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Feature Request - Multiple repositories, IP-based assignment

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Mathew Giljum

We are a multisite business, connected via VPN/MPLS, and often we have to install rather large packages (service packs for example).

Rather than try and stuff all of that over our MPLS pipe (which would completely saturate it and bring the network to a crawl), we've set up custom variables that point to different network shares, mirror the files from the default package share to those, and build a separate deployment for each site. We have to do it this way because we don't have DFS.

It would be great if we had the option to set up multiple repositories natively, and then tell PDQ Deploy to have computers in subnet A use repository A, subnet B to repository B, and so on.

Alternatively, this could also be achieved by assigning Active Directory OUs to a repository when setting up deployment, if IP addresses wouldn't work for a particular environment.

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Comments

3 comments
Date Votes
  • Avatar
    Christian Bacher

    You can do this easy without a new Features,  edit the hosts file (under c:\windows\System32\drivers\etc\) on the clients and point with a "fantasy name" to specific Server IPs at the location.

    Example:

    Hostefile entry Site A: 192.168.0.20 deploy-repo
    Hostefile entry Site B: 192.168.1.50 deploy-repo
    Hostefile entry Site C: 192.168.2.99 deploy-repo

    Set up the share to "\\deploy-repo\sharename" in deploy and the copy mode to "pull" (the sharename has to be identical at all sites)

    Be sure "deploy-repo" is not a existing PC/Server Name in your DNS!

    And now:

    PCs Site A resolve \\deploy-repo\sharename to \\192.168.0.20\sharename
    PCs Site B resolve \\deploy-repo\sharename to \\192.168.1.50\sharename
    PCs Site A resolve \\deploy-repo\sharename to \\192.168.2.99\sharename

    Problem solved without a DFS

     

     

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  • Avatar
    Mathew Giljum

    A large percentage of our workstations are notebooks that travel between sites. That solution wouldn't work as the hosts file is static.

    But I suppose I could put some static A records in the DNS servers at each site, which would theoretically work.

    0
  • Avatar
    Christian Bacher

    Maybe a GPO rule that copy the right host file, depending on the current IP, at login?

     

     

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