Developer Forum

You may already know all this but just to make sure let's see if you set up
your DFS root correctly.

1. Are you creating a domain DFS root or a stand-alone DFS root?
2. I'm going to assume it is a domain DFS root. You have to create a
shared folder on the DFS server to act as the root. Then when creating the
DFS root point it to this shared folder.
3. If you are using Windows 95 clients then you will have to download the
DFS aware client and install it. Windows 98, NT, 2000, and XP are DFS
aware.
4. What is the name of your DFS root? What is the name of one of your DFS
links? What path did you use to try and map a drive letter
(\\domainname\root\link)? Did it give you an error when trying to map? Or
did it map and then when the user clicks on the mapping or a folder
underneath does it come up blank?



a
this

I set up a test W2K server and took a drive called E: and created a DFS root
called Data. When doing this it seems that everytime you put a file on the
root it puts it on the hard drive twice. I found this out when I put a 4 meg
file on the Dfs root, and it took up 8 megs of HD space.
I did create the pointer like it said in the books, but I was unable to find
any share that was associated with the DFS share that I created with ANY
client. I need to get a couple new machines and try it again one day when
not busy. I would like to figure it out because I have several servers and
would like to use DFS as a means to clone the information in the even one of
my servers goes down. I assume this is the purpose of DFS. A cheaper way of
cloning your information without the cost of a true cloned system.



up
the
DFS
Or


up
Is

ou should not store any files in the DFS root. It's not supposed to be
used for storage. The purpose of DFS is as follows:

"DFS allows system administrators to make it easier for users to access and
manage files that are physically distributed across a network. With DFS,
you can make files distributed across mutliple servers appear to users as if
they reside in one place on the network. For example, if you have Marketing
material scattered across multiple servers in a domain, you can use DFS to
make it appear as though all of the material resides on a single server.
This eliminates the need for users to go to multiple locations on the
network to find the information they need."

"DFS provides the ability to logically group shared folders on different
servers and to transparently link shared folders into a single, hierarchical
namespace."

You can have data replicated between Windows 2000 sites using DFS which can
be plus. For instance, we have an Excel spreadsheet that was created and
being stored in our Portland, OR office. I am at our Texas office. Our
Payment Processing department here in Texas was opening this 10MB
spreadsheet across the WAN and it was taking forever to open. So we created
a DFS link pointing to the shared folder on our Portland server where this
spreadsheet is located. Then we right-clicked on the DFS link and selected
New Replica and pointed it to a shared folder on our server in Texas. Then
we set up a replication policy. Then we just have a drive mapped for
Payment Processing to the Payment Processing link and DFS automatically
selects the closest replica based on AD Sites and Services.

Here is an example of my setup. On our server called HH0FNP00 I created a
shared folder called Root. In the DFS Admin tool I created a root pointing
to this shared folder call Root and I named the DFS root by our domain name.
So the DFS root is called \\gfs.dom\files. Then I right-clicked on the root
\\gfs.dom\files and created DFS links pointing to our departmental shared
folders. For instance, I created a DFS link call Consumer Relations and
pointed it to the Consumer Relations shared folder on our server called
HH0FNP00. At this point I can map a drive to the DFS root which is called
\\gfs.dom\files and each employee can see all the DFS links. Or I can map a
drive to the DFS link called \\gfs.dom\files\consumer relations for Consumer
Relations so that they only see their stuff.

"Noone" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
news:wwURa.22902$ XXXX@XXXXX.COM ...
root
meg
find
of
of
the
it.
make

mmm I guess I am still a bit confused on the whole thing. Let me see if I
have this straight by providing my own scenario.

I have 2 locations and a server at each location. Lets call them LocA, and
LocB. LocA has of course Program A on it and LocB has Program B. I would
like to only have a single mapping to ease administration called F: To make
this work you would have to somehow make a DFS Share called
\\domain\dfsshare and this share can then be linked to Programs A, and B.
You can also turn on replication so that both LocA, and B will have the data
that each server has in the event one server fails we can continue to
operate by using the DFS link, and replicated data. Is this correct? If not
then I will probably have to actually see a working model in order to get an
understanding of it. Im in Texas as well on the gulf coast. I would be more
than happy to come to your location or any other location you might know of
in Texas that would have a DFS system working. Thanks.

"Paul Smith" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
news: XXXX@XXXXX.COM ...
and
if
Marketing
hierarchical
can
created
selected
Then
pointing
name.
root
a
Consumer
the
when
and
one
set
creating
your
map?
set

I've been trying to study DFS for a problem we've been having here at work.

Here is what we want to do:

We recently moved SMS login script into GPO. The GPO makes constant
reference to \\domain.org\smslogon

We discovered that this call to the \\ above doesn't work unless DFS is set
up. We set up basic DFS and it worked after that.

