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DFSR ConflitandDeleted folder
So, we've been experimenting with DFSR as a way to replicate our roaming profile folder to another server at our DR site. I tested this in a small way and it worked just perfectly, but, of course when I did it in production we ran into all kinds of issues. I had a ticket open with MS and they helped me with my initial problems and they confirmed that it is OK to replicate roaming profiles using this method.
However, I keep running into issues getting the reverse replication to work.
I set up my environment using the info in the following article: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/filecab/2013/08/20/dfs-replication-in-windows-server-2012-r2-if-you-only-knew-the-power-of-the-dark-shell/#comment-103795
It works really well, but, as I said, I have issues with whatever method I use to pre-seed the replicated environment. So, I stopped everything, deleted anything to do with the replication and started up once again. However, this time I did NOT pre-seed the environment at the DR site. I created the profile folder and then built the DFSR environment according to the article above. I figure I have to spend time and resources initially seeding the DR environment anyway, so why not just let the initial replication from my main site to the DR site be what builds the Dr site's folders and files. By the time I have done the pre-seeding, the database is already probably 20 hours too old so I figured this would be the answer.
Basically it's working. I see the file and folder count in the backlog on the main server going down and I see folders and files being built at the DR site. However, as of this morning I had about 29,000 files in the ConflictAndDeleted folder. I checked the event log and I see tons of error messages that read a file has changed on multiple servers and we're not sure who the winner should be so we're going to put it in the CAD folder. WHY??? The ONLY place that the file would be changing is at the main site. No one knows that the DR side even exists and so absolutely no changes should be happening there. This is VERY frustrating as it, at least to me, makes no sense. I would expect that a file would go from main to DR and if the file at main changed or got deleted then it would either change or delete the file at DR.
The only other thing that I can imagine is that it looks like the first thing that happens is that the DFSR process catalogs all of the files at main and then starts the replication process. There are about 2.8 million files in the profiles of our users. And so, of course they're going to change before the initial replication is done. Could that be what's happening? If so, I guess that I'd expect the CAD folder to grow on the main server and not the DR one, but who knows.
BTW, no replication is happening from DR to main at the moment; DR's status is waiting for initial replication and I am totally confident that the initial replication down to DR has not finished.
However, I keep running into issues getting the reverse replication to work.
I set up my environment using the info in the following article: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/filecab/2013/08/20/dfs-replication-in-windows-server-2012-r2-if-you-only-knew-the-power-of-the-dark-shell/#comment-103795
It works really well, but, as I said, I have issues with whatever method I use to pre-seed the replicated environment. So, I stopped everything, deleted anything to do with the replication and started up once again. However, this time I did NOT pre-seed the environment at the DR site. I created the profile folder and then built the DFSR environment according to the article above. I figure I have to spend time and resources initially seeding the DR environment anyway, so why not just let the initial replication from my main site to the DR site be what builds the Dr site's folders and files. By the time I have done the pre-seeding, the database is already probably 20 hours too old so I figured this would be the answer.
Basically it's working. I see the file and folder count in the backlog on the main server going down and I see folders and files being built at the DR site. However, as of this morning I had about 29,000 files in the ConflictAndDeleted folder. I checked the event log and I see tons of error messages that read a file has changed on multiple servers and we're not sure who the winner should be so we're going to put it in the CAD folder. WHY??? The ONLY place that the file would be changing is at the main site. No one knows that the DR side even exists and so absolutely no changes should be happening there. This is VERY frustrating as it, at least to me, makes no sense. I would expect that a file would go from main to DR and if the file at main changed or got deleted then it would either change or delete the file at DR.
The only other thing that I can imagine is that it looks like the first thing that happens is that the DFSR process catalogs all of the files at main and then starts the replication process. There are about 2.8 million files in the profiles of our users. And so, of course they're going to change before the initial replication is done. Could that be what's happening? If so, I guess that I'd expect the CAD folder to grow on the main server and not the DR one, but who knows.
BTW, no replication is happening from DR to main at the moment; DR's status is waiting for initial replication and I am totally confident that the initial replication down to DR has not finished.
* Distributed File System Replication (DFSR)Windows Server 2012
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jhyiesla