Configuring shares on DFS with MyWorkDrive server

The guidance in this article is primarily intended for MyWorkDrive installations using Active Directory for user identity connecting to DFS shares via SMB under the user context.
For connections to SMB Shares via service account when using Entra ID Mode, it is recommended to connect directly to the underlying shares ,and not through a DFS server.

Recommendations

Shares on DFS volumes work fine in MyWorkDrive when pointing at the DFS share path OR directly to the share.

You may, however, find that you do not need or want to use DFS with MyWorkDrive and would prefer to use direct share paths.

1) If you are planning on using DFS so that you have the ability to change backend file servers more easily, it’s not necessary – you can easily change the SMB Share UNC path on the MyWorkDrive server for each share at any time.

2) If you are deploying DFS to prevent users from accessing shares directly, MyWorkDrive offers the same protection (when configured to use the share directly). Users cannot access the shares directly, only via MyWorkDrive and the security constraints applied in MyWorkDrive. The share name is the label in MyWorkDrive.

3) MyWorkDrive should always be connected to shares available via a local connection, not wan or VPN. MyWorkDrive uses the shares on the file share – MyWorkDrive not have a cache or sync function to keep files locally. We have had customers experience issues with DFS when it fails over to the wrong DFS server in another site and starts redirecting SMB Traffic over a slow link, so you’ll want to be aware that can happen with DFS.

With the risks identified by other customers using DFS and no benefits, we haven’t been recommending it unless your failover file servers are all located on the same LAN.

Delegation and SSO

When using SSO/ADFS for login, Delegation will need to be setup so that ALL DFS Servers and file shares trust the MyWorkDrive server .
Delegation configuration information can be found here: https://www.myworkdrive.com/support/delegation-setup-adfs-dfs-servers-active-directory/

Failure to do so will result in intermittent blank share or share provisioning errors on login if the kerberos token is not accepted by the DFS server or File Share which MyWorkDrive is being directed to for that login.

If you have DFS, but setup MyWorkDrive with direct connection to local file servers as recommended above, you only need to configure delegation to the configured file servers as noted in our delegation article.

Other Considerations

DFS-R

DFS-R is not recommended for use with MyWorkDrive when used in an active/active scenario where files are accessed from the same share in two locations, since it does not support file locking. Files locked by MyWorkDrive users will not be replicated to other DFS servers or shares. If you are deploying MyWorkDrive, deploy it in your production environment, not the replicated location.

If you are using DFS-R for disaster recovery you should consider deploying an instance of MyWorkDrive in your DR environment; most licenses support multiple activations for DR and QA Testing. Contact us if you are uncertain about your license status or have DR questions.

Search and Previous Versions

Note that MyWorkDrive search and previous versions features require direct connection to Windows shares and do not work with DFS (or shares hosted on devices other than traditional Windows Server).