My Blog

ALL Collections WQL and collection ID and Names in a Site

2010-12-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

SELECT     TOP (100) PERCENT dbo.v_Collection.Name, dbo.v_Collection.CollectionID, dbo.v_CollectionRuleQuery.RuleName, dbo.v_CollectionRuleQuery.QueryID,
                      dbo.v_CollectionRuleQuery.LimitToCollectionID, dbo.v_CollectionRuleQuery.QueryExpression
FROM         dbo.v_Collection INNER JOIN
                      dbo.v_CollectionRuleQuery ON dbo.v_Collection.CollectionID = dbo.v_CollectionRuleQuery.CollectionID
ORDER BY dbo.v_Collection.Name, dbo.v_Collection.CollectionID

SMS 2003 Sourceforge Tools And Utilities

2010-11-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

SMS/SCCM Peer2Peer AddOn
SMSTorrent is a Peer2Peer AddOn for SMS2003/SCCM2007 Clients. SMS/SCCM Clients are able to share the local Package cache with other Clients using the BitTorrent filesharing protocol.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smstorrent
SMS Site Settings tweak
SMSSettings provides a GUI to modify SMS2003 (Microsoft System Management Server 2003) Site Settings which are not accessible over the normal SMS Admin Interface.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smssettings
Screen Lock
This Tool does lock the Screen, Mouse and Keyboard for a specified time.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/screenlock
SMS Client Center
Troubleshoot and manage SMS 2003 advanced clients
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsclictr
SMS 2003 Offline Hardware Inventory
Capture SMS2003 Hardware Inventory on Systems without Network connectivity or Systems without an SMS Agent installed. This Tool creates a DDR (DataDiscoveryRecord) and an IDMIF File for each scanned system.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smshwinv
Secure Autologon
Enable Windows Autologon without a cleartext password in the Registry. The password will be stored by the Local Security Authority (LSA).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/autologon
SMS2003 Object Backup
Backup and restore a definable set of SMS 2003 Objects (Packages, Programs, Advertisements, Collections...). SMSObjBackup can also be used for Site Migration (Objects can be moved to another SMS Primary Site Server)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsobjbackup
SMS 2003 Adv.Client local policy import
A command line tool to assign local software distribution policies to an SMS 2003 Advanced Client. The Software will be installed independent of collection memberships.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smspolimp
SMS CloneDP
Manage the assigned Software Packages of a Microsoft SMS (SystemManagementServer) 2003 DistributionPoint
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsclonedp
SMS 2003 Software Request Web Form
SMS 2003 Software Request Web Form with a simple Workflow (mail/web based).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsswreq
SMS Collection Commander
Initiate SMS 2003 advanced client actions on a collection: Ping, WakeUp, HW/SW Inventory, ReRun Advertisements, Show logged on user, Download/Refresh Policy, Repair SMS Agents, Import Clients to the Collection...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smscollctr
SMS OSD Program Import
SMSOSDXML extends the SMS 2003 Admin Console to import OSD Program-Settings based on a XML File. SMS OSD automatically creates such XML Files (SMSDeploy.xml) for each OSD Program created in the Admin Console.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsosdxml
SMS Package Dependency Viewer
Show "Microsoft System Management Server 2003" Software Package dependencies in a TreeView.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsdepview

WMI delete

2010-11-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

To delete a class

You can delete a class in the current namespace with Delete Class on the Windows Management Instrumentation Tester dialog box.

Open the Windows Management Instrumentation Tester dialog box.
In the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Tester dialog box, click Connect.
In the Namespace box, type the path to the namespace that you want to connect to.
Example?
- To connect to the namespace where the Win32 provider classes reside, type:
  root\cimv2
Click Connect.
Click Delete Class.
In the Get Class Name dialog box, type the name of the class you want to delete, and then click OK.
A dialog box is displayed to warn you that the class might have derived classes or instances. This dialog box is displayed even if there are no derived classes or instances.
If you are sure you want to delete the class, click Yes to delete the class.

Notes

Performing this task on the local computer does not require you to have administrative credentials. Therefore, as a security best practice, consider performing this task as a user without administrative credentials.
Performing this task on a remote computer requires that you are a member of the Administrators group on the remote computer, or that you have been delegated the appropriate authority.
To open the Windows Management Instrumentation Tester dialog box, click Start, click Run, and then type WBEMTest.exe.

Client Site code

2010-10-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Use Full SQL Tables / Views

2010-10-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

UseFull SQL Tables/ Views	Description / Use
v_Add_Remove_Programs
v_Advertisement
v_AdvertisementInfo
v_ClientCollectionMembers
v_Collection
v_Collection
v_ConfigurationItems
v_DistributionPoint
v_DistributionPointGroup
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS_64
v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM
v_GS_DISK
v_GS_Memory_Details0
v_GS_OPERATING_SYSTEM
v_GS_PATCHSTATE
v_GS_SERVICE
v_GS_SoftwareProduct
v_GS_SYSTEM
v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS
v_GS_X86_PC_MEMORY
v_OS_Details
v_Package
v_PackageStatus
v_Program
v_Query
v_R_System
v_R_User
v_R_UserGroup
v_RA_System_IPAddresses
v_RA_System_IPSubnets
v_RA_System_IPXAddresses
v_RA_System_MACAddresses
v_RA_System_SMSAssignedSites
v_RA_System_SMSInstalledSites
v_RA_System_SystemContainerName
v_RA_System_SystemGroupName
v_RA_System_SystemOUName
v_RA_System_SystemRoles
v_Report
v_Site
v_SiteBoundary_ADSite
v_SiteBoundary_IPSubnet
v_StateNames
v_UpdateBundles
v_UpdateListStatus_Live
v_UpdatePrograms

Download these next path ::

2010-10-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

vnext
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ffca869c-4a83-434e-acc9-8b2388c0c7f7&displaylang=en&hash=AsfGo9XDkf9sIbtk88J1avBWmhXUWCuAjSQj1%2fsZM8VWG9dUPmqIq8n7VvOTw8xKAUCheBh89IzMW23MsS5aCA

scom r2
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/2/9/E29F1A2F-78B0-4B11-9517-435A2627A72F/OPSMGR2007R2EVAL.exe

service manager
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/5/2/8529ED85-8D64-4662-A337-2DCA431C495B/SCSM_RETAIL.exe

Data Protection Manager

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=cba30567-6ef0-4450-93f8-e433897cb093&displaylang=en&hash=S%2flpPNEVndZjpiujZaCC95kn7ehGeZtOLb%2blWlPPZslSlU3mjHyQXFym%2bnRtExHr0cG3eGeGlmGrsaaDapy%2bjw%3d%3d

Opalis

http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/F/C/DFC9F061-65A9-44C0-9012-450A7B8697CC/Opalis_180_Day_Evaluation.exe

SCCM R3 Provides

2010-10-16T03:21:00.000-07:00

The following features are new to Configuration Manager 2007 R3.

Power Management: Provides a set of tools that enable the site administrator to configure standard Windows power settings across computers and monitor power consumption and computer activity.
Operating System Deployment Improvements: Provides pre-staging of boot images and Windows Imaging Format (.wim) files on new computers that enables the administrator to apply a task sequence to the device that can use the pre-staged media.
Dynamic Collection Evaluation: Enables you to rapidly evaluate a collection membership by adding only newly discovered resources.
Active Directory Delta Discovery: Performs an intermediate discovery cycle that adds only new resources to the Configuration Manager 2007 database.
Simplified Resource Management: Enables you to search for and add resources to a specified collection.
Desired Configuration Management: Enables you to create a collection of compliant or noncompliant computers in desired configuration management.
Higher Number of Supported Clients Per Hierarchy: Configuration Manager 2007 R3 supports up to 300,000 clients per hierarchy when it uses the default settings for all Configuration Manager 2007 features. This increase in supported clients is the result of improvements to the Active Directory synchronization and Collection Evaluation processes

Test post

2010-10-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

V.Next: Configuration Manager and Systems Management Server

2010-10-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

Configuration Manager and Systems Management Server

You can find the labs all on the TechNet Virtual Lab page here.
Don’t forget, tomorrow the Community Evaluation Program for ConfigMgr v.Next starts. More information on that is here.

R3 is RELEASED !!!!!!

2010-10-14T00:28:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2010/10/14/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-unleashed.aspx

Epo tutorials & documentation.

2010-10-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Below link has Epo tutorials & documentation.

https://community.mcafee.com/community/business/epo?view=documents

Windows 2008 IIS Common Issue on MP : Make sure you need to meet this settings on your windows 2008 server

2010-10-13T01:08:00.000-07:00

Windows 2008 IIS Common Issue on MP : Make sure you need to meet this settings on your windows 2008 server

Last hardware inventory 14 days

2010-10-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

---------------------------------------------
select SMS_R_System.ResourceID,SMS_R_System.ResourceType,SMS_R_System.Name,SMS_R_System.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_System.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_System.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Name not in (select SMS_R_System.Name from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_WORKSTATION_STATUS on SMS_G_System_WORKSTATION_STATUS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_WORKSTATION_STATUS.LastHardwareScan >= DateAdd(dd,-14,GetDate()) )
-----------------------

Collections: query to check for obsolete clients

2010-10-13T00:13:00.000-07:00

You must know these collections as handy : Collections End to End

2010-10-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

1.Client all system collection

2.Non client systems

3.Inactive systems

4.Obsolete system

5.Duplicate client Yes or No

6. Last hardware inventory 14 days

7.Last software inventory 14 days

8.Last Data discovery cycle.

9. XYZ package, XYZ Advertisement success systems’ collection

10. XYZ package, XYZ Advertisement Failed systems’ collection

11.XYZ subnet collection system

12.Add XYZ system’s to a collection of Existing

13. All SMS server system collection

14. All windows server, workstation,DP,BDP collection

15. All system’s with AD site based

16. Collection limiting to sub collection, linking

17.System’s are in “A” collection But not in “B” Collection & Vice versa

18. In collection “XYZ” Software installed system

19. In collection “XYZ” File inventory(s\w inventory based) installed system

20. In collection “XYZ” file specific method(H\w inventory based) system

21.XYZ patch Installed & Not Installed system

22. All windows update Agent version 7.6 below

23.XYZ user/group collection

“The network path was not found" error on Win XP sp3”

2010-10-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

The problem
You are unable to connect to any network resource (network shares, printer, etc) on a Windows XP machine, from a Win XP client.
A solution (there could be several causes)

On the target machine (the one you're trying to connect to) open up Services, under Administrative Tools in the Start Menu.
Scroll down to the Computer Browser service.
If it is Disabled or set to Manual, set it to Automatic.
Then start it. It may stop immediately again, but this is OK.
At this point try to connect to the target machine.

If it still doesn't work, you can try the following:

open up Network Connections, under Control Panel.
Right click on your network adapter and click on Properties.
Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then click on Properties.
Click on Advanced, and click on the WINS tab.
Even if it is set to Default, set the radio button to Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
Press OK on each screen until everything's closed.
Go back to the client machine and try again.
You should be able to connect!

If it still doesn't work:

Go back to the Services window and find the service named Routing and Remote Access.
Double-click on it, set it to Manual, and stop it.
Close Services and try to connect from your client machine again.

WSUS Wiki and troubleshooting WSUS

2010-10-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Read here on the WSUS Team Blog a nice article about troubleshooting WSUS. It references the site http://www.wsuswiki.com/.

