We don't use Home folders with our DFS. I just redirect everything via GPP's. Should be a pretty easy migration for you to go that way.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Leone Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2015 12:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NTSysADM] Using DFS for user home folders Here's my current situation - my users all get assigned 1 of 4 file servers, as their home profile (depends on what department they work for, and which server is closest). Then Group Policy initiates a folder redirection of "My Documents" and "Desktop". Additionally, the GPO turns on Offline files (pointing at the same server).. Here's the problem - I have a lot of users who end up being transferred around, and hence at some point, we have to move thir files from server A to server B; change their group membership so now a GPO which redirects to server B; and we have to clear the offline folders cache on the old workstation, else it continues to point at server A, and files never sync properly. This is aggravating, to say the least. We thought of using DFS (set up a new namespace, adding these 4 file servers to it; change all the users to use the DFS namespace to store their home profile (and moving all the files there). That way, I never have to move files, I need less GPOs, I don't have the offline files headache, etc. Problem is, using DFS for home folders is officially not supported by MS ... So what are others doing in this situation? There must be others with such issues of having to move user folders, etc. I could make 1 central file server for all home profiles, but if there are ever any network hiccups, then you can't reach your files. (so I'd still need offline files). We looked at AppSense, and while it can alleviate some of the issues, it can't fix all of them.
