DFS - best practice for XP clients?

Hi,

We have published a number of DFS folders to active directory.
Which options do I have to make these folders easily available for all my XP
clients under My Network Places?

Regards,
Peter :-)

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Peter Frederiksen <(E-Mail Removed)> stated, which I commented on
below:
> Hi,
>
> We have published a number of DFS folders to active directory.
> Which options do I have to make these folders easily available for
> all my XP clients under My Network Places?
>
> Regards,
> Peter :-)

There are no real 'best practices' for DFS. It is meant as a fault-tolerant
(if AD based) consolidating tool to consolidate multiple shares into one
that you can map the DFS Root share to for a single user's mapped drive to
get to all the shares instead of mapping multiple shares.

If you want to add it to Network Places, click on Network Places, click on
Add Network Place, Click on 'choose another network location', type in the
UNC such as \\domain.com\DFSRootShareName.

Overview of DFS in Windows 2000 (similar to 2003)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812487/
--
Ace

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Ace Fekay, MCSE 2003 & 2000, MCSA 2003 & 2000, MCSE+I, MCT, MVP
Microsoft MVP - Windows Server Directory Services
Microsoft Certified Trainer
Assimilation Imminent. Resistance is Futile.
Infinite Diversities in Infinite Combinations.
=================================

> There are no real 'best practices' for DFS. It is meant as a
> fault-tolerant (if AD based) consolidating tool to consolidate multiple
> shares into one that you can map the DFS Root share to for a single user's
> mapped drive to get to all the shares instead of mapping multiple shares.
>
> If you want to add it to Network Places, click on Network Places, click on
> Add Network Place, Click on 'choose another network location', type in the
> UNC such as \\domain.com\DFSRootShareName.

I may not have explaned myself very well - here's the background for my
question:

We are using DFS primarily to ensure that UNC's remain constant over the
years when data are moved to new servers, so that absolute links in old
Office documents continues to me valid.

Until now, users have accessed the DFS shares though mapped network drives,
which they get mapped through a logon script.

But now we want to stop using mapped network drives - we feel they are a
thing from the old DOS days that we should not use anymore; and mostly
because they make the Windows Explorer VERY slow for users working remotly
on lines with low bandwith.

I have been trying to find out what Microsoft recommends as a modern day
replacement for mapped network drives, but can't really find out.

My solution to it is to place links to the shares (DFS in our case) in My
Network Places.

But I would like to place links in My Network Places automatically for all
users, (to replace the logon script) but can't find a group policy that does
that.

So what do others do, when they want to get rid of the mapped network
drives?

Regards,
Peter :-)

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Peter Frederiksen <(E-Mail Removed)> stated, which I commented on
below:
> I may not have explaned myself very well - here's the background for
> my question:
>
> We are using DFS primarily to ensure that UNC's remain constant over
> the years when data are moved to new servers, so that absolute links
> in old Office documents continues to me valid.
>
> Until now, users have accessed the DFS shares though mapped network
> drives, which they get mapped through a logon script.
>
> But now we want to stop using mapped network drives - we feel they
> are a thing from the old DOS days that we should not use anymore; and
> mostly because they make the Windows Explorer VERY slow for users
> working remotly on lines with low bandwith.
>
> I have been trying to find out what Microsoft recommends as a modern
> day replacement for mapped network drives, but can't really find out.
>
> My solution to it is to place links to the shares (DFS in our case)
> in My Network Places.
>
> But I would like to place links in My Network Places automatically
> for all users, (to replace the logon script) but can't find a group
> policy that does that.
>
> So what do others do, when they want to get rid of the mapped network
> drives?
>
> Regards,
> Peter :-)

I see. Your original question was very basic and generic.

The current trend appears to be implementing a document management system
such as Sharepoint or any other third party utility that will support this.
Some compnaies use Public Flders to an extent in combination with mapped
shares.

Here is a GPO settings matrix. I didn't see anything to add a Network Place
link:
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo.../prwo_gpss.xls

May want to try the Script Center at www.technet.com or try and search
http://cwashington.netreach.net thru their thousands of free scripts to do
this for you in a logon script thru a GPO.

Ace