DFS namespace not available

Mohammed Nadeem 151

Hi,

DFS namespace shows unavailable with wmi service error when we shutdown or restart primary domain controller.
does dfs namespace not work with secondary domain controller ?

Daisy Zhou 23,426 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-28T02:38:20.927+00:00

Hello @Mohammed Nadeem ,

Thank you for posting here.

1.Where do you see the error abve (DFS Namespace console or other domain-joined clients/member servers)?
2.Would you please provice the screeshot with detailed error message?
3.Whether everything is working fine if PDC is online and running?
4.Do we manage DFS namespace with WMI?
5.In my lab, if I shutdown/restart the PDC, I will see the following error message on DFS Namespace console.

Here we can see the relationshaip between PDC and DFS namespace.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/975440/how-to-troubleshoot-distributed-file-system-namespace-access-failures

Thank you for your time and understanding.

Best Regards,
Daisy Zhou

3 answers

Leon Laude 85,786 Reputation points

2020-09-27T13:27:37.74+00:00

Hi @Mohammed Nadeem ,

DFS Namespaces work with any Domain Controller (DC), but it depends how your DFS Namespace is configured.
Have you configured both DCs as DFS Namespace member servers?

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(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote or accept as answer, thank you)

Best regards,
Leon
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Mohammed Nadeem 151 Reputation points

2020-09-28T06:05:44.413+00:00

Hi DaisyZhou-MSFT,

Yes, The screen shot you provided, same error we are facing.

Is there any configuration steps to check configuration between primary domain controller and secondary domain controller.
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Daisy Zhou 23,426 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-28T07:20:36.6+00:00

Hello

Thank you for your update.

When an administrator makes a change to the domain-based namespace, the change is made on the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) emulator master. Domain controllers and DFS root servers periodically poll PDC for configuration information. If the PDC is unavailable, or if "Root Scalability Mode" is enabled, Active Directory replication latencies and failures may prevent servers from issuing correct referrals.

If we make PDC running and online again, all will be OK, is that right?If so, it seems the behavior is normal.

Best Regards，
Daisy Zhou
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Mohammed Nadeem 151 Reputation points

2020-09-29T05:16:13.287+00:00

Hi DaisyZhou-MSFT

Yes, If we make PDC running and online again, all will be OK.

Will DFS namespace not work with secondary domain controller ? as my secondary domain controller was up and running, still we faced the issue.
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Daisy Zhou 23,426 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2020-09-29T08:19:35.887+00:00

Hello @Mohammed Nadeem ,

If we make PDC running and online again, all will be OK. the situation is the same as in my lab.

It seems this is by design.

Best Regards,
Daisy Zhou
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DFS namespace not available

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