Windows Server

Dev Bob · Guest

I have a need to replicate files real time from web file server to another
remote web file server over VPN with 1 megabit connection encrypted. This
would be one way replication from source to destination (remote) as a high
availability fail safe. In the event our main website goes down we want to
be able to switch over to our remote website and have the files be current.
File sizes will be on the order of 100's of megabits.

Is FRS our best alternative or is there a better alternative? Also, can FRS
be implemented in this case without AD?

Richard Chinn [MSFT] · Guest

FRS requires AD, so if you don't have AD, you will need to install it
to use FRS.

Regarding your particular scenario, FRS is sensitive to the number of
files and folders under the replica set root. This means that even if
you only have a few hundred megabytes of data but you have a lot of
small files, FRS may not work well for you. The following document
may be helpful for you.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;840675

Another issue that you should consider is that replication can get
backlogged. Basically, FRS must work through all your changed files
and replicate the changes to its partner machines. In your scenario,
if you change a large number of files on one web server, there will be
some time before they can replicate to the other web server(s). You
may wish to run some experiments to see how long it takes.

Another consideration is how your web server holds files open. FRS
cannot replicate files that are being held open by an application. So
if the web server holds files open, this can block replication (these
are called sharing violations).

--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.

On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 13:47:54 -0600, "Dev Bob" <blah@yahoo.com> wrote:

CB · Guest

MS's FRS implementation is not so good for quickly changing files, certainly
not if they are large. At my firm, we use FRS to keep a 17gig 'support'
folder used by IT in sync amoung 30 locations. It works pretty good
(especially since its free), but backlogging is a problem at times when it
happens to get updated (IE: someone dumps an updated 600meg CD to the share).

One reason that MS's FRS implementation falls down on the job and gets
itself backlogged is because if you change a single bit in a file, FRS
re-replicates the entire file.

*If* you are in a situation where you have large files getting updated, you
may want to look at a product call StorageX (www.nuview.com) or RepliaStor
(www.dantz.com). That offer FRS solutions that do byte level updates... so
if a 100meg files gets changed.. only the bite changes are replicated and
from that the files are updated. That *may* help you. However, if you are
creating new 100meg files.. then you may be in the same boat are MS's FRS
implementation.

I think StorageX and Replistor both allow you to throttle the replication
bandwidth as well (so a large replication won't bring the rest of your
network to its knees). Be warned tho.. the solutions can be pricey.

StorageX works on top of DFS, which requires AD. I'm not sure about
Replistor.

"Dev Bob" wrote:

Paul Williams [MVP] · Guest

As a for info...

The R2 release of FRS will do byte level synchronisation.

There's also a new tool called DFS R (replication) coming; this is separate
to NtFrs.

--
Paul Williams
Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - Directory Services
http://www.msresource.net | http://forums.msresource.net

Dev Bob · Guest

I've experimented with ViceVersa and WANSync. Both have great UIs to
configure file replication, which took about five minutes.

Does Window 2003 Server have a UI or Wizard to configure FRS in such a way?
I would prefer to use MS product since we already are paying for licensing
and the support from MS is better on a 24x7x365 basis.

From what I've been able to find via publications and online info is that I
need to setup a file share, configure DFS with FRS and then configure FRS.
However, it isn't the step by step i.e., step 1) go to programs|admin
tools|computer management 2) right click to create share... etc. that I'm
looking for.

Isn't there any info that walks through a detailed step by step process from
beginning to end for setting up file replication between two servers
somewhere?

"Paul Williams [MVP]" <ptw2001@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uXki%23iikFHA.2644@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

rchiu · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 5

If it's just a one way replication, you should consider using robocopy with the /MIR (mirroring) parameter. Just don't screw up the source and destination as you could accidentally delete a lot of files. While robocopy doesn't support byte level replication, you can write a script and schedule it to run frequently and output detailed logs. I find I have much better control over the replication process using robocopy than using FRS or a third-party replication tool.

Dev Bob · Guest

Thanks for the info. I finally found a good source for setting up FRS. The
book is "Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed" by SAMS, Chapter 30.

1) create a domain controller
2) add member servers
3) create shares on both servers to be used in FRS
4) start DFS on source server
5) create root through DFS admin tool
6) create link to target server
7) create target for target server link on source DFS
8) step 7 will initiate FRS config wizard
9) complete wizard

The above are the general steps, which are explained in more detail in the
book previously mentioned.

"rchiu" <rchiu@brederoshaw.shawcor-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
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Paul Williams [MVP] · Guest

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