Our office uses EVault for
nightly backups of our file
servers. When reviewing
EVault’s backup logs, I noticed
that some files weren’t being
backed up. Although the
backup logs noted that these
files weren’t being backed up
because the files were open,
the logs didn’t state which
users or processes opened the
files.
I knew that I could log on to
the file server when a backup
was being performed to try
to determine which users or
processes are leaving files open.
However, the backups are performed
at night, so I did some
digging to try to find another
option.
I found that Windows Server
2003 and later server OSs have
a built-in command-line tool
named Openfiles that you can
use to display open files. (This
tool is also included in Windows
XP and later client OSs.) By
using a batch file similar to the
one I used to schedule Windows
2003’s defragmenter (see
“Automate the Windows 2003
Defragmenter Without Paying
Extra,” May 2007, InstantDoc ID
95487), I found that I could send
the output from Openfiles to a
text file to obtain a snapshot of
which users and processes had files opened when a backup was
performed.
The batch file, chk-open-f
.bat, runs Openfiles and sends
its output to a text file named
Openfiles-1.txt. The Openfiles-1
.txt file contains four columns—
“ID,” “Accessed By,” “Type,” and
“Open File (Path\executable)”—
filled with information that you
can use to determine which
users or processes have files
opened. I run chk-open-f.bat
every evening before EVault
runs.
As Listing 1 shows, chkopen-
f.bat begins by performing
a backup of its own. Because
I wanted to run this batch file
every day, I needed a way to
preserve Openfiles’ output over
the course of a weekend. In
other words, I needed to see
the Openfiles output from Friday
night, Saturday night, and
Sunday night come Monday
morning. So, chk-open-f.bat
first backs up previous text files
for up to three days, so you can
have a total of four text files.
(Only after the first four nights
will you see all four text files.)
If you want to back up more or
fewer text files, you can easily
edit the code. Each text file is
created on the root of the file
server’s E drive. You can change
this location if needed by editing
the path.
After backing up the text
files, chk-open-f.bat deletes any existing Openfiles-1.txt file so
that Openfiles-1.txt contains
only the Openfiles output from
the current night’s run. (Otherwise,
the Openfiles output from
the current night’s run would be
appended to the existing data in
that file.) Finally, chk-open-f.bat
runs Openfiles, sending its output
and a date and time stamp
to Openfiles-1.txt.
To use chk-open-f.bat, customize
it if needed, make it a
read-only hidden file for security
purposes, and place it on
the root drive of the server you
want to monitor for open files.
Then, schedule chk-openf.
bat to run. You can use
Task Scheduler or the AT command
to schedule chk-openf.
bat. However, I don’t use Task
Scheduler to run chk-open-f.
bat because I’m running
Openfiles on a file server, and
usually no one is logged on to
that server. For a
scheduled task to
run when no one
is logged on, you
need to supply
a username and
password that has
admin rights. I’d
rather not specify
this information
just in case
someone learns
how to hack into
Task Scheduler to obtain admin
passwords. Instead, I use the AT
command in a scheduler script
to run chk-open-f.bat like a
service—that is, without a logon
account. Plus, if you use this
approach, the Openfiles process
runs in the background, which
prevents windows from popping
up.
Listing 2 shows a sample
scheduler script named Set
.bat. As currently set up, Set
.bat schedules chk-open-f.bat
to run every night at 6 p.m. If
you use this script, you’ll need to customize the days and time
when you want chk-open-f.bat
to run. When doing
so, be careful not to
change the spacing
in the AT command;
changing
the spacing might
cause chk-open-f.
bat to be scheduled
incorrectly. Also,
make sure the path
to chk-open-f.bat
points to proper
location. After you
customize Set.bat, save it to the
same location as chk-open-f.bat
on the server, then execute it.
You won’t need set.bat anymore,
so you can delete it from
the server.
I use chk-open-f.bat and
set.bat on Windows 2003 servers.
I haven’t tried them on any
other OSs. You can download
these scripts by going to www
.windowsitpro.com, entering
98553 in the InstantDoc ID
box, clicking Go, then clicking
the Download the Code Here
button.
Chk-open-f.bat is a simple
but useful batch file if you’re
having problems with files
being left open when they
shouldn’t be. Using chk-open-f
.bat, I can identify which users
are leaving files open at night so
that I can talk with them individually
about the problem. This
approach is much more effective
than sending all users a generic
message about not leaving files
open and hoping the offenders
realize that the message is targeted
at them.
—Daniel L. Gillard
LAN
administrator
Rogers Media
End of Article
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