Troubleshooting agent deployment in System Center Essentials 2010

Essentials 2010 uses up to three agents to manage computers:

• Windows Update agent - built into the Windows operating system, configured via Group Policy - provides update distribution, software distribution and hardware & software inventory
• Operations Manager agent - deployed to managed computer using 'Push Install' capability from Essentials server - provides rich model-based monitoring and remote task execuation
• Virtual Machine Manager agent - deployed when using the 'Designate a host' task - provide server virtualization management

I'll focus this article on troubleshooting the deployment of the Operations Manager agent using the Computer and Device Management Wizard (aka Discovery Wizard), the most common agent deployment mechansim, explain how the Windows Update agent is configured once the Operations Manager agent has been installed, and close with an explanation of the backup agent deployment mechanism we introduced in Essentials 2010 RC.

System Center Essentials Team Blog : Troubleshooting agent deployment in System Center Essentials 2010