[win 2k3] DFS failing

[mbrownnyc]

Hello,

As of yesterday, our DFS replication has stopped functioning.


I am receiving the following error when attempting to run the DFSR diagnostic report:

Due to the following error, the DFS Replication reporting mechanism cannot access the WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) namespace to retrieve certain reporting information. Error ID: 0x80041002.


Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve this problem?

I have tested the following:
1) WMI can be connected to the other member of the DFS connection, however, I can not find where the DFS WMI namespace is, so I can not
2) DNS/WINS is fine.
3) FRS/NTDS connection is working
4) FRS/NTDS replication is working


Any input is appreciated!


Thanks,

Matt

 

[Asgorath]

Sorry, not a DFS expert, but we do have DFS set up and if you need someone to help you I can recommend a very competent technician.

PM me for details if interested.

 

[mbrownnyc]

Interesting...

Seems like there were multiple horrible-nesses occurring.

However, for the sake of future reference here's what I did:
1) DFS issues may be related to NTDS/Active Directory replication between the DCs that the DFS members are getting their DFS configs from. Checked NTDS replication by forcing a replication through AD sites and services... reviewed via replmon or repadmin /showreps
2) used WBEMTEST to connect to the \\[DFS Member server]\root\MicrosoftDFS namespace (tests DNS entries (maybe WINS too), RDC connectivity, TCP, etc)
3) Ran WMIDiag.vbs which revealed no critical errors

I could not find any errors.

I then restarted the DFS Replication service on the member reporting the WMI error, which took a long time to stop.

After restarting, I started getting hits on the following counters on member servers:
dfs replicated folders{DFS replicated folder GUID}\total files received
dfs replication connections{DFS connection GUID}\bytes received per second

[here's a great article on dfs: http://blogs.technet.com/askds/arch...mon-causes-of-slow-replication-with-dfsr.aspx]

However, I still have a single replicated folder not receiving updates (monitored via dfs replicated folders{DFS replicated folder GUID}\total files received). I think I need to further investigate how to monitor staging, etc to see what the hell is going on.

Also, my backup was still chugging away from last night against one of the DFS folders. Apparently DFS just crapped out at some point between yesterday afternoon and today.


Any suggestions are appreciated!


-Matt

P.S.

Anyone know of DFS log analysis software?

ref: 1, 2

 

[mbrownnyc]

I was able follow an analysis path and wanted to share it with you all for future reference:

1) I began tailing the DFS debug log (c:\windows\debug\dfs*.log) that's located on the server you are trying to debug using Kiwi Log Viewer (which is free)
2) I used the highlighter option to highlight, case-insensitively, "warn" and "fail" to help visually identify errors... unfortunately, the same error hadn't occurred again, but regardless, next time an error does occur this idea alone (tailing) will be of great assistance.
3) I then posted some of the outcome the File and Server forum on Microsoft.com (since I found no assistance on the frs_dfs newsgroup) looking for assistance in analysis of the log outcome.

The current problem is, in fact, that the files are being changed to quickly so that the file can't be replicated, until the operation of repeated writing/changes stops.

When I have time, I'd like to write a tailer geared specifically for DFS logs, until then... enjoy these three posts that the MSFT guy posted in that forum thread:

http://blogs.technet.com/askds/arch...-part-1-logging-levels-log-format-guid-s.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askds/arch...logging-part-2-nested-fields-module-id-s.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/askds/arch...replicated-folder-on-windows-server-2008.aspx