How Remote Storage affects the operating system

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

How Remote Storage affects the operating system

Remote Storage runs as a service and uses Removable Storage to access the applicable tapes or disks in a library that are used for remote storage. You administer Remote Storage from Microsoft Management Console (MMC), using the Remote Storage snap-in to perform all tasks, or from the command line using the Rss command. The following figure illustrates the relationship between Remote Storage and your server.

Remote Storage uses Windows security to grant or deny access for storage management. Only user accounts that have administrative credentials can administer Remote Storage; however, users with appropriate permissions can open the files on volumes that Remote Storage manages. To maintain system security, log in as a member of a different security group and run Remote Storage as an administrator. To do this, right-click Remote Storage, click Run as, and choose an account in the Administrators group.

Remote Storage adds a Remote Storage tab to the volume Properties dialog box of Windows Explorer and to the Disk Management snap-in on the local computer. This tab shows local and remote storage statistics and settings. While you can remotely manage volumes from other computers, the Remote Storage tab only appears on the computer that the Remote Storage services are running on.

Programs that use file size, such as Disk Quota, are not affected by Remote Storage operations. When Remote Storage frees up disk space by removing data from cached files that have been copied, the disk space used by file becomes zero. However, the logical size and the date and time (created, last modified, last accessed) attributes of the file remain unchanged.

When using Windows File Manager (Winfile.exe), files that Remote Storage manages are not displayed. This affects client computers running versions of Windows prior to Windows 2000.

Only one Remote Storage installation can exist on a server.

"You cannot remotely administer Remote Storage from a computer running Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, to a computer running Windows 2000."

Important

• Do not remotely administer Remote Storage on a computer running a different-language version of the operating system.