Chapter 12:SYSVOL: Old & New

BAI617

Chapter Topics

• What is SysVol?• Understanding 2000-8 File Replication System

(FRS)• Understanding 2008 R2 Distributed File

System Replication (DFSR)

What is SysVol?

• Starting in Windows 2000 inside each Active Directory domain controller were a couple of folders, which were public-facing shares, used to provide access and replication capabilities for the various domain controllers throughout the domain. The directory that stored and made these shares available was titled SYSVOL

What is SysVol?

• SysVol contained• Netlogon shares– Startup/Shutdown scripts – Group Policy objects for client computers– User logon/logoff scripts

• File Replication Service staging folders• Files for synchronization

The Old:Understanding 2000-3 File Replication System (FRS)

• FRS is a multimaster replication service– Any of the servers that participate in the

replication can trigger updates and subsequent replications

– Can resolve conflicts among both files and folders to maintain data consistency among the servers participating as replication partners

– Keeps data synchronized across multiple servers and enables networks to increase the availability of data to their clients

Benefits of Replicating with FRS

• Encrypted RPC FRS uses Kerberos authentication to encrypt the data that is sent between members of a replication partnership.

• Compression FRS compresses files in the staging folder using NTFS compression

• Conflict resolution FRS resolves conflicts with files and folders to make the data consistent among replica members. FRS will simply take the most recent update and use that as the authoritative file and will then replicate this version of the file to the other members of the replication partnership

Benefits of Replicating with FRS

• Continuous replication FRS provides continuous replication between members of replication groups. FRS changes are replicated within three seconds of the change being made.

• Replication Scheduling FRS can be scheduled for replication to occur at specified times and intervals.

• Replication Integrity FRS maintains replication integrity using update sequence numbers to log changes to files on a replica member. FRS is able to manage replication even if one of the replica members is shut down without notice. When the member comes back online, FRS will replicate changes that happened in the members’ absence as well as updates made to local files on the member before the shutdown.

The New: Distributed File System Replication (DFSR)

• Windows Server 2008 R2 introduces a new option for replicating SYSVOL throughout the domain.

• This new option is called Distributed File System Replication

Understanding DFSR

• DFS is used to provide a single transparent namespace in which users can access shared resources located in diverse target locations throughout the network.

• This DFS namespace can be hosted in multiple locations.

• Key Concept: DFS is the name space NOT the replication piece

Understanding DFSR

• When Windows Server 2008 R2 was released, Microsoft updated the way in which DFS replicated files and folders. Instead of using FRS, it included a new feature with DFS called DFSR (R= replication).

• DFSR replaces FRS in DFS

DFSR

• DFSR uses a compression algorithm known as Remote Differential Compression (RDC).

• RDC is a “difference over the wire” protocol used to update clients and servers over the network.

• RDC detects insertions, removals, and modifications of data files and replicates only the changes to its replication partners, instead of the entire files.

Publishing a Folder to the DFS Namespace

• Folders used to synchronize files can be added to the namespace

• Adding folders is called publishing• This is done through the DFS Management

MMC Snap-In

Publishing a Folder to the DFS Namespace

Publishing a Folder to the DFS Namespace

Publishing a Folder to the DFS Namespace

Publishing a Folder to the DFS Namespace

Publishing a Folder to the DFS Namespace

Review

• What is SysVol?• Understanding 2000-8 File Replication System

(FRS)• Understanding 2008 R2 Distributed File

System Replication (DFSR)

Questions?

Lab Environment