Renaming Folders Offline - mobsync

[Guest]

I have a setup where several machines running Windows XP Pro have access to
directories setup on a Windows 2003 Server. Offline Folders have been
enabled and the XP machines synchronize with 2003 on logon/logoff using
Synchronization Manager.

One user has raised an issue that they are no longer able to rename any
offline folders while they are working offline and claims that they were able
to do so under our previous setup (XP machines synchronizing to a Windows
2000 Server using mobsync).

I was under the impression that while working offline, local replicas of
offline folders could not be renamed/moved. Is there a way to setup offline
files so it is possible to rename folders while offline? What about setting
up synchronization so the folder on the user's machine is treated as the
master with changes being pushed to the server?

- George

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I have a setup where several machines running Windows XP Pro have
access to directories setup on a Windows 2003 Server. Offline
Folders have been enabled and the XP machines synchronize with 2003
on logon/logoff using Synchronization Manager.

One user has raised an issue that they are no longer able to rename
any offline folders while they are working offline and claims that
they were able to do so under our previous setup (XP machines
synchronizing to a Windows 2000 Server using mobsync).

I was under the impression that while working offline, local replicas
of offline folders could not be renamed/moved. Is there a way to
setup offline files so it is possible to rename folders while
offline? What about setting up synchronization so the folder on the
user's machine is treated as the master with changes being pushed to
the server?

- George

My first question is, why are you using offline files on LAN-connected
workstations? I'm not very fond of of offline files in general, but I really
don't see the point of using them on desktops that are always connected to
your network/server/domain. Your server/servers should be running on good
hardware that ensures they've got good uptime - and in the rare event that
the server or network goes down, your users shouldn't be working on anything
anyway.

Beyond that, it's my impression that you can do whatever you want to your
offline folders when working offline - make sure users are accessing them
via the original path (and not just looking in the cache of files which
displays them without the folder hierarchy).

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the response. Answers are inline below:

My first question is, why are you using offline files on LAN-connected
workstations? I'm not very fond of of offline files in general, but I really
don't see the point of using them on desktops that are always connected to
your network/server/domain. Your server/servers should be running on good
hardware that ensures they've got good uptime - and in the rare event that
the server or network goes down, your users shouldn't be working on anything
anyway.

We store user and project specific folders on a central server so data can
get backed up on a regular basis and staff are constantly rotating on and off
customer sites so we're constantly swapping machines.

We do not bother with enabling offline files on the desktops for the reasons
you stated above. Some users however, have a laptop and spend significant
time offline and this is where the inability to do a simple thing as renaming
a folder while offline becomes a problem.

This seems silly as from the description of the client-side cache, a
database is used to keep track of state of the locally cached replicas.
Unless you've got the file/folder name as the primary key, its name shouldn't
matter. Furthermore, you can rename files/folders made available offline
using Briefcase. As mobsync is supposed to be an improvement to Briefcase,
you'd expect to be able to rename offline files/folders while offline.

Beyond that, it's my impression that you can do whatever you want to your
offline folders when working offline - make sure users are accessing them
via the original path (and not just looking in the cache of files which
displays them without the folder hierarchy).

That was my initial impression as well, but as soon as you try to rename a
sub-folder in a folder you've mad offline, Windows will disagree. You'll get
a message to the effect of ' You can't perform this action on the file
because it is currently offline.'

- George

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Thanks for the response. Answers are inline below:



We store user and project specific folders on a central server so
data can get backed up on a regular basis and staff are constantly
rotating on and off customer sites so we're constantly swapping
machines.

We do not bother with enabling offline files on the desktops for the
reasons you stated above.

Cool beans.

Some users however, have a laptop and
spend significant time offline and this is where the inability to do
a simple thing as renaming a folder while offline becomes a problem.

This seems silly as from the description of the client-side cache, a
database is used to keep track of state of the locally cached
replicas. Unless you've got the file/folder name as the primary key,
its name shouldn't matter. Furthermore, you can rename files/folders
made available offline using Briefcase. As mobsync is supposed to be
an improvement to Briefcase, you'd expect to be able to rename
offline files/folders while offline.


That was my initial impression as well, but as soon as you try to
rename a sub-folder in a folder you've mad offline, Windows will
disagree. You'll get a message to the effect of ' You can't perform
this action on the file because it is currently offline.'

- George

Sorry, I'm not sure - this really sounds odd to me, as well. Try googling
for the specific / exact error message you get.

For your laptop users, you might consider third party stuff like
SecondCopy - that's what I use. I personally hate offline files as I've seen
users lose data, which makes them mad, and then they bludgeon me with their
laptops.