Singular DFS Root SLOW 1

[scanjam]

We have 1 server hosting 1 AD integrated DFS Root

\\domain\share

there are 4 shares under this dfs hierarchy

homes, profiles, programs, general

Folder Redirection is enabled for mydocs.

My Question is if this server suffers in the slightest (performance, disk queues or a reboot) the ENTIRE network slows to a crawl.

We tried running a defrag on this raid 5 SATA 1 array. Logons blew out to 15 minutes for all users (including users without my docs redirected) even START > run, stops responding completely until this DFS hierarchy is somewhat available.

Have we done something stupidly wrong? DO we need another server to share the DFS? Why if this server isnt available would EVERY machine on the network be looking for it? Can it be as simple as turning off my docs redirection? And if so what are the PROs / Cons of this approach? Sorry for the questions, but its been going on for months now!! Thank you in advance for any replies!

Best Wishes - SCANJAM

 

[sutors]

You have home folder redirection and profiles pointing to that DFS namespace, so if this is the only DFS server on your network, then if that machine goes down.. every user logged in will depend on it.

Logons take longer as the workstations time out on profile loads.
Start->run, icons, etc are part of the profile, depending what you redirected, so if the source is unavailable, nothing will work.

There's nothing wrong with redirecting stuff to DFS namespace, as long as it is always available. You might want to add one more namespace server for redudancy.

Lukasz

 

[scanjam]

makes sense, and thought as much. Its still slow at times during the day, especially if we start applying things like auditing permissiosn then ENTIRE network stops as its waitign for the SAN.. could htis be anythign to do with the way its configured or simply the speed of the disk access?

If we were to configure another server that hosted the DFS root im assuming replication would need to be enabled? (primary server 1 is the ony server with the data of course) and how does replication work with things like myob or access files that are on the same DFS drives? cant these get corrupted? or do we enable the DFS root but disable the referrals unless requried or something?


Really appreciate your reply!!!

 

[sutors]

All DFS server does it stores your folder structure and contains reparse points (links) to other shares which might or might not be on the same server.

DFS service is rarely the problem in those situations.

First you need to evaluate your network to see where the bottleneck is. There is really no simple answer to it. I'd start with taking a network trace when you notice slowness.

You do not need any replication enabled. All you need to do is to designate another server as DFS server. AD will take care of structure replication. (not file replication).

That would give you namespace redudancy, however it would not give you file redudancy as all your shares are on one server anyways.

Microsoft doens't recommend replicating profiles anyways, as there are other problems related to it.

Lukasz
Microsoft SMEFS/FRS/DFSN/DFSR

 

[scanjam]

Where would you put profiles if it was your network? just a singular network share? any ideas on the errors we can experience on DFS?

effectivly then we could have anotehr server looking after the DFS root, POINTING to the same shares on another server, but this could just assist with the namespace reference, but then we just need to figure out redundancy of the files... cheers and thanks once more.

 

[sutors]

I dont think DFS is the problem here. It's either speed of disk access or network not sufficient enough for your data tranfser. You have to figure that part out by yourself.

As for profiles, it's fine keeping it on one share. You just have to figure out a redudancy method. Whether it's hardware or software, it's really up to you..

The reazon that MS doesn't recommend profiles and file replication is that for example a user logs in to a workstation and does his work, then he logs out.. and then let's say 5 minutes later he logs in again, and because DFS can give a referral to 2nd server instead of 1st (which is very possible as referrals are picked at random in the same AD site), the user will be loading his profile from 2nd server, (if replication hasn't finished replicating his original profile with changes from server 1 to server 2, then you're running into file conflicts. etc..Pretty much a mess.

Yes, you can have profile replication between two servers as long as you keep the 2nd server as backup (with DFS referral turned off), then users will only get reffered to 1st server and you have all your data ready for disasters on server 2.

hope this helps,

 

[scanjam]

thats perfect, thanks mate.