Move files/shares/permissions from one server to another

file-sharingwindows-server-2008

We have a Windows 2000 file server that we would like to move the file shares with permissions to a new Windows 2008 server.
I have tested the FSMT from Microsoft, and it seems that it also creates the oldservername then the shares.
Is there a better faster way of moving these shares? Robocopy is a bit confusing, as we have tested that with switches, but we have missed some.

Any suggustions?

Best Answer

In the past we've used robocopy and it worked well. It allows you to move all the data once which can take a long time, and then you can run it again a second time to grab anything that changed. This method allowed us to move all the data over the course of a week, and then grab the changes quickly on a Saturday evening before the cut over.

Here are the robocopy commands we used:

robocopy /copy:DATSO /mir /XD "system volume information" /XD recycler /r:0 /V /Log:robocopylog-to.txt

However, you asked about other utlitties and if that is still the path you'd like to take then you can always backup and restore. Most backup and restore utilities will restore with the correct permission, but this would make for a longer downtime of the data.

Related Solutions

File Server Migration from Windows 2000 Standalone to Windows 2003 Cluster to Windows 2008 Cluster with DFS

I haven't done what you're doing before, but I'll throw a shout out for the SetACL utility (http://setacl.sourceforge.net/) and its backup / restore security descriptor functionality.

It would take some work to get it to do exactly what you want, because it stores absolute paths in its "backup" files (so you'd have to script something to go thru those backup files and munge up the paths), but it might just do what you want.

How to get a list of shared directories on local Windows server

You can go into computer management (right click my computer, select manage), expand the Shared Folders node and see a list of all shares, connected sessions and open files.

For W2K8, you do this in Server Manager instead: Roles -> File Services -> Share and Storage Management; the Shares tab in the center of the window.

For listing shares of remote servers, note that NET VIEW svr_name will only show user shares, no admin or hidden shares. Adding the /all switch at the end will show these others (for W2K8).

C:\>net view sx1
Shared resources at sx1

Share name    Type  Used as  Comment
 --------------------------------------------
SHARE_CIFS    Disk
The command completed successfully.

C:\>net view sx1 /all
Shared resources at sx1

Share name    Type  Used as  Comment
 --------------------------------------------
ADMIN$        Disk           Remote Admin
SHARE_CIFS    Disk
C$            Disk           Default share
IPC$          IPC            Remote IPC
The command completed successfully.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

File Server Migration from Windows 2000 Standalone to Windows 2003 Cluster to Windows 2008 Cluster with DFS

How to get a list of shared directories on local Windows server

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