concept distribution point in category system administration

This is an excerpt from Manning's book Learn System Center Configuration Manager in a Month of Lunches: Covers SCCM 1511 and Windows 10. Login to get full access to this book.

Figure 8.2. A distribution point holds content for ConfigMgr clients to access.

Regardless of whether you deploy software against a device or a user, it’s the locally installed ConfigMgr agent that will perform the content retrieval and installation. To do this, the ConfigMgr agent has to be able to access the content that it needs to install the software, and you have to make the software content available on a distribution point.

A distribution point (or DP) is a ConfigMgr server role that provides content to ConfigMgr clients, as shown in figure 8.2.

Figure 8.2. A distribution point holds content for ConfigMgr clients to access.

Distribution points are an absolutely critical part of your ConfigMgr environment. You might have the best applications and the most well-defined, sculpted, and glistening Boundaries in the business, but if your DPs are unhealthy—well, bad times, people. Bad times.

9.1. Understanding distribution points

Conceptually, distribution points can be thought of as content-access points—where ConfigMgr clients go to access content made available to them by the ConfigMgr server. ConfigMgr’s modular approach means that a single ConfigMgr server can support multiple DPs, as shown in figure 9.2.