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When do clients pull definitions from the SEP management server?

Updated: 07 Oct 2010 | 17 comments
Philip D's picture
+1 1 Vote
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(Or when does the SEP management server push definitions to the clients, if that's the more correct question).

Defs are given to my clients via the SEP management server rather than live update servers, and it looks like I don't have the option of selecting a time for this to happen.  What is the default time that definitions are sent out and is there a way to change it?

I appreciate whatever help you guys can provide.  :)

SEP 11.5

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Prachand's picture
05
Apr
2010
2 Votes +2
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That can be done from the

That can be done from the Policy Tab , Live update policy

By default it is 4 hours. but it can be changed

Prachand Kumar MCSE-2003 Symantec Technical Specialist (SCTS)

Philip D's picture
05
Apr
2010
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That is for environments

That is for environments where clients obtain updates through LiveUpdate servers, though.

Those settings are grayed out for me because my clients get updates through the SEP management server, which is selected in the Server Settings tab right above the Schedule tab you've pictured.

I appreciate the response, nonetheless!

Prachand's picture
05
Apr
2010
0 Votes 0
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Click on Server settings and

Click on Server settings

and then Click on Use a Live update server

Thsi will allow you to change the schdule on the next tab, after clicking on enable LU scheduling

Prachand Kumar MCSE-2003 Symantec Technical Specialist (SCTS)

Vikram Kumar-SAV to SEP's picture
05
Apr
2010
3 Votes +1
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SEP manager pushes

SEP manager pushes definitions whenever they download it ( by default 4 hours )

SEPM- Admin- Servers- Local Site- Properties-Liveupdate

Philip D's picture
05
Apr
2010
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These are my settings for

These are my settings for that section.  Any idea why this would cause my SEPM server to be hammering one of my sites with traffic at 8:30 AM? 

Thanks!

Grant_Hall's picture
05
Apr
2010
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I am assuming all the traffic

I am assuming all the traffic is happening once the users turn on their machines in the morning. Since the machines were probably off at the time you are looking to push out the updates, when they turn on they will request the new updates from the SEPM. Also it might be the case that they are downloading the full content package from the SEPM instead of just the delta updates. This will be true especially if the 8:30 traffic happens on Monday mornings (ie when the machines have been off all weekend).

Please consult the guide below on changing the number of content revisions to keep on the SEPM. The more content revisions means the more space you will use on the SEPM. However it also means that all of your client machines can be disconnected from the SEPM longer without downloading the full definitions.

Best Practices for configuring the number of content revisions to keep in Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager

http://service1.symantec.com/support/ent-security.nsf/854fa02b4f5013678825731a007d06af/3938da984f20efdc88257554007950a2?OpenDocument

Cheers
Grant

Please don't forget to mark your thread solved with whatever answer helped you : )

Philip D's picture
05
Apr
2010
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Actually, most of the client

Actually, most of the client machines should've been left on all weekend (I was rolling out some Windows updates).  Regardless, space isn't too much of an issue on the SEPM server, so I set the content revisions to 5 (it was on 1).  Not sure if this will do anything since the machines were on, but it's worth a shot to me.

Thanks. :)

Other suggestions still welcome.

Brian81's picture
05
Apr
2010
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Philip D's picture
05
Apr
2010
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Heartbeat is 12 hours, which

Heartbeat is 12 hours, which I'm thinking shouldn't cause any bandwidth issues.

Vikram Kumar-SAV to SEP's picture
05
Apr
2010
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Is that site in same time

Is that site in same time zone ?? Why don't you consider having a GUP for that site ?

Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 Group Update Provider (GUP)

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2007092720522748

Albert Widjaja's picture
06
Apr
2010
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can we say that if the client

can we say that if the client manually initiate the update or typeing "luall" it pulls the update from the server not from the Live update website ?

/* Infrastructure Support Engineer */

zer0's picture
06
Apr
2010
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luall only controls

luall only controls liveupdate

Defintion downloads from the SEPM are dependant on heartbeat interval and comms settings.
When you start a machine with a SEP client, the SEP service will start and begin the heartbeat with the SEPM.
Depending on your settings it will either keep a persistent connection up or it will wait and reconnect at the heartbeat interval

So machines across your enterprise will all be on slightly different heartbeat intervals as they have all had the SEP service started at different times.
The same holds true if you restart the SEP service or do an smc -stop and smc -start command.

Sylinkmonitor will show you all of this in a completely transparent manner...

zer0's picture
06
Apr
2010
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SEP Manager does not push

SEP Manager does not push definitions to the client!!
The SEP client gets the definitions when it heartbeats with the SEPM and realises it needs new defintions.
Grab the sylinkmonitor tool and enable logging on a SEP client and you can see the entire process:
http://service1.symantec.com/support/ent-security....

It is really dependant on your heartbeat settings (even in "push" mode).
The same applies if you have your SEP clients setup to get updates via liveupdate. They will check in at the specified time interval and pull the defs.

This is one of the big differences between SAV and SEP.
SAV pushes definitions to all clients dependant on last check in time.

cheers

Z

Albert Widjaja's picture
06
Apr
2010
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Thanks for your explanation

Thanks for your explanation Zer0

/* Infrastructure Support Engineer */

AravindKM's picture
06
Apr
2010
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Try by keeping the client in

Try by keeping the client in pull mode with 1 hour heart beat interval..I hope you are using GUPs for the updation.Whether any client having old update than 5 days(Your no. of revisions in the server).If yes this client required a full update(~60mb).This may be the reason for said traffic..

Please don't forget to mark your thread solved with whatever answer helped you : ) Thanks & Regards Aravind

SaltyProject's picture
07
Apr
2010
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12 hour heartbeat seems a bit

12 hour heartbeat seems a bit excessive.   As reccomended above,  I would change that and also use the download randomization feature in communication settings to help prevent all clients from retrieving updated content at once.

zer0's picture
07
Apr
2010
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The liveupdate settings you

The liveupdate settings you have shown in the console are only for configuring when  the servers within your site will attempt to update from the Symantec liveupdate servers on the internet.
They have nothing to do with when your clients will get their updates apart from the fact that the new defs will be available when a client heartbeats with the SEPM.

I pull the defs once per day between 5-9am as Symantec will release 3 per day but I feel that is excessive bandwidth use for little gain.
Set the content revisions to 30, which means I will get 30 days @ one update per day.

You set the clients comms policy in the following locations:
- Policies > liveupdate
- Clients > GroupName > Policies > Connunication Settings

I use the following settings for sites with 10's of thousands of SEP clients:

- Pull mode
- 1 hour heartbeat interval
- 5 minute randomization

Use a GUP on each subnet you have at any remote site and set it to also hold 30 days of updates with a 2gb size limit.
Use a wildcard rule or reg key rule to identify GUP's.
Disk space on the GUP is very good: For example my GUP at a remote site is using 140MB of disk space holding 30 days of defs.