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File Replication Service (FRS) is a
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service for distributing shared files and Group Policy Objects. It replaced the (Windows NT) Lan Manager Replication service, and has been partially replaced by
Distributed File System A clustered file system (CFS) is a file system which is shared by being simultaneously Mount (computing), mounted on multiple Server (computing), servers. There are several approaches to computer cluster, clustering, most of which do not emplo ...
Replication. It is also known as NTFRS after the name of the executable file that runs the service. One of the main uses of FRS is for the SYSVOL directory share. The SYSVOL directory share is particularly important in a Microsoft network as it is used to distribute files supporting
Group Policy Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11) that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides centralized mana ...
and scripts to client computers on the network. Since Group Policies and scripts are run each time a user logs on to the system, it is important to have reliability. Having multiple copies of the SYSVOL directory increases the resilience and spreads the workload for this essential service. It is so configured that it automatically starts on all domain controllers and manually on all standalone sectors. Its automatic file replication service is responsible for the copying and maintenance of files across network. The SYSVOL directory can be accessed by using a network share to any server that has a copy of the SYSVOL directory (normally a
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) as shown below: \\server\SYSVOL Or by accessing it using the domain name: \\domain.com\SYSVOL Servers that work together to provide this service are called Replication Partners. To control file replication: # Use the ''Active Directory Sites and Services'' from ''Administrative Tools''. # Select the ''Sites'' container to view a list of sites. # Expand the site that to be viewed. This will provide the list of servers in that site. # Expand the server to be viewed, right click the NTDS settings, and select ''Properties''. # Under the ''Connections'' tab, the list of servers that are being replicated can be seen.


DFS Replication

In
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and
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, DFS Replication is available as well as the ''File Replication Service''. ''DFS Replication'' is a state-based replication engine for file replication among DFS shares, which supports replication scheduling and
bandwidth throttling Bandwidth throttling consists in the limitation of the communication speed (bytes or kilobytes per second), of the ingoing (received) or outgoing (sent) data in a network node or in a network device such as computers and mobile phones. The d ...
. It uses Remote Differential Compression to detect and replicate only the change to files, rather than replicating entire files, if changed.
Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...
also includes a DFS Replication Service which is limited to peer-to-peer DFS Replication service groups. FRS is still used for SYSVOL replication, but optionally, DFS replication may be used instead of FRS replication for SYSVOL shares, and the FRS stopped. On up-level Windows Server 2008 domain controllers, SYSVOL replication is performed using DFS replication, by default although NTFRS replication is also supported. On Windows Server 2008/R2 up-level domain controllers, SYSVOL replication is performed using DFS replication, and NTFRS replication is disabled altogether.


References


External links


FRS Technical Reference


{{Windows Components Active Directory Microsoft server technology Windows components Network file systems Internet Protocol based network software