Do I deploy 1E Nomad everywhere, or to remote clients only? (Part 1)

Background

OK, so you're tired of the out-of-the-box Configuration Manager software distribution process melting your WAN links, and fed up with baby-sitting Distribution Points (DPs). Add to that the 1E Sales guy and his techie sidekick have you convinced that 1E Nomad is clearly the right solution to your problems. Maybe you did a pilot test actually running the solution on one of your actual problem-child links and everything is going really well. Now you're down to the point of negotiating the actual price, which is based on the number of machines where Nomad is actually installed. Your obvious inclination is to minimize cost and opt to purchase the tool for only those systems across the WAN from the Configuration Manager mother ship. After all, you have some nice fat LAN pipes in that location, right? No need for added cost by putting Nomad on those systems is there?
Well just maybe there really is a solid reason to deploy Nomad "everywhere"! I've had a lot of years as a Configuration Manager administrator under my belt, and now I have nearly as many as a 1E Solutions Engineer. In my Admin role I know the aggravation that DPs impart. In my 1E role, I am now the Sales Guy's techie sidekick. In this role it is my responsibility to make sure a potential customer understands our products intimately so they can make informed purchase decisions. I take that responsibility seriously. This "where do I need this Nomad thing really??" question is one decision point I always try to get across so they can make a truly informed decision as the consideration for purchase is tossed around. Here is some food for thought if you find yourself in a similar circumstance to help you understand the important nuances of one decision over the other.
Think about this question for a minute: "Imagine how much easier your life becomes if you had a fully automated and self-managing Distribution Point on every subnet in your entire estate? Think of all the things you could then do easily!"

Nomad Deployed Everywhere

Let's list some of the things that should come to mind:

• Fewer DPs all around
  • hard and soft dollar savings realized here immediately
  • fewer Windows Server OS licenses to buy, pay annual maintenance on, patch, upgrade and so on
• Fewer hassles and time wasted troubleshooting package fan-out issues and failed replications
  • this is especially problematic if you have a lot of DPs
  • you push a package to 100 DPs, and 10 are stuck at INSTALL PENDING
  • off you go chasing logs and trying to figure out what went wrong
• Ability to target very large packages to a very large collection without concern for overloading your DPs in any given location – no need for staged deployments unless there are other business considerations at play
• Faster deployments – especially important for security updates and related compliance concerns
• Laptop road warriors can travel anywhere in the estate (or the world for that matter!) and always be assured of receiving content regardless of where they are
  • eliminates a "Headquarters" system without Nomad travelling to a remote site (or home office, hotel, etc) where there is no DP available, and then trying to get content
• Less IIS traffic by reducing the number of IIS "sites" living on DPs throughout the enterprise
  • this also means fewer attack surfaces and security concerns around IIS malware
• Less router traffic
• Improved and fully automated cache management and related DP disk capacity storage considerations
• 24/7 deployment capabilities everywhere
  • no impact to user productivity as content is quietly distributed and pre-cached around the estate in the background
  • the source is then readily available at execution time on the local client
• One standard Task Sequence for all OS Deployment scenarios
• State Migration Points are eliminated
• PxE service points are eliminated
• Purchasing Nomad across the enterprise means a cheaper overall solution
  • alternative is purchasing DP hardware and all the related costs inherent in managing a server
  • purchasing yet again four or five years down the road at end of server life
• No need to struggle with which machines, and where, are allowed a Nomad client install

The list could easily go on from here, but what are some of the negatives that may arise if the Nomad functionality is only found on those distant WAN connected locations? I will address that in a follow-on article as Part 2.
Read more about Nomad at https://www.1e.com/nomad/, or follow our LinkedIn Showcase page.