Windows Distributed File System Replication monitoring for the Go programming language

This is a repository of Go packages, command line tools and services that allow for manual and automated monitoring of DFSR configuration and backlog counts.

Please note that these packages and tools are still v0, and as such the implementations and APIs may change in the future.

A windows service is included in the svc/dfsrmonitor package that is capable of monitoring replication group backlogs domain-wide and reporting the values to StatHat.

While StatHat is the only supported backlog consumer at this time, others may be added in the future. See the monitor/consumer/stathatconsumer package for the source of the StatHat implementation.

The service is designed to query DFSR configuration and backlogs more efficiently than traditional powershell scripts or the dfsrdiag tool. Queries are executed in parallel, and configuration data and version vectors are cached appropriately to avoid unnecessary querying. Queries to each individual server are queued and serialized to avoid overburdening the members during intensive DFSR initialization and recovery tasks.

go get -u gopkg.in/dfsr.v0/svc/dfsrmonitor
go build gopkg.in/dfsr.v0/svc/dfsrmonitor
dfsrmonitor install <flags>

Run dfsrmonitor install -h to see a list of possible command line flags.

Run dfsrmonitor debug to test the monitor as a command line program.

TODO: Discuss Windows Service identity options

TODO: Describe StatHat name formats

TODO: Provide example installation commands

Microsoft's guidance regarding privileges needed to calculate backlogs is to run everything as a Domain Admin account. While that may be suitable for manual operation by system administrators, in the context of an automated service the package authors consider this guidance a sad divergence from the the principle of least privilege.

The instructions below demonstrate how to create a domain account with the minimal set of privileges necessary to monitor DFSR backlog information for a domain. They have been tested on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016.

Create a new domain account under which the DFSR Monitor will operate.

You may additionally create a domain local security group and add the domain account as a member of the new group. In most cases this is preferable because it allows for additional or distinct memberships without editing the complex access controls listed below. If you do this you should use the security group instead of the domain account in the directions below, whenever it mentions a domain account.

Domain accounts must be included in the well-known Distributed COM Users group in order for them to make DCOM calls to a remote server.

Perform the following steps on each DFSR member:

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator
2. Run compmgmt.msc
3. Expand System Tools, Local Users and Groups and select Groups
4. Open the Distributed COM Users local security group
5. Add the domain account as a member of the group

These steps can be automated via Group Policy.

The domain account must be allowed to talk to the DFSR Helper protocol server, but modification of its access control list is normally limited to the Windows TrustedInstaller principal. In order to modify its launch and activation rights, the Administrators group must first be allowed to make changes to it. This can be accomplished by taking ownership of a Windows registry entry and granting Full Control to the local Administrators group.

Perform the following steps on each DFSR member:

1. Run regedit as an administrator
2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\{36C95A5F-0A17-47c7-9983-F6BFD009A867} node
3. Right-click the {36C95A5F-0A17-47c7-9983-F6BFD009A867} node and select Permissions...
4. Click on the Advanced button in the bottom right
5. If the Owner is currently TrustedInstaller it should be changed to Administrators to allow editing by members of the group:
   1. Click the Change button beside the owner field to open up the Select User or Group dialog
   2. Click the Locations... button, choose the local machine, then click OK
   3. Enter Administrators in the object name field and then click OK
   4. Check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects box
   5. Click Apply to update the owner
6. Edit the Administrators entry, grant Full Control by checking the box, then click OK
7. Click Apply or OK for the updated permissions to take effect

These steps can be automated via Group Policy. The simplest approach is to allow inheritable permissions from the parent to propagate to the key and to all child objects and to replace existing permissions on all subkeys with inheritable permissions. Doing so will cause the key to inherit ACLs that grant the Administrators group Full Control.

Perform the following steps on each DFSR member:

1. Run comexp.msc
2. Expand the Component Services, Computers, My Computer nodes and then select the DCOM Config node
3. Change the current view mode to Detail
4. Locate the DFSRHelper.ServerHealthReport Class with the {36C95A5F-0A17-47c7-9983-F6BFD009A867} Application ID, right-click it and select Properties
5. Navigate to the Security tab
6. Change the Launch and Activation Permissions to Customize then click Edit to open the Launch and Activation Permission window
7. Add the desired domain account and allow it the Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation and Remote Activation permissions
8. Click OK for the updated permissions to take effect

These steps can be automated via Group Policy. The simplest approach is to perform the modification once manually, then export the affected LaunchPermission value from the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\{36C95A5F-0A17-47c7-9983-F6BFD009A867} registry key. The LaunchPermission REG_BINARY value can be distributed via group policy preferences.

The current implementation of the DFSR Helper protocol server relies upon the WMI framework internally, and interacts with the framework with the security context of the calling user. This means that the domain must be granted remote execution privileges for the MicrosoftDfs WMI namespace.

Perform the following steps on each DFSR member:

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator
2. Run wmimgmt.msc
3. Right-click on WMI Control (Local) and select Properties
4. Navigate to the Security tab
5. Expand the Root node
6. Click on MicrosoftDfs and then click the Security button in the bottom right
7. Add the desired domain account and allow it the Execute Methods, Enable Account and Remote Enable permissions
8. Click Apply or OK for the updated permissions to take effect

These steps cannot be automated via Group Policy.

Perform the following steps from any workstation with the Remote Server Administration Tools installed:

1. Open a command prompt as a domain administrator
2. Run dfsmgmt.msc
3. If necessary, right-click on the Replication node and add replication groups for display, then select some or all replications groups and click OK
4. Select the Replication node
5. In the side menu on the far right, click the Delegate Management Permissions... link
6. Click Add
7. Enter the name of the domain account and then click OK for the updated permissions to take effect