I spend most of my time visiting different sites implementing projects and sorting out problems. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the huge plethora of file shares at most of these sites. It’s like having a file server means you have to map everything you can. It makes life far more confusing than it needs to be.
There is no “backup” tool for share configurations when performing DR on a file server. Ideally for my DR I want to be able to restore the files and that’s it, not worry about the server configuration. My File Servers don’t run any app’s, they do SMB and that’s it. All other functions are run on an application server. Print Serving runs on a VM.
The large number of shares generally equates to a large and complex login script that decides what to map to where. This makes file references different across the company, confusing users. It also makes logins slow (and often involve KIX – yech)
Try this for an idea
Run a single Domain DFS Root.
Have links for:
- Users Home Drives (one link per server/site)
- Software Deployment (one link – it’s replicated)
- Company Data (may be per site depending on structure)
Map the Home drives and the Company Data shares. Presto, quick simple login for all. The structure is kept in AD, so it replicated and safe. DFS-R get’s copies of data where it needs to be efficiently. You file server only needs three or four shares to keep everything happy.
If you link the mappings to intermdiate links, as opposed to end targets, then the cleint PC’s never connect to all the remote file servers. Your roaming uses connect to the closest root and mobile users don’t get bogged down.
It gets a little more complex as you manage replicated vs non replicated data between sites, but DFS is perfect for this. The single root approach is far closer to the Internet that people are familiar with, as opposed to knowing which servers and shares things are on. Servers change, data structures should last longer than that.
There is a touch more complexity in planning, but operationally from a user and server management perspective – it’s far simpler. You login speeds are dramitally improved and roaming users are not impacted. All you need to do is organise.