Remote Offices & Network Regions

Remote or satellite offices, often connected with a T1 line or even slower link, can be supported using an additional Master-Agent, or Leaf-Agents. The purpose of this is to reduce packet traffic over the slow link.

Network Regions simply means that multiple administrators might "divide & conquer" a large network and use separate Master-Agents for the regions that each administrator will be responsible for. Or, a single administrator might deploy multiple Master-Agents and simply connect to them at various times to deploy patches to various locales or regions of the net.

Master and Leaf Agents can both be configured to download patches from the internet locally if an internet connection is available, eliminating the transmission of patches over the slow link. If a local internet connection is not available, the Master or Leafs are configured so that patches are retrieved from a Master-Agent that IS connected to the internet.

Operationally, if your machine count is low, you might deploy a Leaf-Agent to each target and deploy patches to them with your existing Master-Agent.

If your machine count is higher it is probably more efficient to deploy another Master-Agent, and simply change your Console connection to that Master-Agent when it's time to deploy patches to the remote office.

See "What's useful about Multiple Master-Agents?"

See "How do I connect to a different Master-Agent?"