Right, you’ll want to tune it, especially as (I think) the “add nohash prefetch item” does not allow for Relays to cache the download, so each client might trigger a specific download for the file.
Other option (which is what my org actually uses), is to attach the manifest as a Site File using the console. Then it gets distributed to all of the clients, cached on relays, etc. and only gets pushed out again when the file changes.
You’ll probably want to keep a single file with all the manifest items (for easier updates), but maybe it’s worth having another script that breaks the file into chunks before the clients download them / before they’re attached to a site. Maybe something like putting downloads beginning with “a-c” in one file, “d-f” in another, etc.
I personally use the 7zip command line in many of my tasks and place it in the client utility cache because I use it so often. I don’t actually check for 7zip to already be installed or install it, I just download & use it dynamically.
I have used the Bigfix archive tool to cram lots of configuration files into a single archive to send down to all endpoints. It compresses well and has built in support for all clients:
Then all you have to do is, prefetch the archived file, then do a extract command in the actionscript and find the appropriate file for each system. I organize the configuration files by computer id to simplify the lookup.
thanks. I think i have the process working now. I decided to go away from dynamic downloads and manifest files because it just caused to much overheads for the amount of files I needed to include in the manifests (hundreds of thousands).
It still would be nice to be able to have an API/cgi sitting behind the besrelay (like the Relay Diagnostics page does on :52311/rd ) that would allow for customization,
If you archive all of the files together you can target all (or a subset) of your systems with one action. Makes the action simpler and decreases load.
Of course if your configuration file contents change a lot that makes everything more complex.