DCM Configuration Packs

There has been a significant release of Configuration Packs for DCM in SCCM.

Below are listed 19 Configuration Packs for Configuration Manager 2007 that are available at: https://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/scp/configmgr07.aspx

The next wave will include another 13-18 Configuration Packs and will be ready anytime. There will be a total of about 60 over the next few weeks, including 40+ …

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 MSIT Basic Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 MSIT Intermediate Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft SharePoint Server 2003 MSIT Comprehensive Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 MSIT Basic Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 MSIT Intermediate Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 MSIT Comprehensive Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 MSIT Basic Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 MSIT Intermediate Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 MSIT Comprehensive Configuration Pack for Configuration Manager 2007
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Assessment Configuration Pack for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Assessment Configuration Pack for Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Assessment Configuration Pack for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Assessment Configuration Pack for Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Assessment Configuration Pack for European Union Data Protection Directive (EUDPD)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2000 Assessment Configuration Pack for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2000 Assessment Configuration Pack for Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2000 Assessment Configuration Pack for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2000 Assessment Configuration Pack for Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2000 Assessment Configuration Pack for European Union Data Protection Directive (EUDPD)

Configuration Manager Documentation Library Download (Updated Nov 07)

There is an updated version of the SCCM Documentation Library ready for download... The November update contains new material and fixes to documentation problems reported after Configuration Manager 2007 was released. Refer to “What's New in the Configuration Manager Documentation Library for November 2007” for a list of topics that are new or updated in this version. The updated smsv4.chm will have a date of 11/06/2007 and will overwrite the existing smsv4.chm in %systemroot%\help.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=81997356-7f18-48b2-a53a-d6f995a47f35&displaylang=en&tm


Also,

There is a System Center Configuration Manager Product Quizzes for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B9FB478A-EC98-47F2-B31E-57443A8AE88F&displaylang=en


The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 User Assistance team has created a set of quizzes to help you assess your understanding of the dependencies and requirements for key features of Configuration Manager.

SCCM Toolkit

Remember good ole SMS Toolkit?

Well SCCM Toolkit is finally here! Hooray!!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=948e477e-fd3b-4a09-9015-141683c7ad5f&displaylang=en&tm

Desired Configuration Monitoring in SCCM 2007

No doubt, feature for feature sake may make a technology solution set more valuable but really how would Desired Configuration Management, aka DCM help your customers’ IT environment?

The following may help you better understand DCM.

What is DCM all about?

DCM is all about comparing a client against a given template to spot the differences. In SCCM 2007, systems (server or clients) can be compared against as many templates as useful and you will get colorful reports showing which system does not fit into which template. This helps customers to get back into compliance that might be required for various reasons. Overall, DCM can be seen as the first step to bring the SML (Service Modeling Language) to the configuration space, which is a key step in the overall Dynamic System Initiative (DSI – check out ) picture, and starts to close the integration between Visual Studio, OpsMgr 2007 and SCCM 2007.

Which configuration items are supported by DCM?

The following four configuration items are supported:
• Application Configuration item
• OS configuration item
• General Configuration item
• Software Update configuration item (you can create or edit software update configuration items with DCM as well)

Ssystems management administrators may want to identify which users are creating or modifying configuration baselines and configuration items. How would this help?

Audit status messages are automatically created for many actions when using DCM, You can use status message queries to view these messages.

Internet Based Client Management... What the....??

Well, it stands for Internet Based Client Management. Broadly, it delivers a secure and reliable infrastructure to enable IT admins in Enterprises to manage computers (e.g. desktops, laptops) on the Internet. With the pervasiveness of broadband today in many parts of the country whether that’s is wired or wireless the likelihood of your customers having smaller remote offices on this, is higher today than ever. Potentially, one of the most exciting capabilities in SCCM 2007 is being able to manage computers systems which are not part of the proper LAN and WAN. So what does this mean?

For more information check out http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693755.aspx

On top of this, please see below for potential deployment topologies.

Benefits of System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

I have recently spent a full month experimenting on SCDPM and found that it has several key benefits. A full list can be found here out http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680553.aspx.

