Managing remote file servers
A remote file server is used to define where device OS images might be stored outside of the BMC Network Automation local database. Normally, OS image snapshot and deploy actions use the local database to store the OS image files. The file is transferred between the BMC Network Automation server and the device agent, and between the device agent and the device. Because image files can be large, transferring them might increase the traffic load on your network in an undesirable way. You can choose to store your image files on a remote host instead, where this host is remote from the BMC Network Automation server and agent systems, but is local to, or physically co-located with the device.
A remote file server defines the host name or IP address of the host system, and the file transfer servers available on that system, with credentials for using FTP and SCP. Once one or more such servers are defined, you can then associate each device with its remote file server, run OS image snapshot actions to copy OS image files from the device to the remote file server, and run OS image deploy actions to copy OS image files from the remote file server to the device.
The following topics describe how to add and edit remote file servers, and view the list of remote file servers: