Please bare with me as this could be a long post! The basic issue is, sporadically some users are unable to access network shares from their PCs. Sometimes a reboot fixes the issue, sometimes it doesn't, some days users log on fine, other days they don't, this effects different shares at different times even on the same machine so share-1 works but share-2 doesn't.
The set-up is as follows:
Local Site (spectrum house) 2008 level domain
DC1 - hyper-v client PDC GC etc Server 2008R2 SP1
DC2 - Physical server GC Server 2008R2 SP1
FS1 - hyper-v client file server 2008R2 SP1
All clients are in this site, windows 7 with latest service packs and some xp clients
A number of other servers such as mail servers and print servers
Remote site (Live disaster recovery system in case of local site failure) - (UKGrid DR-Site)
DC3 - hyper-v client GC Server 2008R2 SP1
FS2 - hyper -v client server 2008R2 SP1
One or two other servers such as mail servers
Sites and services set-up correctly with all IPs and subnets as far as I can tell
Namespaces - all are now 2008 mode as I have recently recreated them all
domain.local\share-1 (\\fs1\share-1 -
\\fs2\share-1 same format for the below)
domain.local\share-2
domain.local\share-3
domain.local\SQLBackup
domain.local\profile share
namespaces replicate using DFS between FS1 and FS2, I have set the clients to not use out of site servers (FS2) as its an over the internet link and would be slow for file access but access may be required at FS2 site when I setup a terminal server there.
the symptoms, when a user logs on, one or more of the shares will not be accessible, as if the network is not found, if I unc to\\domain.local\share-1 the error message is
windows cannot access \\domain.local\share-1
check the spelling of the name, otherwise, there might be a problem with your network...
If I unc to \\fs1\share-1 I can access all shares fine
If I unc to \\fs2\share-1 (in this example) from an effected computer I am seeing\\fs2\share-1 refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer or on a network.....
I can unc to other servers and all shares fine from a non effected computer such as a domain controller or the other file servers, however some client machines cant UNC to FS2
DNS Appear to be correct I don't see any traces to any old retired domain controllers 2003R2 x64 that we used to have but may have not looked in the correct places
we have not had any server problems like this for months and our old domain controllers were dcpromoed at least 4 months ago, the only change we have had recently is a new stack of dell switches PowerConnect 5548 POE, we have also moved offices which seems to have been when the issues started (had to move all servers from one location to another)
no other problems seem to have arisen.
In order to troubleshoot I have installed DFSutil on my windows 7 machines and here are some of the responses from the app
from an affected client machine
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C:\Users\administrator>dfsutil root
\\domain.local\share-1 verbose
Contacting \\domain.local\share-1 for enumeration
DfsUtil: Failed to enumerate at level 6.
Attributes such as INSITE, SITECOSTING and ROOTSCALABILITY may not be backed up
or restored.
Enumeration for \\domain.local\share-1 is complete: 0 entries, enum level 2, status
0x490
Could not execute the command successfully
SYSTEM ERROR - Element not found.
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from a domain controller DC1
C:\Users\administrator.domain>dfsutil root
\\domain.local\share-1 verbose
Contacting \\domain.local\share-1 for enumeration
Enumeration for \\domain.local\share-1 is complete: 1 entries, enum level 9, status
0x0
Link \\domain\Share-1 in namespace, with 2 targets
Trying DC \\dc1.domain.local with address\\10.2.9.2 in domain domian.local within for
est domain.local
DomainV2 Root with 0 Links
Root Name="\\domain\Share-1" State="OK" Timeout="300"
ROOTSCALABILITY = "1" INSITE = "1" TARGETFAILBACK = "1"
Target="\\FS1\Share-1" State="ONLINE" [Site: Spectrum-House]
Target="\\FS2\Share-1" State="ONLINE" [Site: UK-Grid-DR-Site]
Root with 0 Links
NOTE: All site information shown was generated by this utility.
Actual DFS behavior depends on site information currently in use by
DFS service, and may not reflect configuration changes made recently.
Done processing this command.
above result is the same from all servers with DFSutil installed including those off site, substituting the local domain controller
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DFSutil /pktinfo on the affected machine
C:\Users\administrator>dfsutil /pktinfo
14 entries...
Entry: \fs1\Share-1
ShortEntry: \fs1\Share-1
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-1] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs1\Share-2
ShortEntry: \fs1\Share-2
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-2] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs1\Share-3
ShortEntry: \fs1\Share-3
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 1 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-3] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs2\Share-1
ShortEntry: \fs2\Share-1
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \fs2\Share-2
ShortEntry: \fs2\Share-2
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \fs2\Share-3
ShortEntry: \fs2\Share-3
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \fs2\SQLBackup
ShortEntry: \fs2\SQLBackup
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \domain.local\netlogon
ShortEntry: \domain.local\netlogon
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x1 ( DFS )
0:[\DC1.domain.local\netlogon] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
1:[\DC2.domain.local\netlogon]
2:[\DC3.domain.local\netlogon]
Entry: \domain.local\Profile Share
ShortEntry: \domaim.local\Profile Share
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \domain.local\share-1
ShortEntry: \domain.local\share-1
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \domain.local\share-2
ShortEntry: \domain.local\share-2
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \domain.local\share-3
ShortEntry: \domain.local\share-3
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \domain.local\sqlbackup
ShortEntry: \domain.local\sqlbackup
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
Entry: \domain.local\SysVol
ShortEntry: \domain.local\SysVol
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x1 ( DFS )
0:[\DC2.domain.local\SysVol] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
1:[\DC3.domain.local\SysVol]
2:[\DC1.domain.local\SysVol]
DfsUtil command completed successfully
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DFSutil /pktinfo on a domain controller
C:\Users\administrator.domain>dfsutil /pktinfo
11 entries...
Entry: \fs1\Profile Share
ShortEntry: \fs1\Profile Share
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Profile Share] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs1\share-1
ShortEntry: \fs1\share-1
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 1 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-1] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs1\Share-3
ShortEntry: \fs1\Share-3
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 1 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-3] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs2\Profile Share
ShortEntry: \fs2\Profile Share
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Profile Share] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \fs2\SQLBackup
ShortEntry: \fs2\SQLBackup
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\SQLBackup] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \domain\Share-1
ShortEntry: \domain\Share-1
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-1] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \domain.local\profile share
ShortEntry: \domain.local\profile share
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Profile Share] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \domain.local\share-1
ShortEntry: \domain.local\share-1
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-1] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \domain.local\share-2
ShortEntry: \domain.local\share-2
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 1 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-2] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \domain.local\share-3
ShortEntry: \domain.local\share-3
Expires in 0 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS FAILBACK_ENABLED )
0:[\FS1\Share-3] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
Entry: \domain.local\sysvol
ShortEntry: \domain.local\sysvol
Expires in 639 seconds
UseCount: 0 Type:0x1 ( DFS )
0:[\DC1.domain.local\sysvol] AccessStatus: 0 ( ACTIVE TARGETSET )
1:[\DC2.domain.local\sysvol]
2:[\DC3.domain.local\sysvol] ( TARGETSET )
DfsUtil command completed successfully.
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share permissions and security permissions are identical on all shares on both servers
finally if I open the DFS management MMC on the client and select the namespace I get the following error
\\domain.local\share-1: the namespace cannot be queried. element not found
so does any one have any ideas about where I can go next and what to look into ?
thanks