Adding additional replication partners

[Dave Warren]

When you first create a DFS-R replication group, you're prompted as to
which member is authoritative.

When you adding new members to an existing DFS-R replication group,
there is no such prompt, is it assumed that the existing members are
authoritative?

[HAL07]

Post by Dave Warren
When you first create a DFS-R replication group, you're prompted as to
which member is authoritative.
When you adding new members to an existing DFS-R replication group,
there is no such prompt, is it assumed that the existing members are
authoritative?

As far as I know, there can only be one authoritative partner. This is usually the server that contain the freshes data. I don't
think it's that important for you to set this.

[Dave Warren]

Post by HAL07

Post by Dave Warren
When you first create a DFS-R replication group, you're prompted as to
which member is authoritative.
When you adding new members to an existing DFS-R replication group,
there is no such prompt, is it assumed that the existing members are
authoritative?

As far as I know, there can only be one authoritative partner.

Yes, but which one? Either it's the existing replication group (any
member therein, it makes little difference since they're all identical
already), or it's the new member.

Post by HAL07
This is usually the server that contain the freshes data. I don't
think it's that important for you to set this.

It's critically important to understand this behavior, since if you
guess wrong, you'll lose a lot of data.

There is no way for two servers not otherwise joined to determine who's
data is "freshest" on their own unless you do a full merge (which would
mean that in the event of bringing on a prestaged server, any files
deleted on the primary partner after the prestage would be replaced, a
likely undesirable event)

As it turns out, the answer is that for an existing replication group,
the files in the existing group are always authoritative and that
content on the new member is overwritten -- This behaviour makes sense,
but it would have been a rather painful mistake to make.

[DaveMills]

When you do an initial sync then there are two copies of the folders and either
could be authorities so you must choose which. Once a repl group is established
then it assumed to be authorities. DFS knows about the copies on each partner
and which are out of date so can see which files are up to date. It follows that
any new partner that has existing file are either duplicate copies or
conflicting copies.

So Yes.

Post by Dave Warren
When you first create a DFS-R replication group, you're prompted as to
which member is authoritative.
When you adding new members to an existing DFS-R replication group,
there is no such prompt, is it assumed that the existing members are
authoritative?

[Dave Warren]

Post by DaveMills
When you do an initial sync then there are two copies of the folders and either
could be authorities so you must choose which. Once a repl group is established
then it assumed to be authorities. DFS knows about the copies on each partner
and which are out of date so can see which files are up to date. It follows that
any new partner that has existing file are either duplicate copies or
conflicting copies.
So Yes.

Thanks muchly!