Home / server / Questions / 91125
Accepted
Adam Towne
Asked: 2009-12-05 10:05:23 +0800 CST

Can windows DFS folders co-exist with Citrix

  • 772

Quick background

I have an application that we run on Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 that needs a configuration file for each machine. Currently those files are stored on a file server that is not highly available. I want to move those files to a DFS (which I have never setup before). I think that the best option is to use the citrix servers themselves as the DFS servers and use the file replication service to ensure they are always up to date on all the servers.

Can this be done is the biggest question, and of course, should I do this or is there a better solution I am not aware of?

Edit: Considering some of the answers so far, I want to be more clear. My goal is to make the system more reliable. Right now our file server is not redundant in anyway, if it goes down we need to restore it from backups, and this application will not work. My idea to put the DFS shares on the citrix servers themselves is because I need both the files and the citrix servers for the program to work, so my goal is if even one citrix server survives whatever form of disaster we might have, I want those files to be available.

So a more clear question might be, will using my citrix servers as DFS root servers for these configuration files make my system more reliable, or will I have problems with the two that will make it less reliable?

windows-server-2003

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I've long since let my Citrix certification lapse, and I haven't worked with Presentation Server 4.5 at all, so take my with a grain of salt here.

    Assuming that the files are alright to access from a UNC, in general, hosting them on a domain DFS share w/ replication (either FRS or DFS-R-based) ought to be fine, in principle. If the files are frequently updated by the software (I don't know what the files are and whether they're accessed in a read-only or read-write fashion) you may have concerns re: excess replication traffic being generated.

    If the files are just static read-only files (or, seldom-write files) and can exist on at a UNC path you're probably fine to put them on a replicated domain DFS share.

    re: using DFS and file replication to replicate the files but referring to them with their local drive letter: I get the feeling that you might be looking at using domain DFS replication to handle the replication, but then you'll refer to the files via their local drive-letter and path. That will work, too. The same caveats apply re: the files being updated frequently, but there's no concern about the files being accessible with a UNC path.

    • 1

  2. Unless you have budget or technical constraints that prevent it, I would recommend against setting up DFS on the Citrix servers themselves. I'm not a fan of mixing what I consider application services (Citrix, TS, etc.) with infrastructure services (file, print, etc.).

    • 1