13.2 Content Replication

When you add a bundle or policy that contains files, the files are uploaded to the content repository on the ZENworks Server. In addition, the ZENworks database is updated to reflect the addition of the bundle or policy and its content.

ZENworks Servers and Satellite devices, collectively referred to as content servers, periodically read the ZENworks database to discover new bundles and policies. Each content server that does not have the bundle or policy content retrieves it from the content server where it resides.

There are a variety of settings you can use to control how content is replicated among content servers in your zone.

Content Replication settings can be inherited from the following locations:

  • (System): The bundle is inheriting the setting established for the Management Zone (Configuration tab > Management Zone Settings > Content > Content Replication).

  • Folder: The bundle is inheriting the setting established for one of its parent folders.

  • Bundle: The bundle is not inheriting the setting, but the setting is configured directly on the bundle.

  • ---: The bundle is not inheriting the setting and the setting is not configured directly on the bundle. In other words, the setting is not configured at the system level, the folder level, or the bundle level.

If the settings are configured at the system or folder level, click Override settings to enable you to configure the setting at the bundle or policy level.

If you are configuring settings on a bundle folder or policy folder, you can click Force Inheritance in the Folder Task list in the left navigation pane to ensure that all children (all subfolders as well as individual bundles and policies) inherit the settings.

Content replication settings let you:

  • Specify whether content is replicated to new content servers by default.

  • Manually include content on or exclude content from content servers.

  • Schedule how often replication occurs.

  • Set a limit, or throttle, on the maximum amount of content that is replicated per second from one content server to another.

  • Specify whether you want the ZENworks Agent on managed devices or Satellite devices to use checksum comparison to help ensure that no errors were introduced during content replication and that the content was not altered.

For information about performing these tasks, see the following sections:

13.2.1 Configuring Content Replication at the Management Zone Level

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, click the Configuration tab.

  2. In the Management Zone Settings panel, click Content > Content Replication.

  3. Fill in the fields:

    Primary Server Recurring Content Replication Schedule: Use the Days, Hours, and Minutes fields to set the schedule.

    You can use any combination of the fields. For example, to specify every 30 hours, you can enter 30 hours or 1 day, 6 hours.

    NOTE:

    • We recommend you to set the schedule to 12 hours.

    • If a Satellite device is at the end of a very slow link (for example, a 128K WAN), you might want to disable the content replication schedule so that content can be manually replicated by using the zac wake-cdp (cdp) command. For more information about the zac wake-cdp command, see Content Distribution Commands in the ZENworks 11 Command Line Utilities Reference.

      To disable the content replication schedule on a Satellite device set the Schedule Type to No Schedule. For more information on setting the schedule type, see Section 10.2.3, Content Role.

    Primary Server Output Throttling in KB/Sec: Select the throttling rate you want to use.

    This rate applies to all ZENworks Servers in your zone. You cannot set individual throttling rates.

    The content replication throttling rate determines the maximum amount of content (in kilobytes per second) that a ZENworks Server transfers when replicating content to other content servers or when distributing content to managed devices.

    By default, no throttling rate is imposed, which means that a ZENworks Server uses all available bandwidth.

    Agent Content Checksum: Specify whether the ZENworks Agent on managed devices computes the checksum of downloaded content and compares that checksum to the stored checksum for that content on the ZENworks Primary Server.

    Comparing checksums helps to ensure that no errors were introduced during the downloading of the content and that the content was not altered.

    Under normal conditions, you should use the default of On. If your ZENworks System has serious performance issues, you can set this setting to Off to increase performance.

    Satellite Content Checksum: Specify whether the ZENworks Agent on Satellite devices computes the checksum of downloaded content and compares that checksum to the stored checksum for that content on the ZENworks Primary Server.

    Comparing checksums helps to ensure that no errors were introduced during content replication and that the content was not altered.

    Under normal conditions, you should use the default of On. If your ZENworks System has serious performance issues, you can set this setting to Off to increase performance.

