Pointing to C:\ServerPool\... in M3

Alex

I've just had an interesting support session with someone who upgraded from M2 to M3 and had a folder disappear with lots of data.

Suffice it to say, everything was still there, DrivePool was just not mounting that folder properly and I thought I'd share with everyone why.

If you were pointing an external app to C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders\... in M2 and have upgraded to M3 then I suggest you re-point that app to C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\...

The problem happened because that app had created a new folder by itself, without asking the user. C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders\ is now managed by DrivePool in M3, and DrivePool will create / delete / share folders under this directory automatically. So in theory everything would be ok if the app didn't create directories, but since it did, DrivePool couldn't create its own directory because a directory with the same name already existed and so the Dashboard didn't see that particular folder.

The point:

Point external apps to C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\ if you have to.

SilverRubicon

I use CrashPlan to back stuff up to CrashPlan Online.  I was looking for a way to have CrashPlan find pooled data and stumbled across the  C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount directory.  Is it cool to use this directory or is it frowned upon?   At the moment I have created a directory on a data drive with links pointing to my pooled data.  

mklink /D d:\CrashPlan\Music \\SERVER\Pool\Music

CrashPlan is successfully backing up from these.  I'm not sure the best way to go about it.  Should ServerPool be considered an off limits 'system' folder and/or are the links causing unnecessary network traffic?  More of unix/linux/mac guy and not up on windows as a server.

Prelector

Since all crashplan is doing is READING from the shares, there shouldn't be a problem with pointing directly to the c:\serverpool\serverfolders.mount\<share> directories.  The problem mentioned above by Alex was when applications were WRITING directly to the share folders.

SilverRubicon

Right, but since this is a new server and a beta product, I want to make sure that I'm making the right choices in accessing my pooled data.  If the ServerPool directories are here for good then that's great.  I have no idea how windows is resolving paths when I link to a network share on a local machine.  I tend to think that it's accessing the disk directly, but I have no proof of that.

It was just a question on how the ServerPool directories should be treated.  Hands-on or hands-off.

Shane

As noted by Alex, if your app doesn't like shares and needs to point to a disk, use the C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\ path. Do not confuse this with C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders\