FAQs – Prism Suite Distributed Tasks

Applies to version Prism version 9.0 and later

What are distributed tasks?

This new feature of Prism Deploy is designed to help IT administrators manage computers in a distributed environment. Examples are a headquarters office with branches in different cities, or a headquarters office supporting widely dispersed SOHO installations.  When a task is distributed, its “payload” is copied out to a file repository that is local to the remote systems, instead of locating it on a single Channel-wide location.

How do I create a Distribution Location group?

Go to the Managed Tab and right-click on the Distribution Locations object in the left-hand pane. The interface for creating a Distribution Location may look familiar – it is the same interface used for creating a Configuration Group. Managed computers will join their unique Distribution Location based on the rule you configure.

Rules defining Distribution Locations are typically expressed in terms of a location-based characteristic such as IP address range, domain name, or computer name (assuming your computer-naming scheme reflects location). Avoid creating Distribution Locations in such a way that computers could belong to more than one Distribution Location. For example, it wouldn’t make sense to create one Distribution Location based on IP address range and another based on Operating System, since managed computers would join both groups.

What does the distribution agent do?

The distribution agent is a PC that belongs to the Channel. The distribution agent obtains the distributed task files from the Prism Server and copies them to a repository that will be used by the computers in Distribution Location group. It either stores the files on its own share or on an existing network share.

Does the distribution agent have to be a server? Does the repository have to be on a server?

The distribution agent can be a workstation or a server. It is best to use a server as the repository, because workstations have a limit of 10 concurrent connections. If you own Prism Deploy server licenses and a Windows server is a member of your Channel, you can choose the server for both the distribution agent and the repository. However, if you don’t own Prism Deploy server licenses, you can still use a Windows Server as the repository. Simply choose one of the polling workstations as the distribution agent, and instead of choosing “Local File Storage” choose “Network (Share) File Storage” to use the server as the repository. In this scenario, the distribution agent is the “middle man” between the Prism Server and the Windows server in the remote location.

How are distributed task files organized in the file repository?

Task files are copied to the shared location with this folder structure:  \\server\share\<GUID of Channel>\<GUID of task>.

Illustration of Distribution Locations