OneDrive for Business Probs

[sted]

I guess the problem is you're then stuck with a whole new load of issues Windows 8.1 introduces. I think you're just as well to install the client on a new Windows 7 image, then configure the relevant URLs manually or by instructions for the relevant Staff.

 

oh I have no intention of deploying 8 though in most places the policies already exist but im going to make the assumption if it works in 8 it will work in 10

[gshaw]

With a new sync engine coming users will need to migrate their data. Microsoft are going to concentrate efforts on making that as pain free as possible. They have promised IT admins that they won’t have to visit each workstation to reconfigure the new sync client.

 

I'd hold off until the next-gen product based on that quote alone...

 

Sounds like the new version is going to solve a lot of the pain points associated with the current version of OneDrive for Business, it can't come soon enough!

 

https://blog.onedrive.com/onedrive_burns_brightly_at_microsoft_ignite/

Edited May 12, 2015 by gshaw

[spc-rocket]

It looks attractive, but then it would costs hundreds every year - it's a shame, as that's one of the selling points for O365 - it's free on E1 licensing, which is ideal for Primary schools.

 

Please let us know how the trial goes

 

 

Hi Michael,

 

I'm not sure if you have ADFS server deployed for a true single sign-on but if you do, you can use a free application that someone developed called cookie365 that can map onedrive and sharepoint drives.

 

See here --> Office365 and surroundings

 

I've done testing with batch file (run at post logon and it does map onedrive and sharepoint drives). There are a couple of things you will need in order to get this working i.e. having your adfs sever's url in the intranet zone and also having a your office365 domain on trusted sites zones etc. Search for info on mapping drives for sharepoint for more information.

 

Ash.

[sted]

I believe it's already included in Windows 8.1, but I'm not going to deploy that, but more likely Windows 10, providing it's not another turd of an operating system!

 

well ive just tried on a vm and adding the address from a web browser fails on an 8.1 vm and clicking on sync just takes me to the download for the same app im using on win7. That said i havnt logged in with a microsoft account (or indead got one for my test user(office 365 accounts dount count))

[Michael]

Correction - OneDrive is included in Windows 8.1, whereas OneDrive for Business isn't (sorry about that)!

 

I've made good progress, but hit another wall.

 

I tried running the OneDrive client on 2008 R2, but it didn't work. I think it's due to the proxy, however I managed to download an offline version (approx. 1GB) using this method (scroll down). This then allowed me to install the client on 2008 R2 behind a proxy.

 

I then created a folder labelled OneDrive within StaffCommon and it works great. Staff can just move/copy files and within minutes they appear in StaffCommon OneDrive, as per Sted's guide.

 

So now's the gotcha - unbelievably, the OneDrive client doesn't support mapped drives or UNC paths, only physical volumes; so how am I supposed to deploy this to Staff who are all using mapped drives? Do businesses really operate everything on the local drive Microsoft?

[spc-rocket]

Michael,

 

I'm not sure what you are trying to do, when you install the onedrive for business on the server the drive is a physical drive that has a share for people to connect to? i.e. the D drive for the server. I would have thought that if you were to share the drive which then gets mapped to workstation so people in the first instance save or move file to the mapped drive on the server. Once on the server it will detect that some change has happened and onedrive for business will sync the content to the cloud? Sorry am I not getting this right?

 

Ash.

[Michael]

Michael,

 

I'm not sure what you are trying to do, when you install the onedrive for business on the server the drive is a physical drive that has a share for people to connect to? i.e. the D drive for the server. I would have thought that if you were to share the drive which then gets mapped to workstation so people in the first instance save or move file to the mapped drive on the server. Once on the server it will detect that some change has happened and onedrive for business will sync the content to the cloud? Sorry am I not getting this right?

 

Ash.

 

Thanks Ash -

 

In the example of StaffCommon this is relatively simple. You're right that on the 2008 R2 server, it's physically located at D:\StaffCommon, so all I've done is create a new folder labelled OneDrive within StaffCommon. Staff can now optionally move/copy data in here and it's synced back to the StaffCommon One Drive (group location) automatically.

 

I'd like to offer the same/similar to Staff, but it's a real struggle. When installing the OneDrive client on the server, it only allows one physical location for all OneDrive Libraries to be located - which is D:\StaffCommon\OneDrive currently.

 

All Staff home directories are located on the same physical volume, but are located in D:\Staff\%randomusername%$\

 

I'd like to be able to create a OneDrive subfolder for each Staff member, so they can drop files in here and it's synced to their own OneDrive Documents.

 

One solution is to start again, create a new share (on the server), then create shortcuts for Staff.

 

So for example, I could create a new share labelled 'OneDrive', then create all the Libraries under this (for each Staff member).

