Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
properties of any instance of content. You can view the validation status on the Con-
tent Status node of the Monitoring workspace.
You can deploy distribution points on computers running server operating systems such as
Windows Server 2012 R2, on client operating systems such as Windows 8, and to Microsoft
Azure. Before you deploy a new distribution point, consider the following:
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Association to boundary groups
When you can associate a distribution point with
one or more boundary groups, it becomes a preferred distribution point for clients
within the boundary group's boundaries. When you associate a distribution point with
a boundary group, you configure the connection speed to the distribution point as
either Fast (the default) or Slow. Clients that are in an assigned boundary group
attempt to use their preferred distribution points for accessing content. For clients
outside the assigned boundary groups, you have the option of allowing fallback access
to the distribution point. If a preferred distribution point is not available to the client,
the client uses an available fallback distribution point.
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Use of distribution point groups
A distribution point group is a logical grouping
of distribution points that you can use to simplify content distribution to multiple dis-
tribution points. For example, if you distribute content to a distribution point group, all
distribution points that are group members receive the content. Beginning with System
Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, if you add a new distribution point to an exist-
ing distribution point group, the content hosted on other members of the group will
automatically be added to the new distribution point.
You can associate collections with distribution point groups. This enables you to distribute
content to collections directly rather than having to specify distribution point groups during
deployment. Any distribution points that are members of a distribution point group that you
associate with a collection will receive the content that has been distributed to that collection.
Support for Internet-based or mobile clients
To support Internet-based clients or
mobile clients, you must configure the distribution point to accept HTTPS communica-
tion. The distribution point must have a valid public key infrastructure (PKI) web server
certificate to use HTTPS communication. In addition, to support client authentication,
client computers must have a valid PKI client certificate installed from a trusted certi-
fication authority (CA). Internet client support requires additional configuration, such
as configuring a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), firewall access rules, and the
distribution point to support Internet-based clients. In many scenarios, cloud-based
distribution points replicate this functionality without the complexity of configuring
communication.
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Network connection speed to the content source location
By default, all dis-
tribution points in a boundary group are configured with a fast connection. When a
client is connecting to a fallback distribution point, which is one used when the one to
which the client was going to connect is unavailable, Configuration Manager
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