Site server. Is this what need ?

[JannasTo]

OK - got a notification server up and running with about 250 clients. We have another few sites. for example site a = 70 remote users, site B = 200 users and site c = 110 users. From what I read I only need to install the a site server at each of these locations. I'm still slightly confused about this. Can I replicate MS patches / jobs / tasks etc to these site servers or do I need to install NS. Any clarity appreciated :-)

Cheers - Joe.

p.s. always confused if this should come under CMS or notification server subject as well!

[Migration User]

:D  Generic answer though it may be, it's correct.

More simply, go to Settings | Notification Server | Site Server Settings, and in there, configure a package server at each location.  By default, MOST of your packages will automatically then replicate to the package server at those locations.  Your clients then, most likely, will download their packages from the package server at that location, because it will respond more quickly to their requests.

If you then find that the servers are a little slow, and thus clients are trying to pull packages accross the WAN, you can further "constrain" clients to use those package servers by defining Sites.  As a default rule, a client in a site will always download from a package server in their site.

Obviously, there's more to this than what I just said, but that's the short answer.  You can further define things like having more than one server in a location as a backup (i.e. for your 200 user location), and you can control as well what packages get sent to each package server (on a package-by-package basis generally).  This comes in especially handy for things like workstation Images (i.e. Ghost) or other extremely large packages you may not want to replicate.

But as a starter, that's all you need to know, and then you can research the rest probably, or ask here in the community of course.

Oh, and for that # of people, no, you don't need Task or OOB at those locations.  The only exception to this will be if you're going to use DS in those remote locations, and then if you want to have a DS "server" in those locations, you must also have Package and TASK on the DS server.  If you do imaging centrally, then this wont be an issue.  Task can manage up to 5K users per server so you will be fine, though you MAY want to have another Task/Package server in the central location just to handle distribution of packages and tasks so the NS doesn't have to do that "stuff"  It might be overkill for that size of an installation, but it's borderline.  We generally don't like to see more than 500 task users on an NS, and you're really close to the borderline.

GL, best wishes, have fun!

[JannasTo]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm mainly concerned about replication so would want to stop replication happening during business hours. Can this be controlled. ( i don't use the DS side really. Never had time to completely figure it out for WinXP. Just boot from USB and ghost a sysprep image onto it). How do you explicitly set replication for packages ?#

Joe.

[Migration User]

Maybe a few actually.  :D

First, become familiar with the 'stuff' available under Settings | All Settings then Agents/Plugins\Symantec Managmenet Agent\Symantec management agent settings - Targeted.  Here's where you can control some "global" settings to control what can or can not happen during business hours.

For instance, Under "All Desktop computers..." you have a downloads tab that allows for throttling and a Blockout tab that allows for times in which they can't do anything.

Near that setting, is "Maintenance Windows" where you can control, to a degree, what is available for clients and configure these "business hours"

Under Settings\Notification Server\site Server Settings\Package Service\Advanced, there is Package Service Settings.  This gives you some additional control over your package servers, but doesn't answer the question you asked here.  Still, it's important.

You can go to each package and control which package server it goes to.  The way to see this is literally to pick a package (Manage | All Resources  then Default\All Resources\Package\Software Package) right-click, choose Actions|Edit Package, and there's two tabs - one of which is the package server.

As for WHEN the package replicates, that is a little more difficult and I'll have to see if we can actually control that.  I suspect it has to do with scheduling a blockout for your Site Servers in the very first area I discussed above, but I'm not 100% sure.

I think though, that by the time you're done looking through all of this, you'll have a pretty good idea of what you want to actually do.

Let us know, of course.  GL!

[JannasTo]

At the moment I'm mainly concentrating on MS patches and their replication to the site server. We dont have many software packages apart from the defaults. Do you specify where these patches are replicated to ? is the same folder structure created thats on the notification server? I'm sure (hope) things become a bit clearer when I install the site server.

 

Thanks

Joe.

[Migration User]

You only need sites and siteservers if you have bandwidth-concerns and want to make sure that one package is only replicated once from the NS to every siteserver instead for every client. If there are no bandwidth-limitations then you can skip the siteserver-setup.

By default every patch will automatically be replicated to any siteserver. They will be stored in a subdir below the NS-client-installfolder on the siteserver (default). Incase you have a separate partition for the patches then I recommend to install the agent to this partition also.

[Migration User]

due to the number of clients you have.  Other than that, it's true, if you're only using patch, you may not need site servers at other locations.  I'll state up front though that you'll probably want them, because though you may only start with patches, you'll likely want more eventually when you see what the product can do.  It's always that way with managers - they plan for one thing and then "Oh, by the way, you can do this too, right?"

Carsten's comment about making sure you put the agent on a drive with space is a BIG DEAL.  We see a lot of people miss this step.  Wherever you put the agent on a Site Server, remember that we're going to be dumping a lot of data there, so be sure there's room.  And if you then decide to use Deployment Solution, we'll be dropping images there as well - small things in the several G size range.  :P

GL!

[JannasTo]

Great - thanks guys - is there any 'Good' documentation for installing and configuring site servers. I find the documentation that comes with the CMS suite, not that great.

 

Cheers

Joe.