DFS Possibilities/Limitations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Russ
  • Start date Start date
R

Russ

Hello,

I want to use DFS to replicate approx 40GB of data around the WAN. I
am using Windows 2000 Advanced servers and the 2003 admin kit on XP to
administer. I intend to schedule the replication to only occur during
the evening and at weekends. The replication needs to occur between 15
servers throughout Europe all with 500K+ bandwith.

Before I bring the network to its knees I would like to know what
other peoples experience has been with DFS and large amounts of data.

Thanks in advance,

Russ
 
(e-mail address removed) (Russ) wrote in @posting.google.com:
Hello,

I want to use DFS to replicate approx 40GB of data around the WAN. I
am using Windows 2000 Advanced servers and the 2003 admin kit on XP to
administer. I intend to schedule the replication to only occur during
the evening and at weekends. The replication needs to occur between 15
servers throughout Europe all with 500K+ bandwith.

Before I bring the network to its knees I would like to know what
other peoples experience has been with DFS and large amounts of data.

Thanks in advance,

Russ
Click to expand...

I'm happily replicating around 30GB of data, but I'm on a LAN and with
primarily read-only or read-mostly files and continuous replication.

Your answer will depend on how frequently your files are changing and how
large the changed files are (FRS replicates files, not just changed blocks,
so appending a few bytes to the end of a 20MB file will result in 20MB
(before compression) of data across the wire).

If you don't know your likely data volumes then set up replication between
two local servers and monitor traffic before unleashing the load onto your
WAN.

Some other suggestions: Make sure your FRS is fully updated with latest
SPs and QFEs; Make sure you think about the size of your staging folders -
the default size will probably need to be increased; Download Ultrasound
and as well as using the product to monitor your FRS replicas make sure you
read the excellent deployment advice that comes along with the download.

Good luck!

Regards,
Chris
 
I don't have any experience with the bandwidth issues of large replications,
but DO make sure you research, understand, and prepare for the issues of
staging area size and journal wrap errors.
 
I don't have any experience with the bandwidth issues of large
replications, but DO make sure you research, understand, and prepare
for the issues of staging area size and journal wrap errors.
Click to expand...

Apologies if this is a re-post (I think my crummy ISP lost my original
reply, but it may turn up later, you can never tell! I've fished it out of
my sent items folder, so here it is again....)

Anyway, I'm using FRS to replicate around 30GB of data, but I'm on a LAN
and with primarily read-only or read-mostly files and continuous
replication.

Your answer will depend on how frequently your files are changing and how
large the changed files are (FRS replicates files, not just changed blocks,
so appending a few bytes to the end of a 20MB file will result in 20MB
(before compression) of data across the wire).

If you don't know your likely data volumes then set up replication between
two local servers and monitor traffic before unleashing the load onto your
WAN.

Some other suggestions: Make sure your FRS is fully updated with latest
SPs and QFEs; Make sure you think about the size of your staging folders -
the default size will probably need to be increased; Download Ultrasound
and as well as using the product to monitor your FRS replicas make sure you
read the excellent deployment advice that comes along with the download.

Good luck!

Regards,
Chris


PS. (Not in the original post) there's good advice in the Utlrasound help
file about journal wrapping and staging areas.
 
Hi Chris,

Thanks for the pointers. I have installed Ultrasound and
this looks a lot more heavy duty than Sonar which I was
using before. The help file is also enlightening, which
makes a nice change.

Regards,

Russell
 
Hi Chris,

Thanks for the pointers. I have installed Ultrasound and
this looks a lot more heavy duty than Sonar which I was
using before. The help file is also enlightening, which
makes a nice change.

Regards,

Russell
Click to expand...


Glad you found the recommendation useful!

Regards
Chris
 
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