Windows 7 / Networking

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Creating a DFS Folder and Replication Group

Creating a DFS folder is similar to creating the DFS root. A folder can be created to target existing shares or folders beneath shares, or a new share can be created on the desired server or servers. As recommended previously, pre-create the file share on an NTFS folder and properly configure the share and NTFS permissions for each folder target that will be added to the folder.

When a new folder is created with multiple folder targets, a replication group can be created at the same time. To create a folder within an existing namespace, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system with an account with local server administrator privileges.
2. Pre-create and set NTFS permissions on the servers and shares that will host the DFS namespace folder.
3. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select DFS Management.
4. Select the Namespaces node, and then double-click the Namespaces node to expose the existing namespaces.
5. If the desired namespace does not appear, in the Actions pane, click on the Add Namespaces to Display link and follow the steps to search for and add an existing namespace to the console view.
6. Select the desired existing namespace, and in the Actions pane, click on the New Folder link.
7. When the New Folder window opens, type in the name of the folder and click the Add button to locate the folder targets.
8. After all the folder target servers have been added to the New Folder window, click OK to continue.
9. When a new folder is created and multiple targets are specified, a Replication pop-up window opens, asking if a replication group should be created. Click Yes to create a new replication group for the folder targets.
10. When the Replication Group and Replicate Folder Name window opens, review the name of the proposed replication group name and the replicated folder name, and click Next to continue. The prepopulated names will match the namespace and folder names.
11. The Replication Eligibility page will display whether or not each of the folder targets are capable of DFS Replication. If all targets are eligible, click Next to continue.
12. On the Primary Member page, click the Primary Member drop-down list arrow and select the folder target server that will be used to populate the remaining member folder targets. The data that exists in the folder of the primary target member will be replicated to each of the other targets. After selecting the desired primary server, click Next to continue.
13. On the Topology Selection page, select the desired replication topology. For this example, select the Hub and Spoke option button and click Next to continue.
14. On the Hub Members page, all servers will initially be listed in the Spoke Member section. Double-click the desired servers to move them to the Hub Member section, if they will be used as a hub server. Hub servers will replicate with all other servers and spoke servers will only replicate with the hub servers defined on this page. Once all the necessary hub servers are in the Hub Member section, click Next to continue.
15. On the Hub and Spoke Connections page, each of the spoke servers will be listed with their required hub member and an optional hub member. Optional hub members will only be populated if multiple servers are selected as hub members in the previous step. Even though the hub servers are listed as required and optional, the spoke servers will replicate with both and a connection between each hub server and spoke system will be created. Also, hub servers will replicate with one another as well.
16. On the Replication Group Schedule and Bandwidth page, select the desired bandwidth limitation if desired or set the hours replication to allowed, and click Next to continue.
17. On the Review Settings and Create Replication Group page, review the selections and if everything looks correct, click Create.
18. On the Confirmation page, if the replication group creation tasks were all completed successfully, click Close. Otherwise, select the Errors tab and review and repair the errors, and rerun the Replication Group Creation Wizard.
19. Once the window is closed, back in the DFS Management console, double-click on the Replication node to reveal the new replication group and select it.
20. In the tasks pane, with the new replication group selected in the tree pane, select the Connections tab to review the connections created from the previous steps.

Best Practices for DFS Replication

Following best practices for DFS Replication can help ensure that replication occurs as expected. Because file replication is triggered by a file version change or last-saved or modified time stamp, a standard file share might generate many replication changes, which can saturate the network bandwidth if no bandwidth constraints are placed within DFS Replication connections. To avoid such scenarios, follow as many of these suggestions as possible:

• Start with empty DFS namespace folders and targets to keep from having to replicate any data at the root level. Also, this can simplify the restore process of a DFS root folder because it contains only folders that are managed by DFS.
• Do not replicate data between DFS namespace shares because the namespace shares will try to replicate the data in the namespace folders as well as the data contained within the folder targets. Replication is not necessary if the folder targets are already replicating. Because the roots will not replicate for redundancy, deploy domain DFS namespaces and add additional namespace servers.
• Back up at least one DFS folder target and configure the backup to not update the archive bit. Changing the archive bit might trigger unnecessary replication.
• Thoroughly test server operating system antivirus programs to ensure that no adverse effects are caused by the scanning of files on a replicated DFS target. Also, configure server antivirus to scan at write operations only and configure clients to scan on read operations to ensure complete antivirus protection for DFS servers and clients.
• Verify that the drive that will contain the staging folder for a replication connection contains ample space to accept the amount of replicated data sent and received by the server.

Having a high number of read-write operations is not desirable because it causes heavy replication, and in a scenario like this, DFS Replication should be performed during offpeak hours unless Windows Server 2008 R2 DFS Replication can be used in conjunction with bandwidth constraints.

Configuring DFS Read-Only Replication

Windows Server 2008 R2 now allows for a replicated folder to be defined as read-only. This can be configured once a replication group is defined. As a best practice, when read-only replicated folders are desired, select the No Topology option button on the Topology Selection page when running the Replicate Folder Wizard. Once a replication group is created, select the replication group in the tree pane, and in the tasks pane select the Memberships tab. Right-click the desired Replicated Folder member and select Make Readonly.

As a best practice, when using read-only replicated folders, configure replication connections to be one-way to the read-only folder.

Enabling Access-Based Enumeration on a Domain-Based Namespace in Windows Server 2008 Mode

When a domain-based namespace is created and Windows 2008 mode is enabled, accessbased enumeration can be enabled, but it is not by default. To enable access-based enumeration on a domain-based namespace in Windows Server 2008 mode, locate the namespace in DFS Management. Right-click the namespace and select Properties. Select the Advanced tab and check the Enable Access-Based Enumeration for This Namespace check box at the bottom of the window. Click OK to complete the change. One thing to keep in mind is that this will apply to the entire namespace and any and all folders and folder targets defined in the namespace.