McAfee recommends using global updating with your updating strategy. Global updating automates replication to your distributed repositories and updating managed systems. Replication and update tasks are not required. Checking contents in to your master repository initiates a global update. The entire process should complete within an hour in most environments.
Additionally, you can specify which packages and updates initiate a global update. However, when you only specify that certain content initiates a global update, ensure that you create a replication task to distribute content that was not selected to initiate a global update.
NOTE: When using global updating, McAfee recommends scheduling a regular pull task (to update the master repository) at a time when network traffic is minimal. Although global updating is much faster than other methods, it increases network traffic during the update.
Global updating process
Global updating updates most environments within an hour using this process: 1 Contents are checked in to the master repository. 2 The server performs an incremental replication to all distributed repositories. 3 The server issues a superagent wakeup call to all superagents in the environment. 4 The superagent broadcasts a global update message to all agents within the superagent subnet. 5 Upon receipt of the broadcast, the agent is supplied with a minimum catalog version needed for updating. 6 The agent searches the distributed repositories for a site that has this minimum catalog version. 7 Once a suitable repository is found, the agent runs the update task.
If the agent does not receive the broadcast for any reason, such as the client computer is turned off, or there are no superagents, then at the next ASCI, the minimum catalog version is supplied which kicks off the process.
NOTE:
If the agent received notification from a superagent, the agent is supplied with the list of updated packages. If agent finds the new catalog version at the next ASCI, it is not supplied with the list of packages to update and therefore updates all packages available.
Requirements
These requirements must be met to implement global updating:
• A SuperAgent must use the same agent-server secure communication key as the agents that receive its wake-up call.
• A SuperAgent is installed on each broadcast segment. Managed systems cannot receive a SuperAgent wake-up call if there is no SuperAgent on the same broadcast segment. Global updating utilizes the SuperAgent wake-up call to alert agents that new updates are available.
• Distributed repositories are set up and configured throughout your environment. McAfee recommends SuperAgent repositories, but they are not required — global updating functions with all types of distributed repositories.
• If using SuperAgent repositories, managed systems must be able to “see” the repository from which it updates. Although, a SuperAgent is required on each broadcast segment for systems to receive the wake-up call, SuperAgent repositories are not required on each broadcast segment, but the managed systems must “see” the SuperAgent repository from which to update.
Global Threat Condition: Severe
