"Distributed File System" Overview System Administrators can utilize distributed file systems (DFS), user access, and manage those physical and new network distributions easier. With DFS, the file distributed on multiple servers can be displayed in front of the user, as in a location on the network. Users no longer need to know and specify their actual physical location when visiting the file.
For example, if your sales data is dispersed on a range of servers, you can use DFS to make it displayed as if all information is located on a server so that users don't have to go to multiple locations on the network. Go find the information they need.
Reasons for using DFS
In the following cases, you should consider implementing DFS:
Access the user of the shared folder distributes multiple locations in a site or multiple sites.
Most users need to access multiple shared folders.
The load balancing of the server can be improved by resetting the shared folder.
Users need uninterrupted access to the shared folder.
There is a Web site for internal or external use in your organization.
Distributed file system features
Distributed File System (DFS) provides several important features, see section below for details.
Easy to access files
Distributed file systems allow users to access files more easily. Even if the file may be physically span multiple servers, the user only needs to go to a certain location on the network to access the file.
Moreover, when changing the physical location of the shared folder, it does not affect the user access folder. Since the location of the file still looks the same, they still access the folder in the same way as before.
Users no longer need multiple drive mappings to access files.
Finally, plan file server maintenance, software upgrade, and other tasks (generally needed server offline) can be done without interrupting user access. This is especially useful for web servers. By selecting the root of the Web site as the DFS root directory, resources can be moved in a distributed file system without disconnecting any HTML links.
Usability
Based on the domain DFS to ensure access to files in two ways:
First, Windows 2000 automatically publishes the DFS topology to Active Directory. This ensures that the DFS topology is always visible to users in all servers in the domain.
Second, as an administrator, you can copy the DFS root directory and DFS shared folders. Replication means copying the DFS root directory and DFS shared folders on multiple servers in the domain. This way, the user will still access the file even if a physical server resides in these files is not available.
Server load balance
The DFS root directory can support multiple DFS shared folders that are physically distributed through the network. This is useful, for example, when you have a user who knows the user who will access a lot of access. Not all users have physically accessed this file on a single server, which will increase the burden of the server, and the DFS ensures that the user accesses the files in multiple servers. However, in the user's view, the file resides in the same location on the network.
Distributed file system topology
Distributed File System (DFS) topology consists of a DFS root directory, one or more DFS links, one or more DFS shared folders, or a copy of each DFS.
The DFS root directory resides is called "host server". Create a "root directory sharing" on other servers in the domain, you can copy the DFS root directory. This will ensure that the file can still be used when the host server is not available.
For users, DFS topologies provide unified and transparent access to the desired network resources. For system administrators, DFS topologies are single DNS namespace: use domain-based DFS to resolve DNS names shared by DFS root directory to the host server of the DFS root directory.
Because the host server based on domain-based distributed file systems is the member server in the domain, by default, the DFS topology is automatically released into Active Directory, thus providing DFS topology synchronization across the primary server. This reverses a fault tolerance for the DFS root directory and supports optional replication of DFS shared folders. DFS topologies can be extended by adding DFS links to the DFS root directory. The unique limit for the layers of the layered structure in the DFS topology is to use 260 characters to any file path. The new DFS link can reference the shared folder or subfolder, or the entire Windows 2000 volume. If you have enough permissions, you can also access any local subfolders that exist in or being added to the DFS shared folder.
Distributed file system and security
In addition to creating the necessary administrator privileges, the Distributed File System (DFS) service does not implement any other security measures exceeding Windows 2000 systems. Assignment to the DFS root directory or DFS link determine the user who can add a new DFS link.
The permissions of shared files are not related to the DFS topology. For example, assume that there is a DFS link called MarketingDoCS and has the appropriate permissions to access the special DFS shared folder referred to in MarketingDocs. In this case, you can access all other DFS shared folders in the DFS folder group, regardless of whether there is access to other shared folders. However, permission to access these shared folders determine if you have access to any information in the folder. This access is determined by the Standard Windows 2000 Security Console.
In summary, the following file system will force security when the user tries to access the DFS shared folder and its content. Therefore, the FAT volume provides shared level security on the file, and the NTFS volume provides complete Windows 2000 security.
