It’s common to find forum questions about DFSR not replicating *.bak files. By default DFSR has file filter on replicated folder that excludes the files with names starting ~ or files with extension *.tmp or *.bak from replication. You can change...

Hi folks, Ned Pyle here. As promised when I left AskDS and MS Support for greener pastures, I’m still in the blogging game – I told you I’d be back! Let’s start things off talking about improvements in Windows Server 2012 and DFS...

Anyone who uses a Windows 7 PC shouldn’t have to worry about losing their files, because Windows 7 provides simple yet flexible backup and recovery solutions that helps protect your system and data. In the coming weeks, we’ll walk you through each step...

My previous post explained the concept of a read-only replicated folder. Now, let us take a look at how to configure a read-only replicated folder in Windows Server 2008 R2. Pre-deployment considerations Please read the following notes carefully...

On Windows Server 2008 R2, a Windows Failover cluster can be configured to be a member of a DFSR replication group. This feature can be used to configure highly available replication services. In this three part blog series, let us examine how to configure...

Windows Server 2008 R2 is now available. If you’re eager to know what’s available in R2, please read on. 1. Support for Windows Failover Clusters In Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Failover clusters can be configured to be part of a replication...

The File Replication Service (FRS) is used for replicating the contents of the SYSVOL share between Windows domain controllers. However, Windows Server 2008 domain controllers, which are operating in the Windows Server 2008 domain functional level, can...

Hi, I'm Navjot Virk, program manager for Offline Files in Windows Vista, and I'll be blogging a multi-part series about the new features in Offline Files. Offline Files is a feature of Windows Vista that enables access to files on an SMB server even...

<This is the second post in a blog series on backup and recovery offerings in Windows 7. > In the last post, we’ve briefly mentioned that Windows 7 offers both the ability to backup individual folders and to create a system image of your computer...

Hi, this is Scott Johnson and I’m a Program Manager on the Windows File Server team. I’ve been at Microsoft for 17 years and I’ve seen a lot of cool technology in that time. Inside Windows Server 2012 we have included a pretty cool new feature called...

Hi folks, Ned here again. With the massive growth of virtualization, odds are you want to safely and reliably run Distributed File System Replication on Hyper-V, Xen, KVM, or VMware – heck, you may already be doing so. With that in mind, I am...

This is an update to the solutions table posted previously on this blog. Vista Backup team has been working with customers to troubleshoot common problems, but sometimes it’s a hard job – some error codes belong to other system components...

During the initial planning phases of R2, we had the opportunity to interview several IT professionals about the pain points of managing data on file servers. We tried to understand how we can improve the file server data management and what success looks...

We just started a new Forum, directed to Windows Backup and Windows Server Backup questions. Windows Backup forums provide you an opportunity to join a community of Windows customers where you can share knowledge on Windows Backup, get questions answered...

The iSCSI Target made its debut as a free download for Windows 2008 R2 in April 2011, since then, there were more than 60,000 downloads. That was the first step to make it available for everyone. Now in Windows Server 2012, no more downloads and separate...

<This is the third post in a blog series on backup and recovery offerings in Windows 7. > Many of us have experienced this panic moment when we realized some important files are missing or are accidentally modified, but Windows users who’ve configured...

Windows Server 2008 R2 File Classification Infrastructure provides a built-in solution for file classification allowing administrators to automate manual processes with predefined policies based on the data’s business value. ( Windows Server 2008 R2 File...

So you have heard about a tool DFSDiag which is meant to be used to help you diagnose your DFS Namespace. You just type DFSDiag.exe and... voilà you got the list of the commands you can use. Oh yes you also have the “DFSDIAG_ERROR” message...

Vista SP1 Backup & Restore contains many updates that improve reliability. Great effort has been put into improving the overall quality of File Backup, Complete PC Backup and System Restore. Many of those important changes may not be visible to...

We’ve heard a lot of feedback recently from beta testers regarding the loss of restore points caused by dual-booting Windows XP. We’d like to explain the reasons behind this behavior, the impact on various recovery features, and why a backported fix is...

[Updated on 11/27/06 to clarify areas where customers commonly have questions] The most frequent DFS Replication questions are about replication limits. The answer is, as you might guess, not as simple as some arbitrary hard-coded limit. And just so...

We just introduced the world to the File Classification Infrastructure ( Windows Server 2008 R2 File Classification Infrastructure – Managing data based on business value ). Now let us show you how to set up your file server to classify files. Setup...

A request we’ve received consistently from our customers is – How do I know what DFS Replication is currently doing on my server? In Windows Server 2008 R2, we have attempted to provide a way for administrators to better understand the state of replication...

Hi folks, Ned Pyle here again. We are occasionally asked which reparse points DFS Replication can handle, and if we can add more. Today I explain DFSR behaviors and why simply adding reparse point support isn’t cut and dry. Background A reparse point...

Windows Server 2008 R2 introduced a new File Classification Infrastructure that enables assigning metadata to files and applying file management tasks based on the file metadata ( Windows Server 2008 R2 File Classification Infrastructure – Managing data...