DFS errors on configuring replication

[Geoff Lane]

I've got two servers: Server1 is a recently rebuilt Win2k3 Standard R2
that was previously Win2k3 Standard. The rebuild was because VSS stopped
working. Server2 is Win2k Server SP4. Both servers are DCs with Server1
holding all FSMO roles. For the rebuild, I transfered FSMO roles to
Server2 then demoted Server1 before reformatting and installing the new
OS. Once rebuilt, I tried unsuccesfully to promote Server1 to a DC and
subsequently had to use ADSIEdit to clean up the AD before rebuilding
again and then successfully promoting Server1, which now also holds the
FSMO roles.

Mindful of the advice in DFS Help, I've done all the configuration of
DFS from Server1 (i.e. the Win2k3 machine). Repeatedly I've had errors
similar to the ones below when configuring replication and the link to
MS Help offers no clues. Searching the Internet suggests that I'm not
the first with this issue, but I can't find solutions. Can anyone help?

TIA,

Geoff


Errors from FRS Event Log of Server1:
====================================
Event Type: Error
Event Source: NtFrs
Event Category: None
Event ID: 13544
Date: 9/30/2008
Time: 13:05:52
User: N/A
Computer: Server1
Description:
The File Replication Service cannot replicate d:\clientdata because it
overlaps the replicating directory d:\clientdata.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Event Type: Error
Event Source: NtFrs
Event Category: None
Event ID: 13552
Date: 9/30/2008
Time: 13:05:52
User: N/A
Computer: Server1
Description:
The File Replication Service is unable to add this computer to the
following replica set:
"FILESTORE|CLIENTDATA"

This could be caused by a number of problems such as:
-- an invalid root path,
-- a missing directory,
-- a missing disk volume,
-- a file system on the volume that does not support NTFS 5.0

The information below may help to resolve the problem:
Computer DNS name is "server1.MYDOMAIN.LOCAL"
Replica set member name is "{47243FF0-8323-4420-B5EC-6CDCA820B312}"
Replica set root path is "d:\clientdata"
Replica staging directory path is "e:\frs-staging"
Replica working directory path is "c:\windows\ntfrs\jet"
Windows error status code is ERROR_BAD_COMMAND
FRS error status code is FrsErrorResourceInUse

Other event log messages may also help determine the problem. Correct
the problem and the service will attempt to restart replication
automatically at a later time.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

 

[Danny Sanders]

Are you using DFS or DFSR?



DDS

"Geoff Lane" <geoff@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9B298899FD10Egeoffnospam097akdsh@207.46.248.16...
> I've got two servers: Server1 is a recently rebuilt Win2k3 Standard R2
> that was previously Win2k3 Standard. The rebuild was because VSS stopped
> working. Server2 is Win2k Server SP4. Both servers are DCs with Server1
> holding all FSMO roles. For the rebuild, I transfered FSMO roles to
> Server2 then demoted Server1 before reformatting and installing the new
> OS. Once rebuilt, I tried unsuccesfully to promote Server1 to a DC and
> subsequently had to use ADSIEdit to clean up the AD before rebuilding
> again and then successfully promoting Server1, which now also holds the
> FSMO roles.
>
> Mindful of the advice in DFS Help, I've done all the configuration of
> DFS from Server1 (i.e. the Win2k3 machine). Repeatedly I've had errors
> similar to the ones below when configuring replication and the link to
> MS Help offers no clues. Searching the Internet suggests that I'm not
> the first with this issue, but I can't find solutions. Can anyone help?
>
> TIA,
>
> Geoff
>
>
> Errors from FRS Event Log of Server1:
> ====================================
> Event Type: Error
> Event Source: NtFrs
> Event Category: None
> Event ID: 13544
> Date: 9/30/2008
> Time: 13:05:52
> User: N/A
> Computer: Server1
> Description:
> The File Replication Service cannot replicate d:\clientdata because it
> overlaps the replicating directory d:\clientdata.
>
> For more information, see Help and Support Center at
> http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
>
>
> Event Type: Error
> Event Source: NtFrs
> Event Category: None
> Event ID: 13552
> Date: 9/30/2008
> Time: 13:05:52
> User: N/A
> Computer: Server1
> Description:
> The File Replication Service is unable to add this computer to the
> following replica set:
> "FILESTORE|CLIENTDATA"
>
> This could be caused by a number of problems such as:
> -- an invalid root path,
> -- a missing directory,
> -- a missing disk volume,
> -- a file system on the volume that does not support NTFS 5.0
>
> The information below may help to resolve the problem:
> Computer DNS name is "server1.MYDOMAIN.LOCAL"
> Replica set member name is "{47243FF0-8323-4420-B5EC-6CDCA820B312}"
> Replica set root path is "d:\clientdata"
> Replica staging directory path is "e:\frs-staging"
> Replica working directory path is "c:\windows\ntfrs\jet"
> Windows error status code is ERROR_BAD_COMMAND
> FRS error status code is FrsErrorResourceInUse
>
> Other event log messages may also help determine the problem. Correct
> the problem and the service will attempt to restart replication
> automatically at a later time.
>
> For more information, see Help and Support Center at
> http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

 

[Geoff Lane]

Hi Danny, and thanks for jumping in.

"Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in news:uV$mlPwIJHA.3932
@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl:

> Are you using DFS or DFSR?

I'm unsure what that means. The Help calls it DFS, but I am trying to
maintain a replica of the data on each of the two servers. Using the
Destributed File System management console, I've established a Domain root
(named Filestore) with targets on both Server1 and Server2. The root is not
replicated (the Help says not to enable replication on DFS roots). From
that, I've created links with a target on each of the servers. The links
are replicated.

I've got four of five links working correctly, although I had to create new
links with names and shares not used in the previous incarnation to do it.
Every time I use a name that's previously been used I get these errors.
Even though the old link was deleted it seems like AD still retains some
vestige.

Geoff

 

[Danny Sanders]

Using the
> Destributed File System management console, I've established a Domain root
> (named Filestore) with targets on both Server1 and Server2. The root is
> not

Distributed File System Management console "sounds" like your using DFSR
from the Win 2k3 machine. When you go to start - All programs -
Administrative Tools do you choose DFS Management (DFSR) or "Distributed
File System".



> that was previously Win2k3 Standard. The rebuild was because VSS stopped
> working. Server2 is Win2k Server SP4. Both


If you are using the DFS Management application on the Win 2k3 R2 machine,
each member of the replication group needs to be Win 2k3 R2. You have a Win
2k SP 4 machine in the mix that will not work.


hth
DDS

"Geoff Lane" <geoff@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9B29A4E0E19geoffnospam097akdsh@207.46.248.16...
> Hi Danny, and thanks for jumping in.
>
> "Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in news:uV$mlPwIJHA.3932
> @TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl:
>
>> Are you using DFS or DFSR?
>
> I'm unsure what that means. The Help calls it DFS, but I am trying to
> maintain a replica of the data on each of the two servers. Using the
> Destributed File System management console, I've established a Domain root
> (named Filestore) with targets on both Server1 and Server2. The root is
> not
> replicated (the Help says not to enable replication on DFS roots). From
> that, I've created links with a target on each of the servers. The links
> are replicated.
>
> I've got four of five links working correctly, although I had to create
> new
> links with names and shares not used in the previous incarnation to do it.
> Every time I use a name that's previously been used I get these errors.
> Even though the old link was deleted it seems like AD still retains some
> vestige.
>
> Geoff

 

[Geoff Lane]

"Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in
news:ONkVYixIJHA.5060@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl:

> Distributed File System Management console "sounds" like your using
> DFSR from the Win 2k3 machine. When you go to start - All programs -
> Administrative Tools do you choose DFS Management (DFSR) or
> "Distributed File System".

Hi Danny,

"Distributed File System" - I don't have "DFS Management (DFSR)" on the
Administrative Tools menu. In the property sheet for the shortcut is the
command, "%SystemRoot%\system32\dfsgui.msc /s"

The Help talks about using both Win2k3 and Win2k and warns to use Win2k3
only to administrate the DFS:

"If your DFS namespace includes roots and root targets which exist on
both computers running one of the Windows Server 2003 family of products
and computers running Windows 2000, you must administer those roots from
a computer running a product in the Windows Server 2003 family, or from
a computer running the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack.
You can not administer the DFS namespace from a computer running Windows
2000."

However, I've just noticed under "Platform Compatiblity", the Help says:

"To support synchronization of targets, the referenced resource for a
target must be located on a Windows Server 2003 family NTFS partition."

So you could be correct that it shouldn't work and that I've been lucky
to get four out of five links replicating. The strange thing is that the
DFS worked perfectly under the original release of Win2k3 - so perhaps
I've got to rebuild the machine again from the original media rather
than the R2 update before DFS will work.

That said, I infer from your post that the original DFS is still
available in R2. Does the command I gave above launch this, and if not
can you tell me the command that does?

TIA,

Geoff

 

[Danny Sanders]

> "Distributed File System" - I don't have "DFS Management (DFSR)" on the
> Administrative Tools menu. In the property sheet for the shortcut is the
> command, "%SystemRoot%\system32\dfsgui.msc /s"


OK Distributed File System is OK to use between Win 2k and WIn 2k3.

