The SetPref command establishes a host preference and priority level for a particular Data Vault data file. This means that the load balancer will attempt to use Data Vault Agent processes running on the specified machine before any other to carry out tasks involving the Data Vault data file. Other Agent processes are only used if all the Agents on the preferred host are unavailable.

The priority level, which can be any positive integer, is used when multiple machines are set as preferred hosts for a particular Archive: the machines are checked for available Agent processes in the order indicated by the respective priority levels (where a larger value means higher priority). Host preferences can be removed with the DropPref command.