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2 File Servers

I have 2 file servers both identical, one is the main server and the other is a backup should anything go wrong with the main server, is it possible t to get all the data on the main file server to automatically copy to the backup server so if I did have a failure I can just move over to the backup.

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vsg375

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Rant32

If the budged allows, then clustering is certainly the way to go. This requires all hardware to be on the Microsoft Hardware compatibility list, a shared storage solution fibre-channel (2 nodes) or SAN (multi-node), and around $9000 of software, because you need the Enterprise Edition of Windows. It will, however, guarantee no more than ~5 seconds of downtime in the event of a node failure.

Depending on the volume of the file server, Distributed File System (DFS) might be an option. DFS allows for automatic replication of data on shares between file servers for load-balancing and fault-tolerance purposes. This of course requires two active file servers, but also no downtime here.

Read more about DFS here: www.microsoft.com/ntserver/ techresources/fileprint/dfs/dfsSummary.asp

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Rant32

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Rant32

Agree, thanks.