DFS replication is a role service in Windows Server that enables efficient folder replication across multiple servers and sites. DFS replication is an efficient multimaster replication engine that keeps folders synchronized between servers. It replaces the File Replication Service (FRS) as the replication engine for DFS namespaces, as well as for replicating the SYSVOL folder of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in domains that use the Windows Server 2008 or later domain functional level.
DFS replication uses a compression algorithm called remote differential compression (RDC). RDC detects changes to the data in a file and enables DFS replication to replicate only the changed file blocks rather than the entire file.
Install the DFS replication role from the GUI
To add the DFS replication role, we will go to administrador del servidor and añadir roles, follow the wizard, and under Roles del servidor select the checkboxes for Replicación DFS and follow all the steps until installation is complete. Here are screenshots of the process:
Install the DFS replication role from Windows PowerShell
We can also install the DFS replication role from PowerShell. To do this, we will run:
Install-WindowsFeature "FS-DFS-Replication", "RSAT-DFS-Mgmt-Con"Configure DFS replication
Now that we have installed the DFS replication role, we will configure replication. To do this, we will open Administrador DFS. In the menu on the right, we will click nuevo grupo de replicación, and for the replication type we will select the option Grupo de replicación multiproposito. We will assign a name to our replication group and continue with the wizard. Now we will add the servers that will participate in replication. For the connection topology, we will select malla completa and in the next step we will select the option to replicar de forma continua usando ancho de banda especifico. In the following steps, we will select the server that will act as the primary member and add the folders that we want to replicate. We will edit each member and change the membership status to Habilitada and specify the folder to replicate. We can now finish creating our replication group. Here are screenshots of the process:
Introductory text obtained from docs.microsoft.com