Assign a replicator

A replicator is a managed Windows device that copies files from a source server to a preferred server. This replicator should have a significant amount of disk space so it can keep data from all distribution sources cached locally in the software distribution cache. If it doesn't have enough disk space, the replicator may have to download some files from the source each time it does a replication job. Each replicator can replicate multiple sources to multiple preferred servers.

To assign a replicator
  1. Click Tools > Distribution > Content replication / Preferred servers.
  2. Right-click the Replicators tree and click Properties.
  3. On the Identification page, select the device you want to be a replicator and click the Select button. To make sure you have the right device, you can verify the device attributes at the bottom of the page or click Inventory to see the device's inventory.
  4. Click Save.
  5. In the Replicators tree, right-click the new replicator and click Apply settings now.

You can also quickly designate a replicator by dragging a device from the Network view tree onto the content replication window's Replicators tree.

NOTE: Make sure the share name on the source and preferred servers are the same. For example, if the share name on your source server is shareddata, the destination share name on the preferred server must be shareddata also. Replicators will create necessary folders after the share name, but a replicator can't create the share.

The reason this is necessary is that when managed devices use a preferred server to download package files, only the server name in the full package path is substituted. The rest of the path, starting with the share name, remains exactly as in the original distribution package.