dfs in simple terms

8/7/2019 DFS in Simple Terms

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DFS: It allows administrators to group shared folders located in different servers by tranferently

connecting them to one or more DFS namespaces.

DFS is like virtual namespace where all shared folders linked to the one definite namespace .

DFS allows administrators ro group shared folders located on different servers by transferently

connectin them to one or more DFS Namespaces.

DFS dependencies:

AD replication services

Server message block

RPC service and RPC locator service

DFS service dependenceis :

Server service and Workstation service (On Domain Controllers) , SAM service on DFS root servers

NTFS file system

Some of the important Terminologies:

DFS namespace

A virtual view of shared folders on different servers as provided by DFS. A DFS namespace consists of a

root and many links and targets. The namespace starts with a root that maps to one or more root

targets. Below the root are links that map to their own targets.

DFS link

A component in a DFS path that lies below the root and maps to one or more link targets.

DFS path

Any Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path that starts with a DFS root.

DFS root

The starting point of the DFS namespace. The root is often used to refer to the namespace as a whole. A

root maps to one or more root targets, each of which corresponds to a shared folder on a separate

server. The DFS root must reside on an NTFS volume. A DFS root has one of the following formats:

\\ServerName\RootName or \\DomainName\RootName.

domain-based DFS namespace

A DFS namespace that has configuration information stored in Active Directory. The path to access the

root or a link starts with the host domain name. A domain-based DFS root can have multiple root

targets, which offers fault tolerance and load sharing.

link referral


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A type of referral that contains a list of link targets for a particular link.

link target

The mapping destination of a link. A link target can be any UNC path. For example, a link target could be

a shared folder or another DFS path.

referral

A list of targets, transparent to the user, which a DFS client receives from DFS when the user is accessing

a root or a link in the DFS namespace. The referral information is cached on the DFS client for a time

period specified in the DFS configuration.

root referral

A type of referral that contains a list of root targets for a particular root.

root target

A physical server that hosts a DFS namespace. A domain-based DFS root can have multiple root targets,

whereas a stand-alone DFS root can only have one root target. Root targets are also called root servers.

stand-alone DFS namespace

A DFS namespace whose configuration information is stored locally in the registry of the root server. The

path to access the root or a link starts with the root server name. A stand-alone DFS root has only one

root target. Stand-alone roots are not fault tolerant; when the root target is unavailable, the entire DFS

namespace is inaccessible. You can make stand-alone DFS roots fault tolerant by creating them on

server clusters.

DFS Namespaces Illustrated

The following figure illustrates a physical view of file servers and shared folders in the Contoso.comdomain. Without a DFS namespace in place, users need to know the names of six different file servers,

and they need to know which shared folders reside on each file server.

The important fact we have to understand is the configuration of DFS

First we have to create NEW ROOT, then link it to (NEW links in that same server or different servers

(It should be shared ))

Here for Testing I have taken

DC-TestLab.com&DNS=192.168.5.25

Member server=San Server=192.168.5.29

Win2k3clusterserver=192.168.5.27

Used Win2k3cluster server for configuring DFS


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New root


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Selected Domain Root

The Root folder I am creating in Sanserver,so I select San server


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Name I have given Software


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Name is Software


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Now the Root is created with name Software in SANserver\E\software

This is the DFS Namespace :Software

Computers (Win2k3cluster)

(LINK) Engineers(Sanserver) (LINK)


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First of all creation of Computers

Go to Win2k3cluster server , create the folder with name Computers and share with everyone

Readonly Permission

Creation of new Link:


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This is the LINK in Win2k3cluster server


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dfs in simple terms

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