File Server Directory Structure

Question

Let's say I have 3 main directories that need to be shared, I'll call them "Management", "Finance" and "Sales". There seems to be two logical ways of doing this: either I share each folder individually, or I share the parent directory.

Sharing the parent directory would be easier to set up, and also has the benefit of allowing files to be moved between directories without copying. Sharing each folder individually would give shorter file names, for example: \\File_Server\Management instead of \\File_Server\Shared\Management.

Is either option considered "best practice"? What are the benefits/drawbacks of each method?

It depends on how you want to control access to the folders. — Tero Kilkanen, Jan 15 '21 at 07:36
@TeroKilkanen Access in controlled with NTFS permissions, so either way should give the same results. — user2248702, Jan 15 '21 at 07:40

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 15 '21 at 10:32

A single share

Less configuration both on the server and clients
Easy moves allowed

Dedicated shares

You'll be able to show to user only shares they need to see (access control)
If you ever need to split them to different devices on a server or even different servers, that'll be less painful to do

In our environment, we opted to "single share" variant, but there are cases when 2nd is better.

File Server Directory Structure

1 Answers1