The Symantec Management Platform can host several types of middleware components, such as package servers and task servers. Middleware components are installed on computers other than the Notification Server computer, and they act as the first point of contact for the Altiris Agents, thus reducing the traffic and load on the Notification Server.

The official name for any Altiris middleware component is “site service”. Any computer that hosts a site service is known as a site server. A site server can have one or more site services installed on it. For example, if you install the package server site service (the "task service") onto a computer, that computer becomes a site server. The Notification Server handles the deployment, configuration, and ongoing maintenance of site services. Site services provide services to Altiris Agents, such as sending packages and tasks.

The Notification Server (NS) by default (after a new installation) is a Task Server.  In small Altiris environments having the Notification Server as the task server will work great. In larger environments where the NS has thousands of agents connected from multiple physical locations, the NS will become overloaded.

The concept of Site Management in NS allows the administrator to set up subnets, sites, and site servers. The concept is extremely important because it allows you to segment the traffic and assign services, such as task services, package services, and out-of-band services.

To review the current settings for site servers go to the following policy:

                Setting —> Notification Server —> Site Server Setting

Site Server settings after a new NS installation. In this case, SERVER1 is the Notification Server

Site maintenance is the management of sites, subnets, and site services in your organization. You can manage your computers according to site and subnet, which lets you control groups of computers while minimizing bandwidth consumption.

A site is typically a physical location in your organization (such as a particular building, or a level of a building). A subnet is a range of logical addresses on your network.

Under normal operating conditions each site server services only the Altiris Agents that exist within the sites to which it is assigned. If no sites have been defined, all site servers are available to service all Altiris Agents (although this is not recommended).

Install or Create Site Servers and Subnets and Sites as Needed 

The best method for creating sites and subnets in the NS is to use the Connector for Active Directory to import the subnets and sites. In addition, Connector for Active Directory overrides any subnets and sites that were previously created and that conflict with the import. For example, if you manually assign subnets to a site that conflicts with what is in Connector for Active Directory, the Active Directory information is used.

You need to create all the subnets in your organization and assign them to the appropriate sites. You can resynchronize subnets when necessary and delete any subnets that no longer exist.

Subnets can be determined from basic inventory data, imported from Active Directory, or added manually. You can run a subnet import rule to automatically collect the subnet information from Active Directory.

The steps for installing or creating a new site server with the task service are as follows:

1.       The Task Service requires a server class computer such as Windows 2003 Server. It cannot be installed on Windows XP or Windows Vista

2.       The Task Service also requires that IIS is installed on the target computer. Since we are installing a new site server with the intent of running a new task service, IIS is required to be installed on the machine. In addition, after IIS is installed, the machine needs to update its inventory data and synchronize to the NS server.

a.       IIS Installation Steps (if IIS is already installed then ignore these steps):

                                                               i.      On the Windows server-class machine, select Start—> Control Panel —> Administrative Tools  —>  Manager Your Server

                                                             ii.      In the Manager Your Server console select —> Add or Remove a Role

                                                            iii.      Click Next at Preliminary Steps

                                                           iv.      In the Server Role selection box check to see if Application Server (IIS, ASP.NET) is configured. If not then select it and click Next

                                                             v.      After selecting the IIS role,  follow the on-screen instructions until complete

3.       If the requirement of IIS is not met then the Symantec Management Console will show the Task Services checkbox is grayed out during installation

4.       In the Symantec Management Console select the menu item Setting —> Notification Server —> Site Server Setting:

a.       Expand the Site Management folder

b.      View the Subnets folder there should be just one subnet entry with one site server assigned

c.       View the Sites folder —> It will be empty

5.       Select Site Servers folder —> One site server will appear with the type of services that are installed

6.       In the left pane, select New —> Site Server to create a new site server

7.       The Select Computers dialog box appears —> Highlight the site server and move it to the Selected Computers box. Click OK.

Choose a new managed computer to be a new site server

8.       Because we are installing a second task server on the same subnet (remember the NS is a task server).  In the Add/Remove Services window, select the task services. Click OK.

Select to add the Task Service to the new site server

9.       Select Next and then Click OK to finish

The result is a new Site Server was installed on the server machine called SiteServer1 and a Task Service is installed and running on the new Site Server. Tasks can be assigned to the new Task Server which off loads the responsibility from the NS.

You can apply task service settings to the task servers that computers, users, or resources use. Notification Server applies these settings to the chosen task services that are installed on the site servers in your environment.