Custom Drive Mappings additional to logon script

Is there a way to manage specific custom network drive mappings? We have
requirement, that some users need access to specific network drives after
their general login script has run.

Currently, the general login script maps the drives for that business unit
and then check the users home folder for a custom.bat file, if the file
exisits it runs that script also. This mean that there are MANY unquie
custom.bat files and difficult to manage.

I have a need to change the path on all custom.bat files.

Is there any easier, centralised way to manage Custom Drive Mappings, per
user?

One option i was considering was extending the AD schema to include an
option for additonal network drives on the user property. But this is a large
change.

AusUsr21 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Is there a way to manage specific custom network drive mappings? We
> have requirement, that some users need access to specific network
> drives after their general login script has run.
>
> Currently, the general login script maps the drives for that business
> unit and then check the users home folder for a custom.bat file, if
> the file exisits it runs that script also. This mean that there are
> MANY unquie custom.bat files and difficult to manage.
>
> I have a need to change the path on all custom.bat files.
>
> Is there any easier, centralised way to manage Custom Drive Mappings,
> per user?
>
> One option i was considering was extending the AD schema to include an
> option for additonal network drives on the user property. But this is
> a large change.

What kind of login script? Batch file? Kixtart?
There are all kinds of ways to run different tasks / map different drives,
such as different mappings depending on AD group membership. If you're using
batch files, look at IFMEMBER. You might want to post in
m.p.windows.server.active_directory (and perhaps crosspost to
m.p.windows.server.scripting).

You should consider not having drive letters at all. What do you think you
would do if you had more than 23 of them?

Use network shortcuts.

--
Phillip Windell
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.
-----------------------------------------------------

"AusUsr21" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:E5DE74B8-CE60-40BD-B753-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Is there a way to manage specific custom network drive mappings? We have
> requirement, that some users need access to specific network drives after
> their general login script has run.
>
> Currently, the general login script maps the drives for that business unit
> and then check the users home folder for a custom.bat file, if the file
> exisits it runs that script also. This mean that there are MANY unquie
> custom.bat files and difficult to manage.
>
> I have a need to change the path on all custom.bat files.
>
> Is there any easier, centralised way to manage Custom Drive Mappings, per
> user?
>
> One option i was considering was extending the AD schema to include an
> option for additonal network drives on the user property. But this is a
> large
> change.
>
>
>

Phillip Windell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> You should consider not having drive letters at all. What do you
> think you would do if you had more than 23 of them?
>
> Use network shortcuts.

The problem with that is, if you have a bunch of cached shortcuts using UNC
paths, and decide to move things around on the server, it's a pain. I agree
that having too many mapped drive letters can be problematic, but if the OP
uses the same letters for different shares (for different groups) this is
probably not a real issue.
>
>
> "AusUsr21" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:E5DE74B8-CE60-40BD-B753-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Is there a way to manage specific custom network drive mappings? We
>> have requirement, that some users need access to specific network
>> drives after their general login script has run.
>>
>> Currently, the general login script maps the drives for that
>> business unit and then check the users home folder for a custom.bat
>> file, if the file exisits it runs that script also. This mean that
>> there are MANY unquie custom.bat files and difficult to manage.
>>
>> I have a need to change the path on all custom.bat files.
>>
>> Is there any easier, centralised way to manage Custom Drive
>> Mappings, per user?
>>
>> One option i was considering was extending the AD schema to include
>> an option for additonal network drives on the user property. But
>> this is a large
>> change.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<(E-Mail Removed) hoo.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Phillip Windell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> You should consider not having drive letters at all. What do you
>> think you would do if you had more than 23 of them?
>>
>> Use network shortcuts.
>
> The problem with that is, if you have a bunch of cached shortcuts using
> UNC paths, and decide to move things around on the server, it's a pain. I
> agree that having too many mapped drive letters can be problematic, but if
> the OP uses the same letters for different shares (for different groups)
> this is probably not a real issue.

Hi Paula, how's it going!

What I do with ours is have just one Shortcut on the users desktop (All
Users profile) that points to the File Server itself, not to specific
shares. Once that is opened the shares just give the appearance of
"folders" in the open window. They can copy the Shortcut to their My Docs if
they think it helps them organize. The Share Permissions and NTFS
permission control what they can actually open or not. I don't consider it
relevant that they can see all the share names listed in the window, what is
important is what they can actually open.

Granted if there are a lot of shares that can be a lot to look through,
however you can still have a lot more of them then you can have drive
letters without it becoming too messy. Plus having a bunch of drive letters
listed on the machine isn't very "clean" either and then the OS has to
maintain the connection to all those mappings constantly and those are
iterated everytime a "Browse" dialog box is opened, so they pack a high
overhead. There is no "connection" related to a Shortcut when idle and they
don't effect the performance of any of the "Browse" buttons that are found
everywhere.

--
Phillip Windell
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.
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...7/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Microsoft ISA Server Partners: Partner Hardware Solutions
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/e...epartners.mspx
-----------------------------------------------------

We are using Batch Files for the Login Script. Most of the UNC paths for the
drive mappings in the loginscript and the custom.bat files use DFS so this
make changes and migration fairly easy

Mapping drives based on AD group membership is something we will put in
place in the future, Its just the custom mapping the for users that need
extra drive mapping.

(Thanks for the hint on IFMEMBER, i will check that out.)

The suggestion on using a 'shortcut' is interesting but i don't want to make
direct reference to the Servername would prefer using DFS. Can you show an
example of NOT using drive letters at all?

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> AusUsr21 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Is there a way to manage specific custom network drive mappings? We
> > have requirement, that some users need access to specific network
> > drives after their general login script has run.
> >
> > Currently, the general login script maps the drives for that business
> > unit and then check the users home folder for a custom.bat file, if
> > the file exisits it runs that script also. This mean that there are
> > MANY unquie custom.bat files and difficult to manage.
> >
> > I have a need to change the path on all custom.bat files.
> >
> > Is there any easier, centralised way to manage Custom Drive Mappings,
> > per user?
> >
> > One option i was considering was extending the AD schema to include an
> > option for additonal network drives on the user property. But this is
> > a large change.
>
> What kind of login script? Batch file? Kixtart?
> There are all kinds of ways to run different tasks / map different drives,
> such as different mappings depending on AD group membership. If you're using
> batch files, look at IFMEMBER. You might want to post in
> m.p.windows.server.active_directory (and perhaps crosspost to
> m.p.windows.server.scripting).
>
>
>

"AusUsr21" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:7FA6A651-5DFA-42B6-827F-(E-Mail Removed)...
> The suggestion on using a 'shortcut' is interesting but i don't want to
> make
> direct reference to the Servername would prefer using DFS. Can you show an
> example of NOT using drive letters at all?

Create a Alias (CNAME) in AD/DNS that is "generic" (maybe "fileserv"?) and
point it to whatever server "A" Record you want and use it. The shortcut
would look something like

\\filserv.ad-domain.com\sharename

If the "real" server name ever changes then you just change what the CNAME
entry points to.
Whether DFS is used or not is really irrelevant,..the principles works the
same regaurdless.

--
Phillip Windell
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.
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...7/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Microsoft ISA Server Partners: Partner Hardware Solutions
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/e...epartners.mspx
-----------------------------------------------------