10 Questions You Should Ask About Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad. My previous blog comparing Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad raised some questions, and I’ve been researching the answers.
I am always curious why Microsoft doesn’t take over one of these products so that ConfigMgr clients don’t want to pay more for the improved performance of a Microsoft product—Adaptiva Onesite vs. 1E Nomad.
In this blog, I’ll suggest 10 questions everyone should ask about these products before using them: Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad comparison.
Updated on 15th Feb 2021—The original review was done in 2011, and I have not updated it since. I recommend testing and confirming which product is more suitable for your organization.
10 Questions You Should Ask About Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
Q1: Will it eliminate all my Distribution Points?
OneSite – Yes, it eliminates all DPs.
Nomad – No, DPs are still required.
OneSite doesn’t use DPs at all. OneSite server acquires packages directly from the Site server and now sends the first copy to the first client. All subsequent downloads are from one client to another.
Nomad elects one client as the Master client for each subnet, which must have a DP available to copy packages. According to Mark Cochrane of vNext, “Our original architecture relied on 700 servers; with Nomad, we have dropped that to 300″.
Q2: Can it prevent WAN congestion? Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, monitors routers to prevent congestion
Nomad – No, uses a ping method that reacts to congestion after it has occurred
OneSite measures the length of data queues on the routers and sends a chunk of data only when the queue is nearly empty. This prevents network congestion even before it happens.
According to 1E, Nomad clients ping the DP every 4 seconds and slow down their copying if the responses get delayed. Usually, pings get across the WAN very quickly. If pings are delayed, it is a vital sign that network congestion has already happened.
Q3: Will it compress data sent over the WAN -Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, compresses packages before sending over the WAN
Nomad – No, copies of full packages
The OneSite server compresses each package while acquiring it and publishes a highly compressed copy. This compressed copy is then sent across the WAN.
In my testing, I created an AutoCAD package with all prerequisites, totalling 3 GB. OneSite compressed it to 2 GB before sending it over the WAN and then re-expanded it into the client cache.
Nomad Master clients copy complete expanded packages directly from the DP, so there is no compression.
Q4: Can it do byte-level differencing? Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad.
OneSite – Yes, it automatically performs byte-level differencing
Nomad – No, there is no byte-level differencing
Byte level differencing is especially useful for images. In my testing, when I added some files to an image, OneSite automatically sent out only a tiny diff file instead of the whole picture.
Nomad has to resend the whole image after any changes have been made.
UPDATE: The latest version of Nomad has added support for byte-level differencing. I haven’t tested it. Please verify and confirm.
Q5: Is it really peer-to-peer? Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, one client sends to only one other client
Nomad – No, the master client behaves like a BDP
OneSite clients arrange themselves in a daisy chain, and each client sends the package to the next, and so on. Each client sends the package to only one other client. It behaves like a true Peer to Peer system.
In the case of Nomad, one of the clients on each subnet gets elected as the Master, all other clients connect to it and start copying files over SMB. This is very similar to how a BDP works.
Q6: Will it manage client caches? Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, caching file system
Nomad – No, separate tools are provided
OneSite contains a caching file system driver, which creates a virtual SAN in each branch office. It automatically manages the client caches for the whole branch office, and there is never a need to manage the cache manually.
Nomad starts deleting packages based on package priority when the disk is more than 90% full. But this can lead to the deletion of useful packages, so tools have been provided which administrators can run manually to delete useless packages.
Q7: Can it support PXE in branch offices? Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, Peer to Peer PXE built-in, no extra purchase or install required.
Nomad – Yes, PXE Lite purchased Enterprise edition and consulting services.
OneSite includes Peer-to-Peer PXE built-in.
http://adaptiva.blogspot.com/2011/09/adaptiva-one-site-bare-metal-osd-using.html
Adaptiva states, “P2P PXE is included with your basic One Site license – there are no additional licensing costs and no consulting services that need to be purchased”.
OneSite’s P2P PXE doesn’t require installation: “No servers or server roles are required. No router changes are required. No DHCP server configuration changes are required. There is nothing to install or configure in any of your branch offices, period.”
Nomad branch and PXE Lite are sold together as Nomad Enterprise, which also requires the purchase of professional services for deployment. According to 1E, “this tool is also a bit complex to set up initially, hence the need for a services engagement in production.”
This is probably because PXELiteServer.EXE needs to be installed on 2 – 3 machines on each subnet of every branch office for the solution to work.
According to 1E, “There’s also a web service which PXE Lite Server uses to interface with the ConfigMgr database; there’s a stored procedure which is installed into the ConfigMgr database (for the use of the web service, unsurprisingly).”
Q8: Will it give me visibility into downloads? -Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, 40 real-time web reports are built-in, showing WAN and LAN costs, etc.
Nomad—There is no reporting, but the client-side console can be used to view downloads happening on a single machine.
OneSite automatically creates about 40 real-time web reports during installation. These display real-time data about all downloads, per collection, per package, per AD site, etc., including the WAN and LAN costs for each download.
