Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

Hello all,

We have an environment, currently with one physical SMP/NS server and 30+ Site Servers.  This has been running for about 9 months now.  We have just over 19,000 endpoints reporting to the one NS.

We'd like to add a second SMP/NS server and create a hierarchy so we can hav eone box for "control" and reporting, and one box to actually interface with all the clients.

The question becomes, which should be named the parent?  the existing server houses all the Microsfot Patch files, controls the Software Catalog and is fully populated with Software products, filters, policies, etc. that we need. 

Since every endpoint points to the existing NS server anyway, the thought is that the exsiting server should be named the "child" and the new server shoudl be named as the "parent". 

Will doing this require us to completely rebuild the software catalog, Policies and Filters on the new server, or should we add the second server and call it a "child" temporarily in order to have all th epolicies, etc. replicated to it, then switch the parent/child relationships around once the two systems look identical?

Looking for some sound advice on which path to take.  By the way, the new server is a VM, but very beefy, four processors and 16 GB RAM, 100 GB OS Drive and 500 GB Data drive -- matches our physical box (almost) except for total RAM and number of Processors.

If you are only going to have one managing SMP, I wouldnt bother using hiearchy.

If you want to have a seperate reporting SMP, then you could quite easily use standalone replication rules instead.  You could even make that SMP into an ITA box and have it connect to the managing SMP database, so that you can have event reporting too.

You only need hierarchy if you have between two and sic managing SMP's, and you want to be able to have central management for them.