Distributed File System (DFS)

The term Distributed File System (DFS) has been employed by various companies. Most recently, Microsoft uses this term to describe a feature of its Windows Server product line allowing for remote distributed file shares. Microsoft's DNS has two main components:

• DFS Namespaces
• DFS Replication

DFS Namespaces allow the mapping of files on multiple physical server as one logical file system.

DFS Replication allows multiple servers to provide backup and replication for each others' files. This expedites file access over slow or costly WAN links.

References:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753479(WS.10).aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2009/03/09/the-basics-of-the-windows-server-2008-distributed-file-system-dfs.aspx