Hello,
Can someone please provide a high-level overview of the flows between managed client, Manager Server, Manager Proxy, and SCC? Especially I’m interested in knowing the exact purpose of Manager Proxy. What exactly is the difference between using it and not using it? I don’t even know if it is mandatory or optional. Documentation only states that it exists, but do I need it?.. 
Thanks.
Hi @“J.M.” ,
(Usual Disclaimer: I do NOT work at/for SUSE. I’m just another Forum user here)
I’ve found the following web page in the SUSE Documentation that leads to believe that the SUSE Manager Proxy is a SUSE Manager component that serves as an internal, central caching proxy server for software packages, thereby improving performance and reducing bandwidth usage:
From that web page, let me quote here the excerpt that seems to me to be the most relevant:
" (…) SUSE Manager Proxy is a SUSE Manager component that caches software packages on an internal server. The proxy also caches patch updates from SUSE or custom RPMs generated by third-party organizations. A proxy allows you to use bandwidth more effectively because client systems connect to the proxy for updates, and the SUSE Manager server is no longer required to handle all client requests. A SUSE Manager Proxy can serve both Traditional and Salt clients. The proxy also supports transparent custom package deployment.
SUSE Manager Proxy is an open source (GPLv2) solution that provides the following features:
- Cache software packages within a Squid proxy.
- Client systems see the SUSE Manager Proxy as a SUSE Manager server instance.
- The SUSE Manager Proxy is registered as a client system with the SUSE Manager server.
The primary goal of a SUSE Manager Proxy is to improve SUSE Manager performance by reducing bandwidth requirements and accelerating response time. (…) "
Yep I saw that too. But it doesn’t answer any actual use case or shows what the difference in flows between managed client and Suma or SCC is. What would be the difference between the data stored in /var/spacewalk of Suse Manager Server and the data cached by the Suse Manager Proxy?
The SUSE Manager Proxy is an optional component which offloads network traffic and disk pressure from the SUSE Manger Server.
Use cases include:
- When you have a large number of clients (and hence hit network bandwidth limits on the Server)
- When you have clients in several locations (possibly remote). By using a Proxy at those locations, packages are downloaded once to the Proxy and cached, and then clients registered through the Proxy will not need to download from the Server
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Hello, thank you for your answer.
When you crite “a large number of clients”, how many clients do you mean ? 1500 ? 2000 ? Do think that a Proxy is required for 60 clients ?