We have a couple of servers running W2003 R2 at different sites (joined by a v slow WAN link) and I'm just starting to investigate what DFS might offer to enable us to replicate zipped SQL2000 .BAK files between the sites as a means of providing "offsite" backups.
I zip these files (which total about 5GB when zipped) and I have a vbscript which each day updates the contents of the zip file with the previous night's backups. This means that the contents of the zip file change daily as each .BAK file is created with a new date/time component of the file name. However I'm just trying to get my head around how DFS will treat the zip file. This has the same name each day and according to DFS replication FAQ entry
"How does RDC work on a compressed file?
DFS Replication uses RDC, which computes the blocks in the file that have changed and sends only those blocks over the network. DFS Replication does not need to know anything about the contents of the file—only which blocks have changed."
Logic tells me that DFS should see that the files within the zip archive have all changed their name and try to update the whole archive , not just the changed blocks.
Is that correct and should I therefore be changing my script to create .BAK files within the zip with the same name each time to "fool" DFS?
In any event I'm going to experiment using two servers on the LAN but I just wondered if anyone had a better insight into this.
Thanks in advance for any help/hints/views
I zip these files (which total about 5GB when zipped) and I have a vbscript which each day updates the contents of the zip file with the previous night's backups. This means that the contents of the zip file change daily as each .BAK file is created with a new date/time component of the file name. However I'm just trying to get my head around how DFS will treat the zip file. This has the same name each day and according to DFS replication FAQ entry
"How does RDC work on a compressed file?
DFS Replication uses RDC, which computes the blocks in the file that have changed and sends only those blocks over the network. DFS Replication does not need to know anything about the contents of the file—only which blocks have changed."
Logic tells me that DFS should see that the files within the zip archive have all changed their name and try to update the whole archive , not just the changed blocks.
Is that correct and should I therefore be changing my script to create .BAK files within the zip with the same name each time to "fool" DFS?
In any event I'm going to experiment using two servers on the LAN but I just wondered if anyone had a better insight into this.
Thanks in advance for any help/hints/views
