Although they are not limited to installation in branch offices, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 branch distribution points are specifically designed to support branch offices, which typically have fewer clients and use a slow network connection.
Configure a distribution point as a branch distribution point if any of the following conditions apply:
- You have a remote location connected to the
main Configuration Manager 2007 site location by a slow connection
and want to optimize software distribution to clients in that
location without creating a primary or secondary site for that
location.
- You do not have a computer running Windows
Server 2003 that can function as a distribution point in a
branch location, but you want to allow clients in that office to
access content from a local distribution point.
- You want to use a client operating system to
provide the distribution point function and do not need more than
10 concurrent connections.
- You want the package to be copied to the
distribution point only when a client actually requests to install
the package. For more information, see About On-Demand Package
Distribution.
Do not configure a distribution point as a branch distribution point if any of the following conditions are true:
- The computer does not yet have the
Configuration Manager 2007 client installed or it is not assigned
to the site.
- You have not yet configured one standard
distribution point for the branch distribution point to retrieve
content.
- The computer needs to roam between
Configuration Manager 2007 sites.
- The computer is an Internet-based client.
- The distribution point must provide content
to Internet-based clients.
- The distribution point is a server share
instead of a server.
- The distribution point must support mobile
device clients.
- The computer is running Windows 2000
Server or Windows 2000 Workstation
- The computer is not joined to an Active
Directory domain.
- The computer is likely to be turned off when
Configuration Manager 2007 needs to process advertisements. For
example, if an end user uses the branch distribution point as a
workstation, you must educate the user not to shut down the
computer when it might be needed by other users in the office.
- You want clients to download content from the
distribution point using Background Intelligent Transfer Service
(BITS).
NoteConfiguring a distribution point for BITS does not guarantee that the download will use BITS. However, clients always use server message blocks (SMBs) when communicating with a branch distribution point, even when the site is configured for native mode. Branch distribution points download their content using BITS from a BITS-enabled distribution point, but they cannot be BITS-enabled themselves. - You want to use multicast with operating
system deployment in Configuration Manager 2007 R2.