Nomad provides a console that can be used for visibility into a single client machine, but no central reporting feature is provided.
Q9: What kind of SCCM data can it manage? -Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Packages, Policy, Hardware Inventory, Software Inventory, Software metering, Status messages
Nomad – Packages
OneSite is meant to be a solution for all kinds of SCCM data, including SCCM Policy, all types of Inventory data, and Status messages, in addition to Packages.
Nomad manages only SCCM Packages.
Q10: Does it support package encryption? Adaptiva OneSite and 1E Nomad
OneSite – Yes, packages can be encrypted with a 128-bit security key
Nomad – No, there is no support for package encryption
OneSite contains a built-in encryption engine that encrypts packages using a 128-bit encryption key. Clients can host and share the packages with others, but only those clients can use the packages targeted with an advertisement.
Nomad does not support package encryption.
Update 26-Sept-2012: I’ve seen another post that claims my post compares “1E’s Nomad 2012 and Adaptiva OneSite.” The author of that post must have at least cross-checked the release date of my post, 7-Sep-2011, with the release date of Nomad 2012 :). As per myITforum post, on 25 July 2012, 1E, the global leader in IT efficiency software, announced the launch of Nomad 2012™.
I didn’t have enough time to update this post to compare 1E Nomad 2012 and the latest version of Adaptiva OneSite. I’m happy that the 1E Nomad team took my comparisons seriously and improved their product :). Always test, test, and test before buying any product 🙂 So that you’ll come to know which one is the better product 🙂
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Author
Anoop C Nair has been Microsoft MVP from 2015 onwards for 10 consecutive years! He is a Workplace Solution Architect with more than 22+ years of experience in Workplace technologies. He is also a Blogger, Speaker, and leader of the Local User Group Community. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM and Intune. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Windows, Entra, Microsoft Security, Career, etc..
There is a lot of bogus information in this blog which equals disinformation. This blog post should be removed until the correct answers can be given.
Brian – I would enjoy an intelligent discussion with you. Do you think you could start by pointing out some of these “lot of bogus information” things you’ve mentioned?
Hi, Anoop! There’s a lot of information in here that is not correct. You should probably have a real chat with a 1E person prior to posting because it really looks more like a marketing piece instead of a technically accurate post.
Hi Rod – I have used Nomad for a long time, I know how it works. I would enjoy a public discussion with you. Please prove me wrong if you think any of the above is inaccurate.
I would like to say one thing though. As a paid blogger for 1E, please be respectful towards those who volunteer their time to write technical blogs.
Hi Annop, appriciate your post. Lots of valid questions which customers Can and should look into themselves. Thanks. BR
Hi Anoop,
I want to speak with you to take advise which product is best from your experience and key challenges you have faced so far.
Please call me or give me you number.
Thanks
9886454161
Hi Anoop,
I am very new to One Site and we have this configured on our network. The issue we are experiencing is with Content Holders on site and specifically those that have 2Gb of RAM. Is there an elegant way of using One Site to exclude machines with a paritcular specification from being nominated as site content holders?
Kingsley
Hi ! – Yes, you can make a collection of these machines, and use Adaptiva System Config settings to set client type to “prohibited” for this collection. Have you looked at using Intellistage features of OneSite? Adaptiva’s support is very good, you should also email them at support – at – adaptiva – dot – com.
Regards
Anoop
Post is quite old but still relevant for giving product overview as i was only looking information for Adaptiva. Thanks Anoop, keep up the good work.
What does this setting do? On 64 bit servers, it is located in the Wow6432Node area. My cluster servers are set this way & whichever server owns the MES cluster, the Adaptiva service sits between 10 & 20% CPU usage, which is not acceptable. How do I restrict this app from hogging useful CPU cycles from my 5+ year old production servers?!? They already have a full time job running our shop floor.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adaptiva\Client
set this value to -1;
contentsystem.client_type
Did you try to contact Adaptiva support with regards to this issue? I never heard about this issue personally.
Online with them now. You can cancel this thread.
Ok Thank you.
Anoop,
Firstly, fabulous write up and it is fascinating to see that this post is relevant even after 7 years. We recently recommended Adaptiva to a customer and encountered a few questions and would like to understand how Adaptiva addresses these concerns.
1. We understand that an unlimited storage (virtual SAN) is created in each network location by combining individual client caches. Consider a big application package being deployed to a site during late office hours where majority of these client caches are unavailable, where would the package come from? Primary Site server or will it wait till the time the peering client caches are back to the network.
2. Does each client machine’s unallocated disk space get used for storing the content?i.e. all packages are stored on the Adaptiva cache at each PC or it is only the package content? what happens when one of the client goes down? Where does the downloading client go to get the missing byte/bit? What happens when an end user requests application from a Self service portal on a weekend (while he is in office) when no other machine is available on the network. Where does the client get the package from, Primary site server?
3. Consider a very remote site where we have only a few devices. How does Adaptiva handle this?
Appreciate you taking some time out and responding.
Cheers!