This site was created to provide a place for the WSUS community to share information about WSUS, including troubleshooting steps and best practices. The advantages that this site provides over public news groups include:

Content on this site is edited and kept up-to-date. News group postings can get out of date, can contain incorrect information, and are often not corrected.
It is easier for readers to find information on this site than in the news group.
This site captures minor contribution from many users and both aggregates and persists them over time. This body of work grows and gets better over time whereas newsgroups just grow.
It is fun to edit pages and improve on contributions of others. You can not really do that with news groups.

It also references several troubleshooting tips for successful configuration of WSUS.

Check it out.

SQL Reporting Services: SRS

2010-10-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

SQL Reporting services have some benefits over the current reporting solution:

Provide best in class reporting capability by integrating SQL Reporting Services, with the leading change and configuration management product: SCCM 2007
Enable Ad-hoc reporting - Make it easy for both SCCM administrators, and non administrators to find the information they need to make the right decisions for their business
Support alternative databases as the reporting database, such as a replicated or backup database
Allow custom report creation via a report authoring wizard.
Enable report browsing and viewing via the SRS Report Viewer.
Take advantage of rendering in all supported SRS formats, report caching, and subscriptions.

This article will explain setting up SRS with Configuration Manager based on SQL 2008. I’ve taken most of the steps from this article (many thanks to Michael Wiles). I’ve added some screenshots and applied it to SQL 2008, while the original article discusses SQL 2005. If you need more background info on SRS check out that link.

Install and configure SQL Reporting Services in SQL 2008

Be sure to check Reporting Services as part of your SQL installation

At step 21 of this part of this guide the setup provides you with three choices:

Native mode default configuration
SharePoint mode default configuration
Unconfigured Reporting Services installation

You should select Unconfigured Reporting Services installation at this point.

After the installation finishes you should configure SRS for the use with Configuration Manager 2007.

1. In the start menu select Microsoft SQL Server 2008 / Configuration Tools, then click Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

2. In the Reporting Services Configuration Connection select the Server Name and the Report Server Instance, then select Connect.

3. In the Report Server Status verify that the Service Status is set to Running. If it is not, click Start, and then click Apply.

4. Select Web Service URL and make sure you specify the name you want to call the virtual directory created by Reporting Services (or use the default ReportServer). Optionally you can select the IP-address you want to use, the port and SSL setting. When done click Apply.

5. Select Database, select Create a new report server database in the Report Server Database Configuration Wizard and click Next

6. Select the Database Server Name and Authentication Type that matches your SQL server and credentials.

7. Supply the Database Name and Language. Be sure to select Native Mode for Report Server Mode. Click Next.

8. Select the proper credentials from the drop list for Authentication Type

9. In the Summary screen review your settings and Click Next.

10. Review your database in the Report Server Database screen.

11. Select Report Manager URL and make sure you specify the name you want to call the virtual directory created by Reporting Services (or use the default Reports). Optionally you can select the IP-address you want to use, the port and SSL setting. When done click Apply.

12. Email settings are not mandatory to setup, but can be configured appropiately if necessary.

13. Execution Account is necessary to configure if you will be running unattended reports. Optionally apply credentials and Click Apply.

20. Click Exit to close Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

Configure Configuration Manager 2007

SQL Reporting Services need the configuration of a Reporting Services Point role.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Site Management / <site code>-<site name> / Site Settings / Site Systems.

2. In this guide I will add the reporting services point site role to the existing site system. Right-click the site system name, and click New Roles. On the General page of the New Site Role Wizard, configure the general settings for this site system, then click Next.

3. On the System Role Selection page of the wizard, select Reporting Services point (don’t select Reporting Point by mistake, which is the traditional reporting functionality), then click Next.

5. On the Reporting Services Point page, specify the folder that will be created on the report server to contain the SQL Reporting Services reports used in Configuration Manager and then click Next.

6. Review the information shown on the Summary page, then click Next.

7. Click Close to exit the wizard.

8. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Reporting / Reporting Services, and expand the node.