 

Within Staff home directories, I could create a OneDrive shortcut pointing to their own Library, for example:

 

\\Server\OneDrive\%randomusername%$\OneDrive (shortcut)

 

I guess the question is, is it OK to do it this way? I'd like to keep all data on the server for backup purposes internally, whilst providing cloud functionality.

[sted]

Thanks Ash -

 

In the example of StaffCommon this is relatively simple. You're right that on the 2008 R2 server, it's physically located at D:\StaffCommon, so all I've done is create a new folder labelled OneDrive within StaffCommon. Staff can now optionally move/copy data in here and it's synced back to the StaffCommon One Drive (group location) automatically.

 

I'd like to offer the same/similar to Staff, but it's a real struggle. When installing the OneDrive client on the server, it only allows one physical location for all OneDrive Libraries to be located - which is D:\StaffCommon\OneDrive currently.

 

All Staff home directories are located on the same physical volume, but are located in D:\Staff\%randomusername%$\

 

I'd like to be able to create a OneDrive subfolder for each Staff member, so they can drop files in here and it's synced to their own OneDrive Documents.

 

One solution is to start again, create a new share (on the server), then create shortcuts for Staff.

 

So for example, I could create a new share labelled 'OneDrive', then create all the Libraries under this (for each Staff member).

 

Within Staff home directories, I could create a OneDrive shortcut pointing to their own Library, for example:

 

\\Server\OneDrive\%randomusername%$\OneDrive (shortcut)

 

I guess the question is, is it OK to do it this way? I'd like to keep all data on the server for backup purposes internally, whilst providing cloud functionality.

 

my guess would be that would mean all staff synced (or had the ability to sync and modify) all other users data. I think if you want to make their homedrive the same as their onedrive the only sensible way is to use the sync tool on their primary pc and create a folder in their home area onedrive (so for me that would usually be u:\onedrive (not sure if it would allow that)that synced but only when their primary pcs was on. A sahred area can work but the problem is onedrive isn't so much a shared system as lots of interconnected ones unlike say a file server where you can arrange data in a logical structure one drive isn't really the right tool for this job. You might be better looking at work folders.

[Michael]

my guess would be that would mean all staff synced (or had the ability to sync and modify) all other users data. I think if you want to make their homedrive the same as their onedrive the only sensible way is to use the sync tool on their primary pc and create a folder in their home area onedrive (so for me that would usually be u:\onedrive (not sure if it would allow that)that synced but only when their primary pcs was on. A sahred area can work but the problem is onedrive isn't so much a shared system as lots of interconnected ones unlike say a file server where you can arrange data in a logical structure one drive isn't really the right tool for this job. You might be better looking at work folders.

 

That's just it, you can't. The OneDrive client won't let you point to a mapped drive. It has to be a physical drive, which on a PC is going to be C:\OneDrive and not U:\OneDrive for example.

[sted]

That's just it, you can't. The OneDrive client won't let you point to a mapped drive. It has to be a physical drive, which on a PC is going to be C:\OneDrive and not U:\OneDrive for example.

 

in that case have you looked at work folders to the end user its just like onedrive files "sync" through the internet the main difference is they are in the end stored on your server and with a bit of faffing round will sync to a pc off site or on and you can use your existing folder structure to do it

[JohnUnlocking]

Just thought some of you might like to know that we signed up to IAM Cloud's Cloud Drive Mapper last week in our school, and it's working well for us. We map network drives for students and staff to OneDrive and Sharepoint in Office 365. It works well for staff at home too. We use it in addition to the server home drives, but plan to remove these over the summer and just use OneDrive for home drives. They gave me a 14 day trial and it worked straight away - took them half an hour to send me the details and 5 minutes for me to set it up. And it isn't expensive (half price til end of May) - cheaper than new disks for my servers.

[spc-rocket]

Thanks Ash -

 

In the example of StaffCommon this is relatively simple. You're right that on the 2008 R2 server, it's physically located at D:\StaffCommon, so all I've done is create a new folder labelled OneDrive within StaffCommon. Staff can now optionally move/copy data in here and it's synced back to the StaffCommon One Drive (group location) automatically.

 

I'd like to offer the same/similar to Staff, but it's a real struggle. When installing the OneDrive client on the server, it only allows one physical location for all OneDrive Libraries to be located - which is D:\StaffCommon\OneDrive currently.

 

All Staff home directories are located on the same physical volume, but are located in D:\Staff\%randomusername%$\

 

I'd like to be able to create a OneDrive subfolder for each Staff member, so they can drop files in here and it's synced to their own OneDrive Documents.

 

One solution is to start again, create a new share (on the server), then create shortcuts for Staff.

