DFSR on server 2008 - is active directory required?

Hello,

Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of Server
2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to utilize the
replication feature(s)?

James,
No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication service.
You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to this is that
you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server clusters, as opposed
to using the domain based dfs namespace.

--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
"James" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hello,
>
> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of Server
> 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to utilize the
> replication feature(s)?

Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for DFS?
This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet on all the
details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share between two
servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R) services installed,
wouldn't they both also hold the config info for the namespace? I obviously
don't know what I'm doing yet for this so any further detail would be much
appreciated.

thanks agian

"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> James,
> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication service.
> You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to this is that
> you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server clusters, as
> opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>
> --
> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
> "James" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
>> Hello,
>>
>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>

James,
Domain based namespace provide fault tolerance because you can have multiple
domain controllers in your environment have the same dfs namespace, thus, if
one domain controller is offline, it willl have no effect on the dfs because
the others will still be there with the shares for clients to access. For
example, let's say you have a namespace called mydomain.com\shared. You can
setup fault tolerance on the other DCs using the same share folder "shared"
thus you will multiple servers with the shared folder having same data, thus
if one os offline, it makes no difference.
Likewise if you have a stand-alone dfs namespace, you will need to have a
namespace with a cluster resource.

You can read more here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc758931.aspx


--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
"James" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
>
> could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for DFS?
> This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet on all the
> details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share between two
> servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R) services installed,
> wouldn't they both also hold the config info for the namespace? I
> obviously don't know what I'm doing yet for this so any further detail
> would be much appreciated.
>
> thanks agian
>
> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> James,
>> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication
>> service. You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to
>> this is that you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server
>> clusters, as opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>>
>> --
>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>> "James" <> wrote in message
>> news:%...
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>>
>

Hi Isaac,

I just came across this in the DFS help system in server 2008:
"Ensure that all servers in a replication group are located in the same
forest. You cannot enable replication across servers in different forests."

It was in a requirements checklist for setting up replication... is this
information outdated perhaps? or is AD really required then?

I'm wondering if this info was from the 2k3 version of DFS and never updated
in server 2008

"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> James,
> Domain based namespace provide fault tolerance because you can have
> multiple domain controllers in your environment have the same dfs
> namespace, thus, if one domain controller is offline, it willl have no
> effect on the dfs because the others will still be there with the shares
> for clients to access. For example, let's say you have a namespace called
> mydomain.com\shared. You can setup fault tolerance on the other DCs using
> the same share folder "shared" thus you will multiple servers with the
> shared folder having same data, thus if one os offline, it makes no
> difference.
> Likewise if you have a stand-alone dfs namespace, you will need to have a
> namespace with a cluster resource.
>
> You can read more here:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc758931.aspx
>
>
> --
> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
> "James" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
>> Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
>>
>> could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for DFS?
>> This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet on all the
>> details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share between two
>> servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R) services installed,
>> wouldn't they both also hold the config info for the namespace? I
>> obviously don't know what I'm doing yet for this so any further detail
>> would be much appreciated.
>>
>> thanks agian
>>
>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> James,
>>> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication
>>> service. You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to
>>> this is that you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server
>>> clusters, as opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>> news:%...
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>>>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>>>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>>>
>>
>

James,

Let me clarify my previous statement, Stand-alone dfs does not support
automatic file replication. Without AD you will need to use a third party
tool for replication. The statement below is correct, I understand it is
meant if you decide to use Domain based Namespace for DFS. To enjoy the full
benefit of DFS, it is suggested you use the domain based dfs namespace which
require AD.