  4. Click Apply or OK to save the changes.

Manually Configuring the Web Service Timeout Advanced Content Replication Setting

You can adjust the Web Service Timeout value to suit your needs. For example, if a Satellite device is across a slow WAN link and there is missing content, the default 240-second timeout value might not be long enough to make the Web service call.

To modify the Web Service Timeout on a Satellite device:

For Windows, create the following string value in the registry on the Satellite device:

HKEY-LOCAL-MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Novell\Zenworks\CDPWebCallWaitTimeout and set the value to the desired number of milliseconds.

For Linux, in the /etc/opt/novell/zenworks/conf/xplatzmd.properties file on the Satellite device, add the following line:

CDPWebCallWaitTimeout=xxx

where xxx is the desired timeout value in milliseconds.

13.2.2 Replicating Content to New Content Servers

By default, when a new ZENworks server is added to the zone, all bundle and policy content is replicated to that ZENworks server. You can, however, choose not to replicate a specific bundle or content policy. If a new content Satellite Server is added to the zone, no content is replicated on the satellite server, unless specified.

For example, assume that you have a bundle for Microsoft Office. You’ve included it on specific content servers and don’t want it replicated to additional servers. To keep this from happening, you modify the Microsoft Office bundle’s replication settings to exclude replication to new content servers.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, go to the details page for the object (bundle, policy, or folder) whose replication setting you want to modify, then click the Settings tab.

  2. To configure the settings on a bundle, click Bundle Management, then click Primary Server Replication or Satellite Server Replication.

    or

    To configure the settings on a policy, click Policy Management, then click Primary Server Replication or Satellite Server Replication.

    or

    To configure the settings on a bundle or policy folder, click Content, then click Primary Server Replication or Satellite Server Replication.

  3. In the Primary Server Replication Status section, click the appropriate buttons to include or exclude new Primary Servers from hosting the content.

  4. In the Satellite Server Replication Status section, click the appropriate buttons to include or exclude new Satellite Servers from hosting the content.

  5. (Optional) If you are configuring settings on a bundle folder or policy folder, click Force Inheritance in the Folder Task list in the left navigation pane to ensure that all children (all subfolders as well as individual bundles and policies) inherit the settings. Be aware that settings configured on children are lost and that this action cannot be undone.

  6. Click OK to save the changes.

13.2.3 Manually Replicating Content from a Primary Server to Satellite Devices

You can export content from a ZENworks Primary Server’s content repository and then manually import that content into a Satellite device’s content repository. This process is sometimes called offline content replication.

For more information about exporting content from the content repository, see the zman satellite-server-export-content (ssec) command under Satellite Commands in the ZENworks 11 Command Line Utilities Reference. After you export the content, you can copy it to a network drive or to a storage device and then manually import the content into the Satellite device’s content repository.

For more information about importing the content into a Satellite device’s content repository, see the zac cdp-import-content (cic) command under Content Distribution Commands in the ZENworks 11 Command Line Utilities Reference.

You cannot manually export content from one ZENworks Primary Server and then import that content into another Primary Server.

13.2.4 Including or Excluding Content

The default replication setting determines whether content is automatically replicated to new content servers (see Section 13.2.2, Replicating Content to New Content Servers). You configure the setting for each bundle, policy, or folder. If you choose to include a bundle’s or policy’s content on new content servers, it is replicated to all new servers; likewise, if you choose to exclude the content, it is not replicated to any new servers.

In some cases, the default replication settings might not give you the desired replication scope for your content, or the scope might change. If this occurs, you can manually include content on or exclude it from specific content servers. There are three ways to do this:

Managing a Single Piece of Content on Multiple Content Servers

This section provides instructions for managing the replication of a single bundle’s or policy’s content to multiple content servers.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, go to the details page for the bundle or policy whose content replication you want to manage.

  2. Click the Settingstab, click Bundle Management or Policy Management, then click Primary Server Replication or Satellite Server Replication.

