Redundant DFS Setup - SomethingGeneric/sparkle.local GitHub Wiki

Configuring DFS/DFS Management Roles and Features

Prerequisite: Configure at least 2 domain joined systems with Windows Server 2019 as well as a System with Windows Server Manager to more easily setup both DFS Servers.

On Mgmt01 use Server Manager to add/install the File Server, DFS Namespaces, and DFS Replication roles for both DFS01 and DFS02. This can be found under Server Roles > File and Storage Services > and File and iSCSI Services.

Figure 1: VV
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On Mgmt01, use Server Manager again to add the following features to allow for the configuration and management of the DFS Servers:

  • Open Server Manager > Manage > Add Roles and Features > Select Mgmt01
  • In the Add Roles and Features Wizard: Go to Features > Select Role Administration Tools > Install File Services Tools > Under File Services Tools, install DFS Management Tools.

Figure 2: VV
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Configuring a New Domain DFS Namespace

After installing the necessary DFS roles and features, we can now use Mgmt01 to configure a new DFS namespace for Sparkle.local.

  • To do this, open Server Manager > Tools > and select DFS Management to open the DFS Management menu.
  • From here, we can select Namespaces and click-on New Namespace... to open the New Namespace Wizard

Figure 3: VV
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Within the New Namespace Wizard, we can now configure the necessary settings to create our new DFS share. Configure the settings as follows:

  • Select a server to host the new namespace (ex. DFS01) > Enter a name for the new namespace share as shown in Figure 4 (ex. "sparkle-share") > Edit the share settings as shown in Figure 5 > Select Domain-based namespace > Lastly, click on Create to create the new DFS Network Share (Figure 6 shows the new namespace share was successfully created).

Figure 4: VV
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Figure 5: VV
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Figure 6: VV
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Configuring DFS Replication

After creating our root DFS network share, we can now configure the redundancy of our DFS Servers by setting up DFS Replication on both our DFS1 and DFS2 servers.

  • In DFS Management, Right-click Replication and select New Replication Group… to open the DFS Replication Group wizard.
  • From here: Select Multipurpose replication group > Enter a name for the new replication group (e.g “sparkle-group”) > Add servers to be members of the new replication group (“DFS01” + DFS02”) > Choose the Full mesh replication topology > Select the Primary Member Server (In this case, I choose dfs01 to be the primary member as it contains the root of the “sparkle-share” namespace share) > Specify the folders to be replicated between servers (again I specified the location of DFS01’s DFS share “C:\DFSRoots\sparkle-share”)
  • Next in Local Path of share on Other Members, I configured the DFS share to sync its files locally onto DFS02 (As shown in Figures 7.1 + 7.2).
  • To do this, I double-clicked on DFS02 and set its Membership status to Enabled and specified the local path of the dfs shared folder on the system > Following this, I clicked OK’ to save this setting and then proceeded to Createthe new Replication Group for thesparkle-share` dfs folder.

Figures 7.1 + 7.2: VV
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Figure 8: Screenshot of DFS Management being used to show sparkle-share successfully replicated on both DFS01 and DFS02.
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Modify DFS Share settings:

Lastly, I decided to modify the DFS share settings for sparkle-share to allow necessary access permissions for user groups:

  • To modify share permissions, navigate to Server Manager > File and Storage Services > Shares and right-click on the new sparkle-share under dfs01-shimmer and select Properties.
  • In the sparkle-share properties, navigate to Permissions > Customize permissions… and configure the necessary user group permissions necessary for your environment.
  • For this implementation, I decided to give the Domain Users group Full Control share permissions for the sparkle-share Additionally the Domain Admins Group was given Full Control NTFS Permissions while the Domain Users were given the Modify Permission.

Figures 9.1 + 9.2: Screenshots of me configuring the Permissions and Sharing settings for the sparkle-share DFS Network share.
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Additional DFS and Redundant DFS setup information can be found here --> Link