Hello everyone,

I have a Windows Server 2012R2 that is used as a file server as well as an application server. When I am copying data to the fileserver shares (StoratgePool A) it heavily impacts my application what is located on a different storage pool (B) (up to 15 seconds of write-latency).

My setup:

StoragePool A with 3 HDDs
- 2 disks with parity enabled
- 1 volume / disk using ReFS
- my file shares are on one of these volumes
StoragePool B with 1 SSD
- 1 Disk
- 1 Volume using ReFS

I do not see any limits on CPU or RAM (i3-4370 - 3.8GHz | 16GB DDR3 RAM), neither of these are heavily utilized. In perfmon I can see pretty bad sec/transfer values for my file share (10-20s) but not for my application disk (3ms at max). Also I noticed the copy process goes really fast for some seconds and then stops abruptly for a while. At the same time RAM is being used up. I assume this is FS caching? I don't know if this could be a problem here, but is there a way to change this behaviour for ony volume only? Overall my transfer rate is at 20-30 MB/s for my file shares what is pretty low for my standards as I ran a different setup before with the same disks and got about 50-60MB/s transfer rates using ZFS on freeBSD.

Where do I have to look to find the bottleneck here? Why does one storage pool affect another? Is there a way I can tweak the performance of my HDD pool?

I would be grateful for every hint!

Edit\ Some additional information:

I just ran a disk benchmark for both the share storage pool as well as the storage pool my affected application is sitting on. As expected the app-SP was as fast as an SSD is but for the share-SP I just have to post the following (since I am not allowed to embed images in my posts I can just give you a link):
http://imgur.com/YE7nWNL
0.5/0.1 random read/write? That's really slow. Also I found out that during the testing process disk latency was much more normal than what it was when copying the large amount of files (this time I only had about 40ms peaks instead of 15s!). Additionally I noticed that no RAM was comsumed during the benchmark so I guess no filesystem caching this time. So it probably has something to do with FS caching. I hope this helps finding a possible solution.

Hello All!

I currently am running a file server in my home on Windows 2012 R2. I've been experimenting with a lot of different things (I'm a student) and I have it set up as a DNS, DHCP, Firewall for my entire home network (meaning it's directly connected to the internet on a public IP and provides NAT). 

All that is working fine... but I'm trying to set it up for it's real purpose which is a file server. I know how insecure it is (I will eventually be limiting IPs), but I am trying to all any IP from my Public NIC to access the file shares I have. I already have it working for anyone connecting via my internal network, but even after opening the incoming protocols for "File and Printer Sharing" (9 rules total)  

See this url: https //social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/getfile/545340 (Apparently I cannot post links or images)

Any time I try to connect via a computer on an external IP, it cannot even "find" the server via it's external IP.

Am I missing a necessary rule for this?

Good day to all.

I apologize in advance for my bad english.

I have learned this SYSVOL Replication Migration Guide: FRS to DFS Replication and blog SYSVOL Migration Series. Then I successfully completed the migration FRS->DFSR, but I still have 2 questions:

1. There is a step "force AD replication" (repadmin /syncall /A /e /d), for example in article about migration to the "prepared" global state. But why this step is at the "Monitoring" stage? I mean there is point to force replication immediately after setting the global state to accelerate the reception of migration directive by domain controllers. But why force replication when the migration to the specified state is done? The same question about dfsrdiag /pollAD.

2. There is information, that SYSVOL_DFSR will contain only "domain" and "sysvol" folders and it is true. Should I manually create "staging" and "staging areas" with junction point inside or not? I do not really know what these folders are needed for.

Thanks.

Hello all!

I have question for you, that is bothering me and my colleague.

Tbh, I didn't read the documentation for Deduplication feature in 2012 R2 version of the Server OS, but my colleague did, and came up with a hypothetical quetion.

1) We have our virtual file server with Server 2012 R2 OS installed. We have switched on the Deduplication feature on the main file share disk and we are quite happy with the space savings! But what will happen, if the server crashes, and we will be forced to shut it down, detach the main file share disk and connect it to another virtual file server with2012 R2 OS on it?

2) Based on the previous scenario, is it possible to connect the drive that has the deduplication feature swtiched on, from Server 2012 R2 to Server 2008 R2? I mean, the scenarion will be that I have no other choice, than to connect the drive from 2012 R2 to 2008 R2.

Thank you for your time in advance!

The IT guys from LukOIL

Trying to restore shadow copies of files that have changed in error.

If on the file server (Windows 2008 r2) you drill down to the file that needs to be restored and right click "Restore previous version" no previous version show up.  However if you right click on the parent directory and right click "Restore previous version" you can then open up a previous version of the directory and copy/open the file from that window. 