9. Right-click the reporting services point server you want to configure, then click Properties.

10. On the Data Source Settings tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify the Configuration Manager 2007 database server and database name (not the one create earlier for reporting!) to be used as the data source for SQL Reporting Services reports. Click the test button to verify that you have correct data entered.

11. On the Data Source Authentication tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify the credentials used to access reports on the report server. I’ve use Windows Integrated Security here.

12. On the Data Source Security tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify permissions for the users who have access to the data source specified in the Data Source Settings tab.

13. On the Security tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify the users who have access to the selected report server.

14. Click OK to close the Report Server Properties dialog box.

Import standard reports in Reporting Services

The last step in configuring SRS for Configuration Manager 2007 is to convert the standard reports to Reporting Services reports.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Reporting / Reporting Services

2. Right-click the Reporting Services server that the standard reports will be copied to, then click Copy Reports to Reporting Services.

3. On the Data Source Settings page of the Copy Reports Wizard, specify the Configuration Manager 2007 database server and database name from which to copy the reports. Click Next.

4. On the Data Source Authentication page of the Copy Reports Wizard, choose the authentication method required to run the copied reports on the reporting point server. Click Next.

5. On the Select Reports page of the Copy Reports Wizard, select the reports you want to copy to the reporting services point. Select Overwrite existing reports if you want to overwrite any reports that already exist on the reporting services point. Click Next.

6. On the Security page of the Copy Reports Wizard, specify which users can access the copied reports and the roles they must belong to. For more information about the options on this page, see Report Server Properties: Security Tab. Click Next

7. On the Summary page of the Copy Reports Wizard, review the reports that will be created, and then click Next.

8. After the reports are copied, click Next.

9. On the Confirmation page of the Copy Reports Wizard, review the information, and then click Close to exit the wizard.

Reports are now available Site Database / Computer Management / Reporting / Reporting Services / <Site Server> / All Reports

To run a particular report just Right Click the report and select Run.

Popular and useful tools for ConfigMgr 2007

2010-10-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

SCCM Right Click Tools
SCCM Client Center
OSD++
SMSMap
SCCMAutoDoc
SCCM 2007 SDK
SCCM-Tools.com
BitsAdmin
WMI Administrative Tools
WMI Diagnosis Utility

http://www.petervanderwoude.nl/post/The-best-(free)-tools-for-ConfigMgr-2007!.aspx

Step by Step 4 part guide to Deploying Windows 7 Enterprise.

2010-10-05T04:08:00.000-07:00

Deploy Windows 7 part 1.
Build and Capture
Part 1 is the longest part of the 4 part guide and covers the steps required to successfully Build and Capture Windows 7 RTM. It was tested successfully on both X86 and X64 Enterprise RTM releases.
Step 1. get the ISO
Step 2. Add Operating System Install Package
Step 3. Create Distribution Point for the Image
Step 4. Update Distribution Point
Step 5. Create the Build and Capture Task Sequence
Step 6. Advertise the Build and Capture Task Sequence
Step 7. Add a system to the Build and Capture 7 collection
Step 8. PXE boot the newly added Windows 7 client
Deploy Windows 7 part 2.
Add the captured WIM file
Step 1. Add the Captured Wim file as an Operating System Image
Step 2. Distribute the Captured WIM file
Deploy Windows 7 part 3.
Create a new Task Sequence
Step 1. Create a new Task Sequence
Deploy Windows 7 part 4.
Advertise the Task Sequence
Step 1. Advertise the Task Sequence
Step 2. Last Actions
enjoy !
cheers

SCCM Index : End- End

2010-10-05T02:50:00.000-07:00

SCCM Index from windows noob

http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1064-sccm-2007-guides/

A legacy network adapter : Hyper - V

2010-10-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

A legacy network adapter works without installing a virtual machine driver because the driver is already available on most operating systems. The legacy network adapter emulates a physical network adapter, multiport DEC 21140 10/100TX 100 MB. A legacy network adapter also supports network-based installations because it includes the ability to boot to the Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE). The legacy network adapter is not supported in the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2003 or the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition."

