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Consolidating file servers

  • Section(s): Admin
  • Published on Nov 30, 2005.
  • Last Modified on Nov 30, 2005.
  • Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
  • Rated 2 out of 5 based on 3 votes.
Save money by consolidating your file servers.

Server consolidation can improve your company's bottom line by reducing hardware and licensing costs and making better use of existing resources. If you have several file servers on your network, why not consolidate them onto a single machine?

A good tool for consolidating Windows file servers is the Microsoft File Server Migration Toolkit (FSMT)available from the Microsoft Download Center. Using the DFS Consolidation Root Wizard, which is included in this toolkit, you can quickly and easily migrate your existing file servers to a single box while maintaining all your old UNC paths so clients won't need to be touched during the migration.

Well, not quite--you may need to touch your clients if they have persistent drive mappings defined on them, unless these mappings are created using logon scripts in which case you're OK.

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy and use Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written or contributed to almost two dozen books and is lead author for the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. For more information, see www.mtit.com .


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