Windows Server 2003
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So, for 500 points, I'd like to know EXACTLY which ports DFS uses when you are running Windows 2003 Server R2.
None of the articles I'm seeing on Microsoft's website indicate if there is a difference bewteen Windows 2003 Server and Windows 2003 Server R2, but there is certainly an addition for R2.
I'd like someone who's configured a firewall between two sites using R2 DFS / DFS names spaces to tell me which ports they needed to open, and, if possible, any experiences they had issues with realted to DFS.
I appricate it.
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TCP 137, 139, 389, 135, 445
UDP 137, 138, 389, 445
You can see details on the following link:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/a9096e88-1634-4da6-b820-537341d349061033.mspx?mfr=true
However !!! Most of those ports can be very risky to have exposed on the Internet. DFS between sites is usually done within the safety of a VPN or dedicated connection such as a site to site T1.
The article you refer to is about 4 years old since it was last updated.
I need information that applys to Windows 2003 Server R2's version of DFS.
Are you actually forwarding this traffic over the Internet unencrypted?
Within a VPN tunnel, all ports are open by default making configuration easier and safe.






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"Can DFS Replication replicate between branch offices without a VPN connection?
Yesassuming that there is a private Wide Area Network (WAN) link (not the Internet) connecting the branch offices. However, you must open the proper ports in external firewalls. DFS Replication uses the RPC Endpoint Mapper (port 135) and a randomly assigned ephemeral port above 1024. You can use the Dfsrdiag command line tool to specify a static port instead of the ephemeral port. For more information about how to specify the RPC Endpoint Mapper, see article 154596 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73991). "
from:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/f9b98a0f-c1ae-4a9f-9724-80c679596e6b1033.mspx?mfr=true
This is why I need to have someone who's using Windows 2003 R2 DFS to verify that it uses all of the ports that Windows 2003 [non-R2] plus anything new (135, random RPC).
MS is not making it clear that DFS on the ORIGINAL version of Windows 2003 and DFS on Windows 2003 R2 use exactly the same ports - or are even the same thing.
This KB Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017 Lists DFS & DFSR...
Are DFS and DFSR the same thing? or has DFSR taken over for DFS?? (Did they come up with a new version of DFS called DFSR in R2, and then limit it to two ports?)
So maybe I need to be asking this:
What Windows 2003 R2 service do I need to be running in order to host a DFS Namespace and DFS Replication? Furthermore, what SPECIFIC ports are required in R2 [ONLY, since the KB is not R2 specific] to use DFS Namespaces and DFSR?
In so far as RPC is concerned, you can limit RPC to a range according to this KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154596/en-us

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Then, we use inspection engines to look at the traffic and verify that it's not an attack, etc...
Windows Server 2003
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Windows Server 2003 was based on Windows XP and was released in four editions: Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter. It also had derivative versions for clusters, storage and Microsoft’s Small Business Server. Important upgrades included integrating Internet Information Services (IIS), improvements to Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP), and the migration to Automated System Recovery (ASR).