All things SMS, System Center Configuration Manager, Active Directory, Group Policy, Virtualization, Security, Gadgets, Technology, and the Daily Thoughts of an SMS Engineer named Anthony Clendenen.

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The Deployment Guys : ConfigMgr 2007 and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - Video Walkthrough

March 20, 2008

ConfigMgr 2007 and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - Video Walkthrough Are you struggling with setting up ConfigMgr 2007 Operating System Deployment and integrating MDT? - download and view the video walkthrough that shows you how to: Setup the server environment for ConfigMgr 2007 OS deployment Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Site Settings Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Computer Management Settings Configure the ConfigMgr 2007 Operating System Deployment Settings Setup and use MDT integration with ConfigMgr...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why Patch Tuesday Turns Into Patch Thursday or Friday or Monday

October 09, 2007

I used to hate the second Tuesday of every month. I honestly liked it better when patches were released as they were ready. What happens with the scheduled updates is that everyone knows that it is coming and that means that everyone expects their SMS Engineers to have the patches deployed that night, no matter how late, no matter how many people, no matter what! And on Wednesday morning, usually around nine, everyone wants to know the status of the deployments. For me I had some advantages, one...  ... Read the full post or  the 3 comments. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Podcasts

October 06, 2007

On the System Center Configuration Manager site there is currently a list of five audiocast or podcasts that you can listen to. They are all fairly short and cover a specific area of ConfigMgr. Wally kicks it off with the best practices for upgrading and setup, and also discusses a few new features and prerequisites. I am sure they will add more to this over time so if you are reading this months after it has been posted use the bottom link to get to the page and see the whole list. NOTE: The links...  ... Read the full post or  the 2 comments. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

AZSMUG Meeting Oct 2nd

September 25, 2007

I know you miss me by now, its been about six months since you saw me last at MMS, back then I worked for a different company and Vista was still brand new, ConfigMgr was just in its first public beta, and the Chargers has a head coach. Well next Tuesday is your chance to come and see me again I will be presenting at Mike Terrill's user group meeting on, you guessed it, ConfigMgr for two hours. I am not a huge fan of PowerPoint so I will be doing as much demo as possible. Mike is giving away...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , ,

BDD 2008 Beta 3 Available On Connect

September 17, 2007

The ConfigMgr compatible version of BDD (Beta 3), which I will call BDD 2008 for now, is available through open beta on the Connect site. The RTM version is expected to be out in November of this year. In this version there is the previously discussed multicasting , USMT, WAIK, and ACT 5.0. On Friday October 5th there is also a webcast on deploying an OS with ConfigMgr, you can register for it here . Official announcement below. Deployment 4 is the code name for the next version of Business Desktop...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft ConfigMgr Community Forums Now Live

September 15, 2007

In another move to get away from the newsgroups Microsoft has opened up the System Center Configuration Manager Community that includes a web based forums section . On the front page you will find a link to the subforums of ConfigMgr, Microsoft employee blogs, MVP blogs (not mine however?), and links to related communities like myITforum.com . Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E Inc. http://configmgr.com © 2007 Anthony Clendenen Technorati Tags: ConfigMgr , SCCM , CM , Config...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , , , , ,

SoftGrid SMS Connector Discontinued

September 12, 2007

The SoftGrid connector will be deprecated in the near future and replaced with Windows Installer Application Virtualization Extension or WIAV. The reasons they are moving away from the SMS Connector is due to future plans and interoperability with old and new products. What is it? Yes, you in the back, you have a question? Ah, yes what is it he asked. It is essentially a tool to take your sequenced applications and turn them into Windows Installer packages (MSI's). Another question? Go ahead...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , , , , , , , ,

Multicasting in Server 2008

September 03, 2007

Kevin is right, this has already been talked about , but he does a nice job of explaining the two types of multicasting. Two drawbacks to this however...First you cannot multicast across subnets, well you can but if your network supports this you are wide open to a SQL Slammer type of attack where one laptop brings your network to its knees. Second, you have to have Server 2008 to make this work. A simple, less costly solution, that you can utilize now is to use the 1E OSD Plus Pack , or SMSNomad...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Delayed

August 30, 2007

What is the status? Windows Server 2008, formerly Longhorn, will be delayed until Q1 of 2008 but will be available to SA and MSDN subscribers prior to RTM. SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 are scheduled to be released with Server 2008 so I can only assume they will be delayed as well. Vista SP1 also suffers from the same fate, delayed until Q1 of 08. The BETA of Vista SP1 will be available to participants in about two weeks however. And SP3 for XP is moving along with its BETA also being out...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , ,

Download Configuration Manager 2007 - Evaluation Software

August 27, 2007

Overview System Center Configuration Manager – previously Systems Management Server – represents a tremendous advance over its well-regarded predecessor, now providing the control necessary to more effectively manage change in today’s dynamic IT infrastructures. Manage the full deployment and update lifecycle with, streamlined, policy-based automation; with enhanced insight into, and control over, assets and systems compliance; and with optimization for Windows – particularly Windows Server 2008...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

