# Remote office management

## Table of contents

1. [When to use Distribution Server](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/managing-computers-from-cloud.html#DS)
2. [When to use direct communication](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/managing-computers-from-cloud.html#direct)
3. [Managing endpoints from Cloud server](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/managing-computers-from-cloud.html#cloud)
4. [Adding Multiple Remote offices](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/managing-computers-from-cloud.html#multiple)
5. [Modifying a remote office](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/managing-computers-from-cloud.html#modify)

With rapid increase in globalization, most companies have their branch offices spread across the world. Managing computers in these branch offices effectively is always a tedious job for the system administrators. With Endpoint Central in hand, managing computers in WAN across remote offices will turn out to be a much easier process. To manage computers in a remote location you have to add remote offices. You can add and modify the remote offices according to your requirement. Communication across these remote offices is possible in two ways:

- Through Distribution Server
- Direct communication with Endpoint Central server

## When to use Distribution Server

Distribution server acts as a communication layer between your remote office computers and the Endpoint Central server. It replicates the software and patch binaries from the Endpoint Central server and gives it to the computers in that remote office. The remote office computers, instead of getting the patch and software binaries individually from the Endpoint Central server, get it from the Distribution server, thus saving your WAN bandwidth.

It is ideal to use a Distribution Server if you have limited WAN bandwidth and if you can afford to keep a dedicated computer which should be always running to serve as the Distribution server. We recommend a Distribution server when you manage more than 10 computers in your remote office.

## When to use direct communication

When you choose your communication type as Direct communication, all the remote office computers will get the required data from the Endpoint Central server directly. You can use this option if you have limited computers in your remote office, say less than 10, or if you do not have any bandwidth limitation.

## Managing endpoints from Cloud server

For managing computers in cloud, you have to add a remote office. You can add the remote office by selecting the **Remote offices** tab and clicking **Add Remote office**.

1. As discussed above, decide on the communication type you wish to choose while adding a remote office either **Through Distribution Server** or **Direct Communication** (Direct communication is available only in Enterprise, UEM, Security and Trial editions).
2. If you choose the communication type **Through Distribution Server**, provide the domain name, computer name, IP address, HTTP, HTTPS ports and select a replication policy.
3. If you have already added the domain, you can add the computers to be managed either directly by clicking the **Add Computers** option, or by importing a **CSV file**.
4. If you choose the communication type **Direct Communication**, select the replication policy.
5. In both **Through Distribution Server** and **Direct Communication**, if you would like to configure proxy, enter the hostname, username, specify the port and then password. If you would like to create a new replication policy, click on **Create Policy**, select data transfer rate and replication interval.

## Adding multiple remote offices

You can also add the remote office by importing a CSV file. For adding multiple remote offices, the CSV file should contain remote office names given in separate lines.

## Modifying a remote office

You can also modify the remote office by clicking the **Modify** icon under the **Actions** column against the remote office you want to modify. If you have modified the communication type from Direct communication to **Through Distribution server**, you have to install a Distribution server to manage that remote office.

To know about installing WAN agents and Distribution server click [here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/installing_wan_agents_and_distribution_server.html).

To know about managing computers of roaming users click [here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/managing_computers_of_roaming_users.html).