Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) has been a popular choice for IT professionals to manage Windows laptops, workstations and servers for many years. SMS is designed to operate in a distributed network with multiple sites and offices, requiring distribution points at each remote site and branch office to offset performance issues caused by WAN links with limited bandwidth and increased latency.

SMS software packages can consist of large data sets, which are normally scheduled for delivery during off-peak hours to prevent SMS traffic from competing with business-critical applications. However, even with these schedules in place, there is still potential for these tasks to run longer than expected and result in WAN congestion during business hours.

In tests using a Windows XP client, Blue Coat ProxySG appliances reduced the transfer time of SMS packages by over 15 times, while simultaneously decreasing bandwidth usage to near zero, a 99% performance improvement. The tests included downloading an entire directory and an individual installation file, where the WAN link from the client to the distribution point had a bandwidth of 1.544 Mbps (T1 link) and 100ms latency.

To learn more, read the Application Performance Brief: Microsoft SMS2003