 

So for example, I could create a new share labelled 'OneDrive', then create all the Libraries under this (for each Staff member).

 

Within Staff home directories, I could create a OneDrive shortcut pointing to their own Library, for example:

 

\\Server\OneDrive\%randomusername%$\OneDrive (shortcut)

 

I guess the question is, is it OK to do it this way? I'd like to keep all data on the server for backup purposes internally, whilst providing cloud functionality.

 

 

Hi Michael,

 

Yes I see what you mean now. Hmm I still think this is not how the onedrive is meant to be used. I think you may want to just give them mapped drive to their own onedrive using the link I sent in the thread earlier. i.e. cookie365.

 

This will map the drive from cloud straight away and anything opened from and saved to the drive map will be in the cloud by default. You can use the SharePoint document library for shared areas etc.

 

Ash,

[Michael]

Here's what I've tried and it appears to work -

 

On your File Server, create a share called OneDrive and specify the required permissions.

 

Starting with StaffCommon, specify D:\OneDrive as the root location. Login using Admin credentials. All Libraries will then be located here. You can then set the required permissions per Library once created.

 

I'm also thinking of doing away with 'Saved Games' as part of Folder Redirection and replacing this with a OneDrive folder instead.

 

Now all Staff need to do is copy/paste/move files/folders in here and it appears in their own Documents OneDrive. Nothing is required on the client (workstation) and all works from the File Server.

[gshaw]

Will be interesting to see how you get on with the sync client dealing with that much data, it's wobbly enough with a single user's data let alone a whole shared drive.

 

For those using the Drive Mapper what are upload speeds like for larger files? I've heard people say uploads get throttled, which wouldn't surprise me given the current SharePoint back-end has to ingest the data being uploaded to it.

[Michael]

Just to update, the OneDrive for Business client's working fine on 2008 R2 and is very quick to sync data, but this may also be due to the 100Mb lease line the school I'm testing use.

 

I'm now at the 'deciding' stage whether to re-map all Staff home directories to the root of their OneDrive share (so everything syncs automatically), or to keep the existing system of a sub folder (within their mapped documents), meaning Staff drop files they want to sync only.

 

The only other task you need to perform is to add the O365 admin account (the same as used with the OneDrive for Business client), as a Site Collection Administrator.

 

Navigate to O365 > Admin > SharePoint (bottom left) > User Profiles > Manage User Profiles. Search for the account, select the down arrow next to their Account name, then select Manage Site Collection Owners. Add the Administrator account under Site Collection Administrators, then click OK. Repeat for each account.

 

Hope this helps someone else!

[gshaw]

You may be the only person I've ever seen on the Office 365 discussion forums who has a working sync client that they're happy with!

 

I'm guessing your staff machines have quite big C: drives to store the local cache? That was our other concern on shared machines as our SSD drives fill up rather quickly.

[spc-rocket]

Just to update, the OneDrive for Business client's working fine on 2008 R2 and is very quick to sync data, but this may also be due to the 100Mb lease line the school I'm testing use.

 

I'm now at the 'deciding' stage whether to re-map all Staff home directories to the root of their OneDrive share (so everything syncs automatically), or to keep the existing system of a sub folder (within their mapped documents), meaning Staff drop files they want to sync only.

 

The only other task you need to perform is to add the O365 admin account (the same as used with the OneDrive for Business client), as a Site Collection Administrator.

 

Navigate to O365 > Admin > SharePoint (bottom left) > User Profiles > Manage User Profiles. Search for the account, select the down arrow next to their Account name, then select Manage Site Collection Owners. Add the Administrator account under Site Collection Administrators, then click OK. Repeat for each account.

 

Hope this helps someone else!

 

Hi Michael,

 

I'm confused about the library thing you mentioned, could you please explain this?

 

Thanks,

 

Ash.

[Ashm]

The question is though @Michael are you using it with actual user data at this stage or purely a few files for testing?

 

I've found as soon as you move any significant amount of user data to it you start to run into problems, both with unsupported characters in file names and path lengths and then getting the forever syncing issues with some files in sync and others not. The beginning of this video pretty much sums it up.

 

Looking forward to the new sync client, but I can't believe they are not supporting Windows 8.1 (not everyone is going to roll out Windows 10 straight away, especially if they have just recently deployed Windows 8.1).

The new sync client will preview in late Q3 2015 and be generally available by the end of the year. The PC client will work on Windows 7, 8 and 10 (but not 8.1 as we anticipate that most 8.1 users will take the free upgrade to Windows 10).

[sted]

The question is though @Michael are you using it with actual user data at this stage or purely a few files for testing?