ConfigMgr SDK BETA 2 Available For Download

July 31, 2007

You can download the BETA 2 version of ConfigMgr's SDK from the Connect site. Details of SDK are copied and pasted below. I got to sit down with several of the Tech Writers for ConfigMgr today at lunch and there was some very interesting conversations. The most important of which was probably that they have plans to release many more of the SuperFlows, I don't know if you have seen the one that is available publicly but they make the flowcharts look like hieroglyphics. The documentation online...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , , , ,

Configuration Manager 2007 RC1 Available

July 16, 2007

On Connect you can now download RC1 of ConfigMgr. Configuration Manager 2007 RC1 (Build 5831) available! Configuration Manager 2007 RC1 (Build 5831) is now available for download! Go here to download: https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/Downloads.aspx?SiteID=16 Configuration Manager 2007 RC1 (Build 5831) available! Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E Inc. We are considered a premier SMS Solution Provider by Microsoft. See us at http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/partners...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

Config Manager Webcasts Coming Up

June 20, 2007

Wally is going to hold two SCCM 2007 webcasts at the beginning of July. The first one on deploying SCCM, the second on deploying SCCM clients. If you haven't attended a webcast by Wally you are missing out as he is a very unique presenter, plus he knows SMS pretty well, to put it mildly. TechNet Webcast: Deploying System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (Level 200) Monday, July 02, 2007 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time Wally Mead, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation http://msevents...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

Kevinsul's Management Blog : The Quick and Cheap Steps to Perform a Lab Installation of Configuration Manager 2007 Beta 2

May 29, 2007

The Quick and Cheap Steps to Perform a Lab Installation of Configuration Manager 2007 Beta 2 Pre-Requisites: The below instructions assume that you have two machines (virtual or physical). One of the machines will act as the domain controller and SCCM client. HW requirements for the domain controller should meet or exceed the following criteria: - P-III @ 1Ghz or better - 256 MB RAM or better - Adequate free disk space (SMS client will take around 10-25MB when installed and collecting inventory information...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

SCCM RC Available For Download

May 29, 2007

Update: "Technically, this is * not * the RC1 build. It’s a build from the RC1 branch of the source, but the actual RC1 is still a few weeks away. -Michael" Maybe it really will be out in August!?! We all know how much Bill loves it when we speculate... SCCM 2007 Release Candidate (RC) available for TAP customers The Release Candidate (RC) version 5790 of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 has been released. It is currently available through the Microsoft Connect site for TAP...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

What's new for SCCM 2007 SP 1 and R2?

March 27, 2007

Omar at it again...I keep running into him and never take his picture! What's new for SCCM 2007 SP 1 and R2? SCCM 2007 is to be released, but the SP1 and R2 versions are already planned Configuration Manager 2007 SP1: Changes to support Vista SP 1 and LHS Key CCS reported bugs and CDCR's Configuration Manager 2007 R2: OS Deployment update Multicast with LH server, unknown machine Enterprise Scale application virtualisation (Softgrid) Source: Omar's Blog on Systems Management: What's new for SCCM...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , , ,

MMS 2007 - Day 2 - Keynote Speech

March 27, 2007

Rodney Sherwood starts off the keynote again this year with this comedy and a video of interviewing the stars at MMS. Senior VP Server and Tools, Bob Muglia was the keynote speaker. He started out with the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). One part of the DSI is Virtualized infrastructure which consists of Virtual Server 2005 R2 and SoftGrid. Virtualization, OS virtualization "Viridian" Longhorn or Windows Server 2007, VPC, VS 2005 RS. Application virtualization is SoftGrid, focus now is on the client...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , , , , , , , , ,

System Center and Intel

March 22, 2007

I have been kind of surprised by the lack of announcements this year before MMS, it seems like there was a flood of info last year, but this sounds very exciting! This morning Intel is announcing comprehensive support for System Center . This support encompasses SMS 2003 R2, Operations Manager, and System Center Essentials. We will be announcing at MMS further support in SCCM 2007. This is extremely exciting news, it is everything from an add-on to SMS to Management Packs to delivery of System Center...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , ,

SCCM 2007 How To - Site Configuration

March 12, 2007

In the first two articles of this series I discussed the preparation for setup and the installation process. In the third installment I go over the configuration of SCCM. To set the scenario, I am running a single site on VPC 2007, the guest OS is Windows 2003 SP1 already installed is IIS with BITS, SQL 2005 SP2, .NET Framework 2.0, MMC 3.0, and several hotfixes. During the installation I installed all the client components minus the NAP, without Longhorn (Server 2007) I cannot install NAP. I also...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

SCCM 2007 - Client Push Installation Account

March 09, 2007

In SMS 2003 you had to specify an account with local admin privileges on the computers you were targeting for the client push. Typically this was an account that was in the Domain Admins group, even though it was not recommended. But because of local Administrator password problems, users with local admin rights and so on using anything less often netted very little success. New in SCCM is the ability to use the computer$ account for the install. This means that you can now use the SMS server's computer...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , ,

