Windows - Designate a Site Concentrator

The Site Concentrator reduces external network traffic by downloading and caching the files requested by various features to a centralized cache location. These may include Managed Antivirus pattern files, Patch Management patches, or simply the feature installations files themselves. The Agents on the network then retrieve the required files from the Site Concentrator cache, ensuring that each file is downloaded only once.

The Site Concentrator supports the following features:

  • Backup and Recovery - installation files
  • Managed Antivirus - installation and definition files
  • Patch Management for Windows - installation files and patches
  • Remote Background Manager - installation files
  • Take Control - installation files
  • System Tray Application - installation files
  • Web Protection - installation files

By default, the Site Concentrator installs to C:\Program Files (x86)\Advanced Monitoring Agent\concentrator\cache. It uses port 8123 for local network connections. These are both configurable when setting up or editing the Site Concentrator, and runs as a Windows service (Advanced Monitoring Agent Site Concentrator).

As the Site Concentrator acts as a caching proxy, it caches HTTP response documents and honors any cache-control, pragma or expires headers. Please note that SSL responses are never cached.

Where the response document does not contain any cache-control, pragma or expired headers then it is stored for 1800 seconds (the default cache interval) with expired documents automatically deleted every 30 seconds.

Files downloaded to the Site Concentrator that do not have a cache-control header are stored for 28-days then automatically deleted by the cleanup after this period once they are classed as expired. If an item contains a cache-control header, the item expired in accordance with this header, even if this is longer than 28-days.

Setup the Site Concentrator

  1. On the All Devices view Client List, expand the Client
  2. Right-click the target Site and select Edit Site
  3. Select Site Concentrator

    Populate the required information

    FieldDescription
    DeviceSelect the server to install the Site Concentrator on
    PortThe port that other devices on the network will connect through to retrieve files from the concentrator. By default this is port 8123

    Ensure all computers at the selected Site can reach the Site Concentrator over the specified port to retrieve the downloaded files. Where a firewall is running on the server or network it may be necessary to add an allow rule to permit the Agents to connect to the Site Concentrator over this port.

    Open Windows FirewallAutomatically open the local Windows Firewall on the specified port.

    Once setup, all downstream clients can use this feature without additional system configuration.

    Specify Cache Path

    Select an alternative drive and path for the Site Concentrator Directory. Choose the Cache Drive from the drop-down then enter the remainder of the Cache Path.

    Example:

    Cache Drive: C:\

    Cache Path: Patch_Cache

    Full resultant path: C:\Patch_Cache

    By default, the Site Concentrator caches patch installation files for 30 days in a sub-directory of the Windows Agent installation folder (for example, C:\Program Files\Advanced Monitoring Agent).

    We require sufficient free space on the drive to cache files in the Site Concentrator, at least a minimum of 2GB.

    Upstream Proxy IPIf an upstream proxy is in use on the network, enter its IP address.

    When this setting is enabled, the Site Concentrator sends all of its traffic through the Upstream Proxy over the entered port.

    These Upstream Proxy settings only apply to Site Concentrator traffic. They do not influence the traffic flows for Agent uploads and downloads.

    Upstream Proxy PortThe upstream proxy port
    Proxy Requires AuthenticationSecured environments may require an Upstream Proxy Username and Upstream Proxy Password
  4. Click Save to apply

    After submitting the dialog, the updated configuration settings are distributed to all Windows Agents under this Site the next time they check in and the repository folder created on the selected Site Concentrator Device.

Edit or remove Site Concentrator

  1. On the All Devices view Client List, expand the Client
  2. Right-click the target Site and select Edit Site
  3. Select Site Concentrator
    • Edit: make changes. Select a different Device, reconfigure the settings.
    • Remove: Choose Device: No concentrator for this site to remove the concentrator for the Site. Where selected, all devices will connect directly over the internet to the file source.
  4. Click Save to apply

    Any Site Concentrator configuration changes are distributed to all Devices under that Site the next time their Agent checks in.

Where the Site Concentrator Device changes or is removed, this is communicated to the Device previously assigned as the Site Concentrator and its cache folder deleted.

Where a Site Concentrator cannot upload due to upstream proxy issues, a message may be displayed in the Device's South-pane "Summary" tab to help identify the issue. For example:" Proxy error: Unable to connect through proxy server."