A referral is an ordered list of targets that a client computer receives from a domain controller or namespace server when the user accesses a namespace root or folder with targets in the namespace. You can adjust how long clients cache a referral before requesting a new one.

To change the amount of time that clients cache namespace root referrals
  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DFS Management.

  2. In the console tree, under the Namespaces node, right-click a namespace, and then click Properties.

  3. On the Referrals tab, in the Cache duration (in seconds) text box, type the amount of time (in seconds) that clients cache namespace root referrals. The default setting is 300 seconds (five minutes).

To change the amount of time that clients cache folder referrals
  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DFS Management.

  2. In the console tree, under the Namespaces node, right-click a folder that has targets, and then click Properties.

  3. On the Referrals tab, in the Cache duration (in seconds) text box, type the amount of time (in seconds) that clients cache folder referrals. The default setting is 1800 seconds (30 minutes).