DFS Paths For All

We have recently introduced DFS paths onto the network, which offers some significant advantages over standard UNC paths. For those who dont know about DFS;

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In short.... DFS introduces virtual paths for AD users. Rather than have users going to a path such as "\\ServerName\\volume\file.doc", your users will go to a path such as "\\domain.com\storage\file.doc". The advantage to be gained certainly isnt in path lengths, but in the administration of the paths.

For example, lets say everyones home area points to "\\london\home\userid", and for whatever reason the server "london" is removed from the network. Not only do the files have to be restored to a new location, but everyones paths are going to have to point to the new locations. This includes their home area path, their profile path, and more importantly any links the users has in documents, spreadsheets or databases.

With DFS paths everyones home area can be directed to "\\domain.com\home\userid", and the same with their profile and any Group Policy directed folders. The user is still effecticvely pointing to a serevr, but as this is now being done dynamically if the server goes offline or the data ius migrated, all that needs changing is the DFS pointer. Brilliant.



There are some other advantages such as syncronisation and high-availablity, and I plan to look into these in the near future.

I should also point out another handy tool from Doverstones, which is AD-Find & Replace. This works in the same way as notepad's find & replace for example, but on Active Directory objects. So, if you need to change home area paths for thousands of users, this tool can do it in seconds;

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