Assign a source representative

A source representative is a managed Windows device that indexes files on the source server. Source representatives are an optional part of content replication. If your source server has thousands of files, it can take a while for a replicator to index files on its own, especially if that replicator doesn't have a low-latency connection to the source. In this case, designating a managed Windows device near or on the source server to be a source representative can speed up replications, because the replicator can quickly retrieve the file index from the source representative.

Any managed Windows device can be a source representative. It doesn't need to be a dedicated computer or a server. For it to be effective, it should be able to have a low-latency high-speed connection to the source server. If the source server is a managed Windows device (and not a SAN or Linux device, for example), the source representative can be on the source server.

To assign a source representative

1. Click Tools > Distribution > Content replication / Preferred servers.
2. In the Sources tree, right-click the source you want a representative for and click Properties.
3. On the Source representative page, select the device you want to be a source representative 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.