How To Check If A BITS Enabled Distribution Point Is Up And Running like how we check MP

To check if a Management Point is up and running we have the mplist and mpcert http URLs that we can open in Internet Explorer.  We don’t have such URLs to test if a Distribution Point (DP) is up. Management Point and Distribution Point servers are very different roles.  The Management Point is a conduit for the clients to get information from the SQL database i.e. their cert, their machine policy, etc.  That is why there is a way to use an http link to get that information from SQL through the MP.  A DP is nothing but a server share.  To use BITS for downloads, we expose that share through a virtual IIS directory.

There is no http link with a cert on a DP that we can query on, but you can create a package just to test the DP health.  Here is how:

1. Create a text file and write in it whatever you want to see when you use the http URL to test the DP.

2. Rename that file and change the txt extension to html.

3. Create a package that only contains that file and add your distribution points to the package.

4. Get the package ID and then go to the IIS Manager console and find the name of the DP virtual directory and make sure there is a folder for your DP health package.

5. Use IE and type the URL for the server, the virtual IIS directory, the package ID folder, and then your html file.  In my case it looks like this:

http://sccm/sms_dp_smspkge$/zzz0002e/dphealth.html

6. You should get back the content of the text file you created on step one:

If you get the content of your html file back, your BITS enabled DP is up.