EMC - VNXe: Managing a stand-alone CIFS server within a workgroup.

Sometimes after creating a CIFS server when you try to access it from computer management you may get following problems:

- Local Users and Groups has red cross

- When clicked on Shares you get an error (screenshot below)

This happens more in case of a standalone CIFS servers. Please follow below procedure to overcome this situation.

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Managing a stand-alone CIFS server within a workgroup

Before connecting to a stand-alone server, you must first create a connection to the “IPC$” share on the CIFS server.

To access and manage a stand-alone CIFS server in a Windows workgroup:

1. Using a text editor, add the stand-alone CIFS server name to the local Windows system's hosts file and lmhosts file located in the C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\etc\ directory.
2. Use the following command to specify the security context for the Windows logon session:

net use \\ <standalone_server> /user: <Local_Username>

where:

<standalone_server> = name or IPv4 or IPv6 address; for MMC snap-in, stand-alone NetBIOS name.

<Local_Username> = username of an account with administrative rights on the stand-alone server.

See the example below.

3. Open Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management and select Action > Connect to another computer.
4. The Select Computer dialog box appears.
5. Enter the CIFS server name (not the IP address) in the Another Computer field. You will not be prompted for the username and password.

The console opens, and the local group's database will be manageable on the server. The security credentials are valid for the existing logon session only. You need to repeat step 2 to connect to a system from which access is desired each time you log into the Windows system.

If the password entered or the procedure to access the local groups database of the CIFS server from Computer Management is incorrect, an error message similar to the following will appear: "Unable to access the computer. Access is denied".

Example

To connect to stand-alone server 192.168.56.24, type:

C:\>net use \\testing-1 /user:administrator

The password or user name is invalid for \\testing-1.

Enter the password for 'administrator' to connect to 'testing-1':

The command completed successfully.

C:\>

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Jorge D.