Don't miss out on all you can do with the nifty Deployment Server Configuration Utility -- here's HowTo instructions straight from the DS 6.5 Reference Guide.
The Deployment Server Configuration Utility provides general preferences for the Deployment Server. You can use the Deployment Server Configuration Utility to:
- Set up an account for Deployment Server. See Logon Account
- Stop, start, and restart Deployment Server.
- View server activity and statistics.
- Map drives to file servers in your Deployment Server system (if you have images stored in more than one place). See Drive Mappings Option
- Set the communications protocol (multicast or TCP) and set the imaging multicast threshold. See Transport Option
- Filter connections from the Deployment Server by IP addresses or network adapter interface. See Connections Option
- Set debug and log file options in the Debug Option. See Debug Option
Log in to the Deployment Server you want to manage. Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility by clicking Start > Programs > Altiris > Deployment Server > Configuration.
From the main view of the Deployment Server Configuration Utility, you can view Deployment Server statistics, start and stop the Deployment Server, access Deployment Server configuration options and more.
| Item | Description |
| Server activity and statistics | Lists the number of Deployment Server sessions (clients) and Deployment Server Consoles currently running on the network. |
| Start | Starts the Deployment Server on the local computer. |
| Stop | Stops the Deployment Server on the local computer. |
| Restart | Restarts the Deployment Server on the local computer. |
| Account | Opens the Server Login Account dialog box, which allows you to specify the account used by the Deployment Server service.
The LocalSystem account requires a simple install that runs Deployment Server services on the local computer, prohibiting access to network shares or components.
With the LocalSystem account selected, you can click the Allow service to interact with desktop box to place an icon in your system tray. This icon allows you to quickly shut down the Deployment Server services or to view server statistics (just as you can do from the Manage > Services and Applications > Services > Altiris eXpress Server service).
The default setting is to provide a user name and password during installation. With this option you can install the service on different computers and access components across the network. |
| Options | Opens the Deployment Server Options dialog, which allows you to specify Deployment Server options. |
Logon Account
This Service Logon Account dialog is used to set up the user account used by Deployment Server.
| Item | Description |
| Use the Local System account | Specifies that the LocalSystem account should be used by the Deployment Server service. You can use this option if your Deployment Server directory is located on the same computer as the Deployment Server and if you don't need to access any other file servers. |
| Use the following account and password | Specifies that a user-defined account should be used by the Deployment Server service. If this option is selected, you must supply the appropriate username and password. The account must have Administrator equivalent rights on the Deployment Server computer. You must use this option if your Deployment Server directory is located on a different server than the Deployment Server. |
To specify or change the Deployment Server service account
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Account.
- Choose whether you want to use the LocalSystem account or a user-defined account. If you choose a user-defined account, you must enter the username and password.
- Click OK.
General Option
The General tab provides features to set inventory polling and the timeout value when updating connections of managed computers.
Update Inventory. Set the polling intervals to inventory each managed computer for basic hardware and software properties. The default value of 24 hours will inventory each computer no more than once a day. However, an inventory is only performed when a computer (with the Deployment Agent) starts up. If a computer is not restarted for a number of days, no inventory will be taken even though the Update Inventory value is set to 24 hours. When the computer resets, even though the Update Inventory interval has passed, the inventory will automatically be taken.
Set the value to 0 to turn polling off and retain only the values already in the database for each managed computer.
An inventory is only executed when the Deployment Agent starts up on the managed computer. As a result, if the computer is not restarted for a period of days then no inventory will be taken during that time even though the update inventory value is set to 24 hours. When the computer is restarted and if the Update Inventory interval has elapsed, then an inventory will be run on the managed computer.
Ping Time-out. Set the time-out value when using the Operations > Update all agent connections feature or when automatically updating connections (Deployment Solution will automatically update connections to client computers after 60 minutes if no activity has occurred). The console will send out a packet to the IP address of each managed computer and wait for a response for the length of time entered.
Drive Mappings Option
The Drive Mappings tab is used to add, edit, and delete drive mappings used by the Deployment Server. Any drive mappings used to reference files need to be duplicated here.
Example: if you create a job that distributes software packages from a drive on another file server using a mapped G: drive, then you will need to create a G: drive mapping on the Deployment Server using this dialog box.
| Item | Description |
| Drive Letter and UNC Path | Displays the drive mappings with the mapped drive letters and the corresponding UNC paths. |
| Add | Opens the Map Drive dialog, which allows you to create a drive mapping.
Driver Letter. Drive letter to which the drive mapping is mapped.
UNC path. UNC path to which the mapped drive points. |
| Modify | Opens the Map Drive dialog, which allows you to edit the drive letter or UNC path of the selected drive mapping. |
| Remove | Removes the selected drive mapping. |
| Data store path | Specifies the path to stored packages and files and other DS functions (such as license verification). The default path is C:\Program files\Altiris\express\Deployment Server.
Note
Do not use this setting to change the path to the Deployment Share. Modifying this setting does not automatically allow you to use another shared directory other than the express share. To change the Deployment Share shared directory, run a Custom install to establish another location for the Deployment Share. |
To create a drive mapping
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Options and select the Drive Mappings tab.
- Click Add.
- Specify the Drive Letter and UNC Path.
- Click OK.
- Click Yes to restart the service.
To edit a drive mapping
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Options and select the Drive Mappings tab.
- Select the drive mapping you want to edit and click Edit.
- Modify the Drive Letter and UNC Path as desired.
- Click OK.
- Click Yes to restart the service.
To remove a drive mapping
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Options and select the Drive Mappings tab.
- Select the drive mapping you want to remove and click Remove.
- Click Yes to confirm your decision. Click OK.
