Known Issues using DFS on EFT

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE APPLIES TO:

• All EFT Server versions using High Available mode

SYMPTOM

• You can access the admin console on both nodes at the same time
• You see EFT mastership issues
• Event rule load balancing issues
• File locking issues when processing files in event rules
• Uploads and downloads issues from users
• Inconsistent permission issues.

Procmon and EFT logs are the primary tools that will help you troubleshoot and provide proof that DFS is likely the cause of the issue. EFT will not work with DFS because of the reliance we have on file locking. This is the same for regular DFS and with replication since the root cause is the fact that there are several file servers behind the namespace.

CAUSE

The main issue with DFS implementations is the lack of file locking persistence. In a DFS implementation, if EFT navigates to the namespace \domain\folder it can be redirected to one of the many file servers configured as targets behind the scenes. So technically, node 1 can be connected to file server A but node 2 can be connected to File server B and therefore, are accessing the same file but in different locations. DFS has its own method of calculating which file server to redirect a client.

Refer to the following Microsoft documents for details:

• Set the Ordering Method for Targets in Referrals
• Set target priority to override referral ordering

RESOLUTION

Change DFS storage to:

• For production mission-critical deployments consider using an enterprise NAS solution that provides the redundancy and scalability you need.
• For non-mission-critical deployments consider using a Windows file share.

MORE INFORMATION

• DFS Namespaces is a role service in Windows Server that enables you to group shared folders located on different servers into one or more logically structured namespaces. This makes it possible to give users a virtual view of shared folders, where a single path leads to files located on multiple servers.

• DFS Replication is a role service in Windows Server that enables you to efficiently replicate folders across multiple servers and sites. DFS Replication can be used to keep folders synchronized between servers across limited bandwidth network connections. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/dfs-replication/dfsr-overview

• How does DFS interact with EFT? EFT sees the DFS namespace as a simple file share, as in \domain-name\folder\EFTconfig, for example. DFS can also be used for the config and site root, and also house the targets of event rules. To identify if DFS is in use, simply navigate to the shared path via Windows File Explorer and right-click -> Properties. If DFS is in use, you will see a tab called DFS on which you can also confirm which file server this EFT node is connected to by looking at the “Active” status.