Re: Folder Redirection Desktop to multiple servers %HOMESHARE%

Bruce I think you could do it much easier than you are suggesting.

Windows server 2003 lets you redirect the desktop to a share (is that what
you want?). In which case you can just use folder redirection as I explained
in my first post. All you need to do is create a share with the correct
permissions and create a dfs link to that share e.g. \\dfs_root\dfs_share .
If you use GP folder redirection the operating system will construct the
%username%\desktop directories for you:
\\dfs_root\dfs_share\%username%\desktop

If you did not want to redirect the desktop , you could institute roaming
profiles and nominate another share to store them, they would of course
contain the desktop. If you used GP to disable delete local profiles you
would in effect have a copy of the desktop both on the server and the
laptop.

Personally I don't think %homedrive% and %homepath% are particularly useful,
I tend to redirect "my documents" in the same way that I suggested you
redirect desktops above If you are using 2003 you will get
"\\dfs_root\dfs_share\%username%\my documents". see e.g: (specifically)
http://tinyurl.com/apj3l and (more generally) http://tinyurl.com/9td7k

BTW if you use DFS without File Replication the data will live only on the
local server, I as suggested in my first post you can choose to use
replication if you want, but you don't have to. DFS and FRS are related but
distinct technologies.

If your local file server was also the local domain controller you could
actually do things without DFS by using the variable "%LOGONSERVER%"

So actually you are asking a number of questions:

1) Should I
A) redirect the desktop
or
B) create roaming profiles which are retained on the clients

2) Should I
A) Use the legacy %homepath% and %homedrive% variables
or
B) Use redirection of "my documents" (& desktop etc if you like as
in 1 A above)

3) Should I
A) Use DFS
or
B) Use %LOGONSERVER%

4) If I use DFS should I:
A) use FRS replication
or
B) some other sort of replication (e.g. robocopy which can be done
manually on selected folders)
or
C) no replication what so ever.

My own preferences would be:

1 B, 2 B, 3A, 4B

I'm sure others will have other preferences

Regards

Roga


"Bruce Taylor (Ironpaw)" <BruceTaylorIronpaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote in message news:2943AE71-0B6B-4E2E-B85F-7C229FCBADF3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Roga
>
> That sounds promising. I've used DFS a bit to copy and exact share to
> each
> nominated server and replicate it but will it work for this situation?
>
> I imagine you mean
>
> Create a new DFS share (lets call it desktop) and make it
> \\server\desktop$
> on each server. Then I:
> add all the servers that contain users home drives (as I want the same
> homedrive server to share out that users desktop)
> I would then need to create a %username% directory only for the users with
> an Home drive on that server
> The point group policy to \\dfs_root\dfs_share\%username% and it would be
> able to work out which server contained that directory?
>
> I wounder if you mean there would be a directory for the user on all
> server
> which would not work (I dont want to preplicate the traffic and not doing
> it
> means the desktop is different depending on what server they get).
>
> I'm not sure I've got the right idea of what you said but I'll give it a
> go.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "roga" wrote:
>
>> Hi Bruce
>>
>> If you use DFS (distributed file system) you can redirect profiles etc to
>> \\yourdomain\dfs\profiles\%username%
>>
>> Each site can define (for its sub net) the target server for
>> \\yourdomain\dfs\
>>
>> You don't have to use replication with DFS, but you can if you like. (you
>> might find robocopy more manageable)
>>
>> NB with Windows Server 2003 you can redirect the desktop in the same way
>> as
>> "my documents" so that e.g. the default for the desktop can be:
>> \\yourdomain\dfs\users\%username%\desktop
>>
>> Some combination of DFS and WS03 redirection should answer all of the
>> needs
>> you outline
>>
>> Roga
>>
>>
>> "Bruce Taylor (Ironpaw)" <Bruce Taylor
>> (Ironpaw)@discussions.microsoft.com>
>> wrote in message
>> news:59555E89-5FB7-43C5-BA3A-61B2C4C791E6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >
>> > Hi
>> >
>> > Put very simply is there a way to redirect desktop to a users home
>> > drive
>> > server but not in the same location as their homedrive that is dynamic
>> > (like
>> > a variable for home drive server)
>> >
>> > Here is a curly one. We current redirect all users H: to
>> > %Homeshare%%Homepath% (old way to access your home drive through
>> > variables)
>> > and have the desktop in Roaming profiles.
>> >
>> > It has been decided to try and redirect Desktop as given some of our
>> > slow
>> > links and slow users it takes an age to roam a large desktop to a new
>> > site.
>> > We have about 30 sites each with its own domain controller and a
>> > central
>> > site
>> > with lots of domain controllers.
>> >
>> > I dont want to redirect Desktop to users Home Share as this is backed
>> > up
>> > on
>> > laptops using offline files (policy states dont put data on the desktop
>> > so
>> > if
>> > you do I dont want to back it up) laptop users are not getting the
>> > desktop
>> > redirected.
>> >
>> > However I cannot easily identify the servers to redirect the desktop
>> > to.
>> > If
>> > I could use a variable for the Home Drive server that was not in the
>> > users
>> > Home share then this would be easy.
>> >
>> > I dont want to try and use Security Groups for redirection (this is
>> > prohibitively difficult to impliment and maintain).
>> >
>> > I tried making a users home share \\server\share$\%username%\homeshare
>> > in the hope %homeshare% would be \\server\share$ and home path
>> > \username\homeshare but allas home share ended up as
>> > \\server\share$\%username%\homeshare (making me wonder if there is any
>> > use
>> > at
>> > all for homepath).
>> >
>> > If this had worked I'd use
>> > %homeshare%%homepath%homedrive (for home drives)
>> > and
>> > %homeshare%%homepath%desktop (for desktops)
>> >
>> > I'd use %logonserver% but naturally that changes as you move about or
>> > in
>> > central offices as the load changes.
>> >
>> > Perhaps I can script a local variable for %current-home-drive-server%
>> > on
>> > the
>> > clients and redirect to that (I can see that getting nasty).
>> >
>> > Any ideas? I've been looking hard for days and there is little but the
>> > very
>> > basics for desktop redirection on the net.
>> >
>>
>>
>>


.

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