New in Windows Server 2008: Breaking the 5K Folder “Barrier” in Domain-Based Namespaces

The DFS Namespaces team is excited to announce upcoming support for domain-based namespaces that exceed the previous size recommendation of 5,000 folders with targets in a namespace. Starting in Windows Server 2008, you will be able to use the DFS Management snap-in to create a new domain-based namespace in one of the following modes:

• Windows 2000 Server mode provides the same functionality and scalability currently available in namespaces hosted on servers running Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003.
• Windows Server 2008 mode provides increased scalability and support for access-based enumeration, which will be configurable using Dfsutil. There are now no hard limits to the size of the namespace – however, we are currently running performance tests to determine guidelines for sizing these new domain-based namespaces for practical performance considerations.

To create a domain-based namespace in Windows Server 2008 mode, your servers and domain will need to meet the following requirements:

• The domain functional level must be Windows Server 2008
• All servers hosting the namespace must run Windows Server 2008

Stand-alone namespaces will also benefit from the underlying DFS Namespaces changes made in Windows Server 2008, allowing stand-alone namespaces hosted on servers running Windows Server 2008 to support access-based enumeration.

--Jill