How to Setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2 · PDF fileHow to Setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2 In this post we will see the steps ... programs, endpoint protection updates,

How to Setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2

How to Setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2 In this post we will see the steps on how to setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2. Distribution points play a very important role in the delivery of packages, programs, endpoint protection updates, applications, software updates, and operating system deployment (OSD). When the site server is installed, it becomes a distribution point by default. However, you might want to assign other site systems as distribution points and remove the DP role from the site server to reduce its resource requirements and improve its performance as well as to load balance the potentially significant network traffic generated by clients downloading package source files. In Configuration Manager 2007, there were three basic types of distribution points Standard, Server Share and Branch Distribution Points. Starting with Configuration Manager 2012, Microsoft has updated the distribution point role to become one standard distribution point. In this post we will be installing the Distribution Point role on Windows Server 2012 R2 server.

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This is really important. Before you install DP role check whether the operating system supports the installation of DP role. For example if you are planning to install DP on Windows 7, distribution points on this operating system version do not support Multicast or PXE. Click the link to know more about it. When you install a distribution point, you see an option to “Install and configure IIS if required by Configuration Manager“. When you enable this option the Configuration Manager will install and configure IIS if it is not installed. In case you want to install the prerequisites manually then install the below listed IIS prerequisites.

Note

Remote Differential Compression

IIS Configuration:

Application Development: ISAPI Extensions

Security: Windows Authentication

IIS 6 Management Compatibility: IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility, IIS 6 WMI

Compatibility

To support PXE or multicast role on DP, the WDS role is required. WDS installs and configures automatically when you configure a distribution point to support PXE or Multicast on Windows Server 2012. Also PowerShell 3.0 is required on Windows Server 2012 before you install the distribution point.

Next, you need to add the SCCM site server computer account to the Local Administrators group on the box where DP role is to be installed. In this example, SCCM is the name of the site server and SCCMDP01 is my DP server where DP role shall be installed. So I add the SCCM site server computer account to the Local Administrators group on SCCMDP01 computer.



In the console, navigate to Administration -> Overview -> Site Configuration. Right click Sites and click Create Site System Server.

In the Create Site System Server Wizard, click Browse and select the computer on which DP role is to be installed. Select the Site Code and click Next.



On the System Role Selection page, select Distribution Point. Click Next.

On the Distribution Point page, configure the DP settings for your environment. Here is a brief description of each of the setting.

Install and configure IIS if required by Configuration Manager: Enable this setting to install Windows components required for a DP automatically.

Install and configure IIS if required by Configuration Manager: Enable this setting to enable and configure BranchCache.

Specify how client computers communicate with the distribution point: Choose HTTP or HTTPS for client communication with the DP.



Allow clients to connect anonymously: Enable this check box only if you need anonymous connections to the DP. The ConfigMgr client uses the Local System account and the Network Access account to connect to the DP.

Click Next.

Specify the drive settings for the distribution point – You can configure up to two disk drives for the content library and two disk drives for the package share.

Drive space reserve (MB) – The value that you configure for this setting determines the amount of free space on a drive before Configuration Manager 2012 chooses a different drive and continues the copy process to that drive. By default the Drive space reserve is 50 MB, in this example I will setting it to 1024 MB.

Content Locations – Specify the content locations for the content library and package share. Configuration Manager 2012 will copy content to the primary content location until the amount of free space reaches the value specified for Drive space reserve (MB). By default the content locations are set to Automatic and the primary content location will be set to the disk drive that has the most disk space at



installation and the secondary location assigned the disk drive that has the second most free disk space. When the primary and secondary drives reach the drive space reserve, Configuration Manager will select another available drive with the most free disk space and continue the copy process.

This option can be configured later. Click Next.



The PXE option can be enabled and configured later. Click Next.

This Multicast option can be configured later. Click Next.



Specify whether to validate the integrity of content files on the distribution point. When you enable content validation on a schedule, Configuration Manager will initiate the process at the scheduled time, and all content on the distribution point is verified. We will not configure this option, click Next.



To specify the boundary group(s) with the site system, click on Add and choose the boundary group. The distribution point is considered protected for the clients that are within the boundaries associated with the boundary group. Click Next.

Click Close.



To check the DP status, click on Monitoring and click Distribution Point Configuration Status. Now you will see the list of DP’s, click the DP server and you should see status of server as green .

After the DP is installed successfully, you can login to the DP server and check for the folders shown in the below screenshot.

For DP troubleshooting you can see the Distmgr.log file which records content creation, compression, delta replication, and information updates.




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How to Setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2 · PDF fileHow to Setup Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 R2 In this post we will see the steps ... programs, endpoint protection updates,