setting preferred DFS host?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wormer
  • Start date Start date
W

wormer

Is it possible to "prefer" which DFS host (server hosting a
two-way-synchronised replica of a given folder hierachy) a client connects
to?

Context :

* - Single-site AD 2003 Domain/Forest, running XP Pro SP1 Clients
* - Two physical locations, but are both same subnet and same site - big
pipes between, switched gigabit network etc)
* - Rehashing the IP addressing scheme is not an option, so splitting the
domain up into mulitple sites is not an option...(I assume?)

Would be great to find a utility which allowed me to specify a DFS root, and
its preferred instance.
eg something you could script, based on group or OU membership ala "DFSPref
\\domain.local\dfsrootxyz \\preferredSRV"

Cheers,
Brett
 
wormer said:
Is it possible to "prefer" which DFS host (server hosting a
two-way-synchronised replica of a given folder hierachy) a client connects
to?
Click to expand...

The preference is already set to (loosely) load balance
in the SAME site by default.

Short of making additional sites, you cannot weight
the servers.
Context :

* - Single-site AD 2003 Domain/Forest, running XP Pro SP1 Clients
* - Two physical locations, but are both same subnet and same site - big
pipes between, switched gigabit network etc)
Click to expand...

They should not be. Make them different subnets
and different sites if they really are separate locations.
* - Rehashing the IP addressing scheme is not an option, so splitting the
domain up into mulitple sites is not an option...(I assume?)
Correct.

Would be great to find a utility which allowed me to specify a DFS root, and
its preferred instance.
eg something you could script, based on group or OU membership ala "DFSPref
\\domain.local\dfsrootxyz \\preferredSRV"
Click to expand...

Not that I know of.
 
There is an API that can be used to set which DFS Root target or DFS Link
target is active, but I do not believe that this API is exposed in an easily
accessible manner such as a command line tool. If someone were to wrap this
API into a command line then a logon script could be used to set the correct
target active for the clients. The logon script could then be based on OU
membership. The API in question is NetDfsSetClientInfo.

The other option is that each client can manually change the active target
by using the DFS tab on a folder in Explorer, but this method is likely too
manual.

Neither option is pretty, but they may be options if modifications of site
definition is not possible.
 
Many thanks Drew. This at least confirms that what I wanted to do its
possible.
I think I'll just write them a ADSI script to re-write user home drive paths
in the
event of a sustained network outage. (thats what this hooplah was all
about)

Cheers,
Brett
 
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