A short overview of the network connections between Acronis OS Deploy Server and Acronis Snap Deploy Agent during image deployment process

This article applies to:

• Acronis Snap Deploy 5
• Acronis Snap Deploy 4
• Acronis Snap Deploy 3
• Acronis Snap Deploy 2

Description

By default, Acronis Snap Deploy uses the following ports and IP-addresses for components management (not for deployment):

• UDP port: 9876
• TCP port: 9876, if busy, choose a port at random
• IPv4 multicast address: 239.255.219.45
• IPv6 multicast address: FF05::fAA5:741E.
• Acronis Snap Deploy Management Console UDP port: 9877, if busy, choose a port randomly

The procedure of image deployment goes as follows:

1. When Acronis Snap Deploy Agent starts, it discovers Acronis OS Deploy Server using Multicast (239.255.219.45);
2. Having discovered Acronis OS Deploy Server, Acronis Snap Deploy Agent connects to Acronis OS Deploy Server via TCP/IP to get information on Acronis OS Deploy Server and indicates its presence in the network;
3. Right after you specify all the deployment options and launch the deployment script, Acronis OS Deploy Server initiates the deployment by sending a packet to Port 23232:

• via UDP to the IP-Addresses of the Agent machines if the Unicast deployment method is selected;
• via Multicast by assigning one Multicast IP from the range of 239.10.12.2 to 239.255.255.254 per each Agent and sending the initialization packet to each one if the Multicast method is selected.

1. Acronis Snap Deploy Agent modules reply to the initialization request; the Agent confirms that it is ready for deployment;
2. Acronis OS Deploy Server starts the deployment to the Agent machines:

• via TCP/IP to the IP-Addresses of the Agent machines (using a random port assigned to the session by Windows) if the Unicast deployment method is selected;
• via Multicast (the 1024 port) by assigning one Multicast IP from the range of 239.10.10.10 to 239.255.255.254 for each deployment session, which may consist of several Agents, and deploying the image to each of the Agents, which in turn substitute the Multicast IP if the Multicast method is selected. It is also possible to have multiple simultaneous deployment sessions..

1. At the same time Acronis OS Deploy Server sets up sessions with Acronis Snap Deploy Agent modules using the TCP/IP protocol, via Port 31245. These sessions are used by Acronis OS Deploy Server to track the deployment progress on the Agent machines and to update the status of the process in Acronis OS Deploy Server GUI.

More information

See also Acronis Snap Deploy User's Guide.