Wierd DFS Issue

Question

Hello,
I have a weird DFS issue I am having trouble fixing. Currently users at one of our site uses 1 file server which has DFS namespace enabled but is not replicating however if the users map to it via IP or Namespace or UNC they are sometimes able to see the
file and sometimes they just see the DFSRoot folder.
Any idea what could be causing this issue? The files aren't replicating and its the same location.
Thanks

Answer 1

taking back to basics !!
so if users go to \\ServerName\Share, they should always see the files, this is a fixed known quantity.
if that's the case then it sounds more like some kind of AD/DNS issue to me rather than DFS, because using
\\servername\share is nothing todo with DFS. ! if I am correct in what your Saying and that sometime you cannot see the content even with IP or server name.?
Or if its only DFS then :-
do you have multiple folder targets under your DFS namespace, with DFSR replication setup for different Sites.
Could the end users be picking up DFS information from a different DC which hasn't replicated the AD / DFS information correctly ?
forgot to ask is this a standalone namespace or AD integrated ?
have you installed the DFS role on the Actual File Server which has the Data ?
I ask that question because if you create a DFS link with the same name as the share, then potentially there would be two Shares on the same server, (not sure if this is even possible).
one share with the actual Data, one which is the DFS root. perhaps , its totally random, then sometimes it connects to the DFS root share, and sometimes it connects to the actual Folder Share.
normally I would just have a DFS server, a VM, with nothing but the DFS role installed on it.
Then for example my DFS links would point to multiple files servers with Shares.
also some interesting Some from Microsoft stuff to look at :-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc962144.aspx
regards
Mark