Chapter 9 - Connecting to Network Drives with Windows NT or Windows 95
Windows commands and dialog boxes use the term network drive to describe what Banyan documentation usually calls file services. Both terms mean large areas on a disk in a Banyan server that store files and applications. In this guide, network drive refers to file services on a Banyan server.
A network drive is similar to the local fixed disk in your workstation in that it contains the files and applications you use in your work. Network drives, however, typically have a much greater storage capacity and are shared among a group of users.
Example Accessing Network Drives
In Figure 9-1, both Duncan Fraser in the Sales Department and Courtney Bryan in the Marketing Department can access Sales Files@Sales@WCTUS and Mkt Files@Sales@WCTUS, which are located on the server disk on the server Sales Server@Sales@WCTUS.
Your system administrator sets up the network drives needed by your group and assigns a StreetTalk name to each one for easy identification. The administrator also sets access rights to the network drives, securing information within the drives so that only designated users have access to it.
In Windows, you connect to network drives through the Windows File Manager or Explorer.
Using File Manager or Explorer
File Manager and Explorer are Windows applications that let you perform the following tasks:
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Organize your files and directories. ![]()
Start applications. ![]()
Connect to network drives.
If your workstation runs Windows NT 3.51, you use File Manager to manage and manipulate files. If your workstation runs Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, you use Explorer to access files. For complete information on File Manager and Explorer, refer to the Microsoft documentation. The rest of this chapter focuses on using File Manager or Explorer to connect to network drives.
To start File Manager, open Program Manager and double-click the File Manager icon . The File Manager window appears, displaying the Directory Tree window for your current drive, as shown in Figure 9-2.
When you open File Manager, all the network drives specified in your user profile appear as drive icons under the Directory Tree title bar, as shown in Figure 9-2.
Your system administrator set up these network drives in your user profile. The files and applications you use in your work reside on these network drives. When you start Windows, Windows uses these settings to display your network drives as icons in File Manager.
If authorized by your system administrator, you can connect to other available network drives not specified in your user profile through the Map Drive command.
To start Explorer for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, click the Start button, and then select Programs - Windows Explorer. The Explorer window appears, displaying the directory trees for My Computer and Network Neighborhood, as shown in Figure 9-3.
When you open Explorer, all the network drives specified in your user profile appear as drive icons under My Computer, as shown in Figure 9-3.
Your system administrator sets up these network drives in your user profile. The files and applications you use in your work reside on these network drives. When you start Windows, Windows uses these settings to display your network drives as icons in the Explorer.
If authorized by your system administrator, you can connect to other available network drives not specified in your user profile through the Map Drive command.
In addition to the Map Drive command, you can also browse through network file services by double-clicking the Entire Network icon in the Network Neighborhood. Entire Network uses StreetTalk search patterns to let you browse through the network to locate network file services and printers.
A StreetTalk search pattern is a mixture of the three parts of a StreetTalk name (item, group, and organization) and wildcards (*). StreetTalk search patterns let you search subsets of network file services by having you specify part of a StreetTalk name. The default search pattern is *@*@* which access all network file services. If you want to browse a smaller subset, you can create StreetTalk search patterns and add them to Entire Network. For example, if you want to access all of the network items under the Marketing group in the organization WCT, you would add the following ST search pattern, *@Mktg@WCT. You could then double click on *@Mktg@WCT to view all of the network items in the Marketing group. To be a valid StreetTalk search pattern, one of the fields must have an asterisk.
Managing Network Drives for Windows NT Clients
To connect to network drives other than those specified in your user profile, use the Connect Network Drive command from Windows NT File Manager or Explorer. This command lets you connect to network drives either on a temporary or on-going basis.
To Map Network Drives for Windows NT Clients
Use this procedure if you know the full StreetTalk name of the file service you want to connect to. If you do not know the full StreetTalk name, see "Searching for Network Drives for Windows NT Clients" later in this chapter.
1. Open File Manager or Explorer.
2. Do one of the following:
- From the File Manager menu, select Disk - Connect Network Drive.
- From the Explorer menu, select Tools - Map Network Drive.
The Connect Network Drive dialog box appears.
3. The Drive field shows the first unassigned drive letter. You can use the drop-down arrow to select any unassigned drive letter.
4. In the Path field, enter the UNC name of the file service you want to map. To create a UNC name from a StreetTalk name, you must precede the StreetTalk name with double back slashes (\\) to make it into a UNC name.
