<div class="content" name="Overview (synopsis)" uuid="2d3563c9-7d22-48c3-b99f-2ef24705be2a"><p>The Distributed File System: Replication Helper (DFS-R
Helper) Protocol provides a set of DCOM interfaces for configuring and
monitoring <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_e210f37a-d573-4389-b295-b7a75d279380" data-linktype="relative-path">Distributed File
System–Replication (DFS-R)</a> on a server, as specified in <a href="../ms-frs2/9914bdd4-9579-43a7-9f2d-9efe2e162944" data-linktype="relative-path">[MS-FRS2]</a>.
The server end of the protocol is a DCOM service that implements the DCOM
interface. The client end of the protocol is an application that invokes
methods on the interface to make <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_8f3c866a-07d2-4921-98ba-f5d376bfdba5" data-linktype="relative-path">DFS-R</a> configuration changes
and monitor the status of the DFS-R service on the server.</p><p>The first part of the Distributed File System: Replication
Helper (DFS-R Helper) Protocol consists of interfaces for creating, modifying,
and deleting configuration objects in <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_e467d927-17bf-49c9-98d1-96ddf61ddd90" data-linktype="relative-path">Active Directory</a> by using
the <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_ccf481e1-fb56-43d1-b6c6-0733fb52e001" data-linktype="relative-path">machine account</a> of
the server.</p><p>For all <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_5084630d-a50a-4a4b-8cbd-908bbc8856ff" data-linktype="relative-path">replication
members</a>, the configuration related to a member is stored in the <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_d8e8f5a7-db85-40a8-98ed-1abab2237b82" data-linktype="relative-path">computer object</a> for the
local machine in Active Directory. It is common for system components that are
unrelated to DFS-R to set permissions on the computer object that will prevent
modification of the object by some users and still permit modification by using
the credentials for the computer. Therefore, a server implementation uses the
credentials of the local machine account when it sends commands to update Active
Directory objects.</p><p>If a user has sufficient privileges to connect to the server
that is running the DFS-R Helper Protocol and to invoke methods implemented by
the DFS-R Helper Protocol interfaces, the server works as a proxy for making
configuration changes on behalf of the client application that is running under
the user&#39;s account. </p><p>The client sends the server information about the Active
Directory operation that the client is trying to accomplish. The server then
attempts to execute the command by using the machine account and returns
information about the status of the operation.</p><p>The second part of the Distributed File System: Replication
Helper (DFS-R Helper) Protocol is an interface for monitoring DFS-R on the
computer and collecting various statistics about the DFS-R operation.</p><p>The information that is collected by using the Distributed
File System: Replication Helper (DFS-R Helper) Protocol includes, among other
types of information, the following statistics:</p><ul><li><p><span><span> 
</span></span>Information about replication errors that are encountered by
DFS-R on the server.</p>
</li><li><p><span><span> 
</span></span>The count and size of replicated files on the server.</p>
</li><li><p><span><span> 
</span></span>Disk use on the server.</p>
</li><li><p><span><span> 
</span></span>Information about <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_064adaf1-86c7-43e5-a157-b0949980181e" data-linktype="relative-path">replicated folders</a> on the
server.</p>
</li><li><p><span><span> 
</span></span>Replication backlog—the number of files that are not yet fully
replicated.</p>
</li></ul><p>Sections <a href="ec5e5450-cfb2-40cc-be8e-0338eb545afc" data-linktype="relative-path">2</a>
and <a href="03fb9a59-c98b-4722-a3a0-43ae8af95448" data-linktype="relative-path">3</a> specify the
Distributed File System: Replication Helper (DFS-R Helper) Protocol and define
protocol messages, their parameters, and the XML format of the <a href="acefe7bd-5912-4f18-9554-b3da50a2ee44#gt_ef63771f-5154-47c0-b0df-c88ce2244ccb" data-linktype="relative-path">health report</a>.</p></div>