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Carlos Garcia
Asked: 2015-09-16 00:30:04 +0800 CST

Best direction to synchronize two file servers (with robocopy)

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I'am speaking of 'direction' in this questions but maybe it isn't the best word. Please correct me if I'm wrong after the full question.

We have 2 file servers, one of them is the active one, and the other is the passive (or backup).

We mainly sync them in after hours, when nobody is working, but time to time, we need to sync them while the users are working.

In that case, and using robocopy, we have two options:

  1. Launch robocopy from the ACTIVE with the direcction of ACTIVE (local Disks) to \PASSIVE(Remote Disks)
  2. Launch robocopy from the PASSIVE with the direcction of ACTIVE (local Disks) to \PASSIVE(Remote Disks)

What of this two options will in your opinion impact less on the performance of the active file server?

My opinion is that launching from the passive will impact less on the performance because of the slowness of SMB protocol... Am I correct?

synchronization

1 Answers

  1. My opinion: Option 2 - robocopy running on the passive copy.

    If you sync with robocopy, it will create the checksums of each file and look for changes. These are cpu operations. So letting the robocopy process work on the passiv machine will leave more cpu for the daily business of the active file server.

    BUT: i'm not shure if your explenation of option 2 is right: because if you are starting robocopy on the passive server, this will be the local disc, and the active server will be the remote disk - right?

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