published DFS name space path fails as valid physical path for IIS 8.5

Hello,

I am migrating from IIS 6 to IIS 8.5 (Windows 2012 R2).

The published DFS name space path works on IIS 6as Home Directory("A share located on another computer"), Connecting As: DOMAIN\user:

\\production.domain.com\storage\webcontent\mysite

Using the same published DFS name space path and user name on IIS 8.5 fails Test Settings.

Authentication for DOMAIN\user gets green check mark, but Authorization fails: The path does not exist or environment variables in the path could not be expanded to verify whether it exists.

From the web server I can access \\production.domain.com\storage\webcontent\mysite - I can check permissions or DFS status, select which storage server node to set active.

IIS configution works with accessing the share directly on the individual storage server nodes:

\\storagemgmt.production.domain.com\webcontent\mysite

or

\\storage1.production.domain.com\webcontent\mysite

or

\\storage2.production.domain.com\webcontent\mysite

Why does the published DFS name space path fail, as valid physical path for IIS 8.5?

Thanks!