Purpose
You wish to understand the available copy modes found in PDQ Deploy.
Resolution
The Copy Mode defines how PDQ Deploy will copy deployment files to the target computers. There are only two options to choose from, Push or Pull. The default setting is Push and requires an Enterprise license to change to Pull. This option may be set at either the global level or at the package level which would supersede the global option.
Global: Options > Preferences > Performance > Copy Mode
Package:�Package Properties > Options > Copy Mode�(Takes precedence over the global option)
Push
Your $(Repository) folder exists locally on the PDQ Deploy server. The PDQ Deploy server will copy the files down to each target. If the files do not reside on the PDQ Deploy Server, they are effectively copied twice for each target. The PDQ Deploy Server will copy the files from the remote file server to itself, which then copies the same files to each target. Push mode is only recommended when the installation files exist on the PDQ Deploy server. When using the Push option, you can limit the bandwidth that the PDQ server will dedicate to copying files to your targets. This limit is shared across all file copies being performed by the server, and the default is set to 50% of the server's link speed.
Pull
Your $(Repository) folder exists on a file server. The PDQ Deploy server simply tells the target computers to pull all the installation files from the source UNC path of the file server. Pull mode removes the PDQ Deploy server from having to be involved with the actual copy process thus saving the extra network traffic. Your Deploy User credentials will need to have permission to access those files on the file server, whereas otherwise the background service user's credentials would be used to access those files. The Pull option does not support bandwidth throttling.
See Also
Article - How It Works: PDQ Deploy
