Installing Configuration Manager 2007 : Multisite Configuration (part 1) - Configuring Addresses

Larger or more distributed environments typically have multiple ConfigMgr sites. 

Configuring Addresses

ConfigMgr uses sender addresses for site-to-site communication. When you create a secondary site, you will automatically configure the address during the site-creation process. You must manually create addresses when creating a primary site. There are several different types of sender addresses:

• Standard sender address— Standard senders are used for LAN and WAN communications, when routers connect through multiple LANs.

• Courier sender address— This capability is installed and configured by default. You will find the Courier Sender Address option in the Start Menu in the ConfigMgr program group. Courier sender is very useful when you have large packages that require excessive time or bandwidth to send over the network. You simply create the offline media (CD, DVD, portable hard drive, and so on), deliver it to the destination site (via postal mail or another delivery process), and use courier sender at the remote site to import the packages properly.

• Various RAS sender addresses— RAS sender addresses are used for RAS communication. These include the following:

  • Over an asynchronous line

  • Over an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) line

  • Over a System Network Architecture (SNA) link

  • Over an X.25 line

You can control the network load for each address, to prevent ConfigMgr from using all available bandwidth for that connection. You can also create multiple addresses to the same site for redundancy, if desired. The following steps go through the process of creating a standard sender address from the central site (CEN) to a child primary site (BXL):

1.	From the central site, expand Site Settings, right-click Addresses, and select New -> Standard Sender Address.
2.	Specify the site code of the destination site and then enter the name of the child site server, as shown in Figure 1. You can enter the NetBIOS name or FQDN. Figure 1. Creating a standard sender address By default, communications occur using the computer account, so ensure that the computer account of the parent site has admin access to the new child site. As an example, the following command run from the Tumbleweed (BXL) site server will give the computer account administrative access: NET LocalGroup Administrators /Add SCCMUNLEASHED\BLUEBONNET$ This command adds the central site server (Bluebonnet) to the local administrators group on Tumbleweed. If you prefer not to use the local computer account, you can specify a site address account.
3.	The next page of the New Standard Sender Address Wizard allows you to configure a schedule for handling multiple priority levels differently. By default, all priorities are open 24 hours a day. Figure 2 shows a schedule configured to be open for all priorities during off-business hours (in this case, Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.), and to only allow medium and high priority communications during the defined business hours. Figure 2. Creating a standard sender address schedule Note: About Throttling Site Addresses By default site addresses are not throttled—they are configured as “Open for all Priorities,” which allows the ConfigMgr sender to use the maximum number of threads as configured in the “Concurrent distribution settings” section of the Distribution Point tab of Software Distribution Properties. If you create an address schedule as shown in Figure 2, all traffic from the sender to a site will become serial, which may slow the amount of time it takes to send software to new distribution points at the target site. If you have multiple addresses for this site, use the check box on the Schedule screen in Figure 2 to define whether this address can be used as a substitute if another address to the destination site fails.
4.	The Rate Limits page of this wizard allows you to configure rate limits to manage network load between sites during specific hours of each day. By default, rate limits are configured as unlimited. You can also manage the rate limits by pulse mode, or limit it to a maximum transfer rate by hour. Select Pulse mode and then specify the size of the data block (in KB) that ConfigMgr sends to the address. Also, specify the delay between data blocks (in seconds). Alternatively, specify the maximum transfer rates per hour. In Figure 3, the rate limit is configured as unlimited during off-business hours, and to utilize only 50% of available connection bandwidth during the business day. Figure 3. Creating standard sender address rate limits

Perform the same steps to configure a sender address from the child site to the parent.