If the Package Services are installed on the Symantec Management Platform (SMP) Server, it causes problems with Deployment packages.  There may be problems with codebases being out-of-synch, with security, with files being removed/deleted, etc.

Some known symptoms include:

• Driver.manifest.txt has no data / was deleted and has to be re-created over and over.
• Images re-downloading.
• code-bases out-of-synch with site servers and having to re-download over and over.

Symantec Management Platform 7.x and 8.x

This occurs because, in the case of Deployment Packages, the "source" and "destination" locations of the packages are the same. When replication attempts to occur, files may be in use, deleted as they are updated and then the "source" is removed as well, permissions locked causing permission issues, etc. It all happens because the replication and reading of files happen at the same time.

The problem is unique to Deployment Solution because it uses as a source the Deployment Share, which is also the destination for the same packages. Other packages do not see this symptom. DS 7.5 will also not have this problem because the Deployment share is no longer used.

It is not recommended as a "Best Practice" to install Package Services on the SMP server, though it is possible. It is known to add additional load to the SMP Server because the packages are all duplicated (except for the DS packages) and the SMP is already very busy with file transfer, so we don't really need to add yet more file load.

In the case of Deployment Solution, additional problems occur, such as those mentioned above.

Thus, to resolve the issue, the Package services should be removed from the SMP itself, and if it must have a package server, install the Package Server services on another system. It should be noted that package services take up very little RAM since it's mostly a UNC location or file transfer over HTTP if desired.

It should however be noted that the site server, for DS 7.0-7.1 must also have Task and DS components on it to work.

To remove Package Services from the SMP:

• Go to Settings > Notification Server > Site Server Settings.
• Expand Site Services on the left and then highlight Site Servers. On the right, you'll see all your site servers.
• Highlight the SMP server, and click the pencil to edit it.
• Remove the check box from Package Services if it's listed and complete the wizard.

Finally, a Package Server is not generally needed on the SMP in a single server environment.  The package "source" locations are also delivered out as code bases to clients requesting packages. The only possible exception to this might be in a hierarchy where the child location is very small for whatever reason and Package services are required for replication.  For a single site and single server though, Deployment will work fine without adding Package Services to the SMP.  All of the packages have a "source" code base, the DS components are installed by default, images can be captured to the SMP fine even without this and since it's a single site scenario, no "package" servers are needed for package replication. This is a possible configuration for under 500 users, as a general rule.