Getting clients active DFS server name?

Hi! :)

I need to check the connection speed between the client and the server
before I start a program installation.

My problem is that the installation files are on a DFS share.

What I need is a list of the possible servers for this DFS share and if
possible, the currentlly active one.

In windows(xp) it's just to right click the directory accessed through a dfs
to see a list of the servers (The active one's marked).

This must be possible to get this information through a script to... Please
help. :)

(I'm using Win32_PingStatus to get the speed of the connection. If anyone's
got better way, please tell me. :) )

Thanks a million! :-)

/Sofia

SubnetJO
Mon Nov 28 08:00:02 CST 2005

You should simply do the transfer, in may opinion.

[Considerations]
The ICMP traffic isn't a good test for network performance.
Network performances, depending on you network configuration, depend on may
factors.
Network devices, paths, backup paths, traffic load at the moment, queueing
strategies on the network interfaces...

There is only one way to test the network performance of a path, in a given
moment and for a given kind of traffic... you have to do the operation (or
very close simulation) and look the results.
Because of that, in the most cases better is "to do the job regardless of
network".

You may say: "but I see differences by testing paths with ICMP..."
Yes.
But isn't said that a faster echo reply reveals a better path for a large
file transfer...

And more...
Suppose to ave 10 servers to check the network path of.
To choose the best you have to "ping" each of them, before the transfer.
So, at least, you have to wait the echo replies of all the servers, even the
slowers, even the unavailable ones!
This will increase the "latency" on you path, perhaps wasting the advantage
of doing the "faster choice".

More again...
In ANY case, you may want to think that what you see as "better" now, may be
not s good after a second.

For those reasons I think should be better to do the transfer regardless of
network.

At the end...
You may want to ask you system administrator the DFS configuration.
Probably you will discover that there is not a great difference between
servers.
This is because when you configure "something" that is "many to one" is
usually considered a good admnistrative choice to have all equal members of
the "many group".

I hope this can help.
SubnetJO, Italy



"Sofia Engvall" ha scritto:

> Hi! :)
>
> I need to check the connection speed between the client and the server
> before I start a program installation.
>
> My problem is that the installation files are on a DFS share.
>
> What I need is a list of the possible servers for this DFS share and if
> possible, the currentlly active one.
>
> In windows(xp) it's just to right click the directory accessed through a dfs
> to see a list of the servers (The active one's marked).
>
> This must be possible to get this information through a script to... Please
> help. :)
>
> (I'm using Win32_PingStatus to get the speed of the connection. If anyone's
> got better way, please tell me. :) )
>
> Thanks a million! :-)
>
> /Sofia
>
>
>

Sofia
Mon Nov 28 09:12:10 CST 2005

Thanks for your reply but I do want to know how to do this, that's why I
sent the question. :)

Btw, I am the dfs admin also. The servers are in different ens of the
country and soon other countries to.
A simple ping test is good enough for this, the differences are big enough.
I'm running it right now but only on one location = to one server.
I can't just do it without checking the line since that would totally kill
some people's connection.
For example when they're on the other side of the planet using a modem!

Thanks anyway for your thoughts! :)

/Sofia

"SubnetJO" <SubnetJO@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4CE10D2B-A1F2-450B-8653-5FB1DD5FE3E7@microsoft.com...
> You should simply do the transfer, in may opinion.
>
> [Considerations]
> The ICMP traffic isn't a good test for network performance.
> Network performances, depending on you network configuration, depend on
> may
> factors.
...
> For those reasons I think should be better to do the transfer regardless
> of
> network.
>
> At the end...
> You may want to ask you system administrator the DFS configuration.
> Probably you will discover that there is not a great difference between
> servers.
> This is because when you configure "something" that is "many to one" is
> usually considered a good admnistrative choice to have all equal members
> of
> the "many group".
>
> I hope this can help.
> SubnetJO, Italy

billy
Thu Dec 01 23:04:51 CST 2005


Sofia Engvall wrote:
> Hi! :)
>
> I need to check the connection speed between the client and the server
> before I start a program installation.
>
> My problem is that the installation files are on a DFS share.
>
> What I need is a list of the possible servers for this DFS share and if
> possible, the currentlly active one.
>
> In windows(xp) it's just to right click the directory accessed through a dfs
> to see a list of the servers (The active one's marked).
>
> This must be possible to get this information through a script to... Please
> help. :)
>
> (I'm using Win32_PingStatus to get the speed of the connection. If anyone's
> got better way, please tell me. :) )
>
> Thanks a million! :-)
>
> /Sofia

i used the ResponceTime from Win32_PingStatus to detect "best" server
also, but beware. i got unexpected results using the standard buffer
size. a small packet is more of a router test; the larger the test
packet, the more it becomes a file xfer test (but the test takes
longer). i think i ended up setting BufferSize to 128. i think i also
reduced Timeout to 800 to get a quicker "solution".

good luck with your script.

Sofia
Fri Dec 02 05:32:22 CST 2005

Hi Billy! :)

Yup, I know :)

But I can't do it at all without knowing the name or ip of the server to
ping... :(

Thanks anyway! :)

/Sofia


"billy" <wcasse@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1133499891.055572.90800@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Sofia Engvall wrote:
>> Hi! :)
>>
>> I need to check the connection speed between the client and the server
>> before I start a program installation.
>>
>> My problem is that the installation files are on a DFS share.
>>
>> What I need is a list of the possible servers for this DFS share and if
>> possible, the currentlly active one.
>>
>> In windows(xp) it's just to right click the directory accessed through a
>> dfs
>> to see a list of the servers (The active one's marked).
>>
>> This must be possible to get this information through a script to...
>> Please
>> help. :)
>>
>> (I'm using Win32_PingStatus to get the speed of the connection. If
>> anyone's
>> got better way, please tell me. :) )
>>
>> Thanks a million! :-)
>>
>> /Sofia
>
> i used the ResponceTime from Win32_PingStatus to detect "best" server
> also, but beware. i got unexpected results using the standard buffer
> size. a small packet is more of a router test; the larger the test
> packet, the more it becomes a file xfer test (but the test takes
> longer). i think i ended up setting BufferSize to 128. i think i also
> reduced Timeout to 800 to get a quicker "solution".
>
> good luck with your script.
>

billy
Sat Dec 03 14:02:30 CST 2005

perhaps Win32_DFSNode will do the trick.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wmisdk/wmi/win32_dfsnode.asp

let me know if that works for ya (so i can use it if i need it ;).

Sofia
Tue Dec 06 03:17:01 CST 2005

I started looking at that and the other two DFS ones but thay're all just
working on vista & xp and my script needs to work on 2k to.

I guess I'll have to give this up for now. Don't have the time. Will have to
time a file transfer for now and see if I can find a better solution later.

Thanks for the help anyways billy! :-)

/Sofia

"billy" <wcasse@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1133640150.515274.10510@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> perhaps Win32_DFSNode will do the trick.
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wmisdk/wmi/win32_dfsnode.asp
>
> let me know if that works for ya (so i can use it if i need it ;).
>