DFS-N: Folder Target Availability

Summary

When enabled, this object monitors the availability of a shared folder that acts as a DFS folder (link) target.

Causes

An unhealthy state indicates that a folder target is offline. A folder target could be offline for the following reasons:

• Network connectivity problems

• The shared folder is offline

• Access permissions

Resolutions

Test network connectivity

To test network connectivity with the affected server, use the following procedure:

1. Open a command prompt window, and then use the ping command to check basic network connectivity. If the ping command fails, it is likely that the server is not running, or has network problems that require local access to resolve. If ping is blocked in your network environment, skip this step.

2. If the ping command is successful, test the server’s registration in DNS by using the nslookup command. If the nslookup command fails, there is likely a problem with DNS. Check the DNS server health or contact the DNS server administrator.

3. If the nslookup command succeeds, it is likely that the shared folder is offline (possibly for maintenance) or there are problems with the permissions on the shared folder.

Verification

To verify that the folder (link) and folder targets are functioning properly, use the following procedure:

1. Open a command prompt window, and then use the Dfsutil link\\[namespace\folder]> command, where [namespace] is the namespace root, and [folder] is the DFS folder whose folder targets you would like to verify are online (this command is not available on Windows Server 2003).

2. Confirm that the state of the folder is OK and that the states of the appropriate targets are Online, and then reset the monitor in the Operations console. The monitor in the Operations console should automatically reset to the Healthy state.