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What happens when one server in a DFSR pool maxes out its disk space?

I am at the very beginning of my research in DFS/R and this struck me. I plan on implementing this on one server with RAID1 (160GB) and on another server with a RAID5 (500GB). What happens when my 1st server with 160GB disks, run out of space? Will it spill over to the 500GB server?

Is it advisable at all to even have the RAID1 server in the DFSR pool? Because the RAID1 server is also my Domain Controller.

Hope you guys can help me out here (OS are Win2k3R2)

Jared
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1 Answers1

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We use DFSR on 2003 R2 between two remote sites, and it works very well.

DFSR will obviously fail if one server runs out of disk space, but once you have allocated more disk space to resolve the problem DFSR will pick up where it left off.

If you think that the 160Gb server might fill up, then you should be planning to increase the disk capacity now.

The physical disk configuration (RAID) doesn't matter one bit.

If by 'spill over' you are referring to the clients access the other server when the other runs out of disk space then the answer is no. The way a client picks a DFS target has no relationship to DFSR. You can configure DFSR without even having a DFS namespace (or vice versa).

Bryan
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  • But would you recommend that I put it in a domain controller? I would think not, judging by the data won't "spill over" to the server with larger capacity. I think I have my answer then. Thanks, Bryan! :) – Jared Feb 06 '11 at 12:58
  • At our stub office, we run it on a domain controller (it's the only server located there). It certainly works fine, but I would seriously avoid separating your AD (system) volume from your DFSR volume. I do get the impression that you are really worried about lack of space being a problem, in which case, I would just throw some extra disk space at the problem. Disk is cheap enough after all! – Bryan Feb 06 '11 at 22:47
  • p.s. I only have it on a DC, because a second server at our stub office isn't an option. Normally, I'd wouldn't dream of adding extra services to a DC. – Bryan Feb 06 '11 at 22:49
  • Thanks. This is well within the question I was asking and this bit of info is going to be of great help! – Jared Feb 07 '11 at 04:08