How do I force immediate DFS link replication?

Richard Chinn [MSFT]

2004-11-23 06:05:03 UTC

Unfortunately, when you have DFS replicas, there's no way to override
the schedule and force immediate replication. If you need immediate
replication, you should set your schedule to always on. Unless FRS
gets backlogged, replication should be happening continuously.
Besides backlogs, you may have sharing violations or other problems
that block replication.

You should install a monitoring tool like Ultrasound or at least
Sonar.

I believe the Override Schedule checkbox to which you are referring is
only used for the initial replication when the new replica set is
brought online. Once the replica set is running, then that checkbox
has no effect.

Also, even if FRS is able to override a connection schedule for the
initial sync, there are other latencies in the system. These include
the following.

1) Active Directory replication. FRS configuration is stored in AD
and if you have multiple DCs from which the FRS member servers are
reading, these DCs must sync. You can use repadmin.exe to speed this
along.

2) FRS polling latencies. FRS polls AD for configuration changes on a
regular basis. The polling period can range from 5 minutes to 1 hour.
You can use ntfrsutl.exe poll <member server name> /now to speed this
along.

--Richard

Please post FRS related questions to
microsoft.public.windows.server.dfs_frs and prefix the subject line
with "FRS:" to make it easier to spot. Note that FRS is used to
replicate SYSVOL on domain controllers and DFS root and link targets.

For additional FRS resources, please visit
http://www.microsoft.com/frs.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 17:47:08 -0800, "aacsulb"

Post by aacsulb
On Windows Server 2003, I created a DFS Link (on a domain root) with two
targets and have and have successfully implemented replication between the
targets. My question is, how do I force immediate replication?
I have tried selecting the Override Schedule check box in the Priorities
dialog box. The documentation stated that this will "cause the initial
replication to occur immediately.", but it doesn't.
Additionally, I found KB Article 823230, which discusses a pre-Service Pack
1 release of ntfrs.exe. It provides the following command: ntfrsutl
frocerepl ...
However, it doesn't work for DFS replicas (the aritcle states it "is only
implemented for the domain controller Sysvol replica set.").
AA