Configuration Manager 2012 VHD Test Drive

2011-06-28 Leave a comment

I posted this a few months about, but just a reminder that Microsoft offers you the opportunity to try Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 free for 180 days. You don’t have to set up your own test environment, just download the virtual machine, import it into Hyper-V, and have fun getting to know Configuration Manager 2012 with a fully functional server. Download the vhd at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=21054.

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Configuration Manager 2012 – Looking Ahead

2011-06-27 Leave a comment

What’s new in Configuration Manager 2012, and more importantly what do those of us with existing Configuration Manager 2007 sites need to know looking ahead to Configuration Manager 2012. I’ve been working with the Configuration Manager 2012 beta for a while now, and here’s some of the things I’ve observed. Read more of this post

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Quick Tip: Get Ready for Configuration Manager 2012!

2011-05-07 Leave a comment

I’ve been looking at Configuration Manager 2012 (beta 2),It’s a pretty impressive beta, with significant changes to how Configuration Manager looks and feels. Over the next few weeks I’ll be looking at some of the key things we need to know about the Configuration Manager 2012 product. Read more of this post

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Configuration Manager 2012 – Cross-Platform Support

2011-04-03 Leave a comment

At MMS last month, Microsoft first revealed long awaited Configuration Manager support for UNIX / Linux servers.

Core functionality of Configuration Manager exposed in UNIX includes;

  • Discovery and Installation
  • Hardware Inventory
  • Software Distribution

With this announcement, Microsoft has moved a step forward in their plans to provide truly cross-platform management capabilities. If you have a few UNIX servers in your infrastructure this could be a welcome addition to your management capabilities without having to invest in additional tools. The SCCM 2012 Cross Platform Management support that I saw is probably not adequate for an infrastructure which has extensive UNIX management requirements.

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Test Your Configuration Manager IQ

2011-03-20 Leave a comment

I re-discovered this set of quizzes last week while teaching a 6451 class in Edmonton. They are a set of feature quizzes put together by the Configuration Manager User Assistance team. One thing I like about them is that not only does it tell you if your answer is right or wrong, but it also provides helpful links for more information specific to each question. Read more of this post

Filed under ConfigMgr, Learning, SCCM

USMT and Office 2010

2011-03-05 Leave a comment

A new hotfix for USMT 4.0 was released in February. You should care if you are using USMT to migrate user settings and data to computers running Office 2010, or if you are using USMT 4.0 and SCCM to migrate user settings and data from Windows XP computers. Check out Michael Niehaus’ post  USMT 4.0 Support for Office 2010 for more information.

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Microsoft Security Compliance Manager

2011-01-08 4 Comments

The Microsoft Solution Accelerators team has a great product – the “Microsoft Security Compliance Manager”. One of the problems many of us face is evaluating which systems do, and which do not comply with our corporate expectations. For instance, which systems have invalid firewall configurations, which systems do not have a valid antivirus product installed, or which systems have administrator accounts with non-expiring passwords. Performing compliance audits of workstations or servers has been a bit challenging and Security Compliance Manager (SCM) can help.

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Desired Configuration Management in SCCM

2011-01-08 5 Comments

Configuration Manager’s Desired Configuration Management (DCM) functionality can be a bit confusing at first look, but really it’s a simple and powerful feature. DCM allows you to define corporate system configuration expectations, and then have Configuration Manager Client test for compliance and report back to your Configuration Manager site.

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