Re: Are DFS targets reachable only through UNC paths?

On Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:42:30 +0200, Luc <> wrote:

>I'm new to DFS, so please...
>
snip....
>
>** What does NOT work:
>
>I cannot access the "remoted" subfolders (the targets) in explorer on the
>server itself.
>
>They show up as folders, but when I try to access them it says "The network
>location cannot be reached", yet their status in the DFS console is Enabled
>and Online.
>
>In other words, I can access the NAS through the DFS links on the server
>from anywhere in the domain, *except* on the server itself.
>
>On the other hand, if I approach them as \\127.0.0.1\TestDFS\NASFolder1\,
>it works there too.
>
>That means that applications running on the server, if they expect the
>files to exist in a folder on a local harddisk, can't access them there.
>
>Is this normal? Are DFS targets reachable only through UNC paths?

This is as documented for DFS links. It is the network redirector that resolves
the links in the DFSRoot folder to the target UNC names. Local file access does
not involve the network redirector thus you see the actual link folders (reparse
points) not the targets that the links point to.
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.