asked on

Windows File Replication load

Can anyone tell me how much overhead network load there is on Windows file replication, and back it up with any of the theory of how/when it creates traffic? We have several geographically distributed web servers and the web team is wanting to use replication to keep the website files up to date. The network team on the other hand says that this will create excessive traffic even though the files (<20MB) are only updated once or twice a week. The desire for replication is to deploy the files once and then know that they will be copied to the other servers.

We are specifically looking at the file replication available in Windows Server, not a 3rd party product.

In the end, does Windows File Replication have much traffic between updates, or does it wait until it has an update then pushes that data to the other servers?

We are running Windows 2008 64-bit with servers in 2 domains, but both domains are in the same forest.

adiloadilo

you should use DFS and not FRS , DFS will allow you to limit network traffic and split bandwith between all locations . it also allows you to scheduele the replication time and direction of replication etc .... a 20 MB replication will not affect a network ,only if it is run frequently .

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732863(WS.10).aspx

SkipFire

ASKER

Being on an infrequent schedule may minimize traffic, but it also goes against the web team's requirement of nearly immediate. The goal is to deploy once and have it almost immediately update on all servers, not wait for what would average out to several minutes before it starts to copy. Unidirectional replication would be fine, but not every 15 minutes. There is concern about even 5 minutes.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

adiloadilo

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial