Moving/Redirecting File Shares with a Twist

Question

I have to move some file shares from a machine with Win2008R2 Enterprise to another with Win2008 R2 Standard. The goal is to have the file shares only on the second, dedicated machine.

Currently these shares are accessed by the users and some applications through UNCs similar to \\app.bizunit.example.com\share_name, where app.bizunit.example.com is an alias for the first machine.

The tricky requirement is to keep the same UNCs to avoid reconfiguring the related applications. But at the same time we would like to keep the app.bizunit.example.com alias pointing to the first machine so it could still be used to reach its remaining services.

I looked into DFS namespaces but unfortunately I didn't manage to accomplish the result I'm after.

What I managed to accomplish with DFS-N ("Stand-Alone Namespace" more specifically) though is to have the \\app.bizunit.example.com\<namespace_name>\share_name, which is not optimal.

So, you want to move stuff without changing the path? DFS Replication is *exactly* what you need. Are you sure you configured it right? — Nathan C, Apr 02 '14 at 14:05
I see no question mark. What exactly is your question at this point? — TheCleaner, Apr 02 '14 at 14:07
@MichelZ DFS namespaces allow you to use an alias for the SMB file access (specifically the name of the namespace), and the actual hostname/DNS alias/whatever for other services. — HopelessN00b, Apr 02 '14 at 14:16
@HopelessN00b can you point me to documentation which states this? Maybe i'm just having a brain fart — MichelZ, Apr 02 '14 at 14:21
@MichelZ Uh... [is the Technet DFS overview what you're looking for](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730736)? Access the DFS-shared folders on `\\LDN-SVR-01\ ` or `\\NYC-SVR-01\ ` or `\\NYC-SVR-02\ ` via `\\Contoso\Public `. Of course, any other service on those servers would be accessed via the actual hostnames, not via the DFS namespace. — HopelessN00b, Apr 02 '14 at 14:33
Well, the whole point of the move I have to perform is to have the files only on the destination machine, and not on the original machine anymore. (I updated the question with this requirement). — Milen A. Radev, Apr 02 '14 at 14:36
@MilenA.Radev You can setup a DFS namespace with only one server in it. Useful for exactly this - not needing to change all your UNC links when you upgrade or replace your fileserver and the files end up on a host with a different name. — HopelessN00b, Apr 02 '14 at 14:46
@HopelessN00b: Yes, but the point is that "other services" need to stay on the old machine. I don't know how you would do that? -> \\NYC-SRV-01\ gives you DFS share on \\LDN-SRV-01\, while http://NYC-SRV-01 gives you Homepage hosted on NYC-SRV-01 — MichelZ, Apr 02 '14 at 15:00
@MichelZ Your answer covers that case, though. Not possible. If he's willing to give a little on his requirements, he can use a DFS namespace to prevent this problem in the future. If not, well, like you said, you can't use DNS to point different services to different hostnames. — HopelessN00b, Apr 02 '14 at 15:04
@HopelessN00b: aah, good. I thought you're saying that using DFS-R it *is* possible to do that :) — MichelZ, Apr 02 '14 at 15:11

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 02 '14 at 14:11

0

You cannot have one name pointed at one server for UNC, and pointed to another server for other services. What you're asking is not possible.

answered Apr 02 '14 at 14:11

MichelZ

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:14

The closest you'll be able to come is with a DFS namespace, which you can set up to ensure you don't have to update all your UNC links next time you change which server(s) host your shared files and folders.

As you noted, you won't be able to use the same path you use now, which is the server's hostname, but you will be able to have a namespace you can manage and transparently move hosts in and out of as you need.

Otherwise, as noted in MichelZ's answer, it is not possible to use DNS to direct different services to different hostnames. DNS is just not set up that way - it registers hostnames to IP addresses, and is unable to selectively translate the same hostname to different IPs.

Moving/Redirecting File Shares with a Twist

2 Answers2