A server administrator has noticed that the storage utilization on a file server is growing faster than planned. The administrator wants to ensure that, in the future, there is a more direct relationship between the number of users using the server and the amount of space that might be used. Which of the following would BEST enable this correlation?

Disk quotas are a system administration feature used to limit the amount of disk space a user or group can consume on a file system volume. By setting a specific storage limit for each user, an administrator creates a direct, manageable, and predictable correlation between the number of users and the maximum potential storage utilization. This directly addresses the administrator's goal of controlling storage growth in relation to the user count, preventing any single user from consuming an excessive amount of space and making future capacity planning more accurate.

A. Partitioning divides a physical disk into logical volumes but does not control how much space individual users consume within those volumes.
B. Deduplication saves space by eliminating redundant data blocks but does not establish a per-user limit or a direct correlation between user count and space used.
D. Compression reduces the size of files to save space but, like deduplication, does not impose limits on the amount of data a user can store. ---

1. Microsoft Corporation. (2021). Quota Management. Microsoft Docs. In the documentation for Windows Server's File Server Resource Manager (FSRM)

it states

"Quota management enables you to limit the space that is allowed for a volume or folder

and you can enforce these limits." This directly supports the use of quotas to control space on a per-user basis by applying templates to user folders. Retrieved from Microsoft's official documentation on File and Storage Services.

2. Red Hat

Inc. (2023). Chapter 17. Configuring disk quotas. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Documentation. Section 17.1

"Overview of disk quotas

" explains

"Quotas can be configured for individual users or for groups of users... Quotas operate on a per-file system basis and prevent users from consuming too much space." This is official vendor documentation detailing the per-user control mechanism.

3. Nemeth

E.

Snyder

G.

Hein

T. R.

Whaley

B.

& Mackin

D. (2017). UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (5th ed.). Pearson Education. In Chapter 10

"Storage

" the section on "Quotas" (p. 298) describes their function: "Quotas limit the amount of disk space or the number of files that a user or group can own... They are the only real way to keep users from filling up a filesystem." This is a widely recognized academic and professional text used in university-level system administration courses.