Minimun Network bandwidth requirement

[bathesha]

Hi Team,

I'm new to casper and I've to manage 100 mac devices using JAMF server.
Can anybody advice me what is the minimum network bandwidth required to perform network operations between JAMF server and clients machines?
And also share some useful info for implementing same.

Regards,
Bathesha

[davidacland]

Hi @bathesha

There are a few different components that make up Casper, each with there own network requirements. My rough take on it is:

• Client to JSS - Minimal, traffic would be in the kilobytes
• Client to Distribution point - Depends what you are pushing out, some packages can be quite large so I would say aim for at least 100Mb. If you are doing a big rollout or deploying a Casper configuration with a load of packages, gigabit ethernet would be better.
• Client to Netboot - 100Mb does work but I would recommend 1Gb

There are a few other factors like APNS but the ones above are the main topics.

[bathesha]

Hi @davidacland Thanks for the information. I went through below KB Article
"The Casper client checks with the JSS at computer startup and every 30 minutes, causing 2KB of network traffic, 4MB Real Memory, and 0.10 CPU time. In addition, computer inventory is uploaded to the JSS once a day, causing less than 200KB of network traffic, 8MB Real Memory, and 3.74 CPU time. Client/Server communication is encrypted by a certificate pair configured when the client is installed"

My question here is 2kb is what the minimum bandwidth required for each client and less than 200kb while performing inventory?

[davidacland]

the 2KB is a basic "check-in" which occurs on each trigger (determined by the check-in settings in the JSS).

When a computer checks-in, if there are tasks to perform, this network traffic can vary.

If it is due to submit an inventory report it can be around 200KB but might be more if there are a lot of extension attributes configured.

I would say these numbers will be fairly accurate, even with a customised JSS.

[calumhunter]

Hmm soo 100 clients? Why are we even worried about network bandwidth?

[gachowski]

You can get in from the binary too... I don't have a machine with it on to get the command, but I know it is there from my CCE class.

C

[bathesha]

@calumhunter

I'm working for a client and their ask is to know what is the minimum network bandwidth requirement for Casper tool. Please note that JSS servers will be hosted in data center, and 100 Mac machines needs to be managed (Image Management, Patch Management and Software Distribution)
Are there any standards stating that minimum 2Mbps link is required at data center side for a range of Mac devices (say 100 to 500) to be managed???

[calumhunter]

well then the answer would be "depends"

you need 100Megabit to netboot - that is documented on apples kbase

you could deploy software over a 2megabit WAN, but its going to suck if your trying to deploy anything large like say office or adobe CC

I would answer their question with "What are you trying to achieve™?" If it is just inventory, then sure a slow link will be fine. But it depends on what your doing with your clients.

JSS's in the cloud/data centre. Ok cool.. Wheres the DP's? Also cloud? S3? A DP at each office/site/location?

[Chris_Hafner]

Hate to jump on the "it depends" bandwagon but yea, most bandwidth minimums are going to give you generally unacceptable performance. A minimum is, after all a minimum. With that said, you probably won't end up being restricted to minimums (NetBoot may be an exception). I also have to mirrior @calumhunter's question about the location of your DP. That's usually whats going to eat up bandwidth (again, I'm NOT counting NetBoot).

So, to be simple. 100 units can take up as much as 1000 units, depending on a number of things within your control. For example, you can control the frequency of check-ins and where and when your packages can be deployed or requested by the units even when using self service. I use the same server setup as SAP does with a fraction of the machines and yet I push those boxes right to the wall because I have the bandwidth to spare. They're global and have a lot of other considerations in addition to having to deal with worldwide bandwidth limitations, yet it works quite well for them because it was setup to deal with the bandwidth they have from location to location.

If you could. Describe your setup and your worries. We should be able to give you a far better idea then!

EDIT: Yea... sorry I didn't see the post where you were talking about your request. I'm not aware that there are any written minimums from JAMF directly (Please correct me if there are). Regardless, it's also not just one system. You have NetBoot, HTTPS, FileSharing (http/AFP/SMB), APN, VNC, SSH, MySQL, LDAP, Syslog, SMTP, etc... that are utilized by the suite we all call 'Casper'. Each of those services have published minimums. More importantly, each of those services could be in different locations or on different servers unless you are going totally hosted. Your bandwidth considerations are going to be dependent on answering those questions.

[gachowski]

FYI
sudo jamf recon -displayJSSTraffic

[Chris_Hafner]

@gachowski Well that's a neat trick. I'm going to remember that argument well!