DFS and Software Distribution Interaction
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This article was previously published under Q285827
SYMPTOMS
In a multiple-site environment that uses Distributed File System (DFS) to host distribution points for Windows 2000 software distribution, if you are a roaming user, the client computer you are using may refer to its original site for software distribution features, instead of referring to the site you are currently at.
CAUSE
This behavior is independent of the software distribution capability and is a function of DFS.
WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, either enable in-site referrals only or restart the computer. If you enable in-site referrals only, DFS does not provide referrals outside of the current site replicas. Therefore, it is necessary to have a DFS alternate in every site.
How to Give Out Referrals to Client Site Servers Only
In DFS, if you are an administrator, you can force access to only those servers that are in the same site as the client, and not to any other servers. To do so, enable the following control on the entire DFS namespace (the DFS root and all its links) or on individual DFS links:
dfsutil /insite:DFS_name_of_Root_Or_Link /set
dfsutil /insite:DFS_name_of_Root_Or_Link /reset
When this behavior is set on the DFS root, the behavior is inherited by all the links under that root.
If you make changes to set or reset the in-site behavior, these changes do not go in to effect immediately.
The DFS root replicas periodically synchronize with changes made to the DFS metadata, and the change goes in to effect when all root replicas have read the newly made changes.
NOTE: Use extreme caution when you set this change on a DFS root or link. If this change is set on a DFS link that does not have any replicas in a certain site, clients in that site are not able to access the data using the DFS namespace.
MORE INFORMATION
The following behavior may occur with roaming users in a Windows 2000 environment that has multiple sites and uses DFS for software distribution:
If a client connects with a DFS share in its site, for example, to get an program for the first time, that client continues to use that particular referral later (for example, during self repair) until you restart the computer. This behavior occurs when the replica is in the referral list.
This behavior occurs even if the time-to-live of the client's cached list of referrals has expired, and the client contacts the DFS server for a new list of referrals, provided that the previously used replica is in the new list of referrals.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
282071 Users Are Accessing a DFS Root Replica in a Remote Site
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Last Reviewed: 9/24/2003 (3.0)
Keywords: kbDFS kbenv kbprb KB285827
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