    The Primary Server Replication Status panel and the Satellite Server Replication Status panel display all content servers in the zone. If the bundle or policy content is included on a content server, the Included column displays a Menu Check icon icon.

  3. To change the replication status for a content server, select the check box next to the server, then click Include to include the content on the server, or click Exclude to exclude the content from the server.

    As you include or exclude content servers, be aware of the following replication rules:

    • If a ZENworks Server is the parent server for one or more Satellite devices, you can’t exclude the content from the ZENworks Server without first excluding it from the Satellite devices.

    • If you have only one ZENworks Server in your Management Zone, you can’t exclude the content from it.

    • You can’t include a Satellite devices without first including the Satellite devices’s parent ZENworks Server.

  4. Click Apply, then click OK.

Managing Content on the Folder Level

This section provides instructions for managing the replication of the content in a bundle or policy folder.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, go to the details page for the bundle or policy folder whose content replication you want to manage.

  2. Click the Settings tab, then click Content.

  3. Click Primary Server Replication or Satellite Server Replication.

    The Primary Server Replication Status panel and the Satellite Server Replication Status panel display all content servers in the zone. If the bundle or policy content is included on a content server, the Included column displays a Menu Check icon icon.

  4. To change the replication status for a content server, select the check box next to the server, then click Include to include the content on the server, or click Exclude to exclude the content from the server.

    As you include or exclude content servers, be aware of the following replication rules:

    • If a ZENworks Server is the parent server for one or more Satellite devices, you can’t exclude the content from the ZENworks Server without first excluding it from the Satellite devices.

    • If you have only one ZENworks Server in your Management Zone, you can’t exclude the content from it.

    • You can’t include a Satellite devices without first including the Satellite devices’s parent ZENworks Server.

  5. (Optional) Click Force Inheritance in the Folder Task list in the left navigation pane to ensure that all children (all subfolders as well as individual bundles and policies) inherit the settings.

  6. Click Apply, then click OK.

Managing Multiple Pieces of Content on a Single Content Server

This section provides instructions for managing the replication of the content for multiple bundles or policies to a single content servers.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, go to the details page for the content server whose content replication you want to manage.

  2. Click the Content tab.

    The Replication Settings panel displays all bundles and policies in the zone. If the bundle or policy content is included on the content server, the Included column displays a Menu Check icon icon.

  3. To change the replication status for a bundle or policy, select the check box next to the bundle or policy, then click Include to include its content on the server, or click Exclude to exclude its content from the server.

    As you include or exclude content from the server, be aware of the following replication rules:

    • If a ZENworks Server is the parent server for one or more Satellite devices, you can’t exclude the content from the ZENworks Server without first excluding it from the Satellite devices.

    • If you have only one ZENworks Server in your Management Zone, you can’t exclude the content from it.

    • You can’t include a Satellite devices without first including the Satellite devices’s parent ZENworks Server.

  4. Click Apply, then click OK.

Managing Multiple Pieces of Content on Multiple Content Servers

You can use the Specify Content Wizard to include multiple pieces of content on multiple content servers. For example, you might have four bundles that you want included on two of your four content servers. Rather than managing the replication for the individual bundles (see Managing a Single Piece of Content on Multiple Content Servers) or the individual content servers (see Managing Multiple Pieces of Content on a Single Content Server), you can use the wizard to manage the replication for all four bundles and content servers at one time.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, click the Devices tab, then click the Servers folder to open it.

  2. Select one or more servers on which you want to manage the content.

  3. Click Action > Specify Content.

    or

    In the Server Tasks list in the left navigation pane, click Specify Content to launch the wizard.

  4. On the Select Content to Update page, select the content and move it from the Available Content list to the Selected Content list.

  5. Click Finish.

You can also launch the Specify Content Wizard from the following location: Configuration page> Server Hierarchy panel.

If you need more information about a wizard page, click the Help button.