Adding server to DFS-share (pre-R2)

Hi!

I have a DFS-root (2003, not R2) that had 2 servers hosting it. A few days
ago one of the servers crashed so we had to remove the server from the DFS.
On the DFS we have data (total about 28GB) used by systems that has to be
accessible and I'm worried that if I add a new server and it starts
replicating it the new server will start answering when clients access the
DFS-root, and if it does the application will stop working. Is there a way
to prevent the new server from answering when clients access the DFS before
it has a complete copy of the DFS? Or is there an easy way to add the data
before adding the server to the DFS (I looked at, and tried, pre-staging the
files but ut moved all the files to a subfolder)? Or (this would be the best
) do I worry too much and the server won't answer until it has a complete
copy?

Regards
P Anders

On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:43:32 +0200, "P Anders" <> wrote:

>Hi!
>
>I have a DFS-root (2003, not R2) that had 2 servers hosting it. A few days
>ago one of the servers crashed so we had to remove the server from the DFS.
>On the DFS we have data (total about 28GB) used by systems that has to be
>accessible and I'm worried that if I add a new server and it starts
>replicating it the new server will start answering when clients access the
>DFS-root, and if it does the application will stop working. Is there a way
>to prevent the new server from answering when clients access the DFS before
>it has a complete copy of the DFS? Or is there an easy way to add the data
>before adding the server to the DFS (I looked at, and tried, pre-staging the
>files but ut moved all the files to a subfolder)? Or (this would be the best
> ) do I worry too much and the server won't answer until it has a complete
>copy?
DFS replication does not use DFR namespaces it simply replicates the data for
the NTFS folders. So set up the replication and wait for it to complete. Then
set up the links.

Alternatively Set up the link and the replication using the DFS console and
immediately disable the new target, you may find this easier. Enable it when
replication completes.



>
>Regards
>P Anders
>
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.

Hi and thank you for your answer Dave,

Unfortunately I don't seem to have the option of disabling the target. In an
test-environment I set up a new domain root (like the one we have at the
moment) with one Root Target. When I add a new Root Target it will start
replicating after a while but in the meantime the new server will start
responding to users trying to browse the DFS Root. If I right-click the new
Root Target at this point I have 4 options (Open, Check Status, Remove
Target and Disable Replication) of which neither seems to be the "correct"
one.

Regards
P Anders


"DaveMills" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:43:32 +0200, "P Anders" <> wrote:
>
>>Hi!
>>
>>I have a DFS-root (2003, not R2) that had 2 servers hosting it. A few days
>>ago one of the servers crashed so we had to remove the server from the
>>DFS.
>>On the DFS we have data (total about 28GB) used by systems that has to be
>>accessible and I'm worried that if I add a new server and it starts
>>replicating it the new server will start answering when clients access the
>>DFS-root, and if it does the application will stop working. Is there a way
>>to prevent the new server from answering when clients access the DFS
>>before
>>it has a complete copy of the DFS? Or is there an easy way to add the data
>>before adding the server to the DFS (I looked at, and tried, pre-staging
>>the
>>files but ut moved all the files to a subfolder)? Or (this would be the
>>best
>> ) do I worry too much and the server won't answer until it has a
>>complete
>>copy?
> DFS replication does not use DFR namespaces it simply replicates the data
> for
> the NTFS folders. So set up the replication and wait for it to complete.
> Then
> set up the links.
>
> Alternatively Set up the link and the replication using the DFS console
> and
> immediately disable the new target, you may find this easier. Enable it
> when
> replication completes.
>
>
>
>>
>>Regards
>>P Anders
>>
> --
> Dave Mills
> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that
> don't.

This is the same issue i had. You cannot disable referrers for a
Root-Target, only for links. Our solution was to create a root target
called data (//domain/data) and then create links within them
(//domain/data/share1,//domain/data/share2, etc). For each link you can
then disable referrers to specific servers until replication completes.



P Anders wrote:
> Hi and thank you for your answer Dave,
>
> Unfortunately I don't seem to have the option of disabling the target. In an
> test-environment I set up a new domain root (like the one we have at the
> moment) with one Root Target. When I add a new Root Target it will start
> replicating after a while but in the meantime the new server will start
> responding to users trying to browse the DFS Root. If I right-click the new
> Root Target at this point I have 4 options (Open, Check Status, Remove
> Target and Disable Replication) of which neither seems to be the "correct"
> one.
>
> Regards
> P Anders
>
>
> "DaveMills" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:43:32 +0200, "P Anders" <> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi!
>>>
>>> I have a DFS-root (2003, not R2) that had 2 servers hosting it. A few days
>>> ago one of the servers crashed so we had to remove the server from the
>>> DFS.
>>> On the DFS we have data (total about 28GB) used by systems that has to be
>>> accessible and I'm worried that if I add a new server and it starts
>>> replicating it the new server will start answering when clients access the
>>> DFS-root, and if it does the application will stop working. Is there a way
>>> to prevent the new server from answering when clients access the DFS
>>> before
>>> it has a complete copy of the DFS? Or is there an easy way to add the data
>>> before adding the server to the DFS (I looked at, and tried, pre-staging
>>> the
>>> files but ut moved all the files to a subfolder)? Or (this would be the
>>> best
>>> ) do I worry too much and the server won't answer until it has a
>>> complete
>>> copy?
>> DFS replication does not use DFR namespaces it simply replicates the data
>> for
>> the NTFS folders. So set up the replication and wait for it to complete.
>> Then
>> set up the links.
>>
>> Alternatively Set up the link and the replication using the DFS console
>> and
>> immediately disable the new target, you may find this easier. Enable it
>> when
>> replication completes.
>>
>>
>>
>>> Regards
>>> P Anders
>>>
>> --
>> Dave Mills
>> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that
>> don't.
>
>

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:35:13 -0400, UMH Tech <> wrote:

>This is the same issue i had. You cannot disable referrers for a
>Root-Target, only for links. Our solution was to create a root target
>called data (//domain/data) and then create links within them
>(//domain/data/share1,//domain/data/share2, etc). For each link you can
>then disable referrers to specific servers until replication completes.

