Observations and stuff I find interesting – mostly about System Center
2011-04-19 Leave a comment
I find that one the the most common areas where clients tend to have questions – both in the classroom and when working at client sites – is related to automating the deployment of Windows 7. Everyone has questions about WAIK, MDT, and SCCM integration. Read more of this post
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;
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.
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
2011-03-06 Leave a comment
I’ll be in Edmonton the week of March 14, 2011 running a 6451B Planning, Deploying and Managing Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 course, then to Vegas for Microsoft Management Summit. I expect to have lots of interesting tidbits to post following MMS. I’ll be focusing on SCCM 2012, SCSM 2010, and Opalis Integration Server at MMS this year.
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.
2011-03-02 Leave a comment
There’s still time to register for MMS 2011 – the premier place to get up-to-speed on what’s new in Microsoft’s Management Solutions.
Sessions on System Center Configuration Manager, System Center Operations Manager, System Center Service Manager, Opalis Integration Server, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, and much more, presented by world renowned subject matter experts. Learn how you can more effectively leverage these products now, as well as what’s coming in SCCM 2012, SCOM 2012, SCSM 2010 R2, as well as MDOP, Active Directory, and many other Microsoft Management technologies. Get insider tips, deep dive sessions, ask questions of the experts. You don’t want to miss it!
The event starts March 21. Go to http://www.mms-2011.com/ to register. Hope to see you there!
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.
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.
2010-12-05 Leave a comment
Each year Las Vegas hosts the extremely popular Microsoft Management Summit (MMS). This is the premier event for anyone whose career includes responsibility for products like SCCM, SCOM, SCSM, or others in the System Center suite of products. Read more of this post
2010-11-21 Leave a comment
I’m frequently asked which ports are used by Configuration Manager.
Configuration Manager distributes services between the Site Server, Site Systems and Clients. Some of the ports used by Configuration Manager are configurable while others are not. When planning your firewall configurations, you will need to determine which services will require which ports. Microsoft documents all of the ports used on their Ports Used by Configuration Manager page.
Configuration Manager Team Blog
Yet Another System Center Blog 