The purpose of this tutorial is to provide a step-by-step guide explaining how to perform a disk space usage analysis in multiple servers and NAS storage systems through the network using DiskBoss File and Disk Manager. Advanced disk space analysis capabilities allowing one to analyze multiple servers and NAS storage systems are available in DiskBoss Ultimate, a single copy of which should be installed and registered on a dual-core or quad-core server or desktop computer with at least 4GB of system memory.

As the first step, the user needs to connect DiskBoss to an SQL database, which will be used to store disk space analysis reports from servers and NAS storage systems that should be analyzed. A standard SQL database such as MS SQL or MySQL installed locally or on the network with a properly configured ODBC data source will be good enough. In order to connect DiskBoss to the database, start the DiskBoss GUI application, open the 'Options' dialog and specify the ODBC data source name, user name and password to use to connect to the SQL database.

The simplest and the fastest way to analyze disk space usage in multiple servers and NAS storage systems is to use the DiskBoss command line utility to scan all the required disks and directories through network shares, save all reports to the SQL database and then use the DiskBoss GUI application to analyze results and generate various disk space usage charts.

The scanning process may be performed on the host computer where DiskBoss Ultimate is installed on assuming that the configured ODBC data source is accessible and the user account used to perform the operation is given enough permissions to access all network shares that should be processed.

Once everything is ready, open a command prompt window, enter the DiskBoss 'bin' directory and type the following command:

diskboss -analyze -dir \\server-name\\share-name -host server-name -save_to_database

The command will analyze the specified network share, set the host name of the report to the name of the server that was analyzed and save the report to the database. The host name option is required for operations performed through the network and it may be omitted for disk space analysis operation performed on local disks and directories. The same command may be performed for all servers and NAS storage devices that should be analyzed while making sure to set the correct host name for each saved report.

Depending on the amount of files stored in a server or NAS storage system, saving large disk space analysis reports containing millions of files and directories in an SQL database may be time consuming. Moreover, saving full reports including millions files and directories may be not practical as no one will have the time to review such huge reports. There are two ways to reduce the size of disk space analysis reports, shorten the time required to save such reports in an SQL database while keeping all the important information.

The first way is to limit the number of files per directory to top X largest files and the second way is to limit the number of nested subdirectories saved in a disk space analysis report. In both cases, DiskBoss will perform a full disk space analysis, but the resulting report will include file lists limited to X largest files and the file system hierarchy will be limited to Y levels according to the user-specified parameters. For example, if there are 1,000 files in a directory holding 100 MB of disk space, the directory will be reported having 1,000 files and holding 100 MB of disk space, but the file list for the directory will include X largest files.

In order to limit a disk space analysis operation to X largest files, use the following command line option:

-files_per_dir X

In order to limit a disk space analysis operation to X nested levels, use the following command line option:

-levels X

Once all reports are in the SQL database, start the DiskBoss GUI application and press the 'Database' button located on the main toolbar to open the database reports dialog. The database reports dialog shows all disk space analysis reports saved in the SQL database and allows one to perform a number of advanced disk space analysis operations. In order to analyze disk space usage per host, press the 'Hosts' button.

The 'Hosts Analysis' dialog, shows how much disk space and how many files are stored on each server and NAS storage system and allows one to generate various types of pie charts and bars charts. On the bottom side of the dialog there are a number of filters allowing one to select an appropriate set of reports to analyze. On the right side of the dialog there is a list of hosts and a number of controls providing the ability to customize the displayed chart. Finally, the user is provided with the ability to copy the chart's image to the clipboard making it very easy to integrate disk space analysis charts into user's custom reports and presentations.

Now let's make it more useful by focusing on specific types of files or file categories. DiskBoss is capable of performing disk space analysis operations on specific categories of files according to one or more user-specified file matching rules. In order to create a custom disk space analysis command, start the DiskBoss GUI application, add a new user-defined disk space analysis command, specify disks or directories that should be processed, select the 'Rules' tab and add one or more file matching rules specifying types of files that should be processed.

For example, add the 'Files Categorized as Images and Pictures' file matching rule to analyze the disk space used for all types of images and pictures files. Different types of file matching rules may be combined in a single disk space analysis operation allowing one to precisely focus on a very specific category of files according to user-custom needs and requirements.

A user-defined disk space analysis command may de executed using the DiskBoss GUI application or the command line utility using the following command:

diskboss -execute 'Command Name' -save_to_database

In general, DiskBoss' disk space analysis capabilities combined with file matching rules, the command line utility and SQL database integration capabilities provide the user with the ability to analyze disk space usage on multiple servers, desktops and NAS storage devices through the network and generate various charts showing the total disk space usage per host or the disk space usage for a specific category of files according to user-specified rules and policies.