How to consolidate shares on multiple servers to one share using DFS
The Distributed File System (DFS) allows you consolidate multiple shares on multiple servers to one logical place. This allows users to simply access all the shares from one central location. In a way, it is very similar to how we create short cut on our desktop to different locations. DFS replication also allows file replication with compression, throttling and scheduling.
Create a DFS namespace (Central Share)
Prerequisites: File Services role with DFS installed.
1. Open Server Manager, expend File Services role
2. Right click on the Namespace node in the left pane and select New Namespace
3. On “Namespace Server” screen, enter the name of the server, click Next
4. On “Namespace Name and Settings page” screen, enter the name of the namespace. I would name this something meaningful, (IT, Accounting, etc.)
5. On “Namespace Type”, choose “Domain-based namespace” if you have active directory, if not choose “Stand-alone namespace”
6. On “Review Settings and Create Namespace” screen, click Create.
Add folder targets to namespace (distributed shares on multiple servers)
7. Simply right click on the name of the namespace and select New Folder.
Now you can access all folder targets from step #7, by using namespace from step #4.