Which role do I need DFS or File server on fail over cluster server 2012 R2?

Question

what I want to achieve is that I want to share all my user data files in a central location and to be highly available all the time whether it's a general share or folder redirection data. BUT I'm a bit confused;  I have fail over cluster  set-up
on server 2012, now I would like to add DFS as a role but than we have another role called File server and virtually it does the same thing as DFS? Means it creates a namespace share that can be access even one of the nodes goes down. Now I am thinking is
that DFS does the replication between two physical location but fail over cluster works slightly differently  and with file server it pretty much does the same thing except for replicating data from one drive to another. Now what do you suggest I do or
did I get the concept wrong like a noob?

Answer 1

DFS and Failover Clustering for file shares provides a similar end result for file access, but they are significantly different implementations.
Clustering provides high availability to files by presenting shared access to set a files served from a cluster.  With 2012 R2 Microsoft added the ability to create a Scale-out File Server that even allows all nodes of the cluster to server access to
the files for a higher level of performance and other great things.  Bottom line with Failover Clusters for files is that there is a single copy of the file presented from the cluster.
DFS on the other hand provides high availability to files by presenting multiple copies of the file by making a copy in two or more locations and presenting a naming space that allows access to the file through any of the network paths.  DFS works very
well for files that are primarily read-only.  When you get into a situation where there is a lot of updating of the shared files, DFS is not a very good solution.  There are ways to implement DFS for read/write files, but it generally requires a
good knowledge of how the files are used and how you want to manage them.
The key to answering your question comes in your first sentence "I want to share all my user data files in a central location and to be highly available all the time".  My initial reaction to this is that central location means Failover Cluster
- there is only a single copy of the file.  However, "all the time" can be compromised by network failures to the central site.  Remote sites would not have access if they can't access the central site.  DFS provides the ability to
have copies remotely, but then if you allow updating at multiple sites, you have to manage the merging of the changes, among other things.
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