Client Network Traffic tests
These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights.
The following information is for example purposes only. Do not rely on this information for a production deployment. These are meant to show the areas you should test for when evaluating ConfigMgr client activity impact on your network before going into production. The results are specific to the below ConfigMgr configuration and will vary from environment to environment.
UPDATE (22/04/2013): The System Center 2012 Configuration Manager version of this post can be found here: https://aka.ms/pwlunk
To perform this sort of testing you can use NetMon 3.3, and the Top Users Netmon Expert. Basically, the process is:
- Start Capture (easiest in Mixed Mode)
- Perform Activity
- Stop Capture
- Run the Top Users expert
For more information on Netmon traffic tracing see the following:
- How to capture network traffic with Network Monitor: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/148942
- Microsoft Network Monitor 3.3 download: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=983b941d-06cb-4658-b7f6-3088333d062f&displaylang=en
- NetMon Experts (including Top Users): https://nmexperts.codeplex.com/
- NetMon Open Source Parsers: https://nmparsers.codeplex.com/
Activity |
Type |
Average Bytes |
Attempts |
Client to Server Bytes |
Server to Client Bytes |
Policy Polling Request |
MP |
3,499 |
5 |
2,933 |
566 |
Software Update Scan (Regular) |
MP |
6,881 |
1 |
3,056 |
3,825 |
Software Update Scan (Regular) |
SUP |
56,527 |
1 |
50,197 |
6,330 |
Software Update Scan (Fresh AU DB) |
MP |
22,408 |
1 |
16,088 |
6,320 |
Software Update Scan (Fresh AU DB) |
SUP |
5,539,666 |
1 |
574,877 |
4,964,789 |
Hardware Inventory (Delta) |
MP |
17,080 |
1 |
14,519 |
2,561 |
Hardware Inventory (Empty) |
MP |
7,023 |
1 |
6,350 |
673 |
Software Inventory (Empty) |
MP |
6,072 |
1 |
5,399 |
673 |
Hardware Inventory (Full) |
MP |
72,678 |
1 |
69,467 |
3,211 |
Software Inventory (Full) |
MP |
291,314 |
1 |
288,792 |
2,522 |
Software Distribution Policy Poll (Advert Download) |
MP |
14,452 |
1 |
6,161 |
8,291 |
Notes on Test Configuration
- Software Inventory Configuration:
- Inventory Rules: *.exe
- Items Inventoried: 2128 files
- Hardware Inventory Configuration:
- Standard SMS_DEF.MOF --> All AI configurations turned on
- Software Updates Configuration:
- Last Synched: 13/5/2009, 12:05 AM
- Products:
- Exchange Server 2007
- Office 2007
- SQL Server
- SQL Server 2005
- Forefront Threat Management Gateway, Definition Updates
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows XP
- Windows 7 Client
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows Vista
- CAPICOM
- System Center Configuration Management 2007
- Visual Studio 2005
- Visual Studio 2008
- Classifications
- Critical Updates
- Definition Updates
- Security Updates
- Service Packs
- Update Rollups
- Updates
- Client Configuration:
- Windows Server 2008, x64
- SQL Server 2005
- Programs Registered in Add/Remove Programs: 11
- Updates Registered in Add/Remove Programs: 6
Note on SUP/WSUS traffic: Below is some additional (though less comprehensive) testing performed for this information.
- Clients pulling metadata from a SUP with Windows Vista and Office 2007 installed have been observed requiring 21MB worth of metadata.
- Client pulling metadata from a SUP with Windows Vista, Office 2007 and FCS installed have been observed requiring 34MB worth of metadata, with 4MB of upstream (client to server) traffic.
This post was contributed by Saud Al-Mishari, a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft Premier Field Engineering, UK.