File Replication Service

Troubleshooting FRS

When FRS stops replicating content, the first thing to do is check the event log to see if the staging directory is full. If it is, replication stops. See step 7 in the following procedure for ways to correct this problem.

A general procedure for troubleshooting FRS problems consists of the following steps:

Verify that both Computer A and Computer B are available on the network. Because FRS uses the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the replica members, a good first check is to use a ping command specifying the fully qualified name of the problem replicas. From Computer A, send a ping command with Computer B's FQDN. From Computer B, send a ping command to Computer A's FQDN. Verify that the addresses returned by the ping command are the same as the addresses returned by an ipconfig /all command carried out on the command line of the destination computer.
Use the Services administrative console to confirm that FRS is running on the remote computer.
If the service is not running, review the File Replication service container of Event Viewer (Eventvwr.msc) on the problem computer. If the service has asserted, troubleshoot the assertion. Otherwise, restart the service.
Verify RPC connectivity between Computer A and Computer B. Check FRS event logs on both computers. If Event ID 13508 is present, there might be a problem with the RPC service on either computer or with creating a secure connection between Computer A and Computer B.
Use the Active Directory Sites and Services console to verify the replication schedule on the Connection object. Make sure that replication is enabled between Computer A and Computer B and that the connection is enabled. The Connection object is the inbound connection under Computer A's NTFRS_MEMBER object from Computer B. For SYSVOL, the connection object resides under Sites\site_name\Servers\server_name\NTDS Settings\connection_name.
Create a test file on Computer B, and verify its replication to Computer A.
Check for free disk space on Computer A (source directory, staging directory, and database partition) and Computer B (destination partition, preinstall partition, and database partition). Look for the following events in Event Viewer:
- 13511: Database is out of disk space.
For more information about how to move the database to a larger volume, see "FRS Tables" earlier in this chapter.
- 13522: Staging directory is full.
This can be caused by an outbound partner that has not connected for a while. Delete the connection and stop and restart FRS to force deletion of the staging files. You can also follow the procedure described in "Tuning Recommendations" earlier in this chapter to increase the size of the staging directory.
Check for files that are larger than the amount of free space on the source or destination server or larger than the size of the staging directory limit in the registry. Resolve the disk space problem or increase the maximum staging file space. See Error 13522 for details.
Check whether the file on the originating server is locked on either computer. If the file is locked on Computer B so that FRS cannot read the file, FRS cannot generate the staging file, which delays replication. If the file is locked on Computer A so that FRS cannot update the file, FRS continues to retry the update until it succeeds. The retry interval is 30 to 60 seconds.
Check whether the source file was excluded from replication. Confirm that the file is not EFS encrypted, a NTFS junction, or excluded by a file or folder filter on the originating replica member. If any of these are true, FRS does not replicate the file or directory.
If all of the previous conditions check out, try to replicate the file again.