Replication groups and replicated folders
Applies To: Windows Server 2003 R2
Replication groups and replicated folders are two important components of DFS Replication. They are illustrated in the following figure.
.gif "DFS Replication Groups and Folders")
As this figure shows, a replication group is a set of servers, known as members, that participates in the replication of one or more replicated folders. A replicated folder is a folder that is kept synchronized on each member. In the figure, there are two replicated folders, Projects and Proposals. As data changes in each replicated folder, the changes are replicated across connections between the members of the replication group. The connections between all members form the replication topology.
Creating multiple replicated folders in a single replication group simplifies the process of deploying replicated folders because the topology, schedule, and bandwidth throttling for the replication group are applied to each replicated folder. To deploy additional replicated folders, you can use Dfsradmin.exe or a brief wizard to define the local path and permissions for the new replicated folder. Each replicated folder also has its own settings, such as file and subfolder filters, so that you can filter out different files and subfolders for each replicated folder.
The replicated folders stored on each member can be located on different volumes in the member, and the replicated folders do not need to be shared folders or part of a namespace, though the DFS Management snap-in makes it easy to share replicated folders and optionally publish them in an existing namespace.