 

I've found as soon as you move any significant amount of user data to it you start to run into problems, both with unsupported characters in file names and path lengths and then getting the forever syncing issues with some files in sync and others not. The beginning of this video pretty much sums it up.

 

Looking forward to the new sync client, but I can't believe they are not supporting Windows 8.1 (not everyone is going to roll out Windows 10 straight away, especially if they have just recently deployed Windows 8.1).

 

it does seem especially silly to support 8.0 but not 8.1 whats the betting though with a quick bit of orca it will work?

[Michael]

Hi Michael,

 

I'm confused about the library thing you mentioned, could you please explain this?

 

Thanks,

 

Ash.

 

I've created a folder/share labelled 'OneDrive' on my file server. Using the OneDrive client, all Libraries use the base directory E:\OneDrive, so for example the StaffCommon OneDrive and all home directory OneDrives are created/location here.

 

You can then move all data within an existing home directory share e.g. ending in randomuser$ into the OneDrive Library. Data will then start syncing in the background, but it means you can then re-share the newly created Library itself as randomuser$ (as well as apply permissions). By enabling the Filename option (in Explorer), you can see who the Library belongs to, as they'll just be labelled One Drive for Business 1, 2, 3, 4 etc..

 

Users access their data internally as normal via a mapped drive randomuser$, but can also access their data via the OneDrive web interface.

 

At the moment I just have a handful of home drives migrated over. Other than random characters such as % $ ! that OneDrive doesn't like, the data syncs successfully. It's definitely better to plan out of hours to achieve this.

 

I agree with others, time will tell how the client handles many connections - but running on 2008 R2, it should be pretty stable (he says)!

[Michael]

You may be the only person I've ever seen on the Office 365 discussion forums who has a working sync client that they're happy with!

 

I'm guessing your staff machines have quite big C: drives to store the local cache? That was our other concern on shared machines as our SSD drives fill up rather quickly.

 

Just to clarify, nothing is synced to their local C: drive. Anything they want to use off site is accessed via OneDrive. The client is only required on the file server. That's the plan, so end users have no learning curve.

 

Caching/storing anything on the C: drive always has its risks, whereas O365 always requires authentication, which can of course be changed. This also removes the need to encrypt notebooks as there's no data stored locally.

[Michael]

The question is though @Michael are you using it with actual user data at this stage or purely a few files for testing?

 

I've found as soon as you move any significant amount of user data to it you start to run into problems, both with unsupported characters in file names and path lengths and then getting the forever syncing issues with some files in sync and others not. The beginning of this video pretty much sums it up.

 

Looking forward to the new sync client, but I can't believe they are not supporting Windows 8.1 (not everyone is going to roll out Windows 10 straight away, especially if they have just recently deployed Windows 8.1).

 

I agree that's odd - it may be something to do with the OneDrive home version being included in the OS itself (Windows 8.1).

 

Windows 7 and 8 have no client, so no potential conflict (in theory).

 

You'd think that Microsoft would create a single client for all and point to the right location based on the domain name. Not too difficult, but then again, you still have to sign in separately into Skype for Outlook/Hotmail accounts and native Skype accounts. Very strange why they don't just merge everything and keep it as one.

[gshaw]

it does seem especially silly to support 8.0 but not 8.1 whats the betting though with a quick bit of orca it will work?

 

It's MS trying to get everyone onto the same platform, I can't believe there's many people still running 8.0 (horrific user experience before the 8.1 update) so basically a token gesture there

 

@Michael maybe I missed a post somewhere but what are you using for the OneDrive drive mapping? Is it the CloudMapper utility or that script referenced above?

 

This also removes the need to encrypt notebooks as there's no data stored locally.

 

Provided you've got policies to prevent saving everywhere else (by mistake or otherwise) plus you're sure no programs running locally leave anything behind

Edited May 18, 2015 by gshaw

[Michael]

Realistically you cannot be absolutely certain zero caching occurs from applications or other, but this is where Staff user agreements and data protection agreements come into force.

 

As for drive mapping, for example, (in school) the drive mapping remains identical in Active Directory:

 

\\Server.fqdn\randomuser$

 

The OneDrive client runs off the server only, which points to the directory E:\OneDrive and syncs all Libraries contained within this directory.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Michael

[Ashm]

So just to clarify you're basically giving an Admin user full access rights to each users OneDrive for Business area and then adding each area manually on the OneDrive for Business Sync client that is installed on the server? Out of interest how many areas in total are you syncing with the one client?

 

A couple of potential issues I can think of with this set up is if you ever have to perform a repair, I think the client ends up having to repair each synced library. Also you'll probably need a load of free space on the system drive of the server as the OneDrive for Business client typically needs the same storage space used on OneDrive as it does in the local AppData folder that is running the client.