To summarise, it does the following for you.


Detect server configuration “drift”

• Approximately ½ of unplanned downtime due to configuration problems!

Improve Helpdesk troubleshooting and “time-to-resolve”

• Helpdesk represents the single largest “people cost” to IT

Regulatory compliance reporting

• Define and report against tangible configuration policies for regulatory compliance

Pre- and post-change verification

• Ensure system readiness
• Verify accuracy and efficacy of planned changes
  

System Center Mobile Device Manager

Hi all

Just when you thought that you have heard of the final System Center product, they have yet another.

Announcing System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008

On October 23, Steve Ballmer will announce System Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM). Enterprise customers utilizing an upcoming version of Windows Mobile 6 devices in their environments will benefit from the deep mobility management capabilities (optimized for those devices) provided by SCMDM.

Within the System Center management portfolio of offerings, SCMDM will complement the comprehensive deployment, updating and asset assessment capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2007, which delivers these features across the breadth of the enterprise including to a variety of mobile devices, desktops and datacenter configurations.

For more information check out http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobiledevicemanager/default.mspx.

SMS2003 SP3 and SQL2005 SP2. Do they click?

Tried and tested! SMS2003 SP3 works flawlessly with SQL Server 2005 SP2

Upgrading to SP3

After you upgrade to SMS 2003 SP3, or rerun SMS setup to add modules, always rerun ITMU V3 installation program. You do not need to uninstall current ITMU V3. Just run ITMU V3 installation file (SMSITMU.msi) again, and it will repair itself.

ITMU revision 3 will restore the functional Reporting structures and will not change the existing Packages and Advertisements.

ITMU revision 3 is located in the extracted Service Pack 3 source files folder named SCANTOOLS, or you can download it from Microsoft website. …”

System Center Essentials

SCE is RTM!!! Here is some of the feature list:

• Incident Management – ITIL-based incident forms will enable technicians to record, triage, and diagnose issues for resolution.
• Self service portal – An intuitive, self service portal enables end users to submit tickets, check status, search a knowledge base, and request software through provisioning workflows.
• Change Management – Service Manager includes a collection of change templates and provides an approval workflow to take changes from submission through flexible review stages.
• Asset Management – Users can synchronize inventory from SMS and also create and dispose of assets.
• Knowledge-driven support – IT technicians can author and publish knowledge articles.
• SML-based CMDB – Bringing together information from SMS 2003 SP3 and Active Directory (limited to users), Service Manager includes a CMDB with relationships between hardware, software, and users.
• Data warehouse – SQL-based reporting infrastructure with six canned reports.
• Scalability – In Beta 1, Service Manager will offer limited scale targets supporting 100 Active Directory users and inventory of 250 computers from SMS.
• Asset Lifecycle Management – Service Manager will track licenses and contracts such as warranties and leases.
• Configuration Manager 2007 integration ­– Population of CMDB and integration to Desired Configuration Management.
• Operations Manager 2007 integration – Automated incident creation, task automation, and integration of monitored services.
• Reporting and data warehouse – Complete set of reports measuring IT performance through key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Role-based security
• Scale and performance enhancements
• Active Directory integration – Integration extended to groups

SMS 2003 SP3

Check this link out http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/evaluation/2003/sp3.mspx. It says the following.

“… SMS 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) brings organizations full lifecycle support for Microsoft’s latest platform including software distribution, update services and inventory are available to the Vista client.

Adding optional capabilities to enhance the software and hardware inventory functionalities provided in SMS 2003, SP3 provides information to help organizations to make better business decisions about their IT assets. Through a new library of over 400,000 software titles, SMS 2003 SP3 provides an option to augment existing SMS inventory capabilities with deeper asset intelligence. SMS SP3 provides rich reporting about installed applications and hardware enabling better license reporting, software consolidation and upgrade planning. In addition, it introduces X64 architecture support for your high performance platforms…”

Online Help

The online help for SCCM 2007 can now be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sms/smsv4/smsv4_help