> "If your DFS namespace includes roots and root targets which exist on
> both computers running one of the Windows Server 2003 family of products
> and computers running Windows 2000, you must administer those roots from
> a computer running a product in the Windows Server 2003 family, or from
> a computer running the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack.
> You can not administer the DFS namespace from a computer running Windows
> 2000."
>
> However, I've just noticed under "Platform Compatiblity", the Help says:
>
> "To support synchronization of targets, the referenced resource for a
> target must be located on a Windows Server 2003 family NTFS partition."

You should still be OK as long as you are using NTFS.


> So you could be correct that it shouldn't work and that I've been lucky
> to get four out of five links replicating. The strange thing is that the
> DFS worked perfectly under the original release of Win2k3 - so perhaps
> I've got to rebuild the machine again from the original media rather
> than the R2 update before DFS will work.


No this is not the case. I don't think you even have the DFSR version
installed on your Win 2k3 server. You would have had to continue installing
using the second disk of the R2 set. *Then* you would have went into add
remove programs and selected to install DFSR. FYI Win 2k3 is a 2 disk set.
Disk 1 is Win 2k3 SP 1 or 2. Disk 2 is the updated features that R2 provide.
I would not think you would need to install using the original media.


That said, I infer from your post that the original DFS is still
> available in R2. Does the command I gave above launch this, and if not
> can you tell me the command that does?

If you open Distributed File System from the Admin tools you are opening the
DFS replication that should replicate data between a Win 2k 3 server and a
Win 2k SP 4 server.

My guess as to what is happening is that the original server you set up in a
replication group, DFS thinks it's still there. I would right click the
Distributed File System in the DFS application and choose Show root and see
if you can determine which root is "valid" and which root can be removed.
DFS thinks there is already a replication group using those folders. Since
you didn't remove it using the DFS interface I'm not sure what would happen
but it sounds like DFS thinks the "old" server is still using those folders
in a replication group, even though the new server has the same name as the
old.

hth
DDS


"Geoff Lane" <geoff@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9B29D2267DF57geoffnospam097akdsh@207.46.248.16...
> "Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in
> news:ONkVYixIJHA.5060@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl:
>
>> Distributed File System Management console "sounds" like your using
>> DFSR from the Win 2k3 machine. When you go to start - All programs -
>> Administrative Tools do you choose DFS Management (DFSR) or
>> "Distributed File System".
>
> Hi Danny,
>
> "Distributed File System" - I don't have "DFS Management (DFSR)" on the
> Administrative Tools menu. In the property sheet for the shortcut is the
> command, "%SystemRoot%\system32\dfsgui.msc /s"
>
> The Help talks about using both Win2k3 and Win2k and warns to use Win2k3
> only to administrate the DFS:
>
> "If your DFS namespace includes roots and root targets which exist on
> both computers running one of the Windows Server 2003 family of products
> and computers running Windows 2000, you must administer those roots from
> a computer running a product in the Windows Server 2003 family, or from
> a computer running the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack.
> You can not administer the DFS namespace from a computer running Windows
> 2000."
>
> However, I've just noticed under "Platform Compatiblity", the Help says:
>
> "To support synchronization of targets, the referenced resource for a
> target must be located on a Windows Server 2003 family NTFS partition."
>
> So you could be correct that it shouldn't work and that I've been lucky
> to get four out of five links replicating. The strange thing is that the
> DFS worked perfectly under the original release of Win2k3 - so perhaps
> I've got to rebuild the machine again from the original media rather
> than the R2 update before DFS will work.
>
> That said, I infer from your post that the original DFS is still
> available in R2. Does the command I gave above launch this, and if not
> can you tell me the command that does?
>
> TIA,
>
> Geoff

 

[Geoff Lane]

"Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in
news:OOhZGtzIJHA.4692@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl:

Hi Danny,
>>
>> However, I've just noticed under "Platform Compatiblity", the Help
>> says:
>>
>> "To support synchronization of targets, the referenced resource for a
>> target must be located on a Windows Server 2003 family NTFS
>> partition."
>
> You should still be OK as long as you are using NTFS.

I am, having given up using FAT or FAT32 years ago!


> No this is not the case. I don't think you even have the DFSR version
> installed on your Win 2k3 server. You would have had to continue
> installing using the second disk of the R2 set. *Then* you would have
> went into add remove programs and selected to install DFSR. FYI Win
> 2k3 is a 2 disk set. Disk 1 is Win 2k3 SP 1 or 2. Disk 2 is the
> updated features that R2 provide. I would not think you would need to
> install using the original media.

When I installed Win2k3 R2, the installer asked for the second disk in
the set but didn't appear to actually do anything. Perhaps this is
because it's an IBM Server and I used IBM's utility to set up the
machine and invoke Windows Setup for the unattended install it
configured. The IBM utility predated R2, so it probably wouldn't have
tried to install DFSR (although I'm guessing about this).

