Moving a DFS Share

Hello All,

I am new to DFS so I am trying to get my arms around how to do this. I am
working in a new environment where the person before me had set-up 3 DFS
shares to 3 separate volumes. The space available is filling up fast so I
need to move the 3 shares to larger volumes, but these shares are available
to the entire company. Here is how I understand the move so far.

1. Copy contents to new directory. I am using robocopy to do this.
2. Break the shares.
3. Recreate the shares in the new directory.
4. Double-check permissions?

Is this how I would do it? Is there a better way?

Thanks for the help.

Joe

How isdfs setup? Standalone or Domain based? If you are using domain based,
create similar shares with same permissions on new directory, and setup
replication to replicate folders/files to new directory.

--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP:EA, MCSE]
"Joe U." <Joe U.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0AF780CE-3A72-4A8A-A071-...
> Hello All,
>
> I am new to DFS so I am trying to get my arms around how to do this. I am
> working in a new environment where the person before me had set-up 3 DFS
> shares to 3 separate volumes. The space available is filling up fast so I
> need to move the 3 shares to larger volumes, but these shares are
> available
> to the entire company. Here is how I understand the move so far.
>
> 1. Copy contents to new directory. I am using robocopy to do this.
> 2. Break the shares.
> 3. Recreate the shares in the new directory.
> 4. Double-check permissions?
>
> Is this how I would do it? Is there a better way?
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> Joe

It will depend upon how this has been set up. The two main configurations are

a) DFSRoot has folders that link to ordinary UNC shares on the same or other
server. You access as \\ad\dfsroot\folder which redirects to \\server\share
b) DFSRoot has folder and the data is copied into the folder.

In case a) do exactly as you state, copy the data then change the link to point
to the new unc share. In case b) you will need to remove the DRF replica and
then when replication has finished recreate the DFS replica on a differ ant
location. I have never tried case b)


On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 07:52:01 -0700, Joe U. <Joe U.@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:

>Hello All,
>
>I am new to DFS so I am trying to get my arms around how to do this. I am
>working in a new environment where the person before me had set-up 3 DFS
>shares to 3 separate volumes. The space available is filling up fast so I
>need to move the 3 shares to larger volumes, but these shares are available
>to the entire company. Here is how I understand the move so far.
>
>1. Copy contents to new directory. I am using robocopy to do this.
>2. Break the shares.
>3. Recreate the shares in the new directory.
>4. Double-check permissions?
>
>Is this how I would do it? Is there a better way?
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>Joe
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.

Thanks for the reply. I am guessing from your response that we are actually
doing option A. There are three folders that are being shared through-out
our domain (no replication) and the path that users see is just mapped as a
folder share on all of their machines.

A couple more questions that I have.

A. I used robocopy to copy the files to the new directory. I would now like
to perform a differential move of just the updated files. Does anyone know
how the command for robocopy works for this?

B. I want to make sure that I am going through the proper steps to set this
up. To break the shares, do I just go into Admin Tools --> DFS. Then I
would list the root shares and on the right it would show the target. Do I
just remove the old target location and then add the new target location?

Thanks for your help.

Joe




"DaveMills" wrote:

> It will depend upon how this has been set up. The two main configurations are
>
> a) DFSRoot has folders that link to ordinary UNC shares on the same or other
> server. You access as \\ad\dfsroot\folder which redirects to \\server\share
> b) DFSRoot has folder and the data is copied into the folder.
>
> In case a) do exactly as you state, copy the data then change the link to point
> to the new unc share. In case b) you will need to remove the DRF replica and
> then when replication has finished recreate the DFS replica on a differ ant
> location. I have never tried case b)
>
>
> On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 07:52:01 -0700, Joe U. <Joe U.@discussions.microsoft.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Hello All,
> >
> >I am new to DFS so I am trying to get my arms around how to do this. I am
> >working in a new environment where the person before me had set-up 3 DFS
> >shares to 3 separate volumes. The space available is filling up fast so I
> >need to move the 3 shares to larger volumes, but these shares are available
> >to the entire company. Here is how I understand the move so far.
> >
> >1. Copy contents to new directory. I am using robocopy to do this.
> >2. Break the shares.
> >3. Recreate the shares in the new directory.
> >4. Double-check permissions?
> >
> >Is this how I would do it? Is there a better way?
> >
> >Thanks for the help.
> >
> >Joe
> --
> Dave Mills
> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.
>

