Configuring Package Location (alternate package destination location) on your Package Server

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

How do I configure the Package Location (alternate package destination location) on my Package Server?

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Resolution

Note:
More information on this topic can be found under:
Add or Edit Package Dialog Box

Package Service Settings

 

Changing the Package Location per specific packages

It can be beneficial to select a different location on your Package Servers to save disk space. When the storage location for a package is changed to a custom location, the Package Server: 

• Moves the files from the old location to the new location
• Deletes the old location
• Checks what is to be downloaded

When files are removed from a package, the Package Server deletes them when it refreshes the package. However, removed files are not deleted if the package has a custom location as it cannot determine if the files are part of the package. Example: several packages with the same destination or the custom location contains user files.

Also, as the Package Server is installed on the same drive as the Altiris Agent you can select a different drive when installing the Agent.

This option is on a per package basis. What that means is that each existing package and all new packages would be configured this way. There currently is not a way to globally change the default location of the packages stored on the package server. All packages will continue to have the default location of "%ProgramFiles%\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Package Delivery". The only way to change this location is by removing the Altiris Agent completely, implying the removal of all subagents, then reinstall the agent on the desired drive.

 

Changing the Package Location

1. In the SMP Console, find the desired package (all packages can be found under Manage>All Resources>Package).
2. Example:
   To change the "Workflow Solution Package" location, find the package in the package list. Select the package and right-click>Actions>Edit Package. Click the Package Servers tab, select "Use custom package destination location on package servers" and enter a location in the field provided.
3. In the location field, specify a directory path or use system environment variables found on the Package Server.
   For multiple package servers this use "%COMPUTERNAME%" in place of the package server name.
   Example:  \\%COMPUTERNAME%\MyShare
   
   
   
   The following are valid paths:
   c:\share\<packagefoldername>
   f:\<packagefoldername>
   \\%COMPUTERNAME%\share\<packagefoldername>
   \\%COMPUTERNAME%\eXpress\<packagefoldername>
   /var/packages/<packagefoldername>

Warning: Ensure you specify a subfolder that is unique to each package in the Use custom package destination location on package servers field.

If you do not specify a sub-folder, or use the same folder for more than one package, this can create a dangerous situation that could remove the entire destination folder and its contents. It is absolutely imperative that you configure an appropriate sub-folder when performing this task; otherwise the contents of your entire share could be deleted when the package is deleted.

When a package is removed (either by it becoming invalid or by manually clearing the Use custom package destination location on package servers field) then the entire folder that the package resides in will be deleted, including any other files originally located there that were not part of the package.

 

Changing the Packages Location for all packages in your Package Servers.

To accomplish this, you can use the "Primary file storage location on Windows OS" option for the Package Service Settings. Refer to KB 150359 "Configuring Primary File Storage Location for Package Servers Post-ITMS 8.x"