How to migrate domain-root DFS shares from W2k to W2003 R2?

[P***@kime.org.uk]

I have the following situation:

A Domain with 2 win2k DC and one win2003R2 DC.
Everything is being migrated onto the win2003R2 box
I have a DFS domain-root (not stand-alone) running off the win2k boxes

\\DOMAIN\Data

I need move this and all the data to the WIn2003R" box

Now since I need it called the same, I can't create a new namespace on
the R2 box and move the links over because there would be a name
conflict.
When I look in the DFS MMC on the R2 box, I see everything as usual.
When I look in the newer "DFS Management" snap-in, there is nothing
defined. I have thought about doing a dfsutil /export and dfsutil
/import but I need to know if that will import the information into the
new namespace/AD containers rather than the old DFS containers inside a
seperate DFS AD object. I need to get things visible in the DFS
Management snap-in in order to add new links and do replication etc.

Also, if I dfsutil /export and /import, that doesn't actually remove
anything from the original server so how can the import not conflict?
I'm confused as to how the domain and stand-alone roots differ in the
/export /import scenario since all the documentation I can find
mentioned only moving stand-alone roots.

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

For a domain-based root, there is no need to migrate--you can simply add the
new server as a root target, and then remove the old root target. Your
namespace will be the same (\\domain\root) but the underlying namespace
server will be different.

However, this process only moves the namespace itself, not any underlying
data, such as files/folders stored in the root.

On your R2 server, you will need to add the namespace to the snap-in to view
it. I can't remember the name of the menu option (I don't have the snap-in
in front of me) but I believe if you right-click the Namespaces node, you'll
see the option there.
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Post by P***@kime.org.uk
A Domain with 2 win2k DC and one win2003R2 DC.
Everything is being migrated onto the win2003R2 box
I have a DFS domain-root (not stand-alone) running off the win2k boxes
\\DOMAIN\Data
I need move this and all the data to the WIn2003R" box
Now since I need it called the same, I can't create a new namespace on
the R2 box and move the links over because there would be a name
conflict.
When I look in the DFS MMC on the R2 box, I see everything as usual.
When I look in the newer "DFS Management" snap-in, there is nothing
defined. I have thought about doing a dfsutil /export and dfsutil
/import but I need to know if that will import the information into the
new namespace/AD containers rather than the old DFS containers inside a
seperate DFS AD object. I need to get things visible in the DFS
Management snap-in in order to add new links and do replication etc.
Also, if I dfsutil /export and /import, that doesn't actually remove
anything from the original server so how can the import not conflict?
I'm confused as to how the domain and stand-alone roots differ in the
/export /import scenario since all the documentation I can find
mentioned only moving stand-alone roots.

[P***@kime.org.uk]

As easy as that - many thanks - for some reason I didn't realise that
it would need adding to the new snap-in since it was already in there
for the older snap-in. Many thanks.

[P***@kime.org.uk]

One more question - I have now added the w23k server as a namespace
server for this domain root but if I try to configure replication from
the w2k to the w23k box, I get the "DFS Replication service is not
installed" error for the w2k server. Does this mean I can't use DFS to
do the replication? Is there a patch/add-on for w2k to enable this? I
can use robocopy if I have to but it would be nice to migrate all the
data with DFS ...

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Are you using the new snap-in on the R2 server? If so, this snap-in cannot
be used to configure FRS. It can only be used to configure our new
replication engine DFS Replication, which requires all servers to run R2.

Using the old snap-in, you should be able to configure FRS on the W2K
servers. I'm not sure why you're seeing the error.
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Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

Post by P***@kime.org.uk
One more question - I have now added the w23k server as a namespace
server for this domain root but if I try to configure replication from
the w2k to the w23k box, I get the "DFS Replication service is not
installed" error for the w2k server. Does this mean I can't use DFS to
do the replication? Is there a patch/add-on for w2k to enable this? I
can use robocopy if I have to but it would be nice to migrate all the
data with DFS ...

[P***@kime.org.uk]

Yes, I was trying to use the new snap-in. I'm a little concerned about
using the old snap-in to configure replication since that uses FRS and
I thought that R2 only uses FRS for SYSVOL, therefore I couldn't use
FRS to replicate arbitrary data? If W2k can't use the new DFS
Replication, then I'm sort of stuck and can't do replication at all
using DFS between these servers ...

I suppose my caution is that if I am able to use FRS to do it, what
happens when I get rid of my w2k servers, which is the intention; are
the DFS shares on the w23k R2 box then in some sort of legacy mode or
are they real, R2 DFS shares?

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

You can still use the old snap-in to configure FRS. FRS can run just fine on
an R2 server (even alongside DFS Replication) as long as the replication
paths don't overlap. There isn't an "R2" mode so to speak. They are just two
separate replication engines.
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

Post by P***@kime.org.uk
Yes, I was trying to use the new snap-in. I'm a little concerned about
using the old snap-in to configure replication since that uses FRS and
I thought that R2 only uses FRS for SYSVOL, therefore I couldn't use
FRS to replicate arbitrary data? If W2k can't use the new DFS
Replication, then I'm sort of stuck and can't do replication at all
using DFS between these servers ...
I suppose my caution is that if I am able to use FRS to do it, what
happens when I get rid of my w2k servers, which is the intention; are
the DFS shares on the w23k R2 box then in some sort of legacy mode or
are they real, R2 DFS shares?

[P***@kime.org.uk]

That seems to be working fine, thanks. So even though I'm replication
using FRS, I can still us the new DFS snap-in to enable/disable
referrals to specific shares on specific machines?

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Yes, you can use the new DFS Management snap-in to manage your namespace.
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

Post by P***@kime.org.uk
That seems to be working fine, thanks. So even though I'm replication
using FRS, I can still us the new DFS snap-in to enable/disable
referrals to specific shares on specific machines?