Is there any reason why you cant just select the file with out having to go via the parent directory?

Scenario:

Like other admins, I log on and work as a 'standard user' (usera) with no admin rights anywhere in the domain, to perform admin tasks I have another account (userb) which I authenticate with as and when required. userb has been allocated/delegated permissions as required.

Problem: 

When trying to connect to shared folders on servers (2008 R2) using a UNC patch via Windows Explorer (Win 7 Ent.), I see an access denied error and do not get an option to supply alternative credentials.

If I try to connect to the admin shares on the same server (\\server\C$ or \\server\e$) I get an access denied message AND get prompted for credentials. I supply my admin account and gain access as expected.

If I check share and storage management when attempting to connect, I see that Windows is trying to connect me to each share as usera (which has no access). I understand why I get access denied at this point, but not why it can't just prompt me to supply an account that does have access. When trying the admin shares I also see the usera account, but I get a prompt to supply a user who does have access.

Share permissions on the folders are for example 'Everyone' Full Control.  NTFS permissions are 'userb' has modify (read, execute, list, traverse etc) via a 'Server Admins' AD Universal security group.

Note: If I do a NET USE from CMD and use the /USER switch, I can access the shares fine. But this is not great for accessing shared folders on the fly from various computers.

How can I get the other shares on the server to prompt me, rather than just say access denied?

Many thanks.

We currently have built a new domain structure for our client which consist of domains in separate forests with the approapriate trusts in place. The domains being:

user, resource, legacy resource  and Test.

It is assumed that the resources will be migrated out of the legacy domain to the new resource domain in the medium term.

Given we have circa 650 file shares, which causes problems with logon scripts, I want to present those shares via a DFS. Internally our view is that the DFS should be built in the user forest to reference file shares in the resource domain(s).

Our client, however believes the DFS is a resource, and therfore should be presented in the new resource domain.

What are the pros / cons of each and what would be the Microsoft recommendation and why ?

Hi Techies,

I need to deploy a Branch Cache Solution for one of the client’s remote office. Users in the remote office need to access 3 files shares from two different locations (parent or main office). Below are the complete setup details:-

1. Branch Office:-

a) Number of Users: 50

b) Local Servers: Yes (Domain Controller and File Server)

c) Client Operating System:Windows 7 Enterprise

d) Local File Server O.S (For Branch Cache):Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64

e) Clustered: NO

2. Main Office 1:-

a) File Server O.S(For Content server):Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64

b) Clustered: NO

3. Main Office 2:

a) File Server O.S (For Content Server):-Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64

b) Clustered: YES

4.Network Bandwidth: The branch office is connected to the main offices through4 MBPS MPLS cloud link.

Based on the above environment, I need to deploy a Branch Cache solution and have few questions below:-

1. Can I have partner servers with different Operating systems (Server on remote site is 2012 R2 and Content Servers on Main offices are 2008 R2 both Standard and Enterprise respectively)

2. Is Branch Cache service Cluster aware as one of the above main office server is clustered for File services.

3. I know the recommendation for 50 clients is distributed cache model, but I do have a local File server in remote location. providing this which one is the best solution and effective one?

Regards,

Imran Khan

We have a 2 node cluster for our file server and a File Server Role configured. All of this is done in Windows Server 2012 R2 and Server 1 and Server 2 are VM running in Hyper-V.

Server 1: GCDC-WFS01
Server 2: GCDC-WFS02
Cluster Role (File Server): WFS01

The issue we are having is when we have folder redirection configured for clients (Windows 7 and Windows 8.1). Folder redirections works great until the client loses network connectivity. When this happens, their PC basically just stops responding. If I try to open My Computer, I just get a blank screen and I cannot access local drives. If I try to open Word or Excel, it will just hang on the splash screen. As soon as I restore the network connection, everything starts working normally again. If I am not using redirected folders and I disconnect the network adapter, the PC is still usable. I can access local files, I can open Word and Excel, I can do anything locally on the PC without issues. We are redirecting the following folders: Desktop, Documents, Favorites and Pictures. Turning on offline files doesn't help the issue either.

As a test, we created another file server that was running Windows Server 2008 R2 and with that server, we have no issues.

Any ideas?

As stated in the title...

What are the minimum required NTFS permissions on a shared folder on a server to allow a user from a remote PC to encrypt files in that folder?

Full or Modify?

We had a cryptlocker incident recently and while the infected PC I think tried to encrypt the files on the server it couldn't. Our users do not have admin rights on their PCs and could only have "Modify" as their highest possible permission on any server share.

I've found conflicting articles one stating you n "Modify" but another article stating the reason you got "Access Denied" was that you needed "Full Control"

I intend to test but to save time I thought I'd ask.

Thanks

RS

Hello everyone,

A warning appears in the system log:
===
Log Name:      System
Source:        disk
Date:          2/20/2013 1:00:28 PM
Event ID:      153
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      STRANGE.aqa.com.ru
Description:
The IO operation at logical block address af7ff for Disk 7 was retried.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="disk" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="32772">153</EventID>
    <Level>3</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-02-20T09:00:28.199176700Z" />
    <EventRecordID>12669</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>System</Channel>
    <Computer>STRANGE.aqa.com.ru</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>\Device\Harddisk7\DR142</Data>
    <Data>af7ff</Data>
    <Data>7</Data>
    <Binary>0F01040003002C00000000009900048000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020828</Binary>
  </EventData>
</Event>

===
This warning occurred in several seconds after the Windows Server Backup start. Our backup job finishes successfully. That server is in provisioning without a heavy workload, and we have not experienced any problem yet. But we do not want to face any problems due to this error in the production environment.
All disks of the server are managed by the LSI MegaRAID controller, which doesn’t report any errors in the disk system.

it is Windows Server 2012 with the latest updates.

Hi there,

Does anyon know what the difference are between DFS-R and Windows Server Migration Tool on Windows 2012? I plan to move user share folders to new UCS, which is the best way for me to keep all shares and ntfs permission? DFS-R or Windows Server Migration Tool?

Also, does Windows Server Migration Tool replace File Server Migration Tool in Windows 2012 and "ONLY" come with powershell, no GUI to use? Please help!!!

I have a remote office connected to Headquarters over a WAN.  The HQ provides DNS, ActiveDirectory, etc.  The remote office is not allowed to use Workgroups.  

At the remote location I designate 1 machine to be a server and I have 2 clients that want to access the 1 designated server. All 3 boxes are at the remote office,

I create a share on the server and give 2 local site users permissions to the share.  These users are domain\usernames.   Now the clients both have access to the share on the server and all is good.  

The Problem: Sporadically, the remote location loses internet and thus loses access to the WAN services such as DNS/ActiveDirectory, etc.  At this point my clients cannot access the share.  Is there a solution to this situation?  Also, using local accounts/workgroup is against corp policy so Domain names are required for logins/permissions, etc.  When the WAN is down my shares are dead.

Any ideas on how I can resolve this?

Current Setup:

2 VM Windows 2012 R2 Servers: File01 and File02 (File01 is set as Primary)

DFSR setup between the 2

How can I configure the 2 DFS servers HA even though they are VMs on a FA cluster? If File01 goes down I need my users to still be able to access the namespace, failover to File02. File01 comes online, File02 replicates the changes to File01.

I assumed having DFSR configured between the 2 would resolve that issue but I missed something because I shutdown File01 to test to see if it will switch over to File02 but did not work.

Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated. I know I am on the right track but I am missing something here.

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.

As the title says, some of my users have set up offline folder syncing on Windows 7 laptops because they are out of the office at customer sites pretty frequently and want to have files handy. From time to time they may need to connect back into the network over VPN and access other folders on the file server. The problem we see is that from time to time they will connect, and even though they can see the mapped drive to the file server, all they can access is the folder marked for offline syncing and all other folders or files on that drive are marked with gray Xs. To make this a bit more confusing, other drives that are mapped are fully accessible, only the drive that has any offline folder is not. This does not always happen, but it is frequent enough that it is causing users to complain.

All laptops are Win7 Pro 64bit, the office has a 20MB fiber internet circuit and GbE network, Barracuda X300 Firewall, 2k3 and 2K8 file servers

Even though we don't currently use it, IPv6 is enabled on the clients' VPN connections. Currently use PPTP.

I've looked around a bit and can't really put my finger on anything that seems to resolve the issue. Disabling slow link mode doesn't seem to do anything. Anything else I can try?

Thanks

Manning

I have 3 drives in a thin provisioned 2 way mirror storage pool running in Windows Server 2012 Essentials.  The pool has 6.36Tb of capacity and is provisioned for up to 8Tb.  Manage Storage Spaces shows 4.26Tb of used space, yet the Dashboard shows 535Gb of Used Space.  I can confirm the Size on Disk is 535Gb by using Explorer to check properties of the drive.

Screen shots are attached, any ideas?  Should I try an optimize-volume with defrag or retrim or something?

Thanks, Jeff

Jeff