then you can see as below

Hyper – V : Installing a Legacy Network Adapter

2010-10-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

Installing a Legacy Network Adapter.
(Legacy Adapters aren't supported in Windows Server 2003 64-bit or Windows XP 64-bit)
1. Make sure your Virtual Machine is shutdown.
2. Right-click the Virtual Machine in Hyper-v select Settings.
3. Select Add Hardware.
4. On the Add Hardware page select Legacy Adapter.
5. Then click Add.

OSD Task Sequence : Formatted the drive, dropped the image on the PC

2010-10-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

Issue: When trying to perform an OSD Task Sequence using SCCM 2007, the deployment fails, usually after it has successfully formatted the drive, dropped the image on the PC, and scanned for drivers.

Looking at the SMSTS.log, the following error is logged:

Task sequence cannot continue after reboot because TS Manager is not configured to auto-start or GINA is not installed    TSManager
CheckForRebootRequest(&bRebootInitiated), HRESULT=80004005 (e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\tasksequence\executionengine\engine.cxx,274)    TSManager
Fatal error is returned in check for reboot request of the action (Restart Computer).
Unspecified error (Error: 80004005; Source: Windows    TSManager
An error (0x80004005) is encountered in execution of the task sequence    TSManager

Cause: This issue is caused because the "Setup windows and ConfigMgr" task has either been removed, disabled, or has been moved to the wrong place in the Task Sequence.

The "Setup windows and ConfigMgr" task performs several tasks that prepares the PC from going from WinPE to the Windows Setup, including modifying boot managers to boot to the correct partition. Once it finishes preparing the PC, this task then reboots the PC at the proper time to start Windows Setup or Mini-Setup. If this task is removed, it will cause the deployment to fail because the PC was not properly prepared.

Resolution: For these reasons, the "Setup windows and ConfigMgr" task should never be removed, disabled, or moved to another place other than the default in the Task Sequence. Moving it to another place in the Task Sequence may cause the PC not to be prepared or rebooted at the correct time, causing the deployment to fail.

The "Setup windows and ConfigMgr" task should also not be marked as Continue on Error because if this task does error out, the deployment will probably fail anyway.

How to handle NEGATIVE PEOPLE

2010-10-04T05:56:00.000-07:00

Here, I'll share with you 9 tips to deal with negative people in your life:

1) Don't get into an argument
One of the most important things I learned is not to debate with a negative person.

A negative person likely has very staunch views and isn't going to change them because of what you say. Whatever you say, he can find 10 different reasons to back up his viewpoint. The discussion will just swirl into more negativity, and you pull yourself down in the process. You can give constructive comments, and if the person rebuts with no signs of backing down, don't engage further.

2) Empathize with them
Have you ever been annoyed by something before, then have someone tell you to "relax"? How did you feel? Did you relax as the person suggested or did you feel even more worked up?

From my experience, people who are negative (or upset for that matter) benefit more from an empathetic ear than suggestions/solutions on what he should do. By helping them to address their emotions, the solutions will automatically come to them (it's always been inside them anyway).

3) Lend a helping hand
Some people complain as a way of crying for help. They may not be conscious of it, though, so their comments come across as complaints rather than requests. Take the onus to lend a helping hand. Just a simple "Are you okay?" or "Is there anything I can do to help you?" can do wonders.

4) Stick to light topics
Some negative people are triggered by certain topics. Take for example: One of my friends sinks into a self-victimizing mode whenever we talk about his work. No matter what I say (or don't say) he'll keep complaining once we talk about work.

Our first instinct with negative people should be to help bring them to a more positive place (i.e. steps #2 and #3). But if it's apparent the person is stuck in his negativity, the unhappiness may be too deeply rooted to address in a one-off conversation, or for you to help him unravel it.

