Roaming Profiles 2

[fourtyseven]

I've been asked to develop a workaround for a problem that has developed at work. My office used to use a windows NT server for our group/user profiles. Certain users had roaming profiles, while others did not. We will soon be using a windows 2000 server to manage user/group profiles, and have been informed that roaming profiles will no longer be allowed, despite the fact that certain members of my group need roaming profiles in order to do work. They are not allowing roaming profiles because they feel that two much bandwidth is wasted, as well as hard drive space on the server.
first of all, I need to know what exactly is stored on the server and what is stored locally. Apparently, certain data is stored on the server for roaming profiles that isn't normally stored for other types of accounts.
Is there any way his account settings could be exported somewhere (ie. a shared network folder or a CD) where he could access them? I have a feeling that this would be frowned upon by network admin because it would probably create a security risk.
Any information and/or links and/or hints would be awesome.

 

[paulhthomas]

Hi.
I think the data that is stored on the server as the roaming profile is an exact copy of what will be inthe c:\documents and settings\user folder.
What maybe a way forward for you and your company is to use, i think it's a called, a mandatory profile.
I'm assuming that the reason people need a roaming profile is ebcause of hotdesking? Now if they use the same apps and settings etc when they're on any desk, let them set their profile up once and then rename ntuser.dat to ntuser.man
See this article for a step by step guide:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=323368

That way, once the profile is set up, and made mandatory, every change that the user makes wil be removed when they log off, and not takeing up extra space on the server.
This is also a god way of stopping temporary internet files etc from building up on the server.

just a thought.......

 

[Auger282]

you may want to bring this to the server forums

 

[bcastner]

Any advice I can give you could well cost you your job.

 

[fourtyseven]

thanks for the info paulhthomas, I'll have to do some further investigation.

haha and bcastner, I won't be inplementing the workaround, I'm just supposed to come up with some ideas...so I won't lose my job no matter what advice you give me...

 

[paulhthomas]

no worries, star would be nice ;o)

 

[LloydSev]

There is absolutely nothing stored on the server that would otherwise not be included in a profile. Nothing. In fact most times LESS is stored on the server than would have been stored on a local PC.

Also, as far as bandwidth goes, roaming profiles do not keep using bandwidth AFTER you have logged on.. they transfer the files from the server to the local computer and that's the extent of the transfer. (of course until they log on elsewhere).

It seems our two companies are moving opposite directions as I have been given directions to start preperations for moving our entire company to roaming profiles. (and of course, some mandatory roaming profiles)

Make sure you give them this information as it seems they are basing their decision off of bad information.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[POLMafia]

one thing you might want to think about. the profile is stored in a location, anywhere on any computer. when a person with a roaming profile logs on then the ENTIRE profile is copied to the computer being logged on to. that includes cookies temp folder everything. so lets say this roaming profile user is surfing the net and inadvertently gets hold of a bug. he logs all changes to his profile are uploaded to the host directory leaving an exact copy from where he was and he logs on to another comp. now his profile and any changes from the last time he logged on are sent to another computer, along with the bug he got from the last one. so now every time he logs on he spreads the bug and you have to go to every computer he logged into to clean it and go to the home directory of his profile and clean it.
I ran a roaming profile for 2 years. there isn't a need for them and they cause more headaches in the long run.

 

[fourtyseven]

awesome, thanks for the info, I'll take it up with my domain admin.

and I'd still like to hear bcastner's advice...hehe

 

[LloydSev]

POLMafia.. the default settings for a roaming profile is that Temp, Temp Internet File and Local Settings do NOT propogate to the computer. This is a Win2K server AD environment that these are the default settings for.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[LloydSev]

computer = server

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[bcastner]

LloydSev,

A star and agreement on what is stored in the roaming profile.

POLMafia above made the case: "when a person with a roaming profile logs on then the ENTIRE profile is copied to the computer being logged on to. that includes cookies temp folder everything."

It is more interesting in fact than this, but the above as a description is not correct.

TechNet has a lot of details on this, but as a start see:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prdc_mcc_wtje.asp

My concern with any answer here remains the same: for good or ill, the site policy is that profiles will not roam.

Any particular issue with a roaming profile is fair game, but a site exclusion is not.

 

[POLMafia]

I don’t deny what M$ says. My situation was a mix of NT 4 and Win 2000, no AD. All of my info was transferred when I logged on. If you just listen to what M$ says then if someone goes in and changes the default admin pass and locks everyone out, then you have to reload the box, that isn't true. or they say that SP's will not load on cracked copies of XP, again bogus. I was talking from real world experience with an active network. not what M$ says it is suppose to do. I spent 2 years going back and cleaning things that were not suppose to happen but did. that’s all.

 

[LloydSev]

I am in the middle of implementing roaming profiles, so I speak with the experience of doing it this very moment.

Active Directory roaming profiles do not transfer the folders I mentioned above. They also (through AD) have the ability to exclude further more directories (as long as they are not system directories). You can also redirect those system directories if they are taking up to much space.

NT4 roaming profiles might have stored the data you suggest, since I do not work with NT4 I would not know. However, the default behavior for roaming profiles is to not transfer those folders (and it also gives you the option to redirect my documents).

The normal sized roaming profile here is about 2MB.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[POLMafia]

by the way excellent reading bcastner, wish I had that info years ago.