Applies to LANDesk Management Suite 9 SP2 and greater
With LANDesk Management Suite 9 SP2, LANDesk introduced the Content Replication tool. This tool has been integrated with the Preferred Server configuration and allows users to manage file replication to preferred servers in the environment. Content Replication can be used to keep files up-to-date on Preferred servers throughout the enterprise.
More information about how a replication job works can be found in LANDesk Content Replication Process
Components
There are a few component involve in the Content Replication process that are all used to create and manage a replication setup.
LANDesk Management Console
The configuration of all settings is done in the LANDesk Management Console. The console also contains information about running, pending and unscheduled tasks. There is also a task history with progress, status and logs for each replication task. Additionally, the console allows the LANDesk administrator to quickly stop any running replication jobs or disable job(s) from running in the future. For more information about the tools available in the LANDesk Management Console see:
LANDesk Content Replication - Console Options and Tools
Preferred servers (Targets)
These are the preferred servers that the clients will use to download files from. They are also the target servers that files will be replicated to from a source location. Any existing configuration of the Preferred servers will persist through an upgrade and can still operate as preferred servers only, without replication if desired. For more information about all the configuration options available for a Preferred server please see:
LANDesk Content Replication - Preferred Server (Target) Configuration.
The Preferred servers will continue to operate the same way they did with previous versions of LANDesk. Clients will attempt to get files from Preferred servers first, before attempting to get them from the original source location. More information about how Preferred servers work and support clients can be found here:
How to Configure a Preferred Package Server
How to set up a HTTP share for a Preferred Package Share
Using Preferred Server in Patch Manager
Some of the configuration steps in the documents above have changed. For current configuration options see the various updated documents listed here.
The Preferred server must have identical shares that match any Source that is replicated to them. That means if \\FileServer\Software is replicating to PreferredServer1, then PreferredServer1 must have a Software share (\\PreferredServer1\Software). These shares must be created manually, but any folders inside the shares can be created by the replication process.
A Preferred server that will be a target for replication can be any UNC compatible device, including NAS devices.
A Source can also be a Preferred server. For example, a "master" Source may replicate to "child" Sources. Then those "child" Sources replicate to more Preferred servers. In this case a "child" Source would be both a Preferred server (for the "master" source) and a Source (for the final Preferred servers).
Sources
A source is any UNC or HTTP share that contains data and files that need to be replicated to Preferred servers. A source can be configured as an entire share, or a specific folder inside a share. All subfolders and files are included as part of the source. For example, if a source is configured as \\FileServer\Software, it will include all the files and folders inside the Software share. However, if it is configured as \\FileServer\Software\Microsoft, it will only include the files and folders inside the Microsoft folder. For more information on configuration of a Source see:
LANDesk Content Replication - Source Configuration
Any number of Sources can be configured. They can overlap if needed. They can all be managed independently and assigned to any combination of Preferred servers as needed to suit the environment. The share names must match and already be configured on any Target Preferred servers, but any subfolders will be created by the replication process.
A Source can also be a Preferred server. For example, a "master" Source may replicate to "child" Sources. Then those "child" Sources replicate to more Preferred servers. In this case a "child" Source would be both a Preferred server (for the "master" source) and a Source (for the final Preferred servers).
Replicators
A Replicator is any Windows-based managed node and must be a Windows-based managed node. The Replicator is the machine that will do the replication work. It will identify which files and folders on the source need to be copied to the Preferred server (Target) then download those files and push them to the Preferred server (Target). The device used as the Replicator will need to have enough storage for the files being replicated to be stored in the cache.
The replication process is managed on the client machine by the LANDesk Local Scheduler and the client process that performs the replication is vulscan.exe. The Replicator configuration allows for scheduling replication, including a true maintenance window as well as bandwidth restrictions as needed. For information on configuring a Replicator see:
LANDesk Content Replication - Replicator Configuration
During a replication job the Replicator will identify which files are missing from the Preferred server. It will then download those files from the Source and push those files to the Preferred server. All files that are downloaded to be pushed to Preferred servers will remain in the Replicator's cache. The time to keep these files can be configured in the Replicator settings. For details on the file replication process see:
LANDesk Content Replication Process
A Replicator can be configured on a Source or a Preferred server. In this case, a single device would serve 2 roles. Also the device will have 2 copies of all files that were replicated. One in the share location and one in the SDMCache.
Tip: If the SDMCache is on the same drive as the share (C:\Program Files\LANDesk\LDClient\SDMCache and C:\Share, or D:\SDMCache and D:\Share) LANDesk will try to create a hard link so that there is only one physical copy of the data on the disk, even though it can be found in two logical locations.
Important Note: A single Replicator can handle any number of independent Sources and Preferred servers (Targets). However, a Preferred server can only have ONE replicator assigned to it.
Replication Scenarios
A large variety of configurations and scenarios can be set up to meet many file replication needs using LANDesk Content Replication. These vary from a single Source and single Preferred server to dozens of Sources and hundreds of Preferred servers, each needing a different sets of files. Most needs can be met with good planning and some creativity. To get started, a few scenarios can be found here:
LANDesk Content Replication - Scenarios
These scenarios are meant as a starting point or ideas in developing a replication configuration. Not all of the scenarios are in use in a production environment and should be carefully tested.