- Click Yes to restart the service.
Transport Option
The Transport tab allows you to specify settings for the Deployment Server transport protocols.
| Item | Description |
| Disable multicast support (agents must connect using TCP) | Disables multicast support, which means clients must connect to the Deployment Server using TCP. |
| Multicast Address | The multicast address. This is used only if multicast is not disabled. |
| Multicast Port | Port used for the multicast. This is used only if multicast is not disabled. |
| Multicast TTL | Specifies the number of "hops" or hubs that the client can go through to multicast. This is used only if multicast is enabled. |
| TCP Port | The TCP port. This is used whether multicast is enabled or disabled. |
| Automatically update clients | Automatically updates the Altiris Client for Windows on managed computers if there is a difference (older or newer) between the client available in the Deployment Server directory and the managed client. |
| Allow Encrypted Sessions | Allows encrypted sessions between the Deployment Agent and Deployment Server. If the Deployment Agent data encryption is turned on, then this Deployment Server option must also be turned on to pass encrypted data between client and server. |
To specify the Deployment Server transport
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Options, and select the Transport tab.
- Do one of the following, depending on the transport you want to use:
- If you want to use multicast, do not select the Disable multicast support checkbox.
- If you want to use TCP, select Disable multicast support and supply the
Multicast Address, Multicast Port, Multicast TTL, and TCP Port.
- Click OK.
Disk Imaging Option
The Disk Imaging tab allows you to specify when image multicasting is used and how much bandwidth is used during multicasting.
Note
When multicasting a disk image using the PXE Server, the boot disk on the PXE Server cannot be configured with an Intel Universal NIC driver (also known as an UNDI driver). The multicasting feature will be disabled for multicasting because of continued data corruption problems inherent with the Intel Universal NIC driver. This unreliability results in random files being corrupted in the image file, a problem that may appear immediately or go undetected until accessing the files later. As a result, if the computers being imaged are booting to PXE boot files configured with an Intel universal driver, then multicasting is disabled and all computers will be imaged using direct connections.
| Item | Description |
| Use disk image multicast threshold of n clients | Specifies the number of clients that must be involved in a job before image multicasting is used. If the number of clients is less than or equal to the number specified, multicasting is not used. Set this value to 0 to disable multicasting. If this option is not selected, multicasting will be used whenever there are two or more clients. When multicasting is not used, all clients become Masters and will read from the image server independently. This option might be used if your clients can read an image file from the server faster than trying to coordinate masters and clients. |
| Limit each disk image multicast to n Mbps | Limits the bandwidth used in a multicasting session to a userdefined number of Mbps. This option prevents the multicasting operation from using all of the available bandwidth on a network, so other network traffic can take place at a reasonable rate. |
To set when multicasting is used
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Options and select the Disk Imaging tab.
- Select one of the following depending on when you want to use multicasting:
- If you do not want to use multicasting, select the Use disk image multicast threshold of n clients checkbox and set n to 0.
- If you want to use multicasting whenever there is more than one client, do NOT select the Use disk image multicast threshold of n clients checkbox.
- If you want to use multicasting only when there are more than a specific number of clients, select the Use disk image multicast threshold of n clients checkbox and set n to the number of clients there must be more than before multicasting is used.
- Click OK.
To set the maximum bandwidth used during multicasting
- Open the Deployment Server Configuration Utility in the Control Panel of the Deployment Server computer.
- Click Options and select the Disk Imaging tab.
- Select the Limit each disk image multicast to n Mbps checkbox and set n to the maximum bandwidth you want a multicasting operation to use.
- Click OK.
Authentication Option
The Authentications tab allows you to authenticate to an existing SQL Server database and to the NetWare Server as a file access point.
Database Authentication
To access and authenticate to a specified Microsoft SQL Server database:
- Click the Use SQL Server account authentication check box.
- Enter the user name for the specified database.
- Enter the password.
NetWare Server Authentication
To access and authenticate to a Novell NetWare Server:
- Enter the user name for the selected server.
- Enter the password.
Connections Option
The Connections tab allows you to allow or reject connections from the Deployment Agents based on the IP subnet, IP address, and local interfaces.
Define Subnets
Select the Allow/reject agents based on their IP subnet box and click the Define Subnets button. Click Add or Modify to enter or edit a network IP address and the corresponding mask.
Define IP Addresses
Select the Allow/reject agents based on their IP address box and click the Define IP Addresses button. Click either the Allow or Reject option. Click Add or Modify to enter or edit a specific a range of IP addresses to connect to the Deployment Server.
Define Interfaces
Select the Allow/reject agents based on their IP address box and click the Define IP Addresses button. Select from the list of network adapter cards to allow or reject when connecting to Deployment Server.
Debug Option
The Debug tab allows you to set debug options for Deployment Server and communication between managed computers.
Engine Debug Logging. Select this option to set the name and location of the logging report and the logging level for Deployment Server. The Engine Debug Log is a single report that captures debug information for Altiris support personnel.
- Log File Name: Set the path and name for the log text file. The default name is axengine.log in the Deployment Server shared directory.
- Max File Size: Set the size of the text file by entering the maximum file size allowed.
- Logging Level: Enter the logging level. This number can be from 1 to 9, with nine the deepest logging level and one the most cursory logging level. Altiris support will instruct you on the required logging level for your issue.
Log Agent Communication with Engine. Select the directory path and name to log error messages between managed computers and the Deployment Server.
- Log Directory. Set the path of the folder to collect the client error messages. Each managed computer will have its own log file in this directory named <the computer ID of the managed computer>.log.
- Max File Size. Set the size of each log file by entering the maximum file size allowed.