NETLOGON subdirs getting renamed

[Nick Payne]

Win2000 SP3 servers with about 30 domain controllers at different sites. The
problem we are having is that subdirs of our NETLOGON DFS share that contain
login scripts for a site are getting spontaneously renamed. This has
happened several times. eg Today users at one site reported problems with
not getting drive mappings on logon. When I had a look at the Netlogon
share, the subdir containing their login scripts had renamed itself from CG
to CG_NTFRS_nnnnnnnn. I copied the scripts out of that directory, deleted
it, waited half an hour for replication to take place, then recreated it as
CG and copied the scripts back. Can't find anything in Technet that relates
to this problem. It has now happened several times. Any suggestion on what
could be causing it and how to stop it happening.

Nick Payne

 

[Richard Chinn [MSFT]]

Cross posted to microsoft.public.windows.server.dfs_frs

What you are seeing is FRS performing a folder name morph when one of the
members in your replica notices two directories of the same name. For
example, if two users simultaneously create a directory named CG on two
different machines, when the folders replicate, at least one machine will
realize that there were two different directories that got created. FRS
will rename one by appending the "_NTFRS_nnnnnnnn" string that you saw and
both directories will exist.

Cleaning up these morphed directories can be tricky. Depending on your
replication topology, simply deleting the morphed directory and recreating
it using the name you want can actually lead to additional morphs. This
seems to be the behavior you are seeing. Please see the following KB
article for more information about morphs and how to fix them.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=328492

Note if you're running W2K SP3, you should consider updating your FRS with
the latest QFE Q815473. This is equivalent to the FRS in SP4.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815473

Also, you might want to consider using Ultrasound or Sonar to help monitor
FRS.
http://www.microsoft.com/frs
Follow the link for FRS Troubleshooting and Monitoring.

--Richard

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.