How DiSTI Reclaimed 10 Hours a Week by Replacing DFSR with Resilio Active Everywhere

The DiSTI Corporation is a software development company specializing in virtual maintenance training solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense and commercial customers worldwide. Its simulation platforms support training for vehicles, aircraft, turbines, and other highly complex systems, environments where data integrity, availability, and security are non-negotiable.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, DiSTI operates as a single-site organization, supporting approximately 110 internal users with a lean IT team. Despite its size, the company manages an enterprise-scale data environment containing more than 11 million files and nearly 40 terabytes of production data, accumulated over decades of development. This scale requires reliable ways to access files across systems while maintaining performance, security, and long-term scalability.

As DiSTI’s data footprint grew, the limitations of its legacy file infrastructure became increasingly apparent. For years, the organization relied on a single Windows file server to support company-wide file sharing. That architecture eventually proved unsustainable.

“We had an incident where part of our file system became corrupt,” said Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI. “That was the wake-up call that we couldn’t keep operating with a single point of failure.”

To reduce risk, DiSTI attempted to introduce redundancy using Microsoft Distributed File System Replication (DFSR). However, as replication expanded across millions of files and tens of terabytes of data, DFSR introduced new challenges rather than solving existing ones.

Replication status was difficult to verify, and troubleshooting depended heavily on Windows event logs; synchronization issues became increasingly time-consuming to diagnose. For a small IT team supporting mission-critical development work, the operational overhead quickly became unsustainable.

“I was spending close to ten hours a week just trying to set up, monitor, and troubleshoot DFSR. At that point, it was clear we needed something better.” Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI

Recognizing that DFS replication was not designed to handle modern data volumes or long-lived enterprise file systems, DiSTI began evaluating third-party alternatives purpose-built for large-scale file synchronization.

Rather than attempting to extend or customize Microsoft’s native tooling, the IT team focused on finding a solution that could provide reliability, transparency, and operational simplicity out of the box.

“When I started researching alternatives, Resilio immediately stood out,” Londono explained. “It was very clear that this was designed as a replacement for DFSR, and that’s exactly what we were looking for.”

Beyond positioning, Resilio differentiated itself through customer references, visibility into replication activity, and a management interface that eliminated guesswork.

DiSTI deployed Resilio Server Agents on Windows Server 2019 VMs with a structured proof of concept, replicating a representative dataset to validate performance, stability, and ease of use.

“The proof of concept did exactly what we needed it to do,” Londono said. “Jobs were easy to configure, and for the first time we could clearly see what was replicating, how much data was moving, and whether anything was failing.”

After approval, DiSTI moved quickly into full production. Resilio engineers guided the initial setup, helping define replication jobs and best practices before transitioning ownership to the internal IT team. Replication was rolled out incrementally to avoid system strain, with jobs baselined one at a time until the entire environment was synchronized.

From kickoff to full production, the entire deployment took only a few weeks, with most of that time dedicated to initial data synchronization.

“Once everything was replicated, it became a ‘set it and forget it’ system. I don’t have to constantly monitor it anymore; the alerts come to me if something needs attention.” Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI

Today, DiSTI continues to use Microsoft DFSN namespaces for user access while relying on Resilio to handle all file replication behind the scenes.

With Resilio in place, DiSTI achieved consistent and reliable replication across its entire file environment, more than 11 million files, encompassing everything from active development assets to historical client records.

The difference was immediately apparent. Instead of relying on event logs and manual verification, the IT team gained real-time insight into replication status, error reporting, and job health through a single management console.

“Now I can see exactly what’s being replicated, what’s completed, and what, if anything, needs attention. That visibility alone was a game changer for us.” Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI

The reduction in administrative overhead enabled DiSTI’s IT staff to refocus on higher-value initiatives, rather than constantly maintaining and troubleshooting.

Once replication stability was achieved, DiSTI turned its attention to another long-standing challenge: decades of inactive data consuming high-performance storage.

“With the company going back to the 1990s, we had client and project data that hadn’t been touched in years, but it was still sitting on production storage,” Londono explained.

Using the storage tiering feature of Resilio Active Everywhere, DiSTI implemented automated archiving policies that moved files not accessed for five years to lower-cost storage, eliminating the need for manual intervention or scripting.

The results were immediate and measurable. Over time, DiSTI archived 13 terabytes of data, freeing valuable production storage capacity for active development projects.

“We set the policy, let it run, and it did exactly what it was supposed to do; it eliminated a huge amount of manual effort and guesswork.” Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI

Since deploying Resilio, DiSTI has significantly improved its ability to manage file replication and storage at scale. The IT team has eliminated single points of failure, reduced administrative overhead, and reclaimed significant storage capacity, all without expanding infrastructure or headcount.

Operationally, the shift away from DFSR has saved Londono an estimated 10 hours per week, time previously spent managing and troubleshooting replication issues. Strategically, storage tiering has delayed the need for additional storage investments by reclaiming underutilized capacity.

“If someone asked me today whether they should try DFSR, my answer would be simple. Don’t even try it! Go with a modern third-party solution like Resilio.” Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI

For DiSTI, security and compliance were essential considerations. Supporting DoD programs requires adherence to strict standards, including FIPS and NIST guidelines.

“From everything we’ve reviewed and implemented, Resilio aligns with the security standards we’re required to meet,” Londono said. “That gave us confidence in deploying it in our environment.”

For DiSTI, Resilio delivered a modern, enterprise-ready alternative to legacy file replication technologies, without adding complexity.

“The onboarding experience was excellent, the engineers were knowledgeable, the documentation was solid, and support has been there whenever we needed it.” Luis Londono, IT Manager at DiSTI

With Resilio, DiSTI now operates a resilient, scalable file infrastructure that supports both current development needs and long-term data growth, without the limitations of traditional DFSR.

Every hour spent troubleshooting DFSR is an hour not spent on projects that move your organization forward. DiSTI's IT team got that time back—and the confidence that comes with knowing replication just works.

If you're ready to move faster, Resilio can help. Contact us to see what modern file replication looks like in your environment.