Here is my issue... 5 servers have SMSLOGON shares across the network. We
don't need the directories to replicate. We just want to somehow create
links to all the servers SMSLOGON directory. I figure it would be good for
redundancy purposes. How do I set this up in DFS? the smslogon directory
doesn't need to be replicated - it just receives inputs from the SMS
clients.

Help!

Brian

Hi,

I'm currently looking into using DFS to advertise a single entry point for
the home drives for our students and also using a GPO to re-direct users
data to their home drive.

The problem that I am having is that when a user creates a document on say
their desktop, just by right clicking and selecting new text document, the
icon for the file does not appear until the F5 key is pressed.

I have seen other postings with similar problems but never a solution -
these postings were almost a year ago.

OS is Windows 2000 Server and Professional, with service pack 4.

Has anybody a solution to this problem?

Regards,

Steve Colligan.
Senior Information Specialist.
University of Abertay Dundee.

Hi,

I'm currently looking into using DFS to advertise a single entry point for
the home drives for our students and also using a GPO to re-direct users
data to their home drive.

The problem that I am having is that when a user creates a document on say
their desktop, just by right clicking and selecting new text document, the
icon for the file does not appear until the F5 key is pressed.

I have seen other postings with similar problems but never a solution -
these postings were almost a year ago.

OS is Windows 2000 Server and Professional, with service pack 4.

Has anybody a solution to this problem?

Regards,

Steve Colligan.
Senior Information Specialist.
University of Abertay Dundee.

Hi,
We are checking out on this issue and will reply to you soon.

--
Thanks
Mukul [MSFT]

PS: Please post DFS related queries in newsgroup
microsoft.public.win2000.file_system. Please use "DFS" in subject to make it
immediately noticeable.

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights

I haven't seen that specific issue, but I have seen another strange
issue with DFS. When our XP users go to edit a file on the DFS share,
it opens up the wk9blah.tmp file in the same directory as the file.
When they go to save it, it causes a delayed write failed error. I
thought that temp files were supposed to save to the local %temp%
variable directory, but this doesn't seem to be the case. I saw the
MS-KB article saying to disable write caching on the drive, but that's
ridiculous. Write caching worked before, and we just applied all of
the latest patches, and it stopped working giving us about 150
machines who can't save to DFS period -- unless I disable write
caching. Even then, they still get the error, just not as often. All
of them have DMA capable hard drives which are set correctly in the
bios. Only after forcing the windowsupdates on the machines did they
have the problem. The DFS root is on a w2k active directory domain
controller. The actual volumes mounted are all on separate member
servers (w2k). Like I said, the only ones having this trouble are XP
clients. We are 100% AD integrated, and were working great until
three weeks ago, when we hit the whole host of patches that just came
out.

Now we have 150 machines whose event logs verge on full with delayed
write failed messages... Something's amiss...

--d

I am trying to create a new Dfs Link with Windows 2000 server, after i have
inserted the name and browsed for the shared folder and click on ok i get
the error Unable to create a junction point.
I can access the share no problem and the Dfs root has been created
successfully.

Thanks for any help

Dougie

What is the protocol when accessing to a dfs share?? netbios ?

is it possible to access to a share dfs through http?

what kind of security is it possible to apply between different sites?

We have W2k(sp3) on our Servers and XP on the clients. We would be interested in implementing DFS but would like some advise on how it should be rolled out? Big Bang, 1 x office at a time, 1 dept at a time etc

We have 6 main offices ranging from 15 users to 160(largest office). These offices have 2mb links into the main IT office
We also have 8 minor sites with a mixture of 256k to 1mb links. The larger offices have dispersed departments at other sites which require access to shares. The smaller sites will also require access to shares across some of the larger sites

In summary
Does anyone have any reference sites (in the UK) we could liase with who have actually fully implemented DFS in a similar environment

Have you used a 3rd party to assist with the implementation

Advise required on implementing DFS

Advise on limitations on amount of data being replicated over the above link sizes

Managing/Monitoring network replication traffic et

Look forward to hearing from anyone with DFS experience in rolling out to a Live environment and what kind of feedback received from their users!

