Dfs and File Replication Service

Domain-based Dfs uses FRS to replicate content between Windows 2000–based servers hosting Dfs roots or replica sets. This includes any shared files and folders located at the Dfs root itself. It is important to keep all replicas synchronized on all servers, either manually or automatically, using FRS.

Remember that with Dfs you can specify duplicate shared folders for the same link in the Dfs logical namespace to provide high availability. However, Dfs itself makes no assumption about whether the data in the underlying shared folders is synchronized. If the data is completely static, then it can be published to the shared folders once and be left alone. However, if the data in the underlying shared folders is dynamic, something must be done to synchronize that data in all replicas. FRS is used for precisely that purpose.

For more information about how FRS works, see "File Replication Service" in this book.