Q. Can I automatically apply Microsoft Rights Management Services (RMS) to files based on their File Classification Infrastructure (FCI) labels?

Q. We're in the process of applying security classification labels to all files stored on our Windows Server 2008 R2 file servers. We're using the Windows Server 2008 R2 FCI. We also have a Microsoft Rights Management Services (RMS) infrastructure in our environment to rights-protect Office documents. Is it possible to automatically apply RMS protection to the files on our file servers based on the files' FCI security classification label?

 A. Yes, RMS can be integrated with FCI for automatically applying RMS protection to FCI-labeled files. The link between FCI and RMS is build upon a set of file management tasks that are scheduled to run at regular intervals from the File Service Resource Manager (FSRM) MMC snap-in. The tasks apply different RMS templates depending on a file's classification level. To apply the RMS templates, the file management tasks call on the RMS Bulk Protection Tool (rmsbulk.exe).

The RMS Bulk Protection Tool is a command-line tool that can bulk encrypt different files to an RMS template or bulk decrypt RMS-protected files. You can download the tool from Microsoft. Setting up FCI/RMS integration is also described in great detail in the RMS Bulk Protection Tool and FCI Step-by-Step Guide.