For example, if you wanted to connect to a file service named SalesDocuments@Sales@WCT you would enter \\SalesDocuments@Sales@WCT in the Path field.
As with all StreetTalk names, if the StreetTalk name you use in a UNC construction contains spaces, you must enclose the name in quotation marks. For example: \\"Sales Reports@Sales@WCT" For more information on UNC names, see "Universal Naming Convention Support for Windows NT Clients."
5. If you want this network drive to be automatically mapped next time you login, select the Reconnect at logon checkbox.
6. Click OK.
Universal Naming Convention Support for Windows NT Clients
Banyan supports Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names for accessing file volumes. However, the structure of the naming convention used by Banyan servers is different than the LAN Manager convention used by NT servers. The full StreetTalk name of the file service is equivalent to the LAN Manager servername\sharename construction as shown below:
Naming Convention UNC Name
LAN Manager convention: \\servername\sharedname\path
Banyan convention: \\item@group@organization\path
For example, you have a file service called SharedFiles on a server named SalesServer1. The StreetTalk name for the file service is SharedFiles@Sales@WCT.
The LAN Manager UNC name would be: \\SalesServer1\SharedFiles\path
The Banyan UNC name would be: \\SharedFiled@Sales@WCT\path
As with all StreetTalk names, if the StreetTalk name you use in a UNC construction contains spaces, you must enclose the name in quotation marks. For example:
\\"Sales Reports@Sales@WCTUS"
Searching for Network Drives for Windows NT Clients
If you do not know the full StreetTalk name of the network file service you want to connect to, you can either search through all network file services, or search through subsets of the file services using the Explorer.
To Search for Network Drives for Windows NT Clients
1. Open File Manager or Explorer.
2. Do one of the following:
- From the File Manager menu, select Disk - Connect Network Drive.
- From the Explorer menu, select Tools - Connect Network Drive.
The Connect Network Drive dialog box appears.
3. Double-click the Banyan VINES Network icon. A computer icon followed by the default StreetTalk search pattern, *@*@* appears.
4. To browse through all file services on the network, double-click the icon followed by *@*@*. All the file services in your Banyan network appear in alphabetical order.
Note: Depending on the size of your network, searching for all file services may take several minutes. If you are interested in searching a subset of the entire network, you can create additional StreetTalk search patterns that only display a portion of the network file service. See "Creating StreetTalk Search Patterns for Windows NT Clients" for instructions on adding new StreetTalk patterns to Network Neighborhood.
5. To map one of these file services to a drive letter, click on the file service. The UNC name for the file service appears in the Path field.
6. The Drive field shows the first unassigned drive letter. You can use the drop-down arrow to select any unassigned drive letter.
7. If you want this network drive to be automatically mapped next time you login, select the Reconnect at logon checkbox.
8. Click OK.
Creating StreetTalk Search Patterns for Windows NT Clients
You can create smaller lists of file services that match a StreetTalk pattern, such as *@Sales@WCT. A StreetTalk search pattern is a mixture of the three parts of a StreetTalk name (item, group, and organization) and wildcards (*). StreetTalk search patterns let you search subsets of network file services by having you specify part of a StreetTalk name. The default search pattern is *@*@* which access all network resources. If you want to browse a smaller subset, you can create StreetTalk search patterns. To be a valid StreetTalk search pattern, one of the fields must have an asterisk.
Example
If you want to access all of the file services under the Sales group of the WCT organization, you would add the following ST search pattern:
*@Sales@WCT
You can then double-click on *@Sales@WCT to view all of the file services in the Sales group in the WCT organization.
To Create a StreetTalk Search Pattern for Windows NT Clients
1. Open the Connect Network Drive dialog box:
- From the File Manager menu, select Disk - Connect Network Drive.
- From the Explorer menu, select Tools - Connect Network Drive.
The Connect Network Drive dialog box appears.
2. Click on the Banyan VINES Network icon.
3. Click Search. The StreetTalk Directory Assistance Subsets dialog box appears.
4. Enter a StreetTalk search pattern in the Name Pattern field. The search pattern must be in the form of item@group@organization and must contain at least one wildcard (*) in order to be a valid search pattern.
5. Click Add. The new search pattern is added to the list of search patterns.
6. Click OK to close the StreetTalk Directory Assistance Subsets dialog box.
7. Double click the Banyan VINES Network icon to see all the search patterns you have created.
Note: Follow these steps to delete subsets. The list on the StreetTalk Director Assistance Subsets dialog box shows all the search patterns you have created. Highlight a search pattern and click Remove.
