DFS Namespaces
Traditional file shares, associated with a single server, have SMB paths of the form \\\\. Domain-based DFS file share paths are distinguished by using the domain name in place of the server name, in the form \\\\. When a user accesses such a share, either directly or by mapping a drive, their computer will access one of the available servers associated with that share, following rules which can be configured by the network administrator. For example, the default behaviour is that users will access the closest server to them; but this can be overridden to prefer a particular server.
If a server fails, the client can select a different server transparently to the user. One major caveat regarding this flexibility is that currently-open files will potentially become unusable, as open files cannot be failed-over.