Unable to access DFS shares when server 1 goes down

Question

Hello all,
I have a test domain I am building in order to prepare for a new domain we are going to create. We currently have an SBS 2003 that is reaching the end of its' life. We are going to start fresh. I have setup domain-based DFS along with DFS folder replication
for each of the folders. So far, all is working ok, up to this point.
Replication is occurring as it should and my Hyper-V test machines can connect to the mapped drives via the DFS namespace.
\\domain\namespace\target folder
However, once I shut down the primary server (SRV01) I am no longer able to access the shares. The namespace servers tab on the center window of the namespace MMC, has both SRV01 and 02 listed. I receive no errors except "Unable to connect to \\domain\namespace\target
folder because it is unavailable". It is not "failing over" to the secondary available server.
Once I power SRV01 back up, connectivity is then restored to the folders and mapped drives. Is there something I should check for, or am missing?
Any and all insight is appreciated.
Dario Garcia

Answer 1

Hi,
1. Run DFSUTIL /pktinfo to see if the referral target is still the primary server when it is actually down.
If so, run DFSUTIL /pktflush to flush the cached information and try to access the namespace again.
2. If 1 cannot help, whether DNS is also configged on primary server? If so, as it is down,
\\domain may not be recognized.
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