Understanding Relays

Relays are optional network components that can significantly improve the performance of your installation.

Downloads and patches, which are often large files, represent by far the greatest fraction of the program's bandwidth. Relays are designed to take over the bulk of the download burden from the BigFix Server. Rather than downloading patches directly from a Server, Clients can instead be instructed to download from designated Relays, significantly reducing both server load and client/server network traffic. Relays help in the upstream direction as well, compiling and compressing data received from the Clients before passing it on to the Server. Any Windows 200x, Windows 7, Vista, or XP-based client can serve as a Relay. Several other operating systems can support relays as well, such as Solaris, and some variants of Linux. See the support site for the latest information.

A Relay simultaneously resolves two bottlenecks:

  • Relieves the Load on BigFix Servers. This Server has many duties, among them the difficult job of distributing patches and other files. A Relay can be set up to ease this burden, so that the Server does not need to distribute the same files to every Client. Instead, the file is sent once to the Relay, which in turn distributes it to several Clients. The overhead on the Server is reduced, on average, by the ratio of relays to clients.
  • Reduces Congestion on Low-Bandwidth Connections. If you have a BigFix Server communicating with a dozen computers in a remote office over a slow VPN, designate one of those computers as a Relay. Then, instead of sending patches over the VPN to every BigFix Client independently, the BigFix Server only sends a single copy to the Relay. That Relay, in turn, distributes the file to the other computers in the remote office over its own fast LAN. This effectively removes the VPN bottleneck for remote groups on your network.
    Note: Relays also work well to reduce total network usage when used on subnets connected through switches on your LAN. Ask HCL Software Support for more details.

Assigning Relays is simple, and Clients can be configured to automatically discover and link to them. The program enables the Clients to discover their nearest relays, or they can be configured manually.