We have a problem while saving Excel files that are "shared" (multiple user editing) in DFS replicated network folder.
Environment:
2 x Server 2008 R2 (hosting shared Excel files in a network share, with two-way DFS replication between them)
The files are being edited on a single primary server ONLY, secondary server is a passive backup and does not accept connections if primary is available.
Users use mainly Excel 2010 on Windows 7, and also some use Excel 2007 on Vista.
The issue sometimes occurs when the users are saving a shared Excel file - the original file is deleted, and the TEMP file is not renamed to the original name, and remains like "2BE72000". I haven't been able to reproduce the issue myself, but apparently this is happening quite often (we have several thousand excel files open at a time, and we get a few cases per day).
The change that clearly triggers this is the DFSR replication. If the DFSR replication is turned on for server folder containing the shared excel files, then the issues start, and go away if DFSR is turned off. We have no problems at all with ordinary, not "shared" Excel files.
Also, no event (no sharing violation, no conflict resolution or other) is logged in DFS log when the original file is deleted and temp not renamed.
Why is Excel sometimes not renaming its temp files? As far as I understand, DFSR does not try to replicate a file if it's still in use (we get quite a few sharing violations). Therefore if Excel still has a lock on file, DFSR will not intervene and wait for Excel to finish what it was doing. Or am I wrong?
We have a changing backlog size. Usually 0-20 items, and at peak times somedays it rises for short periods to 1000 or more items. I have not noticed any correlation between the backlog size and the frequency of shared excel issues. Backlog size and replication delay does not cause a problem for us, as long as no data is lost.
The things I have already tried after searching and not finding anything that fits on the net:
Tuned up DFSR: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2010/03/31/tuning-replication-performance-in-dfsr-especially-on-win2008-r2.aspx
Started a thread on Excel TechNet: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/excel/thread/4e7bd78b-dc72-4dbd-a459-edabc44acbfd
Thank You for Your help!
Sincerely
Vince