Application aware processing on DFS

[AskJarv]

Hi All,

Possibly a very silly issue, but can anyone confirm if there's any reason why I'd want to enabled VSS on a DFS server- I can't see any benefits (for a restore from file level I'd just do a single item restore) and there's no other apps on there that require logging quiescing or similar - VSS (on large shares) presumably would add load to the server but rather than assume, I was wondering if anyone else has any thoughts?

[Dima P.]

Hello Chris,

According to TechNet there is a built in tool for the replication of the DFS and it could be used with or without VSS snapshotting. Rereading this in another way - there is no strict limitation in replicating/backing up DFS server with VSS or without it.
I suggest the best practice to be your own experience – and run a test backup/restore without VSS, after that run a VM restore and see would it work properly or not.