In this exercise we will explain how to deploy windows folder redirection with offline files on Isilon Cluster.

To enable Windows folder redirection with offline files we need to do three steps:

  1. Enable folder redirection and chose what folders to redirect (Deploying Folder Redirection).
  2. Configure the parameters for the offline caching. (Configure offline file settings).
  3. Add the path of the folder redirecting in the Active Directory users and Computers.

1.      Deploying Folder redirection

In the domain environment, use the group policy management console on the domain controller and create a new policy

  • In the GPMC tree, right-click the Group Policy object (GPO) that is just created and is linked to the site, domain, or organizational unit that contains the users whose user profile folders you want to redirect, and then click Edit.
  • Expand User Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection and then select the specific folder to redirect, In our case we will be using Documents
  • Right-click on the “Documents” folder and then click Properties

Make sure you select “Basic – Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location” and chose “Redirect to the user’s home directory” in this way you can change the path from the Windows Active directory location.

For a full list of options please refer to the following link

Folder Redirection, Offline Files, and Roaming user Profiles overview:
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh848267

2.      Configure offline file settings

In the domain environment, use the group policy management console on the domain controller navigate to group policies

  • In the GPMC tree, right-click the Group Policy object (GPO) that is just created and is linked to the site, domain, or organizational unit that contains the users whose user profile folders you want to redirect, and then click Edit.
  • Expand Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Network\Offline Files

Configure the following settings:

  1. Configure Background Sync:
    In our case we chose the defaults
    Sync Interval (Minutes) : 360
    Sync Variance (Minutes): 60
  2. Enable Transparent Caching:
    In our case we chose the defaults
    Enter network latency value in milliseconds: 32000
  3. Exclude files from being cached:
    In our case we decided to only exclude temp files
    Exclusion: *.tmp

3.      Add the path of the folder redirecting in the Active Directory users and Computers

In the domain environment, use the Active Directory Users and Computers

  • Select the user that you want to have folder redirection enabled.
  • Navigate to “Profile” and add the path for the users folder redirection in the “home folder” section

In this example we decided to do folder redirection to our Isilon NAS lab
Connect M: to \\isilon\users\testuser

The end result for the above configuration should show as the following:

References: