In today's world, File Replication Service has gained special relevance in different areas of society. Whether in politics, economics, technology, culture or everyday life, File Replication Service has become a recurring and impactful topic of conversation. Its implications and repercussions have generated debates, analyzes and research that seek to understand its meaning and scope. From different perspectives, File Replication Service has influenced decision making and the way people interact with each other. In this article, we will explore the impact of File Replication Service and how it has shaped our current reality.
File Replication Service (FRS) is a Microsoft Windows Server 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 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 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.
The SYSVOL directory can be accessed by using a network share to any server that has a copy of the SYSVOL directory (normally a Domain Controller) 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:
In Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2008, 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. It uses Remote Differential Compression to detect and replicate only the change to files, rather than replicating entire files, if changed. Windows Vista 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.
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Windows Server 2008 + DFL 2008 + SYSVOL migration completed DFSR Windows Server 2008 + domain functional level below Windows Server 2008 FRS Windows Server 2003 FRS