--
Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
"James" <> wrote in message
news:%23%...
> Hi Isaac,
>
> I just came across this in the DFS help system in server 2008:
> "Ensure that all servers in a replication group are located in the same
> forest. You cannot enable replication across servers in different
> forests."
>
> It was in a requirements checklist for setting up replication... is this
> information outdated perhaps? or is AD really required then?
>
> I'm wondering if this info was from the 2k3 version of DFS and never
> updated in server 2008
>
> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> James,
>> Domain based namespace provide fault tolerance because you can have
>> multiple domain controllers in your environment have the same dfs
>> namespace, thus, if one domain controller is offline, it willl have no
>> effect on the dfs because the others will still be there with the shares
>> for clients to access. For example, let's say you have a namespace
>> called mydomain.com\shared. You can setup fault tolerance on the other
>> DCs using the same share folder "shared" thus you will multiple servers
>> with the shared folder having same data, thus if one os offline, it makes
>> no difference.
>> Likewise if you have a stand-alone dfs namespace, you will need to have a
>> namespace with a cluster resource.
>>
>> You can read more here:
>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc758931.aspx
>>
>>
>> --
>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>> "James" <> wrote in message
>> news:%...
>>> Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
>>>
>>> could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for DFS?
>>> This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet on all
>>> the details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share
>>> between two servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R)
>>> services installed, wouldn't they both also hold the config info for the
>>> namespace? I obviously don't know what I'm doing yet for this so any
>>> further detail would be much appreciated.
>>>
>>> thanks agian
>>>
>>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> James,
>>>> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication
>>>> service. You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to
>>>> this is that you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server
>>>> clusters, as opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>>> news:%...
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>>>>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>>>>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
news:...
> James,
>
> Let me clarify my previous statement, Stand-alone dfs does not support
> automatic file replication. Without AD you will need to use a third party
> tool for replication. The statement below is correct, I understand it is
> meant if you decide to use Domain based Namespace for DFS. To enjoy the
> full benefit of DFS, it is suggested you use the domain based dfs
> namespace which require AD.
>
> --
> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
> "James" <> wrote in message
> news:%23%...
>> Hi Isaac,
>>
>> I just came across this in the DFS help system in server 2008:
>> "Ensure that all servers in a replication group are located in the same
>> forest. You cannot enable replication across servers in different
>> forests."
>>
>> It was in a requirements checklist for setting up replication... is this
>> information outdated perhaps? or is AD really required then?
>>
>> I'm wondering if this info was from the 2k3 version of DFS and never
>> updated in server 2008
>>
>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> James,
>>> Domain based namespace provide fault tolerance because you can have
>>> multiple domain controllers in your environment have the same dfs
>>> namespace, thus, if one domain controller is offline, it willl have no
>>> effect on the dfs because the others will still be there with the shares
>>> for clients to access. For example, let's say you have a namespace
>>> called mydomain.com\shared. You can setup fault tolerance on the other
>>> DCs using the same share folder "shared" thus you will multiple servers
>>> with the shared folder having same data, thus if one os offline, it
>>> makes no difference.
>>> Likewise if you have a stand-alone dfs namespace, you will need to have
>>> a namespace with a cluster resource.
>>>
>>> You can read more here:
>>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc758931.aspx
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>> news:%...
>>>> Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
>>>>
>>>> could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for
>>>> DFS? This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet on
>>>> all the details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share
>>>> between two servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R)
>>>> services installed, wouldn't they both also hold the config info for
>>>> the namespace? I obviously don't know what I'm doing yet for this so
>>>> any further detail would be much appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> thanks agian
>>>>
>>>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in
>>>> message news:...
>>>>> James,
>>>>> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication
>>>>> service. You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to
>>>>> this is that you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server
>>>>> clusters, as opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>>>> news:%...
>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>>>>>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>>>>>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:14:04 -0500, "James" <> wrote:

>thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

I think you will benefit greatly from reading "How DFS Works"
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc782417.aspx it is quite an easy
read for the most part. It explains not only the setup and pre-requisites but
how DFS actually does its job. You will find for example that DFS name space and
DFS Replication are independent services that work together. You do not need DFS
Replication for DFS Name space and you can also use DFS Replication without
having a DFS Name space. They are just normally used together.

Do not put any data in the DFS root folders, use Links. If you read "How DFS
Works" you will understand why this is a better design.


>
>"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
>news:...
>> James,
>>
>> Let me clarify my previous statement, Stand-alone dfs does not support
>> automatic file replication. Without AD you will need to use a third party
>> tool for replication. The statement below is correct, I understand it is
>> meant if you decide to use Domain based Namespace for DFS. To enjoy the
>> full benefit of DFS, it is suggested you use the domain based dfs
>> namespace which require AD.
>>
>> --
>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>> "James" <> wrote in message
>> news:%23%...
>>> Hi Isaac,
>>>
>>> I just came across this in the DFS help system in server 2008:
>>> "Ensure that all servers in a replication group are located in the same
>>> forest. You cannot enable replication across servers in different
>>> forests."
>>>
>>> It was in a requirements checklist for setting up replication... is this
>>> information outdated perhaps? or is AD really required then?
>>>
>>> I'm wondering if this info was from the 2k3 version of DFS and never
>>> updated in server 2008
>>>
>>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> James,
>>>> Domain based namespace provide fault tolerance because you can have
>>>> multiple domain controllers in your environment have the same dfs
>>>> namespace, thus, if one domain controller is offline, it willl have no
>>>> effect on the dfs because the others will still be there with the shares
>>>> for clients to access. For example, let's say you have a namespace
>>>> called mydomain.com\shared. You can setup fault tolerance on the other
>>>> DCs using the same share folder "shared" thus you will multiple servers
>>>> with the shared folder having same data, thus if one os offline, it
>>>> makes no difference.
>>>> Likewise if you have a stand-alone dfs namespace, you will need to have
>>>> a namespace with a cluster resource.
>>>>
>>>> You can read more here:
>>>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc758931.aspx
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>>> news:%...
>>>>> Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
>>>>>
>>>>> could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for
>>>>> DFS? This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet on
>>>>> all the details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share
>>>>> between two servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R)
>>>>> services installed, wouldn't they both also hold the config info for
>>>>> the namespace? I obviously don't know what I'm doing yet for this so
>>>>> any further detail would be much appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>> thanks agian
>>>>>
>>>>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in
>>>>> message news:...
>>>>>> James,
>>>>>> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication
>>>>>> service. You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback to
>>>>>> this is that you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server
>>>>>> clusters, as opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>>>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:%...
>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>>>>>>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>>>>>>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.

