Question

What are the requirements for DFS? What are benefits of using DFS? What are the shortcomings and limitations?

Answer 1

DFS benefits and Requirements:

• united namespace A DFS namespace relations jointly communal folders on dissimilar servers to make a hierarchical arrangement that behave like a only tall capacity hard disk.
• Users can find the way the logical namespace without have to recognize the physical server names or shared folders hosting the data.
• Location clearness DFS simplify migrate data from one file server to one more.
• since users do not require to identify the name of every physical server or communal folder that have the data, you can bodily move data to one more server without have to reconfigure application and shortcuts, and without have to re educate user about where they can discover their data.
• Storage scalability You can organize extra or higher presentation file servers and there the storage on the new servers as new folders within an existing namespace.
• Namespace scalability Servers running Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition can host multiple domain base DFS roots and stand only DFS roots.
• This characteristic improves the scalability of DFS, enabling you to construct a lot of big namespaces without have to put in file servers to host the roots.
• greater than before ease of use of file server data When multiple servers running Windows Server 2003 host a domain based DFS root, customers are redirected to the next available root server if any of these servers fail, providing error tolerant data access.
• To ensure the ease of use of stand alone DFS namespaces, you can create the root on a clustered file server.
• exchange site selection base on cost By failure to pay, if a aim in the similar site as the users fails, or if no same site aim exists, DFS refers customers to a chance target.
• If you configure the possible site costing characteristic, DFS can use the site in order in Active Directory to locate an exchange aim that has the lowly cost network link as distinct by the administrator in the Active Directory Sites and Services snap in.
• following site costing is enable, customers can access data on DFS target over the best network link.
• Intelligent client caching when a user requests right of entry to a target that is a part of a DFS namespace, a transfer contain the target in order is cached on the customer.
• The after that time the customer require access to that portion of the namespace; the client uses the cached transfer instead of obtaining a new referral, and connects directly to one of the target computers.
• Support for offline folders If your clients are running Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows Server 2003, you can make DFS link targets available offline by using the Offline Files feature. You can also use this feature to automatically cache programs so that users can run the programs locally in its place of from the server.
• Using this characteristic for link targets that host applications can decrease network traffic and get better server scalability.
• cut down maintenance If a link has multiple link targets, administrators can do preventive maintenance, repairs, or upgrades on servers by disabling referrals to exact link targets.
• While the transfer to the link target is disabled, DFS mechanically route new needs to the residual link targets that are online.
• Dynamic site detection DFS now supports lively site detection. In Windows 2000, DFS maintain static site information.
• following the site in order for a exacting network reserve was recognized, DFS used that in order indefinitely, in spite of of any change in the site in order of the resource.
• In Windows Server 2003, when you move a reserve from one site to another, the information used by DFS converges to the new site information within 25 hours.
• Security integration You do not need to configure additional security for DFS namespaces, because file and folder access is compulsory by existing NTFS and share permissions on each link target.
• If you use FRS to duplicate content among multiple targets, FRS also replicates admission control lists (ACLs) for every file and folder.