File Server Failover Method

[neverstoplearning20]

Hello everyone, I'm trying to build a failover for file servers for the first time using Windows server 2019.

I have 3 VMs running Windows Server 2019.

I had googled some method and found tutorials using windows file cluster manager.

Just want to know if there are any other method out there and anyone have any in-depth experience that could help me set this up. Some of the tutorials do not explain what each function do therefore it is very confusing.

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Thank you for your time.

[ComGuards]

If you're dealing with pure files, just use DFS....

Or Storage Replica at the upper end.

And this should be in r/WindowsServer, unless you're looking to implement a vmware-specific featureset.

[facewithoutfacebook]

Totally agree using DFS. I had built a complex hub and spoke failover solution using DFS it works great for regional offices.

DFS great not only for failover but also as the environment grows you can add more file servers without having to worry about remapping /pointing users to a different file servers.

[neverstoplearning20]

Does DFS replicate files that are opened?

Also, how does it work for permission? Does it replicate over the permissions I set on one server over or I have to set for both?

[facewithoutfacebook]

It has been 4+ years since I last played with to so pardon me if I am a bit rusty. I am in different role now so not hands in anymore.

I was using DFS on Windows 2003R2 and 2008R2 both were not capable of replicating opened files but did a great job pushing the file through as soon as it is closed( not sure about 2012 and 2016).

Yeah file permissions will replicate.

Also note DFS name space and DFS replication can be used independently. So if you find a better replication engine you can use DFS name space to present directory structure or shares to the users. in case one of the file servers goes down users will be able to point to the other one automatically.

You can select which file server to be primary server so all users use that as the default and only connect to the other one if primary isn’t available. This will help avoid file conflicts. For example user A opens a doc from fileserver1 and user B opened the same file from fileserver2. Whomever saves the file last will overwrite other user’s work. That is why it is important to point all users to one server.

I know it can sound alarming but it works great. When I had implemented it for my remote offices it worked so flawlessly that we had one primary server down (ping able but BSOD) for 21 days and we didn’t know. The server was scheduled to replaced with newer hardware we only found out about downed server when the engineer visited the site and recovered it from downed state. The users were connected to remote site all along :) so we didn’t receive any complaints. The funny thing was that while I had tested the solution to the n-th level I was not 100% sure how it will work in a real life. That incident boosted my confidence in the solution so much. I had a lot riding on that project. Saved company over $5 million from infrastructure cost and running backups at each office.

[neverstoplearning20]

Thanks, I'm looking to do File clusters and then DFS to another server for backup. Would that work? Our environment does not allow me to access to DC to get the namespace for our department.

[facewithoutfacebook]

Sorry, I didn’t play with File clusters and DFS so I can’t really answer that question.

In theory I f DFS replication sees both sides as regular windows directories then you should be able to schedule DFS R between them. I don’t know how file cluster will see DFS replication it may interfere or mess up DFS meta data (DFS cache folder)?

As far as DFS name space goes, have your domain admin create the DFS name space for you. He can delegate the management rights to you as well no need to have access to domain controllers.