This is usually done when you need some custom setup on your compute nodes. For example we use this to disseminate the same anaconda packages (and environments) across all compute nodes.

1. Archive the directory you are interested in, e.g. tar czvf 20190704_anaconda3.tgz anaconda3.
   1. If you are backing up anaconda3, make sure to clean all caches and package index files conda clean –all
2. Copy the archive file to the FTP directory; i.e. /export/rocks/install/apps. This will now be available via FTP during compute FE install
3. You now need to update the compute /export/rocks/install/site-profiles/6.1.1/nodes/extend-compute.xml so the file actually gets copied over, untarred, moved, and removed.
4. It is probably a good idea to check your XML file with xmllint -noout /export/rocks/install/site-profiles/6.1.1/nodes/extend-compute.xml.

We then need to recreate the distro:

$ cd /export/rocks/install
$ rocks create distro

You then reinstall (and restart) all the compute nodes. See this wiki entry for more details on how to do that.

Keep in mind that each time you update your directory you will have to go through the same procedure.