Ever wanted to see how much content is being downloaded by each ConfigMgr. client and from where? Then look no further, the Coretech Distribution Point utilization monitor will give you the answers. The tool has a server portion with a database and a client that you install on all distribution points. Once a day the client (agent on the Distribution Point) will collect information from the IIS log files, convert the files to a CSV format and copy them to the server. The server uses a scheduled task in Windows to import all data into the database. Once in the database you can start creating custom views, reports or work with some of the predefined views that we have created.

Download Coretech Distribution Point Utilization Monitor v. 1.1

The Server installation

In this example I’m installing the database on the site server – that is NOT a requirement.

  1. Run CT_SCCMDPUtilization_Server.msi as administrator and click Next.
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  2. Fill in these information and click Next.

    SQL Server: Name of the ConfigMgr SQL server.
    Site Code: site code of your primary site
    AD Group: the name of the Active Directory Security groups that contains all the distribution points. This group will be granted permissions to write files to the share. You must manually create the group and add all distribution points to this group.

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  3. Select the installation folder and click Next. Notice that the installation will contain the CSV files until they are imported in to SQL.

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  4. Click Next to begin the installation process.

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  5. Click Close to finish the wizard

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  6. After the install, check D:\Program Files (x86)\Coretech\Coretech SCCM DP Utilization Monitor Server. Notice the Inbox folder, it’s the share where your distribution point group must have access. The installer automatically configure the required permissions as part of the install process.

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  7. Open Windows task scheduler, navigate to Task Scheduler Library, Coretech. You will see three scheduled tasks.
    SCCM Import DP Utilization: will import all CSV files from the Inbox folder into the database.
    SCCM Summarize DP Utilization: will run the data summarization process.
    SCCM Update CM Information: will synchronize information about content from the Configuration Manager database. This task has multiple daily schedules.
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The Distribution Point installation

The client installer must be installed on the distribution points from where you want to collection information. Once the install is finished each distribution point will have a Windows scheduled task that reads the IIS log files, convert the data into CSV files and copy the files to the server specified in the installation process.

  1. Run CT_SCCMDPUtilization_Agent.msi as administrator and click Next.

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  2. Type the name of the server that will receive the CSV files and click Next.

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  3. By default the agent will collect log activity from the previous day. You can also configure the agent to gather all IIS activity (useful for testing) by selecting All Days. After the first gathering off all log files the agent will only gather information from the previous day.

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  4. Select the installation directory and click Next twice to start the install process.

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  5. Click Close

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  6. Open Windows task scheduler, navigate to Task Scheduler Library, Coretech. By default the task runs once pr. day. In order to run it manually you have to open the properties, select Settings and check Allow task to be run on demand.

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  7. The task will be copy all CSV files to the server share (inbox folder).

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The database

On the server the scheduled task will automatically import CSV files into the database. Once in the database, you can start creating custom views or work with some of the default views.

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  • vDLInfo: All non-summarized data. Data will be deleted after 6 months.

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  • vDLInforPackage: Includes the same information as vDLInfo, but with an individual row for each Package.
  • vDLInfoSum: All summarized data.

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  • vDLInfoSumPackages: Includes the same information as vDLInfoSum, but with an individual row for each Package.

Reports

The tool does not include any custom reports (yet), however we have created a few example reports (for the ConfigMgr 2012 Advanced infrastructure session @MMS). Download there reports here. The Download Information report shows all details like start time/date, computer that downloaded, distribution that was used, content, content size and IP address.

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The DP Utilization pr package report group each package (content) and provides you with a summarized view of the downloaded information.

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The tools is developed by Kaido Järvemets, Claus Codam and Kent Agerlund.