The Andersons at myITforum.com

System Center Configuration Manager site now active

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:41:00 GMT

Hey - check out the site

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/configmgr/default.mspx

No - I don't know how to phoenetically pronounce "configmgr". And yes - I tried to see if I could be old school and type in microsoft.com/sms - it does NOT take me to the new site. That's bad for me - because I still call Windows 2000 NT5 (or Cairo!). This SCCM thing is going to be a hard habit to break.

And, for right now - it looks like the link just keeps going back to the System Center home page. So keep banging it until it goes to the right page!

C ya!

Bill Anderson
Lead Program Manager
System Center Configuration Manager

Download Error with 120 day RTM Eval of SCCM 2007

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:08:00 GMT

Hey - if you're trying to install the 120 day eval of the RTM of SCCM 2007, and you happen to be one of those RARE folks that has a public IP address on your corporate network and therefore - no proxy server installed - you're going to get an error in downloading the pre-req's for installing SCCM 2007. There is a simple workaround - go into your browser and turn on "auto-detect proxy".

Brian has a LOT more on this - take a look!

http://blogcastrepository.com/blogs/brian_tucker/archive/2007/08/29/download-bug-in-sccm-2007-rtm-120-day-eval.aspx

SDM, SML, and a bunch of other TLA's...

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:39:00 GMT

OK - so my promise now that we've shipped is to try to blog more. So, here ya go - 2 in a few days!

Was reading Fontana's article in ComputerWorld on Config Manager 07 RTM, and he talks about the story withy CM 07 and SDM/SML. Here's the article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9033158&intsrc=news_ts_head

So, something to clarify so that you guys don't think that you have hidden migratory problems ahead of you somewhere. The Systems Definition Model (SDM) is what our mgmt division has been working on the past 4-5 yrs in creating an application model whereby manageability can be a first-class element. Manageability has historically been a process of building the app, and IF TIME PERMITTED - add some perf counters or some fundamental eventing behavior. We want to change that behavior to allow manageability to really be baked into the app right up front. SDM was cool - and was getting a lot of support. But, we knew that manageability was bigger than just MS - so we started working with other vendors to really take SDM to the mainstream. As SDM evolved in these conversations, so did the name. The Service Modeling Language (SML) was born out of that collaboration.

Now, what is in what? System Center Configuration Manager 2007 uses SML (not SDM) for our modeling language for all of our Desired Configuration Management (DCM) functionality. So, nothing needing "migrated" from SDM to SML for SCCM 07. The core knowledge that we'll ship from MS for config mgmt of our apps will be in SML. And, as SML continues to evolve, like always - it will be a primary goal of ours to help you move this knowledge along with you. So, just like today - where we make upgrade/interop a high-priority when we release a new product, this will be the case as we go forward to do more with DCM in future versions of SCCM.

Just wanted to make sure you gys didn't think we shipped 4 days ago, and the product was already out of date!

Lemme know if you have further ??'s.

Bill Anderson
Lead Program Manager
System Center Configuration Manager 2007

News Flash - System Center Configuration Manager 2007 has left the building!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:43:00 GMT

OMG – Anderson’s not dead! Look – a blog entry! Wow – how time flies. It seems like only yesterday that Brady/I were on stage at MMS, basking in the glow that was the release of SMS 2003. (I think the actual quote he used was, “wow – we should ship a product that works more often” J). Ah, those were the days. We could stand in front of a room, announce we removed logon points, and get applause! Ah, the simple life… Today is the next in that line of milestones. At 4PM today 8/24, the team signed off on System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (still can’t get used to that name!) and we’ve officially released it to manufacturing. What this team is delivering to you is the most SIGNIFICANT release in the 13 year history of the product, and I’m so proud to have been a part (albeit small as I’ve been working on SCCM V5 for a year now!) of the past 3+ yrs of work that has gone into it. It’s significant for so many things. Sure – it’s got a TON of features and functionality that we hope will help you all continue to “do more with less”, “stay TechSexy” or whatever those slogans have said in the past! But it’s so much more than that. It’s about massive investments in making sure the quality is at the point so that you can bet your business on our ability to deliver. We made a quality mistake with you guys 8 years ago, and promised you it would never happen again. We continue with that promise. (I'll put out test stats in the next few days that will blow your mind!). It’s about significant time in understanding how you’ll upgrade between versions, because we know that the deployment of an enterprise systems mgmt tool is not a “next, next, next, finish (and then reboot)” activity. If you’d like, we COULD bring back “express setup” and it could be that fast! It’s about a commitment to you on schedule. We set an internal schedule 2 years ago that had a bottoms-up RTM date of August, 2007. We HIT that. We know you guys (and gals April et al!) bet your tech strategies on our ability to get you a product in the right time window. We take a lot of pride in being able to deliver that for you. But, most importantly – it’s about you – the 50,000 (ballpark) SMS customers and admins around the globe that continue to support us, continue to beat us up when we don’t get you what you need, continue to add/extend on top of this product we provide, continue to find new business problems to solve with SMS, continue to fight battles with network and security admins to get this product installed right, continue to delight end-users by giving them services w/o them even knowing, continue to evangelize this product to your peers, continue to do what we tell you not to do (edit site control file, work direct to the database, etc), and continue to not only be our customers, but be our peers and friends. Wish you guys could all be here to share with us in this celebration (now THAT would be a party) but a lot of us will be on the road in the upcoming weeks. There is an event in Boston on 10/4, and a few of us (tough life!) will be gallivanting around Europe for MMS Best of Europe road show, culminating in our worldwide launch in Barcelona at IT Forum (yes – that other IT Forum thing!). You’ll be seeing updates on ms.com with stuff about SCCM 07 early next week – but I couldn’t wait that long to tell you how much we appreciate all your help in making this happen, and how we know that the battle isn’t over – it’s only begun – as we work together to get you guys deploying this product in the upcoming months!

Bill Anderson
Lead Program Manager
System Center Configuration Manager
Microsoft Corporation