Do not use additional channels before setting up a complete network using just the main channel. After the system is successfully deployed, you can add more channels as needed.
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Do not use additional channels before setting up a complete network using just the main channel. After the system is successfully deployed, you can add more channels as needed. |
Normally, all of the Agents connect to the Server via the specified channel using the computer name and port number. Each Agent might have several activities that need to be executed at the same time. For example, for a given Job, the Server might need to download a new file (created by an Agent), upload a file updated locally, and obtain the latest content of a given folder. With multiple Jobs, the likelihood of having to execute several tasks at the same time increases.
With one channel, these activities are serialized. Suppose a new file has to be uploaded and that the entire upload activity requires 20 TCP/IP packets. The Server interleaves packet streams from different activities. For example, after sending the fourth upload packet, it might send a packet for informing the Server of another file's rename, and then continue with the fifth upload packet. The interleaving is done using a sophisticated priority mechanism that ensures responsiveness for higher priority activities while assigning lower priority for background activities such as file downloads.
Prioritized serialization works very well and provides performance nearing that of a local disk, even if the Agent and Server are on a WAN; however, on low-bandwidth networks, the packet round-trip time can adversely affect interactive performance. For example, suppose a user opens a spreadsheet and, as a result, the Agent needs to send a packet to the Server to verify that the local data is coherent and that the file is not opened by another user on another Agent. The round-trip of this file-open packet might be relatively quick, but if another upload packet is now being sent, then the Agent needs to wait for the Server to reply to that packet before sending the file-open packet. Even though the file-open packet has higher priority than upload packets, the Agent still needs to wait, slowing down file activities.
By defining multiple channels, the Agent can use channels for concurrent activity. All of the additional channels are used only for upload and download activities, freeing the main channel (the main port) for foreground file activities such as file-open or file-lock.
You can define up to 9 additional ports.
Specify the additional channels by port numbers. The Server listens to these ports, and they are opened on each Agent.
You must make sure the proper firewall setting enables traffic on these ports. You can use any of the fields for port definition.
In some rare cases, you may want to connect several physical links and use different IP addresses to route Agent traffic. In that case, specify the Server using the computer name, IP, or DNS, followed by the port number.
To specify additional channels
Click the Server icon 
in the host server's system tray. The Server Console dialog box appears.
Click Server > Edit Parameters. The Server Parameters dialog box appears.
In the Agent communications area, click Edit Additional Channels. The Additional Channels dialog box appears.
Type a port number in the channel box or an IP address and port number if using a different IP address. For example, you could open two additional channels using ports 801 and 802 (the Agent connects to these channels using the same Server specification as for the main channel), and one additional channel using another IP address and port: 22.30.111.1:803.
Click OK. The Server Parameters dialog box updates with the additional channels.