What is the most efficient way of enabling users to restore their files without administrator intervention in multiple Files shares?

Self-Service Restore (SSR) is the Nutanix Files feature that allows end-users to recover their own files and folders without administrator assistance, typically through the "Previous Versions" tab in Windows File Explorer. This functionality must be explicitly enabled on each individual share. The most direct and standard method to accomplish this for multiple shares is to edit the properties of each share in the Nutanix Files Console and select the "Enable Self Service Restore" option. While this is done on a per-share basis, it is the correct and most efficient procedure among the choices provided.

A. Data Lens is a data analytics and ransomware recovery tool. While it aids in recovery, it is not the primary or standard method for enabling the end-user-facing Self-Service Restore feature on a share.

C. Protection Policies in Prism Central are used to schedule and automate the creation of snapshots for the File Server VMs (FSVMs). This is a prerequisite for SSR but does not enable the feature for users.

D. Protection Domains in Prism Element are a legacy method for protecting VMs. Like Protection Policies, this action creates the necessary snapshots but does not enable the user-facing SSR functionality on the shares.

1. Nutanix Files User Guide v4.4: In the "Updating a Share" section

the procedure to enable SSR is detailed: "In the Update Share dialog box

select or clear the Enable Self Service Restore check box." This confirms that the feature is configured per share via the Files Console. (Reference: Nutanix Files User Guide v4.4

Chapter: "Share Management"

Section: "Updating a Share").

2. Nutanix University - Nutanix Unified Storage Administration (NUSA) Courseware: The course material on Nutanix Files explicitly states that Self-Service Restore is a share-level property. It details the process of navigating to the Files Console

selecting a share

and editing its properties to enable SSR

which directly aligns with option B.

3. Nutanix Data Protection and Disaster Recovery Guide v6.8: This guide explains the configuration of Protection Policies. It states

"You can use data protection policies to protect guest VMs and volume groups." This clarifies that Protection Policies operate at the VM/entity level to create snapshots

which is distinct from enabling a user-facing feature on a file share. (Reference: Nutanix Data Protection and Disaster Recovery Guide v6.8

Chapter: "Data Protection with Asynchronous Replication (Prism Central)"

Section: "Protection Policy Management").