DFS Replication

[anything I don't mind]

We have an issue at one site with our DR link. We had DFS running over the link for two replication groups. As a temp solution i wanted to setup dfs to another server using qnap for storage. Creating the iscsi target ok and set up the dfs. It basically ended up syncing the empty folder to the source folder and wiping all the profiles and windows documents. All the data was still at DR site but still it was a big deal and a lot hassle to fix it. Now i want to set it up again and prevent it from deleting all the source files.

Anyone have any tips on setting up to prevent it from wiping the source folders, ive used rsync before and would have thought DFS was smart enough to not sync an empty folder, but clearly MS don't put much thought in to DFS.

Ive read a fair amount on the topic and realy don't see what i did wrong, as it is pretty straight forward to add another member. Is there some special trick to prevent it from deleting all the content and ending up with two blank folders that are syncing ?

 

[ubern00b]

How did you setup the replication? In my environment I use a full mesh topology and it asks me what server to use as the primary replication source. Obviously select the server that has the data you want to sync from, not the one you want to sync to.

 

[Yamahahahahaha]

First off, you should always try to pre-seed DFSR by Robocopying the files across with the /copyall flag. Sometimes that's not possible if the replication is gigantic.

Did you create a new replication group or did you just add the Qnap storage to the existing one?
If you made a new one, which member is set to be the primary member?

In your DFSRPrivate hidden folder, there should be a folder called 'ConflictAndDeleted' which will have some of your cannibalised files inside it.
Read up on what the DFSRPrivate holds and what it does, that should clear up a few things.

Oh and with profiles and windows documents, it's not uncommon to run up against the 10 million item 'recommended' limit.

 

[anything I don't mind]

The source server is running windows 2003 and the destination server is running 2008. After further reading it says i should have copied over all the content using xcopy or similar and then added a member.

I just added the the member to an existing replication group and enabled connections going both ways. Which is where i think i went wrong, i should have just enabled connections going one way. So have only the source server a sender and not the opposite. Very easy mistake to make and a costly one at that.

All the content was moved to the preexisting folder. I have since recovered all the files, this was a few weeks ago now. But now i have to set it up again and i am pretty nervous about it. I have copied over all the files using xcopy and with flags.

 

[Knubje]

Enable single-bi directional replication topology and disable the source (empty) target as soon as you created it.

That should enable replication to come from the master server down to this box without syncing an empty folder. This has happened to me before.