To Disconnect Network Drives for Windows NT Clients
1. Open File Manager or Explorer.
2. Do one of the following:
- From the File Manager menu, select Disk - Disconnect Network Drive.
- From the Explorer menu, select Tools - Disconnect Network Drive.
The Disconnect Network Drive dialog box appears.
3. Select the drive you want to disconnect and click OK.
Managing Network Drives for Windows 95 Clients
To connect to network drives other than those specified in your user profile, use the Map Network Drive command from Windows Explorer. This command lets you connect to network drives either on a temporary or on-going basis.
To Map Network Drives for Windows 95 Clients
Use this procedure if you know the full StreetTalk name of the file service you want to connect to. If you do not know the full StreetTalk name, see "Searching for Network Drives for Windows 95 Clients" later in this chapter.
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. From the Explorer menu, select Tools - Map Network Drive. The Map Network Drive dialog box opens.
3. The Drive field shows the first unassigned drive letter. You can use the drop-down arrow to select any unassigned drive letter.
4. In the Path field, enter the UNC name of the file service you want to map. To create a UNC name from a StreetTalk name, you must precede the StreetTalk name with double back slashes (\\) to make it into a UNC name.
For example, if you wanted to connect to a file service named SalesDocuments@Sales@WCT you would enter \\SalesDocuments@Sales@WCT in the Path field.
As with all StreetTalk names, if the StreetTalk name you use in a UNC construction contains spaces, you must enclose the name in quotation marks. For example: \\"Sales Reports@Sales@WCT" For more information on UNC names, see "Universal Naming Convention Support for Windows 95 Clients."
5. If you want this network drive to be automatically mapped next time you login, select the Reconnect at logon checkbox.
6. Click OK.
Universal Naming Convention Support for Windows 95 Clients
Banyan supports Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names for accessing file volumes. UNC conventions as implemented by Microsoft dictate a 2-part UNC name. In order to comply with this convention, Banyan has added the term "StreetTalk" to the front of StreetTalk names to turn them into 2-part UNC names.
The modified StreetTalk name of a file service is now equivalent to the 2-part LAN Manager UNC servername/sharename construction as show below:
Naming Convention Two-part UNC Name
LAN Manager convention \\servername\sharename
Banyan convention \\StreetTalk\item@group@org
For example, you have a file service SharedFiles on a server named SalesServer1. The StreetTalk name for the file services is SharedFiles@Sales@WCT.
The LAN Manager UNC name would be: \\SalesServer1\SharedFiles\*
The Banyan UNC name would be: \\StreetTalk\SharedFiles@Sales@WCT\*
Viewing File Services Through Explorer
Adding the term "StreetTalk" to form a 2-part UNC name impacts the way network file services appear from the Explorer. With the addition of "StreetTalk" to form a 2-part UNC name, the files services look like this:
+ SharedFiles@Sales@WCT on `StreetTalk' ( F: )
+ SpecialFiles@Sales@WCT on `StreetTalk' ( T: )
Searching for Network Drives for Windows 95 Clients
If you do not know the full StreetTalk name of the network file service you want to connect to, you can either search through all network file services, or search through subsets of the file services using the Explorer.
To Search for Network Drives
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Double-click the Network Neighborhood icon.
3. Double-click the Entire Network icon. The a computer icon followed by the default StreetTalk search pattern, *@*@* appears.
4. To browse through all file services on the network, double-click the icon followed by *@*@*. All the file services in your Banyan network appear in alphabetical order.
Note: Depending on the size of your network, searching for all the file services may take several minutes. If you are interested in searching a subset of the entire network, you can create additional StreetTalk search patterns that only display a portion of the network file service. See "Creating StreetTalk Search Patterns for Windows 95 Clients" for instructions on adding new StreetTalk patterns to Network Neighborhood.
5. To map one of these file services to a drive letter, right-click the file service and select Map Network Drive. The Map Network Drive dialog box appears with the file service name already listed in the Path field.
6. The Drive field shows the first unassigned drive letter. You can use the drop-down arrow to select any unassigned drive letter.
7. If you want this network drive to be automatically mapped next time you login, select the Reconnect at logon checkbox.
