I need some help understanding FRS on Windows 2003 Sp2. This is x32 and is NOT R2. I've been trying to get DFS to replicate between two servers because I want to take server1 offline and retire it, but it has about 500GiB of shared storage with shares and permissions that I don't want to lose. DFS seemed like the ticket, but when I try to configure the DFS replication it tells me that the DFS Replication service is not installed. A bunch of searching leads me to DFS Replication does not run on Win03 Sp2, it needs R2 or higher. So I evidently need to use FRS. I cannot find any information on how to configure the FRS. My domain is Win08R2 functional level, my DFS root server is Win08R2, my server1 is Win03 Storage Server x32, my server2 is, well anything really, I'll ultimately go with Win08R2, but I've been testing against a Win08Sp2 x32 for server2. All the searching I have found leads me back to DFS replication. Ugh!We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers can delay the launching of a space rocket. -George Carlin

Hi , so you already have a dfs root server , and july 2010 the windows 2003 servers are entering into extended support cycle , so my question is do you really want to continue with windows 2003 as storage server or upgrade the server to windows 2008 and then have the dfs replication occuring between dfs root and the new windows 2008 storage server.

The storage server was an iOmega device and I did a P2V on it. I would like to just get rid of it. I do not have the 2008 Storage Server software to upgrade it to, the 2003 Storage Server is OEM licensed and now that it's a VM I have to either get rid of it or upgrade it so my Open/Volume licensing will cover it. The server also held other roles during its lifetime as a physical machine and has had some weirdness done to it which is why I just want to totally get rid of it. If you think I can upgrade it to "normal" 2008 do the DFS replication then retire it, I'll give that a go. Glad it's a VM so I can just replicate it into a lab environment and test it without risking my live data :-) We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers can delay the launching of a space rocket. -George Carlin

I was able to uninstall the storage server stuff, then upgrade it to a normal 2008 Sp2 with no issues. It worked like a champ. Later, hWe will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers can delay the launching of a space rocket. -George Carlin