HP StorageWorks 4000s NAS 4000s and 9000s Administration Guide - Page 142

Folder, Printer, and Share Management DFS Protocol Settings With Distributed File System (DFS) and the Windows SMB protocol, files can be distributed across multiple servers and appear to users as if they reside in one place on the network. A configuration containing multiple shares is known as a virtual namespace. Using Distributed File System (DFS), system administrators can make it easy for users to access and manage files that are physically distributed across a network. Users do not need to know and specify the actual physical location of files in order to access them. For example, if documents are scattered across multiple servers in a domain, DFS can make it appear as though the documents all resides on a single server. This eliminates the need for users to go to multiple locations on the network to find the information. Each DFS namespace requires a root. A DFS root is a starting point of the DFS namespace. The root is often used to refer to the namespace as a whole. A root maps to one or more root targets, each of which corresponds to a shared folder on a server. A root is implemented as a shared folder on the DFS server. Deploying DFS A distributed file system can be implemented as a stand-alone root distributed file system or as a domain root distributed file system. The type of a distributed file system determines which client computers can access the distributed file system. A stand-alone DFS root: ■ Does not use Active Directory to manage DFS ■ Cannot have more than one root on a server ■ Does not support automatic file replication using the File Replication service (FRS) ■ Is not fault tolerant and if the root fails the entire namespace will collapse. A domain DFS root: ■ Must be hosted on a domain member server ■ Has its DFS namespace automatically published to Active Directory ■ Can have more than one root on a server ■ Supports automatic file replication through FRS ■ Supports fault tolerance through FRS Two points of management of the DFS namespace are provided with the NAS server. These points of management are the WebUI and the Distributed File System Administration Tool located on the local console of the NAS server under Start > Programs > Administrative Tool. See Figure 81. The WebUI is designed to provide the following functions: ■ Stand alone root management (Add, Delete) ■ Share publishing to stand alone or domain DFS ■ Default behavior for DFS share publishing All other functions must be performed via the DFS Administration Tool. The NAS server administration guide only provides instructions on the Web UI portion of the product. The DFS Administration Tool is complete with online help. In addition, general information on DFS may be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/dfs.mspx 142 NAS 4000s and 9000s Administration Guide