There a a few questions related to using DFSR and Shadow Copies together, but none that indicates if Shadow Copies replicate or not. Meaning, if I have a a pair of DFS replicas with Shadow Copies on Server-A, can I revert that file to a previous version on Server-B? If so, will that reversion be replicated back to Server-A?
I suspect not- that VSS is a local NTFS feature and outside the scope of replication, but I cannot verify that myself at the moment.
Best Answer
No, DFS-R will not replicate the VSS shadow copies. Each server would maintain their own shadow copies. However, if you have bi-directional replication and you restore from a local shadow copy on server B, it would replicate that change to Server-A as long as that file doesn't already exist identically.
If the folder hash is different, meaning the file on Server A either doesn't exist, or is different, than a replication is initiated. If the file exists but is different, one version will "win" and the other will be moved to the DFSR Conflict and Deleted folder.
It's also important to note that simply copying a file out of a shadow copy will not preserve the Timestamp information on the file. This can cause major complications with DFS-R. Doing a "Restore" will preserve that information.