Some time ago I faced the need to use a uniform folder structure that spanned across numerous sites of an enterprise to be used as a common repository for the Software packages of the Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure.
Because the procedure was relatively lengthy and the final outcome was extremely good, i started compiling a guide that must be used during the setup of a DFS structure for Software Distribution via the Configuration Manager and bundled it with the Office 2007 deployment package instructions.
The instructions were written for a Windows 2008 Server but can be used on Windows 2003 R2 and Windows 2008 R2 Servers.
Keep in mind that this is not the official recommended way and Microsoft doesn’t support it.
You may download the file from my SkyDrive by clicking the following linked title: Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Here's an excerpt from the document:
Why use DFS as your software repository
Consider the following scenario, you have one Primary/Central Site server with two (2)
secondary servers that connect with a saturated or bandwidth constraint WAN Link,
control of the bandwidth consumed is at high priority.
All these are the benefits of using DFS with Replication; however there is a cost for using
them and this is a small administrative overhead (it’s really small).
Hope it helps as it did for me!
Because the procedure was relatively lengthy and the final outcome was extremely good, i started compiling a guide that must be used during the setup of a DFS structure for Software Distribution via the Configuration Manager and bundled it with the Office 2007 deployment package instructions.
The instructions were written for a Windows 2008 Server but can be used on Windows 2003 R2 and Windows 2008 R2 Servers.
Keep in mind that this is not the official recommended way and Microsoft doesn’t support it.
You may download the file from my SkyDrive by clicking the following linked title: Deploying software that resides in DFS Folders via Configuration Manager 2007
Here's an excerpt from the document:
Why use DFS as your software repository
Consider the following scenario, you have one Primary/Central Site server with two (2)
secondary servers that connect with a saturated or bandwidth constraint WAN Link,
control of the bandwidth consumed is at high priority.
- You need one logical place to access the data from any of the three sites and always
access the closest one.
- You want to quickly move the data to another drive when hard drive space is limited
and attach this replica in the same namespace in such a way that users won’t notice
the change.
- If something happens in a secondary site’s DFS folder, you want the clients to
fallback to another site.
- You need to organize the packages and any other software in a manner you
understand and apparently can’t do it with SCCM’s software distribution shares
(which are hidden).
All these are the benefits of using DFS with Replication; however there is a cost for using
them and this is a small administrative overhead (it’s really small).
Hope it helps as it did for me!
by: gsimos on 2011-03-23 at 05:19:56ID: 24993