How does DFS work

Question

Good morning,

I'm junior system engenieer, and I'm starting to use dfs, however I'm having trouble understanding how dfs works, I would like if anyone among you could answer my questions?
1- When a client enters the path \domain\namespace, that's what happens.
2- the criteria for choosing the server that responds to a client's request.
2- Does DFS use a protocol to respond to client requests.
3- Could you explain to me the working principle of dfs replication, and what is read-only dfs replication, and are there other types of DFS replication?
Thank you.
Best,

Answer 1

You could review these ones.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/dfs-namespaces/dfs-overview
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/jj127250(v=ws.11)

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Answer 2

The procedure of selecting the server is not described in this articale.

Example : a client type \domain\Namespace\folder1 and we have server 1 contain the folder 1 and this folder is replicated in server 2 with the same name.
in this case which server will responds the client (server 1 or server 2 and why). And how the replication occur ?
If we want to replicate \server1\folder1 in \server2\folder1 with read only, do clients go to server 2 for requests?

Answer 3

The default behavior is that users will access the closest server to them, but this can be overridden to prefer a particular server.

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Answer 4

Hello there,

Assuming things are set correctly, it will first select a server that's in the same site.

If you want to force a referral order, you can do that from within DFS on the specific DFS folder. (Referrals tab on properties.)

If you want to set a specific target as 'Primary" for everyone in a site

Open up the DFS Management utility
Open the Namespace the folder and target you wish to modify is under
Select the folder you wish to control the targets on
Right click on the target you wish to set as active
Select the Advanced tab
Check the "Override referral ordering" checkbox
Select "First among all targets"

DFS uses the Windows Server file replication service to copy changes between replicated targets. Users can modify files stored on one target, and the file replication service propagates the changes to the other designated targets. The service preserves the most recent change to a document or files.

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions please let me know and I will be glad to help you out.

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