> My guess as to what is happening is that the original server you set
> up in a replication group, DFS thinks it's still there. I would right
> click the Distributed File System in the DFS application and choose
> Show root and see if you can determine which root is "valid" and which
> root can be removed. DFS thinks there is already a replication group
> using those folders. Since you didn't remove it using the DFS
> interface I'm not sure what would happen but it sounds like DFS thinks
> the "old" server is still using those folders in a replication group,
> even though the new server has the same name as the old.

The "old" server was still there when I started the rebuild, so I was
able to gracefully remove it from DFS (using MMC on that server) before
demoting it to a member server. IOW, I removed the link and root targets
associated with that server to leave just one target for the root and
for each link. However, there is a good chance that AD was in poor shape
and that caused the issues that prompted the rebuild. I'm beginning to
get an awful feeling that I'll need to rebuild the entire domain to
recover from this

Thanks for your help,

Geoff

 

[Danny Sanders]

> When I installed Win2k3 R2, the installer asked for the second disk in
> the set but didn't appear to actually do anything. Perhaps this is
> because it's an IBM Server and I used IBM's utility to set up the
> machine and invoke Windows Setup for the unattended install it
> configured. The IBM utility predated R2, so it probably wouldn't have
> tried to install DFSR (although I'm guessing about this).
>


Even if you *did* install the R2 package you would have had to go into add
remove programs to "add" the DFSR. Which it does not sound like you did so I
think you are OK at this point.


> for each link. However, there is a good chance that AD was in poor shape
> and that caused the issues that prompted the rebuild. I'm beginning to
> get an awful feeling that I'll need to rebuild the entire domain to
> recover from this


I would at least try going to "show root" before rebuilding the domain.

Sorry can't be of more help. I'm more familiar with DFSR.


DDS

"Geoff Lane" <geoff@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9B29EC5CE803Egeoffnospam097akdsh@207.46.248.16...
> "Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in
> news:OOhZGtzIJHA.4692@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl:
>
> Hi Danny,
>>>
>>> However, I've just noticed under "Platform Compatiblity", the Help
>>> says:
>>>
>>> "To support synchronization of targets, the referenced resource for a
>>> target must be located on a Windows Server 2003 family NTFS
>>> partition."
>>
>> You should still be OK as long as you are using NTFS.
>
> I am, having given up using FAT or FAT32 years ago!
>
>
>> No this is not the case. I don't think you even have the DFSR version
>> installed on your Win 2k3 server. You would have had to continue
>> installing using the second disk of the R2 set. *Then* you would have
>> went into add remove programs and selected to install DFSR. FYI Win
>> 2k3 is a 2 disk set. Disk 1 is Win 2k3 SP 1 or 2. Disk 2 is the
>> updated features that R2 provide. I would not think you would need to
>> install using the original media.
>
> When I installed Win2k3 R2, the installer asked for the second disk in
> the set but didn't appear to actually do anything. Perhaps this is
> because it's an IBM Server and I used IBM's utility to set up the
> machine and invoke Windows Setup for the unattended install it
> configured. The IBM utility predated R2, so it probably wouldn't have
> tried to install DFSR (although I'm guessing about this).
>
>> My guess as to what is happening is that the original server you set
>> up in a replication group, DFS thinks it's still there. I would right
>> click the Distributed File System in the DFS application and choose
>> Show root and see if you can determine which root is "valid" and which
>> root can be removed. DFS thinks there is already a replication group
>> using those folders. Since you didn't remove it using the DFS
>> interface I'm not sure what would happen but it sounds like DFS thinks
>> the "old" server is still using those folders in a replication group,
>> even though the new server has the same name as the old.
>
> The "old" server was still there when I started the rebuild, so I was
> able to gracefully remove it from DFS (using MMC on that server) before
> demoting it to a member server. IOW, I removed the link and root targets
> associated with that server to leave just one target for the root and
> for each link. However, there is a good chance that AD was in poor shape
> and that caused the issues that prompted the rebuild. I'm beginning to
> get an awful feeling that I'll need to rebuild the entire domain to
> recover from this
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Geoff

 

[Geoff Lane]

"Danny Sanders" <DSanders@NOSPAMciber.com> wrote in news:#G5Ils0IJHA.508
@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:

> I would at least try going to "show root" before rebuilding the domain.

Thanks, Danny.

I have checked and this is the only root. When I expand the tree in the
Show Roots dialog box I get:

MYDOMAIN.LOCAL
+-- Domain DFS Roots
+-- Filestore

I'm going to try rebuilding the last link with another name to see if I can
get it working to give me a bit of time. Rebuilding the domain is a
daunting task, so I'm still hoping there's a less-drastic solution.

Geoff