Branch Distribution Points use BITS to transfer DP content from its parent. Since you're using a BDP, you may be crossing low bandwidth WAN links to get that content. You can use BITS throttling to prevent saturation over the WAN.
Provided you don't have group policy configured to manage the settings, an admin can change the settings on the BDP. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WINDOWS\BITS - here's an example configuration:
View Example
EnableBitsMaxBandwidth - this is telling BITS to use the settings configured here.
MaxBandwidthValidFrom - 7:00 am local time
MaxBandwidthValidTo - 6:00 pm local time
MaxTransferRateOffSchedule - 1024 KB/s
MaxTransferRateOnSchedule - 128 KB/s
So you can see from my settings, I'm limiting the transfer rate to 128 KB/s during working hours (7:00 am - 6:00 pm), and allowing 1024 KB/s durring off-hours.
** FYI - for changes to take effect, just cycle the BITS service on the BDP
(and obviously, settings EnableBitsMaxBandwidth=0 removes all BITS throttling)
More information about BITS Throttling (Thanks Tim!): http://blogs.technet.com/tmintner/archive/2006/04/12/425112.aspx
Something else to watch for:
The task sequence does not run on the protected branch distribution points in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (FYI - fixed in SP1)
Systems Management Server 2003 clients cannot download a software package from a BITS-enabled Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 distribution point on a Windows Server 2008-based computer (not fixed in SP1)
Additional Info:
http://blogs.msdn.com/steverac/archive/2007/10/26/branch-dp-internals-sccm-2007.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/08/BranchDP/default.aspx
Greg
(greg_ramsey@dell.com)