The Distributed File System (Dfs) functions provide the ability to logically group shares on multiple servers and to transparently link shares into a single hierarchical namespace. Dfs organizes shared resources on a network in a treelike structure.

Dfs supports stand-alone implementations of Dfs, those with one host server, and domain-based implementations that have multiple host servers and high availability. The Dfs topology data for domain-based implementations is stored in Active Directory. The data includes the Dfs root, Dfs links and Dfs targets.

Each Dfs tree structure has one or more root targets, which are stored on a physical server running the Dfs process. A root target can contain one or more Dfs links. Each Dfs link points to one or more shared folders on the network. You can add, modify and delete Dfs links from a Dfs namespace. When you remove the last target associated with a Dfs link, Dfs deletes the Dfs link in the Dfs namespace. (In earlier documentation, Dfs links were called junction points.)

A Dfs link can point to one or more shared folders; the folders are called targets. When users access a Dfs link, the Dfs server selects one of the targets based on site information. If the target is available, the server refers the client to the target. This helps to distribute client requests across the possible targets and can improve performance.

Targets on computers that are running Microsoft Windows can be published in a Dfs namespace. You can also publish any non-Microsoft shares for which client redirectors are available in a Dfs namespace. However, unlike a share that is published on a server that is running Windows Server, they cannot host a Dfs root or provide referrals to other Dfs targets.

Dfs uses the Windows Server file replication service to copy changes between replicated targets. Users can modify files stored on one target, and the file replication service propagates the changes to the other designated targets. The service preserves the most recent change to a document or files.