Can I move a UNC share to DFS?

[Guest SammyBar]

Hi all,

 

I have the following problem: I have the following share on a Windows 2003

R2 server

: \\netserver2003\d

Now I need to shutdown the netserver2003 server. It will be susbstituted by

a new server with a new name. But I need to preserve the above mentioned

share because it is used by many computers.

Can Dfs do that?

For a short time both server will coexists. Can I move the share to dfs

transparently without clients notice the move?

If this can not be done, what else do you suggest?

 

Any hint is welcomed

Thanks in advance

Sammy

[Guest Phillip Windell]

Re: Can I move a UNC share to DFS?

 

 

"SammyBar" <sammybar@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:uIjVL4lHJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> Hi all,

>

> I have the following problem: I have the following share on a Windows 2003

> R2 server

> : \\netserver2003\d

> Now I need to shutdown the netserver2003 server. It will be susbstituted

> by a new server with a new name. But I need to preserve the above

> mentioned share because it is used by many computers.

> Can Dfs do that?

 

No.

> For a short time both server will coexists.

 

....an even bigger NO.

 

You create a CNAME in your DNS that uses the Old Name. The CNAME then

points to the A Record of the "new" Server. The CNAME and the old server

cannot co-exist at the same time.

 

What you should have done from the beginning was create a CNAME called

"fileserver" or something equally generic. Access the resources with the

"generic" name. If the file server ever gets replaced you just repoint the

CNAME.

 

Even if you never use the CNAME you can still use a Shortcut and then rename

the Shortcut to whatever you want it to be. If the server gets replaced you

just delete and recreate the Shortcut and name it back to the correct name.

 

--

Phillip Windell

http://www.wandtv.com

 

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,

or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.

-----------------------------------------------------

[Guest bubslg]

Re: Can I move a UNC share to DFS?

 

OK, first off we're talking about DFS here. I don't know what CNAMEs

have to do with DFS.

 

Sammy, theoretically, yes you can use DFS to do what you want.

However, your going to have to make some changes BEFORE you start

moving things around. So the first thing you're going to need to do

is set up a DFS namespace. This is where you'l probably run into your

first problem. Your currently connecting to \\netserver2003\d. It's

giong to be difficult for you to use the current servername in your

namespace. One of the big points to DFS is getting away from directly

addressing servers when connecting to shares. Essentially what your

doing is setting up a share of shares. So you'll need to creat a

namespace with a more generic name. So it'll be something like \

\yourdomainname\Data. Now you have a namespace, you can start linking

actual data shares to that namespace. In this example the d share on

netserver2003 would be linked to \\yourdomain\Data crating a new unc

path \\yourdomain\Data\d. Unfortunately you will have to point all

those other computers to the new DFS path. Once you have that done,

you can set up dfs replication to sync \\netserver2003\d to some other

location. Once that is done you should be able to turn off \

\netserver2003 and your clients will be redirected to wherever the

valid link is.

 

Bit of a pain to set up initially, but once your there makes moving

data around seamless.

 

Dean

 

On Sep 24, 2:36 pm, "Phillip Windell" <philwind...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "SammyBar" <sammy...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>

> news:uIjVL4lHJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>

> > Hi all,

>

> > I have the following problem: I have the following share on a Windows 2003

> > R2 server

> > : \\netserver2003\d

> > Now I need to shutdown the netserver2003 server. It will be susbstituted

> > by a new server with a new name. But I need to preserve the above

> > mentioned share because it is used by many computers.

> > Can Dfs do that?

>

> No.

>

> > For a short time both server will coexists.

>

> ...an even bigger NO.

>

> You create a CNAME in your DNS that uses the Old Name.  The CNAME then

> points to the A Record of the "new" Server.   The CNAME and the old server

> cannot co-exist at the same time.

>

> What you should have done from the beginning was create a CNAME called

> "fileserver" or something equally generic.  Access the resources with the

> "generic" name.  If the file server ever gets replaced you just repoint the

> CNAME.

>

> Even if you never use the CNAME you can still use a Shortcut and then rename

> the Shortcut to whatever you want it to be.  If the server gets replaced you

> just delete and recreate the Shortcut and name it back to the correct name.

>

> --

> Phillip Windellwww.wandtv.com

>

> The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,

> or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.

> -----------------------------------------------------

[Guest Phillip Windell]

Re: Can I move a UNC share to DFS?

 

"bubslg" <bubslg@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:d3ae401a-4c3c-4ad4-a594-6a2b14d9c01f@w7g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...

>OK, first off we're talking about DFS here. I don't know what CNAMEs

>have to do with DFS.

 

No we are talking about replacing an old file server with a new one, and we

should not be talking about DFS. DFS was only suggested as an option,...and

I don't think it was a correct suggestion.

 

The goal is to get the new server to respond to the same UNC Path the the

old one resonded to in order to avoid reconfiguration on the Clients or

re-training of the "humans".,...which is what the CNAME does. DFS isn't

going to make that happen, and the old server is not going to be able to

participate when it no longer exists.

 

--

Phillip Windell

http://www.wandtv.com

[Guest bubslg]

Re: Can I move a UNC share to DFS?

 

If the requirement is that both servers coexist for some period of

time, I don't see any other way. DFS is the only real solution. BUT,

it will require setting up the namespaces and remapping the clients

ahead of time. The added benefit is once you have DFS set up, it

makes any future server swaps easy. You can make one server look like

another with aliases, but they can't both be up at the same time and

aliasing does have other negative side effects.

 

On Sep 25, 8:56 am, "Phillip Windell" <philwind...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "bubslg" <bub...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>

> news:d3ae401a-4c3c-4ad4-a594-6a2b14d9c01f@w7g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...

>

> >OK, first off we're talking about DFS here.  I don't know what CNAMEs

> >have to do with DFS.

>

> No we are talking about replacing an old file server with a new one, and we

> should not be talking about DFS.  DFS was only suggested as an option,....and

> I don't think it was a correct suggestion.

>

> The goal is to get the new server to respond to the same UNC Path the the

> old one resonded to in order to avoid reconfiguration on the Clients or

> re-training of the "humans".,...which is what the CNAME does.  DFS isn't

> going to make that happen, and the old server is not going to be able to

> participate when it no longer exists.

>

> --

> Phillip Windellwww.wandtv.com