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I cannot believe this is not documented somewhere but the Internet seems unable to provide the answer so far so I'm hoping an actual person can.....

I'm trying to get a command to work using Windows PowerShell in Windows Server. The command is to query DFS Replication backlog and goes something like this:

Usage: DFSRDIAG Backlog [/ReceivingMember:name] </SendingMember:name> </RGName:name> </RFName:name>

I can find nothing on the difference between the [] and the <>. I would hazard a guess that one set is compulsory and the other optional but alas, nowhere online seems to be able to confirm this in simple writing!

Any help greatly appreciated!

EDIT 20/01/2022

Following the advised syntax, I am trying to get the backlog command to work but am having no luck. Each time I attempt to execute the command I am getting the backlog help appear.

The command I'm using goes like this:

DFSRDIAG Backlog /RGname:Domain System Volume /RFname:SYSVOL /Smem:<server FQDN> /Rmem:<server FQDN>

Clearly there is something amiss here (I suspect it's something to do with the 'System Domain Volume' or 'SYSVOL' parts) but I'm trying to find if there's a backlog for the SYSVOL replication as it's taking around 2hrs to one of the DCs in the group.

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2 Answers 2

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It's not a well-defined syntax like ABNF, it's just a common convention that such texts use.

Generally, in software documentation, the convention is that [...] indicates optional parts. In your case it means the entire /ReceivingMember... is optional.

On the other hand, the <...> doesn't exactly mean "required" – text without any extra punc­tu­a­tion is already "required" by default – rather, it usually indicates a fill-in placeholder, so an optional parameter might be commonly written as [<name>] (or --color[=<when>] for example).

The DFSRDIAG program uses <...> in a unusual way – it does seem to mean "required" for the remaining 3 options, although normally /SendingMember:<name> is what I would expect instead.

However, DFSRDIAG isn't a PowerShell cmdlet, it's a fully standalone program whose entire help text (including all the usage examples) was manually written by the programmer, so it's not unusual for there to be some differences. (That's the case for many non-PS tools in Windows; they can't even agree on whether options start with / or - or --...)

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  • Yeah I understand that DFSDIAG is its own programme and the "Usage" text I posted was taken directly from the help entry. I've just been struggling to get anything out of the backlog command so clearly I'm doing something wrong. Just wanted to be sure that I was including all the inputs it was requiring. Thanks
    – Rich M
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 12:53
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After all that it appears the much simpler way to achieve this is to use the PowerShell cmdlet:

Get-DfsrBacklog

You then enter the source server name followed by the destination server name.

Simples.

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