HP CIFS Windows 2000 Interoperability (October 2002)

CIFS/9000 and Windows 2000 Interoperability

Hewlett-Packard

7.4.2 CIFS/9000 DFS Transaction Interoperation

The DFSLink (or leaf node) is not cognizant of the exchange between the DFSRoot and the

client – the transaction appears to be a standard share map just like any other. Therefore,

the CIFS/9000 server can operate as a DFSLink with no special modifications or

enhancements. However, Windows 2000 DFS has numerous extra features, some of which

are dependent upon Windows-specific technology.

7.5 Windows 2000 DFS Features

A Windows 2000 DFS root server can be installed on a Windows 2000 Advanced Directory

server in one of two ways:

1. Standalone DFS root server

a. Not integrated into ADS

2. ADS integrated DFS root server

a. DFS configuration data stored in ADS

b. Automatic file replication between root and leaf node servers

c. Fault tolerance for root and leaf servers

d. Preferential replica selection (best failover choice for connecting

clients)

The Standalone configuration does not include the root fault tolerance, replication, and

preferential replica selection, but its DFSLink servers are still capable of being fault tolerant

(if the DFSLink server platform supports the fault tolerant feature).

Executing Automatic File Replication requires that the server file system be on NTFS 5.0.

Consequently, CIFS/9000 Server cannot execute Automatic File Replication as a DFSLink

server. However, fault tolerance (redirecting a referral when the initial DFSLink is down)

can be enabled for CIFS/9000 by configuring Automatic File Replication. The CIFS/9000

server will not replicate, but it will fail over correctly. After testing this configuration option

with CIFS/9000 Server, there was no apparent adverse reaction to configuring Automatic

File Replication to enable fault tolerance, other than it does not replicate.