Correct way to permanently decommission FS1 without effecting the DFS namespace and replication?
Hi, we are looking to decommission our old DFS file server (FS1). FS1 was the original file server where we setup the DFS and replicated to FS2 and FS3. We had all three servers replicating the correctly for the past few months. Now we have decided it’s time to decommission FS1. We shutdown FS1 to see if the everything would still function. With FS1 offline, FS2 and FS3 are still replicating without issue.
Can you tell me the correct way to permanently decommission FS1 without effecting the DFS namespace and replication? When I open DFS Management on FS2 I see an error on our namespace. “The namespace cannot be queried. The specified domain either does not exist or could not be connected”.
Environment: 3 File servers, 1 namespace, 3 replications
FS1 – Server 2008 R2 (Need to decommission but original creator of DFS namespace)
FS2 – Server 2012
FS3 – Server 2012
1 Namespace
\\domain.com\dfs
3 Replications
\\domain.com\dfs\profiles
\\domain.com\dfs\smfiles
\\domain.com\dfs\test
Can you tell me the correct way to permanently decommission FS1 without effecting the DFS namespace and replication? When I open DFS Management on FS2 I see an error on our namespace. “The namespace cannot be queried. The specified domain either does not exist or could not be connected”.
Environment: 3 File servers, 1 namespace, 3 replications
FS1 – Server 2008 R2 (Need to decommission but original creator of DFS namespace)
FS2 – Server 2012
FS3 – Server 2012
1 Namespace
\\domain.com\dfs
3 Replications
\\domain.com\dfs\profiles
\\domain.com\dfs\smfiles
\\domain.com\dfs\test
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ASKER
Our DFS namespace is \\domain.com\dfs so doesn't that automatically mean that I have a domain based dfs namespace setup instead of a stand alone namespace server setup?
Is FS1 still online? Yes, it looks like a domain based namespace as opposed to stand alone, but doesn't mean that it's available if FS1 is down.
ASKER
FS1 is currently offline. How can I decommission FS1 if I can't access the namespace without FS1 online?
Can you bring it back? Otherwise you might need to rip out the namespace with adsiedit
ASKER
Hi RAFA , yes we can bring FS1 back online. When we do, what should be done so that it can be shutdown again/decommissioned without issues with the namespace?
Add in an additional namespace server, then delete FS1 as a namespace server.
ASKER
Update: We were able to bring FS1 back online yesterday and that allowed us to add the additional name space servers. However, even with the additional name space servers added, the Namespace settings in DFS Management were inaccessible without FS1 online. We realized that FS1 was still the Domain Master. Once we made another DC the master, that solved the issue and FS1 could go offline and the DFS Management namespace settings could still be configured.
With FS1 online, we removed FS1 as member of the replication folders and disabled FS1 as a namespace server. Next weekend we are going to remove it completely.
With FS1 online, we removed FS1 as member of the replication folders and disabled FS1 as a namespace server. Next weekend we are going to remove it completely.
ASKER
thank you both!
ASKER
DFS-Error.JPG