Hello Joe,

See inline for response:


Isaac Oben [MCTIP:EA, MCSE]

"Joe U." <> wrote in message
news:2AECD235-F549-4613-BD12-...
> Thanks for the reply. I am guessing from your response that we are
> actually
> doing option A. There are three folders that are being shared through-out
> our domain (no replication) and the path that users see is just mapped as
> a
> folder share on all of their machines.
>
> A couple more questions that I have.
>
> A. I used robocopy to copy the files to the new directory. I would now
> like
> to perform a differential move of just the updated files. Does anyone
> know
> how the command for robocopy works for this?


Use /A option for Differential backup and
/M option for Incremental Backup

> B. I want to make sure that I am going through the proper steps to set
> this
> up. To break the shares, do I just go into Admin Tools --> DFS. Then I
> would list the root shares and on the right it would show the target. Do
> I
> just remove the old target location and then add the new target location?

You need to add new targets first then remove old targets

> Thanks for your help.
>
> Joe
>
>
>
>
> "DaveMills" wrote:
>
>> It will depend upon how this has been set up. The two main configurations
>> are
>>
>> a) DFSRoot has folders that link to ordinary UNC shares on the same or
>> other
>> server. You access as \\ad\dfsroot\folder which redirects to
>> \\server\share
>> b) DFSRoot has folder and the data is copied into the folder.
>>
>> In case a) do exactly as you state, copy the data then change the link to
>> point
>> to the new unc share. In case b) you will need to remove the DRF replica
>> and
>> then when replication has finished recreate the DFS replica on a differ
>> ant
>> location. I have never tried case b)
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 07:52:01 -0700, Joe U. <Joe
>> U.@discussions.microsoft.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Hello All,
>> >
>> >I am new to DFS so I am trying to get my arms around how to do this. I
>> >am
>> >working in a new environment where the person before me had set-up 3 DFS
>> >shares to 3 separate volumes. The space available is filling up fast so
>> >I
>> >need to move the 3 shares to larger volumes, but these shares are
>> >available
>> >to the entire company. Here is how I understand the move so far.
>> >
>> >1. Copy contents to new directory. I am using robocopy to do this.
>> >2. Break the shares.
>> >3. Recreate the shares in the new directory.
>> >4. Double-check permissions?
>> >
>> >Is this how I would do it? Is there a better way?
>> >
>> >Thanks for the help.
>> >
>> >Joe
>> --
>> Dave Mills
>> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that
>> don't.
>>

Is there a way for me to tell where the original target is pointing it?
Right now it just shows how the share is listed. "\\domain.com\storage1" and
if I click on that, it opens the share, but I want to trace it back to the
physical drive and folder shared.

Joe

Joe U,

You can export your entire dfs structure into an xml file and use notepad to
open it and you will see all path for each share etc

dfsutil /root:\\<domain name>\<dfs root name> /export:<domain name>.XML.DFS


--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP:EA, MCSE]
"Joe U." <> wrote in message
news:A73832DF-8226-4637-99C1-...
> Is there a way for me to tell where the original target is pointing it?
> Right now it just shows how the share is listed. "\\domain.com\storage1"
> and
> if I click on that, it opens the share, but I want to trace it back to the
> physical drive and folder shared.
>
> Joe

Ok, getting closer to answering this now. So I ran the command that Isaac
posted and here is some of what I got back.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<Root Name="\\domain.com\sharedfs" State="1" Timeout="300" >
<Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="sharedfs" State="2" />


<Link Name="journlsm-271" State="1" Timeout="300" >
<Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="journlsm-271" State="2" />
</Link>


<Link Name="geogrpy-450" State="1" Timeout="1800" >
<Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="geogrpy-450" State="2" />
</Link>


<Link Name="psych-498" State="1" Timeout="300" >
<Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="psych-498" State="2" />
</Link>

This is just the top 4 lines from one of my root shares. It appears that
the contents of these shares span a few different drives which I am copying
the contents of via robocopy. I won't have to move the link for every single
share individually, will I?

Joe

"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" wrote:

> Joe U,
>
> You can export your entire dfs structure into an xml file and use notepad to
> open it and you will see all path for each share etc
>
> dfsutil /root:\\<domain name>\<dfs root name> /export:<domain name>.XML.DFS
>
>
> --
> Isaac Oben [MCTIP:EA, MCSE]
> "Joe U." <> wrote in message
> news:A73832DF-8226-4637-99C1-...
> > Is there a way for me to tell where the original target is pointing it?
> > Right now it just shows how the share is listed. "\\domain.com\storage1"
> > and
> > if I click on that, it opens the share, but I want to trace it back to the
> > physical drive and folder shared.
> >
> > Joe
>

If you change location of a share/link/target etc, then you will have re
link it to new location, if not, then clients will still be refering to old
location. Example, if you move share: "journlsm-271" from server.domain.com
to say server2.domain.com, then you will have to change link location to
server2 etc..The easiest way you can do this is, after all copy is done and
new locations are set, you can edit the export file with new locations and
then import to dfs using the import command: Please BACKUP dfs structure if
you choose to use import command below.
dfsutil /root:\\<domain name>\<dfs root name> /import:<domain name>.XML.DFS

--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP:EA, MCSE]
"Joe U." <> wrote in message
news:393B6C71-421A-4413-9200-...
> Ok, getting closer to answering this now. So I ran the command that Isaac
> posted and here is some of what I got back.
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
>
> <Root Name="\\domain.com\sharedfs" State="1" Timeout="300" >
> <Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="sharedfs" State="2" />
>
>
> <Link Name="journlsm-271" State="1" Timeout="300" >
> <Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="journlsm-271" State="2" />
> </Link>
>
>
> <Link Name="geogrpy-450" State="1" Timeout="1800" >
> <Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="geogrpy-450" State="2" />
> </Link>
>
>
> <Link Name="psych-498" State="1" Timeout="300" >
> <Target Server="server.domain.com" Folder="psych-498" State="2" />
> </Link>
>
> This is just the top 4 lines from one of my root shares. It appears that
> the contents of these shares span a few different drives which I am
> copying
> the contents of via robocopy. I won't have to move the link for every
> single
> share individually, will I?
>
> Joe
>
> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" wrote:
>
>> Joe U,
>>
>> You can export your entire dfs structure into an xml file and use notepad
>> to
>> open it and you will see all path for each share etc
>>
>> dfsutil /root:\\<domain name>\<dfs root name> /export:<domain
>> name>.XML.DFS
>>
>>
>> --
>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP:EA, MCSE]
>> "Joe U." <> wrote in message
>> news:A73832DF-8226-4637-99C1-...
>> > Is there a way for me to tell where the original target is pointing it?
>> > Right now it just shows how the share is listed.
>> > "\\domain.com\storage1"
>> > and
>> > if I click on that, it opens the share, but I want to trace it back to
>> > the
>> > physical drive and folder shared.
>> >
>> > Joe
>>

Isaac,

So if I am not changing from servername.domain.com and instead I am changing
the location from E:\ to G:\ then I would not have to go through this process?

Joe

"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" wrote:

> If you change location of a share/link/target etc, then you will have re
> link it to new location, if not, then clients will still be refering to old
> location. Example, if you move share: "journlsm-271" from server.domain.com
> to say server2.domain.com, then you will have to change link location to
> server2 etc..The easiest way you can do this is, after all copy is done and
> new locations are set, you can edit the export file with new locations and
> then import to dfs using the import command: Please BACKUP dfs structure if
> you choose to use import command below.
> dfsutil /root:\\<domain name>\<dfs root name> /import:<domain name>.XML.DFS