[ale] re: [OT] Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS)

[Tom Kovarik]

> Do any of you have experience with using this?  Any gotchas or good/bad
> experiences?
> 
> - Jeff

Using it to replicate a large file share between three sites, in Amsterdam,
Atlanta, and Singapore. Share is about 16GB. Runs okay.

Thoughts, in no particular order:
* Be sure to enlarge the Frs-staging directory size (requires registry
editing)on each of the servers involved in the replica set. The default is too
tiny, especially when the replica is first created and you're pushing over the
initial replication.
* It's very picky about a stable network and stable AD config. If you're
getting KCC errors all over the place, or you've got demand-dial connections
that you'll be replicating over, you're asking for trouble. Also, it won't run
hub-and-spoke. It's full mesh or nothing, baby...
* You can't send a replica to another server via cd or tape to streamline the
initial push. You've got to run it over the network to generate the logs. MS
deployment docs have procedures for deploying remotes in two stages, where the
initial replication is made at the parent site, then the server is shipped to
the remote site and changes are made.
* The more separated the sites are, time-zone wise, the better. Last writer
wins in conflicts, period. No user warning or participation in conflict
resolution.
* Replication is pretty darn fast, taking a second or two for small files and
minutes for large files. It's been a good solution for our offices.
* Anything that modifies file attributes (other than the archive bit) triggers
a transfer of those files. So scripting file changes or something folder-wide
can have you pushing the whole set all over again. Not pretty on the bandwidth
situation. This is mostly applicable only to certain antivirus scanners that
change attributes during scans. Old versions of Norton had problems with this,
and I think old versions of BackupExec, too.

Feel free to email me if you need more details or want thoughts on a more
specific configuration.


	
		
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