8. Click OK.
Creating StreetTalk Search Patterns for Windows 95 Clients
You can create smaller lists of file services that match a StreetTalk pattern, such as *@Sales@WCT. A StreetTalk search pattern is a mixture of the three parts of a StreetTalk name (item, group, and organization) and wildcards (*). StreetTalk search patterns let you search subsets of network file services by having you specify part of a StreetTalk name. The default search pattern is *@*@* which access all network resources. If you want to browse a smaller subset, you can create StreetTalk search patterns and add them to the Network Neighborhood. To be a valid StreetTalk search pattern, one of the fields must have an asterisk.
Example
If you want to access all of the file services under the Sales group of the WCT organization, you would add the following ST search pattern:
*@Sales@WCT
You can then double click on *@Sales@WCT to view all of the file services in the Sales group in the WCT organization.
To Create a StreetTalk Search Pattern for Windows 95 Clients
1. From Explorer, double-click Network Neighborhood.
2. Right-click on Entire Network. A context menu appears.
3. Click on StreetTalk Search Patterns. The StreetTalk Search Patterns dialog box appears.
4. Enter a StreetTalk search pattern in the StreetTalk Search Patterns field. The search pattern must be in the form of item@group@organization and must contain at least one wildcard (*) in order to be a valid search pattern.
5. Click Add. The new search pattern is added the list under Entire Network.
Note: Follow these steps to delete subsets. The drop-down list shows all the search patterns you have created. Highlight a search pattern and click Delete.
Your Windows 95 Client gives you the ability to protect data by setting access rights on directories and files on the network. Access rights limit who can access files and how a user can manipulate files and directories.
Access rights settings are contained in Access Rights Lists (ARLs). In Windows 95, you can set ARLs through property sheets linked to each file and directory on the network.
To Set Access Rights
1. Use the Network Neighborhood or My Computer to find the file or directory.
2. Use the right mouse button to click the file or directory. A context menu appears.
3. Click Properties. The property sheets for the item appear.
4. Click the tabs to view different property sheets and ARLs. Set ARLs as desired.
Types of ARLs
Each directory and file has the following types of Access Rights Lists (ARLs):
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Primary ARL: The basic ARL that exists for every file and directory. The Primary ARL contains three fields: Owner, Group, and World. ![]()
Extended ARL: A supplemental ARL that can contain up to five additional StreetTalk names and their related access rights.
Directories have two additional ARLs:
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Primary ARL New Files: The Primary ARL inherited by new files created in that directory. ![]()
Extended ARL New Files: The Extended ARL inherited by new files created in that directory.
Primary ARL Fields
Primary ARLs contain the following fields:
Owner: Every ARL must have an owner. The owner may be an individual or file service, but cannot be a StreetTalk list. For directories, this field usually contains the StreetTalk name of the person who created the directory. For files, the Owner field is determined by the Primary ARL New Files list for the directory containing the new file.
Group: By default, the Group field for directories is the Owner's group and represents the access rights of everyone in the Owner's ST group. The item section of the Group field is always *. For files, the Group field is determined by the Primary ARL New Files list for the directory containing the new file. If you have Control access, you can leave the Group field blank or enter the name of another ST group.
World: This field is always *@*@* and represents the access rights for all users on the network. If you have Control access, you can change the access rights granted to World, but you cannot edit the name field.
Extended ARL Fields
Extended ARLs contain five generic Entry fields. If you have Control access, you can enter up to five StreetTalk names of individuals or lists in these fields. For best performance, do not enter ST lists that contain wildcards or other ST lists.
Access Rights for Directories
Control: Lets a user change the ARL for this directory. Having Control access does not automatically grant any other access rights over the directory.
Search: Lets a user search for all files and directories contained in the directory Read Lets a user view all files and directories contained in the directory.
Write: Lets a user create, change the attributes, and rename files and directories contained in this directory. If the user does not have Search access, they can create a drop box - a directory where they can put files, but not access those files.
Delete: Lets a user delete the directory or file.
Note: To use Read, Write, or Delete access, the user must also have Search access to the directory.
Access Rights for Files
Control: Lets a user change the ownership, access rights, and group identifiers for this file. Having Control access does not automatically grant the user any other access rights over the file.
Execute: Lets a user execute the file. For example, use the file as a program file. Read Lets a user open the file for reading. Typically, assign Read access if you want to share information with other users but prevent them from modifying the files.
Write: Lets a user write to the file.
Note: To use Read, Write, or Execute access, the user must also have Search access to the directory containing the file.
To Disconnect Network Drives for Windows 95 Clients
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. From the Explorer menu, select Tools - Disconnect Network Drive. The Disconnect Network Drive dialog box opens.
3. Select the drive you want to disconnect and click OK.