will do, thanks for the reply and the link, I appreciate it.

"DaveMills" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:14:04 -0500, "James" <> wrote:
>
>>thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
>
> I think you will benefit greatly from reading "How DFS Works"
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc782417.aspx it is quite an
> easy
> read for the most part. It explains not only the setup and pre-requisites
> but
> how DFS actually does its job. You will find for example that DFS name
> space and
> DFS Replication are independent services that work together. You do not
> need DFS
> Replication for DFS Name space and you can also use DFS Replication
> without
> having a DFS Name space. They are just normally used together.
>
> Do not put any data in the DFS root folders, use Links. If you read "How
> DFS
> Works" you will understand why this is a better design.
>
>
>>
>>"Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in message
>>news:...
>>> James,
>>>
>>> Let me clarify my previous statement, Stand-alone dfs does not support
>>> automatic file replication. Without AD you will need to use a third
>>> party
>>> tool for replication. The statement below is correct, I understand it is
>>> meant if you decide to use Domain based Namespace for DFS. To enjoy the
>>> full benefit of DFS, it is suggested you use the domain based dfs
>>> namespace which require AD.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>> news:%23%...
>>>> Hi Isaac,
>>>>
>>>> I just came across this in the DFS help system in server 2008:
>>>> "Ensure that all servers in a replication group are located in the same
>>>> forest. You cannot enable replication across servers in different
>>>> forests."
>>>>
>>>> It was in a requirements checklist for setting up replication... is
>>>> this
>>>> information outdated perhaps? or is AD really required then?
>>>>
>>>> I'm wondering if this info was from the 2k3 version of DFS and never
>>>> updated in server 2008
>>>>
>>>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in
>>>> message
>>>> news:...
>>>>> James,
>>>>> Domain based namespace provide fault tolerance because you can have
>>>>> multiple domain controllers in your environment have the same dfs
>>>>> namespace, thus, if one domain controller is offline, it willl have no
>>>>> effect on the dfs because the others will still be there with the
>>>>> shares
>>>>> for clients to access. For example, let's say you have a namespace
>>>>> called mydomain.com\shared. You can setup fault tolerance on the other
>>>>> DCs using the same share folder "shared" thus you will multiple
>>>>> servers
>>>>> with the shared folder having same data, thus if one os offline, it
>>>>> makes no difference.
>>>>> Likewise if you have a stand-alone dfs namespace, you will need to
>>>>> have
>>>>> a namespace with a cluster resource.
>>>>>
>>>>> You can read more here:
>>>>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc758931.aspx
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>>>> news:%...
>>>>>> Hi Isaac, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> could you elaborate a little on how AD provides fault tolerance for
>>>>>> DFS? This will be my first DFS implementation and I'm not clear yet
>>>>>> on
>>>>>> all the details.... I'm thinking if I'm replicating/mirroring a share
>>>>>> between two servers, both those servers will need to have DFS(R)
>>>>>> services installed, wouldn't they both also hold the config info for
>>>>>> the namespace? I obviously don't know what I'm doing yet for this so
>>>>>> any further detail would be much appreciated.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> thanks agian
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Isaac Oben [MCITP,MCSE]" <> wrote in
>>>>>> message news:...
>>>>>>> James,
>>>>>>> No, AD is not require and remember to install the DFS replication
>>>>>>> service. You can have a stand-alone dfs namespace. but the drawback
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> this is that you will have no fault tolerance except you use Server
>>>>>>> clusters, as opposed to using the domain based dfs namespace.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Isaac Oben [MCTIP, MCSE]
>>>>>>> "James" <> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:%...
>>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Looking to implement DFS and its replication features on a group of
>>>>>>>> Server 2008 machines.... is Active Directory required to be able to
>>>>>>>> utilize the replication feature(s)?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
> --
> Dave Mills
> There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that
> don't.