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Title
Limiting Agent BITS Max upload speeds -
Description
How to limit the Max BITS upload speeds -
Cause
BITS is used to upload PST data from a workstation to the uploads share on the Core server. In a default configuration, BITS will determine the total bandwidth available to a client and dynamically throttle the upload of a PST file by balancing client workload and bandwidth availability. As of version 3.4, the MMPSTEE (Migration Manager for PSTs Enterprise Edition) Agent has additional capabilities to set limits on the total bandwidth available to an agent based on a configurable schedule. Unique profiles can be set up that limit bandwidth usage based on certain user characteristics. For example, a profile might be set up for users in a remote office with a low bandwidth connection and, within that profile, BITS bandwidth can be limited by time of day. -
Resolution
To enable the MMPSTEE Agent to control the max bandwidth available to BITS based on a schedule:
- Determine the max bandwidth desired to be used during business hours per Agent
- Determine off hours max bandwidth per Agent
- Update applicable migration agent config XML with desired configuration **
** If multiple configurations are required for different types of users, Agent profiles for each use case may be created to accommodate this need.
The BITS configuration changes are done in the Agent XML by adding three lines to the bottom of the file
<BitsUploadMaxSpeedBusinessHours>xxx</BitsUploadMaxSpeedBusinessHours>
<BitsUploadMaxSpeedNonBusinessHours>yyy</BitsUploadMaxSpeedNonBusinessHours>
<BitsUploadSpeedSchedule>zzz</BitsUploadSpeedSchedule>These changes configure the MMPSTEE Agent at the time the upload starts, and are reflected in the migration agent log.
Details
Once the various parameters are determined, they are set up in the following steps.
Modify the MMPSTEE Agent config file for a given profile.
<BitsUploadMaxSpeedBusinessHours>xxx</BitsUploadMaxSpeedBusinessHours>
<BitsUploadMaxSpeedNonBusinessHours>yyy</BitsUploadMaxSpeedNonBusinessHours>
<BitsUploadSpeedSchedule>zzz</BitsUploadSpeedSchedule>where
xxx is the business hours bandwidth limit in kilobits/sec
yyy is the non-business hours bandwidth limit in kilobits/sec
zzz is the schedule in hex format.To determine the hex value of the schedule:
- Click schedule editor
- Select "At selected times"
- Manipulate the schedule in the grid
- Click Set when done
- Copy the displayed hex code as shown below
- Paste it in the zzz area of <BitsUploadSpeedSchedule>zzz</BitsUploadSpeedSchedule>
- Save the config file
Once the migration has started, the config information is transferred to the workstation, and is annotated in the migration agent log as shown below.
2015-08-21T12:54:16.7091533+02:00|Info|8|ClientCopyCore|ExecutingProcess.ProcessUpload => BitsLimitation.CheckBitsLimitation => LoggerImpl.Write|Changing Bits settings to: Enabled:True On/Off schedule: 369/2214 From/To: 8/17
Once the config changes are received by the agent, changes are made to the workstation registry as shown below. These keys are located in HKLM\software\policies\microsoft\windows\BITS.
The configuration can also be seen using gpedit.msc as show below.\
