Hi
I have a client who is running DFS-R to replicate data between two data centres and using DFS namespaces to map drives etc to the data shares. Both data centres are physically separate but act as one logical AD site as they are set up as a LAN extension. The customer is facing issues with users getting random referrals to different servers in both data centres and quite often the users get referrals to servers that are physically remote although logically in the same AD site.
They wish to change this such that all users should always get referrals to the servers in their own physical site. I don't see how this is possible with the current design as AD sees both data centres as one site. Can anyone advise how this can be done?
If not, we'll have to change the design to make all users get referrals to their local serves. Unfortunately the data centres have to remain as one logical site due to some other requirements and constraints. One idea I had was to set up two new logical sites, one in each data centre, and move the DFS servers and user population to those new sites. This way the users would always get referrals to their local server and the other services in the data centres that require the LAN extension to remain could remain in the existing logical AD site that spans both data centres. I would like your views on this design and any possible implications of doing this and if you know a better way of doing this?
Thanks
Nauman.