Windows Server

Jason L Pearson · Guest

Just getting started with DFS so if I sound dumb just correct me.

Here is my situation I have 2 windows 2003 servers at 2 different
locations the sites are connected via a site-to-site VPN, this is all
working great DNS resolution and WINS resolution all work. I have 1
share at each location Data-a at one place and Data-b at the other. I
want to use DFS and FRS, DFS for ease of users to get at the data from
both sites and FRS just in case the VPN goes down. I think my big
question comes in when setting up the DFS root, do I set up a root at
each server at both sites or just at one site? If it is only done at one
site then what if the VPN does down, would I not loose access to the DFS
share located on the remote server??? So many questions. I have been
reading everything I can find but cannot seem to find the answers I am
looking for. I have not set up the DFS yet, I wanted to get all the
issues strait in my head before I tackled it.

Any help would be great
Jason

Richard Chinn [MSFT] · Guest

You might want to have a look at the DFS FAQ on
http://www.microsoft.com/dfs and look at the questions "Q: How do I
ensure the availability of a DFS namespace?" and "Q: If I use multiple
root targets in a domain-based DFS namespace, do I need to enable
replication on the root?" The answers should address your concerns
about setting up DFS in your two sites.

The bigger question is FRS (replicating files between the two sites).
Depending on how your users access the data, FRS may or may not be
appropriate. As a multi-master replication system, conflicting
changes on the two servers could lead to data loss.

I suggest taking a look at the FRS Monitoring Help File. At the
beginning are a few pages of information about appropriate and
inappropriate uses for FRS. The help file comes with Ultrasound, or
you can download it separately. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/frs.
Follow the link for "FRS Troubleshooting and Monitoring." Then save
the "FRS Monitoring Help File" link to your local machine to view it.

One other thing to consider is there isn't much you can do if for some
reason your users in one site are connected to the server in the
"other" site and the VPN goes down. In this case, applications will
experience connectivity problems. If they try to re-open a file and
DFS redirects them to the server in their own site, they will most
likely see the old file (changes didn't replicate yet). If that file
is then edited, it's likely but not guaranteed that that file will win
against the changed file on the other server due to last-writer-wins
semantics.

--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 Tue, 18 Jan 2005 20:15:23 -0500, Jason L Pearson <jasonp@sc.rr.com>
wrote:

Jason · Guest

Okay, I think I have it. Create 2 root targets one for each server then
enable FRS on the links with in them.

For the FRS ... I see the issues you are talking about. I think we will
be okay in our situation as most of the time users will be using local
files and not files from the remote site. I will read up on the docs you
recommended.

Thanks
Jason

Richard Chinn [MSFT] wrote:

	Windows Server Forum Index -> DFS and FRS	All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1