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A DFS Namespace is a virtual view of shared folders on different servers as provided by DFS. A DFS namespace consists of a root and many links and targets. The namespace starts with a root that maps to one or more root targets. Below the root are links that map to their own targets.

A Referral is a list of targets, transparent to the user, which a DFS client receives from DFS when the user is accessing a root or a link in the DFS namespace.

User experience with DFS is often measured by how quickly DFS processes referral requests. Prolonged delays in processing combined with frequent request failures can leave users frustrated. To prevent this, administrators must track the referral requests to each namespace managed by DFS, keep an eye out for request failures, monitor how DFS handles these requests, and promptly capture abnormalities. This is exactly what the DFSNspServRefTest test does.

For each namespace, this test reports the count of referral requests to the namespace, the percentage of requests that failed, and how swiftly the requests were processed. Besides proactively alerting administrators to processing bottlenecks, the test also leads them to the exact namespace where the problem lies.

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Avg_response_time	Indicates the average time taken by the DFS namespace service to respond to referral requests to this namespace during the last measurement period.	Secs	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. A consistent increase in the value of this measure is indicative of poor responsiveness of the DFS namespace service. Compare the value of this measure across namespaces to know which namespace is responding slowly to referral requests.
Requests_processed	Indicates the number of referral requests processed by the DFS namespace service for this namespace during the last measurement period.	Number
Requests_failed	Indicates the number of requests for this namespace that failed.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.
Req_fail_percent	Indicates the percentage of referral requests to this namespace that failed.	Percent	The value 0 is desired for this measure. A high value is a cause for concern. Compare the value of this measure across namespaces to know requests to which namespace are failing often.
Requests_processed_sec	Indicates the rate at which the referral requests to this namespace are processed by the DFS namespace service.	Requests/Sec	A high value is desired for this measure. A steady dip in this value is indicative of a processing bottleneck. Compare the value of this measure across namespaces to know the requests that are being serviced very slowly.