Synchronizing Files Between Two Windows Servers
Usually people use robocopy to synchronize files between Windows servers. In principle robocopy handles this task just fine, but only as long as your servers are in the same subnet.
The command looks like this:
robocopy \\server_IP\Folder_Name Drive_Letter:\\Path\to\folder /MIR /Z /XA:H /W:5
Or the other way around:
robocopy Drive_Letter:\\Path\to\folder \\server_IP\Folder_Name /MIR /Z /XA:H /W:5
A quick explanation of the options used:
- /MIR - (short for mirror) means robocopy should mirror the source folder exactly on the new server. That means files on the new server can get deleted if they’re missing on the source server.
- /Z - tells the utility that if the connection drops, it should resume copying instead of starting over.
- /XA:H - makes the utility skip system files. On Windows, system files tend to be pretty important, so the OS likes to lock them for reading. There’s very little point in having such files on the new server. Better to exclude them.
- /W:5 - sets the delay in seconds between retries when a file fails to read.
This works really well if your servers are in the same datacenter and can reach each other directly.
But if your servers are on different networks, or the connection between them is restricted by a firewall, you won’t be able to mount shared folders (or you will, but with a lot of pain).
In that case ‘BitTorrent Sync’ comes to the rescue, you can download it from this link:
http://filehippo.com/download_bittorrent_sync/
An alternative would be a link to my server.
It installs in 2 seconds. The interface is pretty clear. Works fast. On the source server you need to specify which folder you want to share and add it to the same client on the new server.
After adding the folder to the client on the new server, you need to go back to the source server and confirm access to it.
That’s it.
Sources used: