Dfsutil Overview

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Dfsutil.exe: Distributed File System Utility

This tool enables administrators to query and troubleshoot the Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS) from the command prompt. It can be used to perform maintenance of a DFS root and to clean up metadata left behind when domain-based DFS roots are orphaned or abandoned.

Note

  • You must run DFSUtil from the command window.

Corresponding UI

DFSUtil provides command-line functionality that parallels much of the Distributed File System Manager snap-in.

Concepts

Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS), a feature of Windows Server 2003, makes it easier to access and manage files that are physically distributed across a network. By using DFS, you can make files that are distributed across multiple servers appear to users as if they reside in one place on the network. Users and applications no longer need to know and specify the actual physical location of files in order to gain access to them: DFS makes the physical storage of data transparent by mapping it to a logical representation.

DFS does for servers and shares what file systems do for hard disks. File systems provide uniform named access to collections of sectors on disks; DFS provides a uniform naming convention and mapping for collections of servers, shares, and files. Thus, by using DFS you can organize file servers and their shares into a logical hierarchy, which makes it considerably easier to manage and use extensive information resources. In addition, DFS is not limited to a single file protocol. It can support the mapping of servers, shares, and files, regardless of the file client being used, provided that the client supports the native server and share.

In the past, with the Universal Naming Convention (UNC), to access file information a user or application was required to specify the physical server and share; that is, the user or application had to specify \\Server\Share\Path\FileName).

System Requirements

The following are the system requirements for DFSUtil:

  • Windows Server 2003

File Required

  • Dfsutil.exe

See Also

Concepts

Dfsutil Remarks
Dfsutil Syntax
Dfsutil Examples
Alphabetical List of Tools
Topchk.cmd
Rsdir Overview
Rsdiag Overview
Iologsum Overview
Health_chk Overview
Ftonline Overview
Filever Overview
Efsinfo Overview
Dmdiag Overview
Dskprobe Overview
Diruse Overview
Dfsutil Overview
Connstat Overview
Cabarc Overview
Bitsadmin Overview