Universal Naming Convention (UNC) shares can host your server repository.
You can create a UNC shared folder to host a distributed repository on an existing server. Make sure to enable sharing across the network for the folder, so that the ePO - On-prem server can copy files to it and agents can access it for updates.
Note
The correct permissions must be set to access the folder.
Because most administrators are familiar with the concept of UNC shares, UNC shares might seem like the easiest method to choose, but that's not always the case.
If you use UNC shares to host your server repository, you must correctly configure the account and shares. See the Recommendations for download credentials when using UNC shares as software repositories in ePolicy Orchestrator, KB70999, for details.
If you choose to use UNC shares, you must:
Create the folder.
Adjust share permissions.
Change the NTFS permissions.
Create two accounts, one with read access and one with write access.
IT password policies, such as a 30-day password change for service accounts, require a two-step update process for distributed repositories. You need to update the password in the Windows operating system for each distributed repository share and in the configuration settings for each UNC Distributed Repository. Access the UNC Distributed Repositories settings using Menu → Software → Distributed Repositories.
All these tasks increase the chance of failure because these processes must be completed manually. Your agents might not properly update if your agents cannot authenticate to your UNC share because they are not part of the domain or the credentials are incorrect.