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I have DFS installed on a single file server - I wanted to use DFS now so I don't have to migrate later when I get a second file server.

I'm trying to integrate third party sharing software and I seem to have "weird" issues targeting a DFS share - for example, Nextcloud (one of many I tested) shows all files as folders, other software gets the permissions wrong and some even have a "DFS" option, which still fails - so I believe there is an extra layer MS have added here that causes an incompatibility somewhere.

I found a workaround was to create a secondary share that targets the same folder on the hard drive and give that as a target to the third party apps instead of the DFS one.

This seems to remove the issue completely, but feels very "hacker-ish".

The above from an application perspective works great but I was just wondering if I am asking for trouble later when I do get the second DFS server and start syncing, or are there any more side effects that could cause issues?

William Hilsum
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1 Answers1

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DFS requires a special client, many of which don't properly work. Generally, you need to target the actual SMB/CIFS share, rather than the DFS one. Any changes made to the actual share will be part of the DFS share, and will replicate once you setup DFSr.

IE:

DFS share: \\domain\dfs\share
Current File server: file00
Current File server sharename: \\file00\dfs
New file server: file01
New file server sharename: \\file01\dfs

If you currently map your non-Windows client to \\file00\dfs and make changes in that folder, then navigate to \\domain\dfs\share on a Windows machine, you will see those changes. Once you add the second file server and configure DFSr, and wait for replication to complete, if you target your non-Windows client to \\file01\dfs and make changes, those changes will replicate to \\file00\dfs, and will be visible from Windows clients in \\domain\dfs\share.

RobbieCrash
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