Replication schedules and bandwidth

Applies To: Windows Server 2003 R2

The following sections describe options for configuring replication schedules and bandwidth usage in DFS Replication.

Replication schedules

The replication schedule determines the days and times at which replication occurs. You can configure the schedule at 15-minute intervals 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There are two types of schedules:

  • Replication group schedule. This schedule applies to all connections in the replication group except connections that have a custom connection schedule. You can edit the replication group schedule by viewing the properties of the replication group.

  • Custom connection schedule. This is a unique schedule that is applied to an individual connection. You can edit the custom schedule by viewing the properties of a connection.

Because members can exist in different time zones, it is important to understand how the schedule is affected by time zones, and whether daylight savings time is in effect. Replication is always initiated by the receiving member; therefore, the schedule reflects the time at which a receiving member initiates replication with a sending member. The receiving members can interpret the schedule in one of the following ways:

  • Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). This option causes the receiving member to treat the schedule as an absolute clock. For example, a schedule that begins at 0800 UTC is the same for any location, regardless of time zone or whether daylight savings time is in effect for a receiving member. For example, assume that you set replication to begin at 0800 UTC. A receiving member in Eastern Standard Time would begin replicating at 3:00 A.M. local time (UTC - 5), and a receiving member in Rome would begin replicating at 9:00 A.M. local time (UTC + 1). Note that the UTC offset shifts when daylight savings time is in effect for a particular location.

  • Local time of receiving member. This option causes the receiving member to use its local time to start and stop replication. Local time is determined by the time zone and daylight savings time status of the receiving member. For example, a schedule that begins at 8:00 A.M. will cause every receiving member to begin replicating when the local time is 8:00 A.M. Note that daylight savings time does not cause the schedule to shift. If replication starts at 9 A.M. before daylight savings time, replication will still start at 9 A.M. when daylight savings time is in effect.

When the schedule is open, replication occurs as files are changed, created, or deleted. When the schedule closes, replication stops, regardless of whether all changed or new files have replicated.

Important

Schedule changes are not applied immediately. The new schedule must be replicated to all domain controllers, and each member in the replication group must poll its closest domain controller to obtain the changes. The amount of time this takes depends on Active Directory replication latency and the long polling interval (60 minutes) on each member.

Bandwidth usage

You can configure a different bandwidth usage for each interval of the schedule. The bandwidth setting is an absolute value, not a percentage of available bandwidth. The bandwidth used is not kept at the specified bandwidth setting for every one-second interval. Instead, the bandwidth used can occur in bursts at any given second, but over a period of time, the average bandwidth used is equal to the bandwidth setting.

See Also

Other Resources

Microsoft Web site