Empirum's depot servers are a very flexible solution for distributing network loads in large or distributed environments. Depot servers can also be used as fallback servers to ensure a higher degree of availability of often business-critical software distribution processes.

There are three different variants of depot servers:

• Standard depot – A Windows server that provides the required network shares to be used as Empirum server for computers. It provisions all software packages and operating system sources and is used to store log and inventory files. The EmpSync service is installed on the server to synchronize the data with the master depot.
• Active depot – Same as standard depot, plus the Windows PXE, TFTPD and WOL services, which are also installed on the depot.
• Passive depot – Any computer that can provide nested SMB shares (NAS, Windows, Linux...). No service is installed on this computer. File synchronization is done via the master server.

Please refer to the system requirements for more detailed information on supported operating systems.

EmpSync plays a key role for depot server management. This Windows service uses configurable Sync Templates and performs all synchronization tasks, based on a scheduler. More detailed information can be found under Sync Templates and Depot Server Best Practice.

Depot servers are installed and configured via three software packages:

• Empirum Subdepot – Installs EmpSync and the assigned Sync templates as well as the iperf (bandwidth determination) and rsync (alternative protocol) services.
• Empirum Subdepot Services – Installs PXE, TFTPD and WOL services.
• Empirum Subdepot Webservice Configuration – Installs and configures Windows IIS for http(s) and FTP servers.