[Samba] ms dfs? What is it?

Mac dmccann at nibsc.ac.uk
Wed Nov 6 10:25:01 GMT 2002


Hi all,

>From: David Shapiro <David.Edward.Shapiro at bti.com>
>To: "'samba at lists.samba.org'" <samba at lists.samba.org>
>Subject: [Samba] ms dfs?  What is it?
>Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 15:09:45 -0500
>
>What is msdfs?  What can you do with it that you could not do without it?  
>

Your first question has been well answered already on this list.

To answer your second, we use paths of the form:-

	\\net\software\antivirus
	\\net\software\msoffice
        \\net\users\homes

as permanent pathsnames in our setup and configuration of PCs.  Because
these are all DFS shae, each can point to a different (real) Samba
server share, and we can move and change those servers and shares without
having to reconfigure all our site's PCs.

Another good thing is that the (real) Samba servers don't even know
they're the target of the DFS link, because each client (having been
redirected to them by \\net) makes a direct connection in the normal
way.

One problem we have found, is that WinXP (and maybe others) only use the
original users's logon name when contacting the (real) Samba servers, so
'Connect As' is not an option.

The other problem is the Win95 only sees the DFS tree as an ordinary
share, unless you install the DFS client upgrade on to it. Not difficult
at all, but an annoyance.  Win98 and later have it built in.

One huge advantage of Samba over NT/2000 server is (AFAIK) that only
Samba can host multiple DFS trees (e.g. 'software', 'users') on a single
machine. Windows is limited to one DFS tree per server (or domain).


                               Mac
          Assistant Systems Adminstrator @nibsc.ac.uk
                        dmccann at nibsc.ac.uk
   Work: +44 1707 641000 x285      Everything else: +44 7956 237670 (anytime)



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