September 2007 - Posts
I'm posting this information because we've found an issue with a method of extending the Active Directory schema for Configuration Manager and I won't be able to officially document this until the next documentation release which is still a few months off (this information has been added to the Configuration Manager Documentation Library, but it won't be available until the next documentation update). This issue was also identified by Stuart James who posted this excellent article on myITforum earlier today: http://www.myitforum.com/articles/42/view.asp?id=10804.
NOTE: There are two options for extending the Active Directory schema for Configuration Manager--the ExtAdSch.exe utility and the ConfigMgr_ad_schema.ldf file. If you're using the ExtAdSch.exe utility to extend the Active Directory schema, you won't need to modify the .ldf file as explained in this posting. For more information about these methods see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680608.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632388.aspx respectively.
A lot of people like to use the .ldf file to extend the Active Directory schema because it is more transparent and allows them to see exactly what is going on during the extension process compared to having to read the log file created by the ExtAdSch.exe utility after everything is already done. This is understandable as the extension of the Active Directory schema isn't something that should be taken lightly! However, the .ldf file does have some inherent limitations compared to the ExtAdSch.exe utility. The .ldf file is incapable of performing any type of calculation or variable-based changes like the compiled code of the ExtAdSch.exe utility can. This posting provides some guidance on just such a situation.If you have previously extended the Active Directory schema for SMS 2003, when you use the default .ldf file to extend the AD schema for Configuration Manager, not all attributes will be properly updated without some manual intervention. Specifically, these attributes are not properly added to the management point object:
- mSSMSCapabilities
- mSSMSVersion
- mSSMSSourceForest
Because Configuration Manager clients cannot be assigned to SMS 2003 sites, they review the site capabilities and version information stored in Active Directory during client site assignment processes to ensure that they're being assigned to a valid site. If this information is not in Active Directory (and/or there is no server locator point specified in the client installation command line) they will fail to be assigned and become unmanaged...not good.
Without going into too many details here because it's not really the focus of this posting and it's already long as it is, the ExtAdSch.exe utility is smart enough to figure out what is going on and properly update these attributes in the Active Directory schema.The trick to getting the .ldf file to update the management point object with all required attributes is reformatting a section of the ConfigMgr_ad_schema.ldf file before using the LDIFDE utility to import the schema change information. To do this, open up the ConfigMgr_ad_schema.ldf file (located in the .\SMSSETUP\BIN\I386 directory of the Configuration Manager installation files) using your favorite text editor like Notepad.exe and scroll down/find the section that starts with the following text:
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# This section updates an existing MS-SMS-Management-Point class
# by adding four new attributes to the class. This section
# should always succeed whether the Schema is already extended for SMS 2003
# or if it is updated using this file.
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't have that file handy? You can view what I'm talking about here at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680568.aspx.
OK so ignore the irony in that last sentence of the .ldf file section header and highlight everything under it in the section (should be two short sections, and paste the following information over it--same information rearranged into four sections so it will import the information correctly):
dn: CN=MS-SMS-Management-Point,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=x
changetype: modify
add: mayContain
mayContain: dNSHostName
-
dn:
changetype: modify
replace: schemaupdatenow
schemaupdatenow: 1
-
dn: CN=MS-SMS-Management-Point,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=x
changetype: modify
add: mayContain
mayContain: mSSMSCapabilities
mayContain: mSSMSVersion
mayContain: mSSMSSourceForest
-
dn:
changetype: modify
replace: schemaupdatenow
After making those changes, just save the .ldf file and import the information into Active Directory using the LDFIDE utility.
If you have previously extended the Active Directory schema for SMS 2003, and you have already re-extended the Active Directory schema with the default ConfigMgr_ad_schema.ldf file before making these modifications, it's OK to make the modifications and then use the modified file to re-extend the schema again to add those important management point object attributes.
I hope this helps!
