Replicating Dfs Replicas

Unlike SYSVOL replication, which is implicitly enabled, replication for Dfs replicas must be explicitly enabled by using the Dfs administrative console. Only domain-based Dfs can use FRS; stand-alone Dfs does not support automatic file replication. Remember that FRS is installed only on Windows 2000 servers and that the service starts automatically only on domain controllers. To start FRS on a member server, use Control Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, double-click Services, and then use the menu options in the Services console.

To enable or disable FRS replication

1. Open the Dfs administrative console.
2. In the left pane, right-click the Dfs link for the replica set, and then click Replication Policy.
3. In the Replication Policy dialog box, click Enable and Disable as needed.

   If replication is being enabled for the first time, the files and folders on the first server enabled (the initial master) become authoritative. This means those files and folders are duplicated to other replicas for the first replication cycle before multimaster replication takes effect.

Replication is not allowed, that is, the shared folder appears as N/A, under the following conditions:

• A shared folder on a computer where FRS is not installed.
• A shared folder that is not on the version of NTFS used in Windows 2000.
• A shared folder that uses a cluster name in its path name. For more information about using file replication with Cluster service, see "Distributed File System" in this book.
• A shared folder on a computer that does not belong to a Windows 2000 domain.
• A shared folder on a computer whose domain is inaccessible by the user who is currently logged on.

In addition, the following events do not trigger replication:

• Changes to a file or folder's last access time.
• Changes to a file or folder's archive bit.

For a complete description of Dfs, see "Distributed File System" in this book.

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