[Samba] msdfs (Was: smb an NFS dir?)

[Simon Hobson]

Tobias Bluhm wrote:

>What sort of box is your NFS server? If it's also RH or other Linux/Unix,
>could put samba on the NFS box and use msdfs on the main smb server to
>point to the NFS shares. You will cut down on network traffic as the data
>will now only make one trip.

I never knew it existed, but it sure could deal with a problem I've 
been struggling with for a while !

I have a question though which isn't addressed in the howto ...

If a client has a mapped drive, say for example drive G: is mapped to 
\\server1\main_share\, and that share contains an msdfs link to 
another server (\branch_office --> \\branch_server\share\), then will 
the client still see the virtual directory structure ?

What I'm getting at is, will paths like 
G:\branch_office\sales\some_file work the same way as if the folder 
branch_office was a normal folder on a normal share ? We have a few 
situations where people have written complex Excel stuff with 
multiple linked sheets, and referred to the other sheets as 
G:\somepath. Also, we tend to refer to the main file server simply as 
'the G drive' for the benefit of the less technically minded staff. 
There is also the benefit that they don't need to know the underlying 
server name (the share is mapped for them) and things shouldn't break 
if/when shares get moved about.

Simon

-- 
Simon Hobson MA MIEE, Technology Specialist
Colony Gift Corporation Limited
Lindal in Furness, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 0LD
Tel 01229 461100, Fax 01229 461101

Registered in England No. 1499611
Regd. Office : 100 New Bridge Street, London, EC4V 6JA.