Following is a brief summary of the DFS roles a machine can assume:
· System Control machine: A single machine acts as the System Control machine for a domain, updating the other machines in the domain with identical versions of common configuration files such as administrative lists.
· Binary Distribution machine: One Binary Distribution machine of each CPU/operating system (OS) type is installed in a cell. The Binary Distribution machine updates other machines of its CPU/OS type with identical versions of system binary files.
· File Server machine: A File Server machine runs the basic set of processes necessary for storing and exporting DCE LFS and non-LFS data.
· Fileset Database machine: This type of database machine runs the process that maintains the Fileset Location Database (FLDB).
· Backup Database machine: This type of database machine runs the process that maintains the Backup Database.
· DFS client machine: Any machine can run the Cache Manager and its associated processes to act as a DFS client. This machine serves primarily as a single or multiuser workstation. It can also be configured as a Private File Server machine to export data.
Depending on the number of machines in your cell, assign the following roles to your server machines:
· In a cell with only one server machine, the machine runs all processes and fills all the necessary machine roles. Note that the System Control machine and Binary Distribution machine roles are unnecessary in this configuration.
· In a cell with two server machines, both machines act as Fileset Database machines and Backup Database machines to replicate the databases. For each database, one of the machines automatically assumes the role of the synchronization site and houses the source copy of the database. If one of the machines becomes unavailable, the information in the database may not be able to be changed. (See DFS Distributed Database Technology for a detailed description of database synchronization.)
· In a cell with three or more server machines, three machines run as Fileset Database machines and three machines run as Backup Database machines. This configuration allows the cell to benefit from the database replication capabilities of DFS. An odd number of database machines is best.
The software for all server processes can be installed on every server machine, even though a machine need not run every process. To then change the role of a machine, simply start or stop the appropriate processes. Machines roles are not mutually exclusive: any server machine can assume multiple server machine roles, any server machine can be configured as a client machine, and any client machine can be configured as a server machine.
More:
Exporting Data from a Client Machine (Private File Server Machine)