Most Configuration Manager objects share common attributes, however most of them differ in the property name.  For example, collections and folders both have IDs, but for collections the ID property is named […]

I developed a PowerShell module that will scan for update compliance or launch a task sequence to install required security updates (or any advertised task sequence) on either a single machine, or multiple […]

Thanks to everyone who attended the SCCM GURU event I presented, if you missed it you can catch it on the replay – link

Here are my answers to questions raised during the session.

Q: ­Is the patch management […]

The Datacenter environment that I manage with ConfigMgr for security updates consists of only Windows server platforms, running English builds, and no Itanium architecture.  So when it came time to build […]

Here is a PowerShell script to check a ConfigMgr agent’s compliance for all required/assigned security updates.  It is another utility tool in the kit for on-demand patch management, like this script to run a […]

When I am programming widgets against ConfigMgr I have found the smsprov.log to be an invaluable tool. Sure, the SDK is great for figuring out class definitions, methods/properties available, etc., but when I get […]

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, we recently switched our monthly patch management function via SCCM away from the built-in Software Update Management (SUM) feature to the Task Sequence Engine. One of the primary drivers behind making the technology shift was the increasing frequency at which we were deploying software (applications,…[Read more]

  I didn’t have much experience using SCCM collection variables until we recently made the switch to using the task sequence engine to do our monthly patch management (future blog topic). After becoming aware of the power that collection variables hold, I quickly learned they do have some drawbacks too. One of the challenges I [...]

Inside the Microsoft IT Datacenter environment SCCM is the main tool used for automated patch management. Some servers are still manually patched by their server owners using many different tools (scripts, WSUS, AutomaticUpdates, download/install the exe’s manually, etc.). Since our primary focus is on the security of the environment it doesn’t…[Read more]