Lab Summary

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 extends the functionalities for file classification in a way that has never been provided, out of the box, by any previous version of Windows.

The solution is the creating of generic properties that can be exploited by IT professionals and developers through the File Server Resource Manager. This classification platform is called the File System Classification Infrastructure, and it consolidates its functionalities through a management snapin that allows you to make quick changes, generate reports, e-mail reports, create tasks, and monitor files with a massive efficiency.

But the snap-in is not alone, it is built on top of a COM based API that can freely accessed by developers in their VBScripts, C++ native applications, .NET applications, and most other high level languages out there.

Files storage can become one of the most costly luxuries that a company can have, and the resources required to support such luxury only promise to increase over time. It is unrealistic to target a manual management and classification of stale data and improperly organized distribution of files (locally and remotely). For years, clients have been looking for file management solutions from ISV’s. Microsoft’s new built-in solution has a high advantage in terms of security and performance due to its unique capacity of integration with Windows Server 2008 R2; and third party software providers will be able to adapt their applications to this infrastructure in hopes of a universal solution.