~Jeff
This question seems to be coming up a lot lately so I figured that I would make this post to try and help settle the issue some. While the evaluation version of Configuration Manager 2007 is fully functional--for 120 days at least :), SMS 2003 has never supported upgrades to, or from, evaluation code to fully licensed code. In other words, you cannot upgrade an SMS 2003 site using the evaluation version of Configuration Manager 2007 and you can't upgrade an SMS 2003 trial software installation with Configuration Manager 2007.
The blocking of upgrading to an evaluation version (and vice-versa) is a function of the SMS 2003 code and is not the case with Configuration Manager installations. If you have an existing installation of the evaluation version software of Configuration Manager 2007, you can upgrade to the full version of Configuration Manager 2007 as long as you do it before the 120 day evaluation period has expired.
I hope this helps,
~Jeff
P.S. To get the 120 day evaluation version of Configuration Manager, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=23945ee2-bd1e-4bd8-a5fa-3e846fd8bd49&DisplayLang=en
During primary site or secondary site installation, the Configuration Manager Setup Wizard will prompt you to download the prerequisite components that must be installed on computers prior to running Configuration Manager client setup (CCMSetup.exe) on them to install the client. There are around 88 client prerequisite files (a little over 83MB) that are required for Setup to continue. The first file to be downloaded is called ConfigMgr.Manifest.cab which contains the .xml manifest file (ConfigMgr.manifest.xml) that lists the individual component files and where they are to be downloaded from. The files being downloaded include: Microsoft Remote Differential Compression Library (msrdcoob.exe in AMD64, IA64, and x86 versions), Windows Update Agent 3.0 (x86, x64 and IA64 versions), and BITS 2.0 and BITS 2.5 (in all supported client languages), and a WMI update for Windows 2000 computers. During the download process, you can see the files being downloaded, and where they're being downloaded from, by watching the ConfigMgrSetup.log log file. When you install a management point site system, the downloaded client installation prerequisite component files are transferred from the site server to the new management point to enable client installation processes to succeed.
Note: I've described how to see the files that are downloaded just so you'd know how to see what is being downloaded. It's really not recommended to go and try to do it all manually. Do you really want to go to almost 90 different links and do it manually anyway?!
There are two setup wizard pages used for downloading prerequisite client installation files: The Updated Prerequisite Components page and the Updated Prerequisite Component Path page:
The Updated Prerequisite Components page of the Configuration Manager Setup Wizard offers you two choices for obtaining client prerequisite files. You can either check for updates and download the newest prerequisite component files directly from Microsoft using the Internet or, if you have already downloaded the files to an alternate location, you can select the option to specify an alternate location to obtain the prerequisite component files.
Tip: Even though you can use the same alternate source location for multiple Configuration Manager installations, if it has been a while since you downloaded them last, you should always download the latest available components in case the files have been updated since you last downloaded them.
The Updated Prerequisite Component Path page of the Configuration Manager Setup Wizard is used to specify the path to store or access the downloaded client installation prerequisite component files. If you chose to download the files from the Internet, the downloaded client installation prerequisite files are stored in the path specified. If you chose to specify an alternate location for the prerequisite files, enter the path to where you have stored the downloaded files on this page.
If your site server computer does not have Internet connectivity, you'll need to download the client installation prerequisite files and use the alternate location option. To download the files from a different computer, just start Configuration Manager Setup on a computer with Internet connectivity and use the following command: Setup /download <path to store files>. After the download has completed, ensure that the site server computer can access the downloaded prerequisite files and use the alternate location during site server installation. In some cases, you may need to store the downloaded files on a removable media to transfer to the site server computer itself.
Important An additional step may be required in this process when performing push installations of secondary sites. Because the secondary site installation wizard does not contain the client prerequisite component download pages, you may have to place the files in a hard coded location. When using installation media at the secondary site computer to install the secondary site using the wizard (Install the source files from the local disk or removable media at the secondary site server option) you must create a subfolder called Redist under the SMSSetup directory in the installation source files and save the downloaded files there. If you select the option to push the source files over the network to install the secondary site (Copy installation source files over the network from the parent site server option) this step is not necessary.