Reason for adding another agent computer

Some purchased capabilities of FactoryTalk AssetCentre require the use of agents to perform scheduled operations. Agents are programs that communicate with the FactoryTalk AssetCentre server and perform tasks on behalf of the server. Agents allow work to be distributed and shared among multiple computers to spread processing load and speed up operations. When a server needs an agent to perform a task, it locates the computer running the operation and assigns the task to that agent. The agent then reports the task's completion to the server.

For FactoryTalk AssetCentre version 6.00.00 and later, the Disaster Recovery capability, Scheduled Searches, and Device Monitor use agents.

If you intend to perform a large number of Disaster Recovery operations, you can install the Disaster Recovery agent on up to five computers on your network to help spread out the processing load. You can see how many agent computers are currently in the system on the status bar in the FactoryTalk AssetCentre desktop client.

How do you know if you need more Disaster Recovery agents? Install more Disaster Recovery agents if scheduled operations are taking longer than desired to complete. For more details, see Knowledgebase Document ID: IN29429 - Determining the Necessary Number of FactoryTalk AssetCentre Agents.