Replicating SYSVOL

  • Article

The Windows 2000 System Volume, or SYSVOL, is built during the creation of a domain controller by Dcpromo.exe. It is a tree of folders containing files that need to be available and synchronized between domain controllers in a domain or forest, including:

  • SYSVOL share.

  • NETLOGON share.

  • Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 system policies.

  • Windows 2000 Group Policy settings.

  • User logon and logoff scripts.

For example, the default folder structure contains the following folders for policies or scripts used by network clients:

\\Winnt\Sysvol\Sysvol\ domain_name \Policies

\\Winnt\Sysvol\Sysvol\ domain_name \Scripts

When you add, remove, or modify the contents of the Sysvol folder on a domain controller, those changes are replicated to the Sysvol folders on all other domain controllers in the domain.

FRS uses the same connection objects as the Active Directory ™ directory service when it replicates SYSVOL content. Therefore, it uses the same schedule as Active Directory for intersite replication. However, unlike Active Directory, replicated content between sites is not compressed.

Tip

A handy method for checking SYSVOL replication is to create a file named after the originating computer such as \\Winnt\Sysvol\Sysvol\ domain_name \ file_name_equals_server_name . Then observe which other domain controllers receive the new file. Updates to servers in remote sites are governed by a schedule.