered Data Custodians per Policy #860 Data Management and Information Security. For shares this means that they must approve any new access requests to the share, and they must routinely ensure access lists are correct. They must also maintain the data by ensuring the share is being used for its intended purpose and cleaning up unneeded files.
• Access: SMB Shares have two access levels, "Read" and "Read Only". Access must be approved by owners. Users must be connected to the Oakland University network directly or via VPN.
• Size: UTS enforces quotas to protect our storage solution from being overwhelmed by unforeseen usage increases. Quotas are currently applied per share.
• Cost: Typically, a share under 1TB in size is provided and serviced free of charge. At its own discretion, UTS may charge for shares, especially if the size, backup, or other requirements are particularly large or unusual.

How To:

Share Creation Request

To request a share drive be created for departmental use, please submit a form on the "Request New Share Drive" service request. 

Share Access Request

For users who need to request access to a share drive, please submit a form on the "Request Share Drive Access" service request. 

Map a Share

Once access has been granted, the user may need to log off and on for their current session to be authorized for access to a share. Then the share must be mapped. For any share associated with a department that has been migrated to our current storage solution, Windows users on domain joined machines will automatically receive a shortcut under "This PC".

Others may view the full list of Departmental roots at the path \\admnet.oakland.edu\shares\ on Windows or smb://admnet.oakland.edu/shares/ on Macs and then map them through manual means, or directly map a deeper item.

Conventional Mapping (Windows)

1. Click on the Windows Start Menu and type "This PC"
2. Click on "Map Network Drive" in the toolbar (you may have to click on the tab labeled "Computer" first) and enter the path you wish to map.
3. Select a drive letter you would like the network drive to appear as on your computer as and click Finish.
4. If prompted, enter your username (in the format ADMNET\USERNAME) and your admnet password (you may have to click "More choices").
5. The path is now accessible under My Computer/This PC via a traditional letter drive.

Conventional Mapping (Mac)

1. Click on the Finder icon
2. Click on the Go menu in the Menu Bar
3. Select on "Connect to Server..."
4. Enter the path you wish to map into the Server Address box and click Connect. The path should begin with "smb://" without quotas, and ought to have all backward slashes converted to forward slashes.
5. Enter your username (in the format ADMNET\USERNAME) and your admnet password if prompted.