Anybody using DFS with Storage Replica instead of DSF-R?

[Jaan]

I'm having an issue with the DFS-R not replicating fast enough or not at all. I've just changed a setting to force one of the two DFS server as the "First among targets".

 

Wondering if Server 2016's Storage replica would be a better option instead of DFS-R with use with my DFS shares. Not even sure it's possible.

 

Both server's in question are datacenter.

[Domino]

What's the intended use of DFS-R?

 

AFAIK Storage spaces does not allow for multi-master replication, so if it's to allow local access to files in a second site it's not the solution.

[Jaan]

To keep both my DFS shares in sync.

 

I'm retiring a physical server and have created a Virtual file server added as a dfs member. I was hoping that dfsr would sync the files over, which it has done. However i'm finding that the replica isn't fast enough. So if a file is saved on server A a student might connect to server B and the dsfr hasn't synced the file over yet.

[Domino]

Right, so multi-master is important for you.

 

have a look at some of the articles on performance tuning DFSR ie: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/filecab/2013/07/31/dfs-replication-in-windows-server-2012-r2-revenge-of-the-sync/

 

For best performance both servers should be the same version, or the older method is used.

 

Have a look at the staging area sizing on both, this should be the same on both - the more files it can fit into here at once the more concurrent worker processes it will use.

 

Have you run a health report with backlogged files? if theres a large backlog it can account for slowness, especially its with coupled with large files waiting to replicate and an undersized staging area.

Edited March 15, 2018 by Domino