SMB DFS Namespaces

The Distributed File System (DFS) is a virtualization technology delivered over the SMB and MSRPC protocols. DFS allows administrators to group shared folders located on different servers by transparently connecting them to one or more DFS namespaces. A DFS namespace is a virtual view of shared folders in an organization. An administrator can select which shared folders to present in the namespace, design the hierarchy in which those folders appear and determine the names that the shared folders show in the namespace. When a user views the namespace, the folders appear to reside in a single, high-capacity file system. Users can navigate the folders in the namespace without needing to know the server names or shared folders hosting the data.

Only one share per system may be provisioned as a standalone DFS namespace. Domain-based DFS namespaces are not supported. Note that one DFS namespace may be provisioned per cluster, even if each cluster node has a separate storage pool. To provision a SMB share as a DFS namespace, use the DFS Management MMC Snap-in to create a standalone namespace.

When the appliance is not joined to an Active Directory domain, additional configuration is necessary to allow Workgroup users to modify DFS namespaces. To enable an SMB local user to create or delete a DFS namespace, that user must have a separate local account created on the server. In the example below, the steps let the SMB local user dfsadmin manipulate DFS namespaces.

SMB Microsoft Stand-alone DFS Namespace Management Tools Support Matrix

The following table lists operations (subcommands/options) of the Microsoft DFS tools on various Windows operating system versions. It identifies which of these are supported by the DFS service on the appliance for managing a standalone DFS namespace on the appliance.

Microsoft Windows systems         XP|2003|2003|Vista|2008|2008|Win7|
                                    |    |  R2|     |    |  R2|    |
                                 SP3| SP2| SP2|  SP2| SP2| SP1| SP1|
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
dfscmd CLI:                         |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
/map [comment] [/restore]          y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/unmap                             y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/add [/restore]                    y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/remove                            y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/view [/partial | /full]           y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
dfsutil CLI (old format):           |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
/addstdroot [/comment]             y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   y|   y|
/remstdroot                        y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   y|   y|
/root:<DfsName> /view              n|   n|   n|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/addlink [/comment]               NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/removelink                       NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/state /display                   NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/state /enable                    NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/state /disable                   NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/ttl /display                     NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/ttl /set                         NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
/server:<MachineName> /view        y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
dfsutil CLI (new format):           |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
root addstd [comment]             NA|  NA|  NA|    n|   n|   y|   y|
root remove                       NA|  NA|  NA|    n|   n|   y|   y|
root (view namespace)             NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
link add [comment]                NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
link remove                       NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
link (view)                       NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
target add                        NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
target remove                     NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
target (view)                     NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property comment (view)           NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property comment set              NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property ttl (view)               NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property ttl set                  NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property state (view)             NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property state offline            NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
property state online             NA|  NA|  NA|    y|   y|   y|   y|
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
DFS GUI:                            |    |    |     |    |    |    |
                                    |    |    |     |    |    |    |
add standalone root                y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
remove standalone root             y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
change root comment                y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
change root timeout                y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
add link                           y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
remove link                        y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
change link comment                y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
change link timeout                y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
add link's target                  y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
remove link's target               y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
enable link's referral (target)    y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
disable link's referral (target)   y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
hide root                          y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
show root                          y|   y|   y|    y|   y|   y|   y|
display links                      y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
display targets                    y|   y|   y|    n|   n|   n|   n|
                                  XP|2003|2003|Vista|2008|2008|Win7|
                                    |    |  R2|     |    |  R2|    |
                                 SP3| SP2| SP2|  SP2| SP2| SP1| SP1|

Notes: y - supported n - not supported NA - not applicable

• Solaris does not verify the DFS link target.

• CLI commands for modifying and viewing comment and timeout (TTL) are applicable to both root and link.

• CLI commands for viewing state are applicable to root, root's target, link, and link's target.

• CLI commands for modifying state are only applicable for link and link's target.