DFS Nameservers

Hello
I have recently taken over a preconfigured W2K3 infrastructure which has
DFS R2 implemented across 3 different sites. I have a few questions on the
existing setup.

Existing Configuration:

1.) On the main server, there is a namespace created "example" with targets
on multiple servers. "\\site a\folder1" and "\\site b\folder2"

2.) Replication is also configured for the folders on multiple target
locations.
\\site a\folder 1
\\site b\folder 1

On the remote servers, i only see the replication folders under DFS
management, with the multiple targets. I do not see any namespace created.
DFS is currently working, with minimal errors in the event log, however, I
want to make sure that there is fault tolerance enabled here.

Should I add another nameserver to point to site b? If i do, will it
automatically try to create a share that already exists. and will it erase
all that data that is already there?

I want to be sure that if site a goes down, clients in site a can look at
another nameserver in site b and access the shares there.

Any help is apprecaited. Thank you

Hello Niko,

Are these shares -folder1 and folder2 in the same server? From what you are
showing I can assume that only folder1 seems to have a ft going on on both
site a and site b.

If both shares are in same server, then yes, you can add another ft root
share with same namespace in another server in site b.(dfsutil.exe addftroot
/server:Servername /share:example) and then add similar targets as in site a
to the server in site b and configure replication so that folder 1 and
folder 2 can replicate to folder1 and folder 2 in a server in site b
respectively. That way, if one server is offline, users will still be able
to access files.

But will recommend you check the actual location for folder 1 and 2, they
might be on different servers.

From my understanding, creating a share that already exists,windows should
notify you that server is does exist.

--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]

Hello Isaac,
Thank you for the response. There are multiple file shares under
folder 1, and folder 2. It appears that when this network was configured,
server1 was the server where the DFS namespace was created, whereas that is
the only server listed under namespace servers. All the other sites have a
replicated copy of folder 1 and folder 2 with all its subfolders. If i open
the DFS management utility on another server, I do not see the namespace that
is created under Server1, I just see the folders that are replicated under
the replication tab.

To me this didn't look correct, and was thinking to add server 2 in
site b as a namespace serer, however, whereas Server 2 in site b already had
all those folders and files replicated as shares on that server, would it
completely erase, and replicate again, or would it just add that server as an
additional namespace server? Do I even need an additional namespace server?

Thanks again.



"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" wrote:

> Hello Niko,
>
> Are these shares -folder1 and folder2 in the same server? From what you are
> showing I can assume that only folder1 seems to have a ft going on on both
> site a and site b.
>
> If both shares are in same server, then yes, you can add another ft root
> share with same namespace in another server in site b.(dfsutil.exe addftroot
> /server:Servername /share:example) and then add similar targets as in site a
> to the server in site b and configure replication so that folder 1 and
> folder 2 can replicate to folder1 and folder 2 in a server in site b
> respectively. That way, if one server is offline, users will still be able
> to access files.
>
> But will recommend you check the actual location for folder 1 and 2, they
> might be on different servers.
>
> From my understanding, creating a share that already exists,windows should
> notify you that server is does exist.
>
> --
> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>

Niko,
You are in a position to better understand your current dfs set up. I am
thinking, if server 2 on site b have replicated copies of folders 1 and 2and
its subfolders, then there already exists a namespace on site b, possiblly
on server2. Do you have a domain based or standalone dfs setup?

Another suggestion, might be for you to actually perform a test on your
environment to see if you currently have an ft setup by temporarily shutting
down server 1 and then see if dfs is available to clients?

Yes, if you want a FT in your environment, you will need to add another
server to the same namespace (this make your env have two identical
namespace servers) but you can determine that after the test above. If after
the test you realize that only server 1 have a namespace and users can't
seem to find dfs while server 1 os offline, you can backup all the dfs
folders and files, then create an FT root on server 2 on site b point the
targets to the already existing folders and reconfigure replication.

--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]