DFS doesn't seem to be replicating. There aren't any
events and the logs don't show any errors. Here's the
last posting to the log

Computer FQDN is cn=webfarm1,ou=domain
controllers,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8723: S2:
11:02:12> :DS: Computer's dns name is
webfarm1.srwebfarm.int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8737: S2:
11:02:12> :DS: Settings reference is cn=ntds
settings,cn=webfarm1,cn=servers,cn=default-first-site-
name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<MainWait: 3580: 619: S0: 11:02:12>
Wait thread is exiting.
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:02:12> :S: Wait: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:02:12> :S: Wait: normal wait
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: normal wait
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: normal wait
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8717: S2:
11:07:12> :DS: Computer FQDN is cn=webfarm1,ou=domain
controllers,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8723: S2:
11:07:12> :DS: Computer's dns name is
webfarm1.srwebfarm.int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8737: S2:
11:07:12> :DS: Settings reference is cn=ntds
settings,cn=webfarm1,cn=servers,cn=default-first-site-
name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8717: S2:
11:12:12> :DS: Computer FQDN is cn=webfarm1,ou=domain
controllers,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8723: S2:
11:12:12> :DS: Computer's dns name is
webfarm1.srwebfarm.int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8737: S2:
11:12:12> :DS: Settings reference is cn=ntds
settings,cn=webfarm1,cn=servers,cn=default-first-site-
name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:12:12> :S: ReplicaCs: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:12:12> :S: ReplicaCs: normal wait
<RcsSetCxtionSchedule: 2124: 7356: S0:
11:15:11> :X: f9da625b, schedule is on
<RcsSetCxtionSchedule: 2124: 7356: S0:
11:15:11> :X: 4875d890, schedule is on

You need to ask this in the active directory forum.
Joe Griffin [MS]
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--------------------
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Subject: DFS
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DFS doesn't seem to be replicating. There aren't any
events and the logs don't show any errors. Here's the
last posting to the log

Computer FQDN is cn=webfarm1,ou=domain
controllers,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8723: S2:
11:02:12> :DS: Computer's dns name is
webfarm1.srwebfarm.int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8737: S2:
11:02:12> :DS: Settings reference is cn=ntds
settings,cn=webfarm1,cn=servers,cn=default-first-site-
name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<MainWait: 3580: 619: S0: 11:02:12>
Wait thread is exiting.
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:02:12> :S: Wait: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:02:12> :S: Wait: normal wait
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: normal wait
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:07:12> :S: ReplicaCs: normal wait
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8717: S2:
11:07:12> :DS: Computer FQDN is cn=webfarm1,ou=domain
controllers,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8723: S2:
11:07:12> :DS: Computer's dns name is
webfarm1.srwebfarm.int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8737: S2:
11:07:12> :DS: Settings reference is cn=ntds
settings,cn=webfarm1,cn=servers,cn=default-first-site-
name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8717: S2:
11:12:12> :DS: Computer FQDN is cn=webfarm1,ou=domain
controllers,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8723: S2:
11:12:12> :DS: Computer's dns name is
webfarm1.srwebfarm.int
<FrsDsFindComputer: 3792: 8737: S2:
11:12:12> :DS: Settings reference is cn=ntds
settings,cn=webfarm1,cn=servers,cn=default-first-site-
name,cn=sites,cn=configuration,dc=srwebfarm,dc=int
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 501: S1:
11:12:12> :S: ReplicaCs: Waiting
<ThSupWaitThread: 3444: 529: S1:
11:12:12> :S: ReplicaCs: normal wait
<RcsSetCxtionSchedule: 2124: 7356: S0:
11:15:11> :X: f9da625b, schedule is on
<RcsSetCxtionSchedule: 2124: 7356: S0:
11:15:11> :X: 4875d890, schedule is on


{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1

ross-posting to microsoft.public.windows.server.dfs_frs.



If this is a new DC, the connection objects stored in AD may not have
replicated to all the replication partners. Until this happens, FRS will
not be able to begin replication. Likewise, connection schedules could come
into play if you have an infrequent replication schedule configured. You'll
get a double-whammie in this case as you'll have to wait for AD to replicate
the connection objects and then for FRS to subsequently hit the replication
schedule.



As a quick check though, take a look at the File Replication Service event
log and see if there are any suspicious entries. You can also run dcdiag.
This is primarily an AD check, but you need AD to be working well for FRS to
work. Dcdiag also does a few FRS checks.



Rather than parsing through FRS debug logs, I recommend installing
Ultrasound to monitor FRS. To get Ultrasound, go to
http://www.microsoft.com/frs. Follow the link for "FRS Troubleshooting and
Monitoring." You should see the link for Ultrasound there. Note you will
need to follow the in the Ultrasound help file (FRS Monitoring Help File) to
install Ultrasound - it requires MSDE (free) or a SQL database.



There is an Ultrasound chat coming up. Please join if you're interested.



February 4, 2004
11:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. Pacific time
2:00 - 3:00 P.M. Eastern time
19:00 - 20:00 GMT/BST



TechNet:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/itcommunity/chats/default.asp

MS Communities: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx




--Richard

Please post FRS related questions to microsoft.public.windows.server.dfs_frs
and prefix the subject line with "FRS:" to make it easier to spot. Note
that FRS is used to replicate SYSVOL on domain controllers and DFS root and
link targets.

For additional FRS resources, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/frs.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Tony" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
news:00f101c3d60b$05154450$ XXXX@XXXXX.COM ...