This custom task sequence action is used to provision a PBA data store prior to saving user state using USMT. It is the first step of the Peer backup assistance sequence (USMT Capture User State follows).

PBA supports the use of multiple backup data stores, for more details see High-Availability Peer Backup Assistant. If the task sequence variable form of the Cache space parameter is used (see below) then the variable referenced must be set before running this action.

ActionsNotes
This task:
  1. Polls Nomad peers enabled for PBA to find one with a data store where the user state may be saved. The peer that responds with the largest percentage of available disk is selected.

  2. Sets the following task sequence variables for subsequent actions:
    • PBAComputerName: a label used to refer to the cache in following Nomad actions
    • PBAHostComputerName: Host name of the data store machine.
    • OSDStateStorePath: tells USMT where to save user state to then retrieve it from, i.e. the location of the Nomad cache
    • NMDS_REMOTE: set to the same value as OSDStateStorePath. This is not required but it is available for backwards compatibility.
This task sequence action:
  • Is the first action in the saving phase of user state migration
  • Must be followed by USMT Capture User State action
If the task sequence variable 1EWSA_USMTSizeInMB is set, the step will use its assigned value when polling.


Configurable parameters

ParameterDefault valueDescription
NamePeer backup assistant: Provision Nomad PBA data storeName for the custom task sequence action.
DescriptionAction to find a PBA data store for saving user stateDescription for the custom task sequence action.
Use Nomad's size estimationDisabled by default.If enabled, the estimation is passed to NMDS_POLL.
Static cache space100Estimated cache space in MB required to store the user state. This can either be a number, the default being 100, or the name of a task sequence variable holding the value delimited by '%', e.g. " %USMTEstimate%.