FileShare migration to DFS

Question

Hello, We have a single 16 TB file share that I would like to migrate to a Distributed File Services namespace so as to split the size of the share across two 12TB file servers then add replication to another site for redundancy.

We are a 24x7 shop and my users rely heavily on this share and the data that's housed on it. A 30 minute outage would be acceptable. We have a group policy that maps a single drive to the root of this file share for all users. This share contains OneNote notebooks so I need to keep the file paths the same.

I am planning/testing the migration from single file server to DFS and my thought is to run Robocopy to pre stage then remove the folders on original file share and replace them with folder shortcuts to the DFS folders. Then once I complete all 128 folders, I will change the GPO drive mapping to the new DFS namespace. Users will eventually reboot and get the new drive mapping...

However, I wonder if there is better way like adding all the folders in there current file share to the new DFS namespace then using replication?

Answer 1

Hello

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

Here are some considerations and steps for using DFSR:

1. You can add the existing folders to the new DFS namespace without moving them initially. This allows users to start accessing the data through the DFS namespace immediately.
2. Configure DFS Replication between the current file server and the new DFS servers. This will ensure that any changes made to the files on the current server are replicated to the new servers.
3. Monitor the replication process to ensure all data is synchronized correctly. Use tools like DFS Management Console or PowerShell to check the replication status.
4. Once replication is complete and you are confident that the data is fully synchronized, update the GPO drive mappings to point to the new DFS namespace.
5. After verifying that users are accessing the data through the DFS namespace and everything is working correctly, you can decommission the old file server.

Using DFS Replication can help minimize downtime and ensure data consistency during the migration process. It also provides a more automated and scalable solution compared to manually copying and creating shortcuts.

References：

DFS Replication overview | Microsoft Learn

DFS Replication - FAQ | Microsoft Learn

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,

Daisy Zhou

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