SQL SERVER – Log Shipping – Sharing Tab Missing in Folder Properties

Building a solution for some sort of disaster site is critical for every organization that thinks about business continuity. One of the proven for ages is a solution around Log Shipping. Though one of the oldest, it is one of the most sought after solution inside SQL Server. With solutions like SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups and others taking prominence, there is still a group of people who still love using Log Shipping techniques. I personally don’t have any negative opinion about it, but I am curious to understand why you resorted to Log Shipping when you have options like Database Mirroring, AlwaysOn techniques. I am sure it will be a learning for me too in the specific scenarios you bring to the table.

It was looking just like just another day of routine emails when one of my blog reader contacted me and informed that he is not able to configure log-shipping. While getting more details I asked him to provide exact error message and steps he was using. There is no way I can debug this without proper steps. Here is his problem as described by him via email.

Pinal,
I think my problem is not related to SQL Server at this point. When I right clicked on LogShippingPrimary folder and opened Properties dialog, there were only 4 tabs, General, Security, Previous Versions, Customize, NO Sharing tab. Due to this, I am not able to create Share which I can use for log-shipping purpose.

Also “Share With” option is missing on the right-click context menu for folders.

Have you seen this before?

Thanks in advance.
My reply to him:

Hello Blog Visitor,
Here are the thing which I wish to verify. Thanks again for sending such queries to me. I am glad I could be of help and hope the following steps would lead you in the right direction.

1. Open Network Connections control panel, open the properties page for your Connection. Are “Client For Microsoft Networks” and “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” checked?

2. In the Services console (start, run, services.msc), make sure that “Server” service is running?

With the above two recommendation, I got a reply from him and he informed that “Server” service was in disabled state due to hardening of the server done by Wintel team. Here is the screenshot which he shared after the issue was resolved.

Have you ever seen such scenario? Any other things which have caused the same issue in your environment? I am sure we can learn from your experiences too. Let me know so that I can add in the blog.

Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)