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We have two offices, at two different locations. In one we have a NAS, with some shares. We also have a Domain Controller using Windows 2003 R2. We have setup a second Domain Controller using Windows 2003 R2 to put that in the second office. What we would also like is to replicate the NAS drive onto the second Domain Controller so in the second office they have a local copy, and that their changes are replicated back to the NAS.

Is there a way to setup DFS replication to do this? Or will it only work with local folders on each Server?

Update 1 Sept

Base on the answer below, I think I need to add some clarification. The real issue is that the NAS which hosts the shared folder that we want to replicate is external to both servers. And we have a particular share mapped to say S: . In the replication setup it doesnt seem to accept network shares external to the server to be candidates for replication. I can understand why, I just need confirmation that DFSR will only work with block devices that are local on at least one server. Is this the case?

Mark
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2 Answers2

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You can't. Replicated folders have to be stored on NTFS volumes. You can do it using iscsi if your NAS supports iscsi.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731545.aspx

BlueCompute
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You can setup DFSR within a single forest, however it is not recommended to use this in a scenario where changes to the nas drive/folders are made on both sides (head office - branche office), the preferred methode is to have a read only copy at one side and a read/write version on the other..

Peter
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  • Can you cite a source for this "preferred method"? I have to say that I don't use DFS that much but what you've stated in your answer sounds counter to my understanding of the use case for DFS. – joeqwerty Aug 31 '11 at 12:39
  • http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773238(WS.10).aspx – Peter Aug 31 '11 at 12:50
  • Here is the explanation on the read only part, in 2008 it's possible to create read only members. http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/01/21/read-only-replicated-folders-on-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx – Peter Aug 31 '11 at 12:52
  • I can see the value in that in a very distinct use case but It seems to me that it's counterintuitive in this case and in most other cases. Why bother using DFS in this case if the only writeable copy is across the WAN link? Thanks much for the links, very informative. – joeqwerty Aug 31 '11 at 14:24
  • Thats good information. But The actual issue is getting replication happening with the external NAS. I can seem to find a way to add it as the folders. Am I better off using the command line to do this? – Mark Aug 31 '11 at 23:43