Distributed File System features

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

Distributed File System features

The Distributed File System (DFS) provides several important features, described in the following sections.

Easy access to files

A distributed file system makes it easier for users to access files. Users need only go to one location on the network to access files, even though the files may be physically spread across multiple servers.

Also, when you change the physical location of a target, user access to the folder is not impacted. They still access the folder in the same way as before, because the location of the file looks the same.

Users no longer need multiple drive mappings to access their files.

Finally, scheduled file server maintenance, software upgrades and other tasks that normally require taking the server offline can be accomplished without disrupting user access. This is particularly useful for Web servers. By selecting the root for the Web site as a DFS root, you can move resources within the distributed file system without breaking any HTML links.

Availability

Domain DFS ensures that users retain access to their files, in two ways:

First, the Windows Server 2003 operating system automatically publishes the DFS mapping to Active Directory. This ensures that the DFS namespace is always visible to users on all servers in the domain.

Second, as an administrator, you can replicate your DFS roots and your targets. Replication means that you can duplicate DFS roots and targets on multiple servers in the domain. In this way, users can still access their files, even if one of the physical servers on which those files reside becomes unavailable.

Server load balancing

A DFS root can support multiple targets that are physically distributed across a network. This is useful, for example, if you have a file that you know will be accessed heavily by your users. Rather than all users physically accessing this file on a single server, and thus taxing the server, DFS ensures that user access to the file is distributed to multiple servers. To users, however, the file resides in one location on the network.

File and folder security

Because the shared resources DFS manages use standard NTFS and file sharing permissions, you can use preexisting security groups and user accounts to ensure that only authorized users have access to sensitive data.