SCCM 2007 How To - Installation

March 01, 2007

In this second part of the SCCM How To series I will walk through the setup process. This is pretty straight forward the major difference is that it adopts the task sequence process like SCCM itself. The setup process is based on the idea that it is a new installation of a single site, the other options are to go through an upgrade and for a multi site install. NOTE : If you have not read the first article in this series please review it before the installation to save yourself some time and frustration...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under:

SCCM 2007 How To - Preparing For Setup

February 28, 2007

As the public Beta 2 of SCCM has been on the Microsoft Connect web site for about a week now it is time to start introducing it. Last week I made my first post on what's new in SCCM, and I briefly discussed some of the details of the new patching process. This article will focus strictly on the preparation of the installation of SCCM, it will be followed with another article on the setup process, and then the configuration of the site. I started out with a bare metal VPC running in VPC 2007 with...  ... Read the full post or  the 2 comments. Filed under:

SCCM 2007 What's New? Day 1 - Software Update Points

February 23, 2007

The Open Beta 2 of the next version of SMS went live yesterday. So what is new with SMS? For one thing Software Update Point is a new role, this is what handles the patching synchronization between your SMS servers, Microsoft, and companies that supply custom updates through Microsoft. This role is installed on a server that has WSUS 3.0 installed, the WSUS server can be a local or remote sever to your site server, but WSUS must be installed prior to installing the role, hence selecting the role...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , ,

New Version of SCCM 2007 Beta 2 Availabe on Connect

February 22, 2007

On Connect there appears to be a new version of SCCM 2007 it is labeled build 5578, and release date of yesterday. I haven't used SCCM in seveal months and don't recall the build number and haven't seen this confirmed anywhere yet. Main page here , and main Connect page here . As Rod points out , as we closer to MMS you can expect a flood of new SCCM and SCOM information and downloads. Regards, Anthony Anthony Clendenen | Senior Technical Consultant | Microsoft Practices | Dimension Data “ Dimension...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: , , , ,

SCCM Adopts WSUS Interface for Patching

January 23, 2007

Omar, Omar, Omar....Why must you always.....read on folks. SCCM 2007: No ITMU but WSUS!! "If you are considering SCCM 2007 and you have your 'legacy' SMS 2003 running on ITMU or ITCU? -Forget it! SCCM 2007 will use WSUS. But will a few lesser screenclicks really speed up your patch management? The integration of ITMU / ITCU in SMS2003 was for me one of the biggest milestones for centralised patch management. I was an advocate to get rid of WSUS. Ok, you had to put your mind to work managing all the...  ... Read the full post or  the 2 comments. Filed under: , ,

Building and Deploying Vista from an Image

November 28, 2006

Aaron has put together a great list of resources for building a Vista image. If you have not used Vista, or read about it, the install process as well as how the OS is built is different than XP and prior OS’s. In addition with the new OSD FP/USMT we move to .xml files, but probably the most interesting technology so far is WAIK. WAIK will allow you to edit an image without having to lay it down on a system and then recreate the image. You for got a driver, want to add that new company standard...  ... Read the full post or  the 3 comments. Filed under: , , , ,

NAP Enforcement Step-by-Step Guide

November 20, 2006

NAP is part of SCCM 2007, so this would be a good place to start if you are planning on using it. Step By Step Guide: Demonstrate 802.1X NAP Enforcement in a Test Lab Overview Network Access Protection (NAP) is a new policy enforcement technology in the Windows Vista™ and Windows Server® Code Name "Longhorn" operating systems. NAP provides components and an application programming interface (API) set that help administrators enforce compliance with health requirements for network access...  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under:

Bill Anderson Discusses SCCM 2007

November 14, 2006

Bill gets interviewed at TechEd in Barcelona, based on his comments it doesn’t sound like we will be getting a new SMS at MMS this year. Watch the video here http://www.mseventseurope.com/TechEd/06/pre/live/videoITF6.aspx?id=1#an1 '> Listen to this article  ... Read the full post or  be the first to comment. Filed under: ,

Management Solution : My BDD 2007 Standard Edition Advanced Training Guide Released!

September 15, 2006

Original source: My BDD 2007 Standard Edition Advanced Training Guide Released! I just completed my BDD 2007 Standard Edition Advanced Training Guide. It included Windows Deployment Service, SMS 2003 OSD Update and Office 2007. You can use it as an additional reference of my previous BDD 2007 Training Guide.! Management Solution : My BDD 2007 Standard Edition Advanced Training Guide Released! . '> Listen to this article  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , ,

Software as a Service - Kevin Explains it

September 06, 2006

Where do I sign up? I saw this at MMS but Kevin makes it a little more clear. Original source: Playing with SoftGrid... As you may or may not know, MSFT acquired a company named Softricity over the summer (www.softricity.com). The acquisition is now complete and we will be announcing the roadmap and integration of this killer technology in the coming months. I feel that this 'app vitalization stuff' is going to be VERY huge in the next few years at least... Anyway, so I have been playing around with...  ... Read the full post or  the first comment. Filed under: , , ,

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