This is exactly what the MS guides say you should do. It is not a good idea to
but file content into the root. It works but has limitations, as you have found.
It also means your DFS root servers are your file servers which may not be what
you wish.

You can of course have further folders within the DFS root like
\\dom\root\home\groupA where GroupA is the link. This can help org anise the
folder tree.
>
>
>
>P Anders wrote:
>> Hi and thank you for your answer Dave,
>>
>> Unfortunately I don't seem to have the option of disabling the target. In an
>> test-environment I set up a new domain root (like the one we have at the
>> moment) with one Root Target. When I add a new Root Target it will start
>> replicating after a while but in the meantime the new server will start
>> responding to users trying to browse the DFS Root. If I right-click the new
>> Root Target at this point I have 4 options (Open, Check Status, Remove
>> Target and Disable Replication) of which neither seems to be the "correct"
>> one.
>>
>> Regards
>> P Anders
>>
>>
>> "DaveMills" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:43:32 +0200, "P Anders" <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>> I have a DFS-root (2003, not R2) that had 2 servers hosting it. A few days
>>>> ago one of the servers crashed so we had to remove the server from the
>>>> DFS.
>>>> On the DFS we have data (total about 28GB) used by systems that has to be
>>>> accessible and I'm worried that if I add a new server and it starts
>>>> replicating it the new server will start answering when clients access the
>>>> DFS-root, and if it does the application will stop working. Is there a way
>>>> to prevent the new server from answering when clients access the DFS
>>>> before
>>>> it has a complete copy of the DFS? Or is there an easy way to add the data
>>>> before adding the server to the DFS (I looked at, and tried, pre-staging
>>>> the
>>>> files but ut moved all the files to a subfolder)? Or (this would be the
>>>> best
>>>> ) do I worry too much and the server won't answer until it has a
>>>> complete
>>>> copy?
>>> DFS replication does not use DFR namespaces it simply replicates the data
>>> for
>>> the NTFS folders. So set up the replication and wait for it to complete.
>>> Then
>>> set up the links.
>>>
>>> Alternatively Set up the link and the replication using the DFS console
>>> and
>>> immediately disable the new target, you may find this easier. Enable it
>>> when
>>> replication completes.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>> P Anders
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Dave Mills
>>> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that
>>> don't.
>>
>>
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.

It's easier to take down the system using the DFS for a few hours to
rebuild the DFS (and upgrade to R2 or even Windows 2008) than it is to
reconfigure the system...that is if it is possible to disable a Root
Target during replication in 2003 R2 or 2008.

I guess that's what you get when you let developers run wild...

Regards
P Anders

UMH Tech wrote:
> This is the same issue i had. You cannot disable referrers for a
> Root-Target, only for links. Our solution was to create a root target
> called data (//domain/data) and then create links within them
> (//domain/data/share1,//domain/data/share2, etc). For each link you can
> then disable referrers to specific servers until replication completes.
>
>
>
> P Anders wrote:
>> Hi and thank you for your answer Dave,
>>
>> Unfortunately I don't seem to have the option of disabling the target.
>> In an test-environment I set up a new domain root (like the one we
>> have at the moment) with one Root Target. When I add a new Root Target
>> it will start replicating after a while but in the meantime the new
>> server will start responding to users trying to browse the DFS Root.
>> If I right-click the new Root Target at this point I have 4 options
>> (Open, Check Status, Remove Target and Disable Replication) of which
>> neither seems to be the "correct" one.
>>
>> Regards
>> P Anders
>>
>>
>> "DaveMills" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:43:32 +0200, "P Anders" <>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>> I have a DFS-root (2003, not R2) that had 2 servers hosting it. A
>>>> few days
>>>> ago one of the servers crashed so we had to remove the server from
>>>> the DFS.
>>>> On the DFS we have data (total about 28GB) used by systems that has
>>>> to be
>>>> accessible and I'm worried that if I add a new server and it starts
>>>> replicating it the new server will start answering when clients
>>>> access the
>>>> DFS-root, and if it does the application will stop working. Is there
>>>> a way
>>>> to prevent the new server from answering when clients access the DFS
>>>> before
>>>> it has a complete copy of the DFS? Or is there an easy way to add
>>>> the data
>>>> before adding the server to the DFS (I looked at, and tried,
>>>> pre-staging the
>>>> files but ut moved all the files to a subfolder)? Or (this would be
>>>> the best
>>>> ) do I worry too much and the server won't answer until it has a
>>>> complete
>>>> copy?
>>> DFS replication does not use DFR namespaces it simply replicates the
>>> data for
>>> the NTFS folders. So set up the replication and wait for it to
>>> complete. Then
>>> set up the links.
>>>
>>> Alternatively Set up the link and the replication using the DFS
>>> console and
>>> immediately disable the new target, you may find this easier. Enable
>>> it when
>>> replication completes.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>> P Anders
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Dave Mills
>>> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those
>>> that don't.
>>
>>