OneDrive and mapped home folders

[artfulmatt]

Hi all,

 

I'm just trying to clear up my confusion with Onedrive.

 

We currently have a domain and use homefolders in AD which points to a standard fileserver. We also use Exchange 365 with AD Azure connect to sync users to the cloud. Now a plan had been presented to the governors about going into the cloud and using Onedrive for homefolders as that comes with the MS subscription. Now my understanding is that you'd need onedrive sync app installed on the local machines or use a 3rd party tool to map a network drive to that onedrive?

 

How would that all work when we have numerous students logging in at any one machine during the day?

 

I'm thinking Azure cloud storage or virtual fileserver would be the better option?

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

[sted]

Hi all,

 

I'm just trying to clear up my confusion with Onedrive.

 

We currently have a domain and use homefolders in AD which points to a standard fileserver. We also use Exchange 365 with AD Azure connect to sync users to the cloud. Now a plan had been presented to the governors about going into the cloud and using Onedrive for homefolders as that comes with the MS subscription. Now my understanding is that you'd need onedrive sync app installed on the local machines or use a 3rd party tool to map a network drive to that onedrive?

 

How would that all work when we have numerous students logging in at any one machine during the day?

 

I'm thinking Azure cloud storage or virtual fileserver would be the better option?

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

with multiple users on multiple machines i wouldnt even entertain the sync client as every time a user logs onto a new machine its going to copy all their cloud content to that machine killing your bandwidth and probably filling the local machines hard drives with "pointless files". It is possible to map it as a drive z say but without 3rd party tools it does seem to be a manual process (bear in mind ive not linked ad and office 365 logins so that may affect that)

[artfulmatt]

with multiple users on multiple machines i wouldnt even entertain the sync client as every time a user logs onto a new machine its going to copy all their cloud content to that machine killing your bandwidth and probably filling the local machines hard drives with "pointless files". It is possible to map it as a drive z say but without 3rd party tools it does seem to be a manual process (bear in mind ive not linked ad and office 365 logins so that may affect that)

 

Thanks, I was thinking along the same lines and have read about the caching. I think the reasoning behind it was to use the "setup schools PC" app on the desktops and logging in using their 365 account, then the onedrive app would then be used to access their data. Problem I've already found with onedrive (other than the annoying special characters) is that some applications don't like saving direct to cloud or via the onedrive app in explorer. So a mapped network drive would be the better solution as its also the way all students and staff are used too.

 

Azure storage with a vpn and mapped drive makes more sense in my head?

[garethEds]

Hi @artfulmatt - We experimented with this script: OneDriveMapper | Liebensraum

 

It was brilliant when your username and password are the same for your domain and your Office 365 accounts - as in full SSO. However our provider (Welsh Government) had different ideas and we have different usernames and passwords to access 365.

 

We had the script as a logon script with the users OneDrive mapped to O:\ - which then presented itself as a standard filer window. It was great and worked a treat.

 

Gareth

[sted]

Thanks, I was thinking along the same lines and have read about the caching. I think the reasoning behind it was to use the "setup schools PC" app on the desktops and logging in using their 365 account, then the onedrive app would then be used to access their data. Problem I've already found with onedrive (other than the annoying special characters) is that some applications don't like saving direct to cloud or via the onedrive app in explorer. So a mapped network drive would be the better solution as its also the way all students and staff are used too.

 

Azure storage with a vpn and mapped drive makes more sense in my head?

 

the sync client is fine IF its a single user pc (so staff laptop) i use it on my home computers fine but when i log into a new pc (or if i ever turn my surface pro back on) it going to take a while to sync 16gb of stuff lol. as to accesing data it just shows up as a location on the left bar and can at least locally (not tried with gpo) be set to be your default document location and i assume (again not tried) you can like with work folders use folder redirection to point docs/pics/music etc there so it looks like a "normal" documents structure

[garethEds]

I'm sure the OneDrive for Business app used to have a function that avoided a full sync yet showed you what was on the cloud and you could access it just like a filer window. This functionality was apparently removed.

 

Gareth

[artfulmatt]

Hi @artfulmatt - We experimented with this script: OneDriveMapper | Liebensraum

 

It was brilliant when your username and password are the same for your domain and your Office 365 accounts - as in full SSO. However our provider (Welsh Government) had different ideas and we have different usernames and passwords to access 365.

 

We had the script as a logon script with the users OneDrive mapped to O:\ - which then presented itself as a standard filer window. It was great and worked a treat.

 

Gareth

 

Thanks Gareth !!

 

You have just also answered (without knowing it) my other question as to how I was going to migrate files to onedrive from the fileserver, but they have a lovely tool for the job !!

 

I've tested this on windows 7, but getting quite a few errors at the moment (trusted sites) and its prompting for a logon - going to need more testing.