Bring in a new topic to lighten the mood. Simple things like new movies, daily occurrences, and common friends make for light conversation. Keep it to areas the person feels positive about.

5) Ignore the negative comments

One way to help the negative person "get it" is to ignore the negative comments. If he goes into a negative swirl, ignore or give a simple "I see" or "Ok" reply. On the other hand, when he is being positive, reply in affirmation and enthusiasm. Do this often and soon he will know that positivity pays off.

6) Praise the person for the positive things

Negative people aren't just negative to others; they're also negative to themselves. If you already feel negative around them, imagine how they must feel all the time.

What is the person good at? What do you like about the person? Recognize the positive things and praise him for it. He will be surprised at first and might reject the compliment, but on the inside he will feel positive about it. That's the first seed of positivity you're planting in him and it'll bloom in the long-term.

7) Hang out in 3's or more people

Having someone else in the conversation works wonders in easing the load. In a one-on-one communication, all the negativity will be directed towards you. With someone else in the conversation, you don't have to bear the full brunt of the negativity. This way you can focus more on doing steps #1 (Empathizing) and #2 (Helping the person).

8) Be responsible for your reaction

Whether the person is negative or not, ultimately you're the one
who is perceiving the negativity.

Take responsibility for your perceptions. You can interpret every personality trait of another person in a positive or a negative manner. Learn to see the goodness of the person rather than the negative. It may be tough initially, but once you cultivate the skill,
it becomes second nature.

9) Reduce contact with them / Avoid them

If all else fails, reduce contact with them or avoid them altogether. If it's a good friend, let him know of the severity of the issue and work it out where possible. It's not healthy to spend too much time with people who drain you.

Your time is precious, so spend it with people who have positive effects on you

Systems Part of What Collections

2010-10-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

--Systems Part of What Collections

SELECT v_R_System.Name0, v_Collection.Name FROM v_FullCollectionMembership INNER JOIN v_R_System ON v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID = v_R_System.ResourceID INNER JOIN v_Collection ON v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID = v_Collection.CollectionID WHERE (v_R_System.Name0 = 'Systemname')

For finding the 90 days old computers in the AD

2010-09-30T03:27:00.000-07:00

For finding the 90 days old computers in the AD

DSQUERY COMPUTER "DC=MydomainName,DC=COM" -STALEPWD 90 -LIMIT 5000 >> C:\output.csv

for finding the 90 days old computers in the AD & action to delete with the output

DSQUERY COMPUTER "OU=COMPUTERS,DC=LANDESK,DC=COM" -STALEPWD 90 -LIMIT 5000 | DSRM -NOPROMPT >C:\Output.csv

Good Posting for Multicasting for OSD : End to End

2010-09-29T04:46:00.000-07:00

you can find here http://tinyurl.com/289ho4y

Multicasting is a new feature of R2 in SCCM and is a welcome addition to the OSD feature. Multicast allows for image deployment with a much reduced network load. If, for example, you are deploying a 500 MB image to 20 workstations that have just arrived from the OEM then with normal OSD imaging you would see network traffic equal to around 10 Gig! Using multicasting would result in a significant decrease in network utilization. Depending on the configuration, as little as about 500 MB of traffic required to deploy to all 20 machines! This is the same amount of network traffic you would consume deploying to just a single imaging system using typical OSD imaging before multicast!

How do you setup multicast? Let's walk through the configuration that is required step by step.

First, we need to enable multicasting. Multicast requires a distribution point and the 'transport server' component of WDS installed on a Windows 2008 server. From there select the properties of the distribution point site system role and make sure the option for BITS, HTTP and HTTPS transfer is selected as shown

Note the new multicast tab that is added when R2 is installed. Select the multicast tab and enable multicasting.

There are two options when using multicast - autocast and scheduled multicast.

To enable autocast just select to enable multicast. In this configuration the multicast session starts as soon as the first machine powers up and requests the image. As additional machines are also booted up for imaging they will 'join' the current multicast session already in progress and consume the remainder of the stream. When the stream ends it will start again and the systems that joined late will consume the parts they missed. While autocasting isn't as efficient as scheduled multicast it is still significantly more efficient that standard OSD image delivery.

Scheduled multicast allows for more control of the multicast session. Here you choose either a time delay before starting the multicast session or a minimum number of clients that must join the session before it starts. The multicast session will start whenever either of the two requirements are met. The idea here is to allow the administrator time to get all of the systems started and ready and then all systems can load the image simultaneously - providing the best usage of network resources. Scheduled multicast is enabled by selecting the 'enable scheduled multicast' check box.

There are other configuration options on this screen but no extra configuration is required unless by your network. The 'out of the box' settings work fine for most environments.

In addition, while DHCP and Windows 2008 based WDS (transport component as noted earlier - the PXE boot piece does not need to be on the same server) are needed, there is no special configuration requirement for either to make use of multicasting.

The next step is to configure the image package to be deployed by multicast. In properties of the imported image, select the 'distribution settings' tab as shown

Select the option to allow the package to be deployed by multicast and optionally select the other two options. In my testing I tried to select to only allow the image to be transferred via multicast but this didn't seem to work. When I disabled multicast the image would still deploy, even with this option set.

in addition to enabling multicast for the image, you can also enable multicast on any package that is part of the image deployment. On each package select properties and then select the 'distribution settings' tab. the same options are available here as were on the image package as shown

As shown on both the image and the package, multicast is something that takes place in Windows PE only. So, setting these options per package will not result in the package being delivered via multicast through normal software distribution.

Finally, enable the task sequence advertisement to deliver the image via multicast. On the properties of the advertisement select the 'distribution points' tab as shown.

To enable multicast MAKE SURE you have selected to 'download content locally when needed by running task sequence'. This requirement isn't documented and I spent hours trying to understand why my multicast sessions weren't starting up before realizing this setting was required.

Thats it - we are now ready to go for delivering images via multicast. Let's walk through a couple of scenarios using autocast and scheduled multicast. In our scenarios we will use PXE booted systems but multicast also works fine when booting from media - the experience is just slightly different when in Windows PE.

Autocast - single machine
To test multicast generally you will use a single machine. So, what is your indication that multicast is actually working? When the image begins to deploy you will see that a multicast session is requested, the image is downloaded locally via multicast and then reassembled as shown in the following three screenshots.

Autocast - two machines
As mentioned, in autocast the first requesting machine will start the multicast as shown above. Any subsequent machines that boot up during the existing multicast session will join in progress and then loop back to the start and request the initial bits again. The screenshots below show two sysems - the one on the left was started ahead of the one on the right but both are downloading the same image. The one on the right started mid-stream.

After downloading the image the one on the left proceeds to extract while the one on the right finishes up getting the image.

Scheduled multicast works similarly except here the multicast session will not start until either time has expired or the minimum number of machines have joined the multicast session. The screenshot below shows a system waiting for either more systems to join or the timeout to expire.

So, while this is all going on - what is happening in the background to make this all work? The SMSTS log varies slightly in each scenario but the core details are the same. The SMSTS log section below is from a machine participating in an autocast multicast session.

In the log snip below we see the imaging system flag the multicast enabled distribution point that it wants to use for the multicast session, construct details for the multicast session request and then send the request to the multicast point

Continuing in the log we see the request information submitted to the multicast point followed by a reply with information the imaging system needs to join the multicast session. Once we get the proper information back from the multicast point we then request and establish the multicast session

Next we see the response from the multicast server, the session get setup and the download begin

Once downloaded we begin to reconstruct the wim file and start applying the image.

When initially setting up the multicast session we say reference to sending information to the multicast point. If we look in the mcsisapi log we see the request received, processed and the resulting reply sent back to the imaging agent as shown

There is certainly more 'behind the scenes' detail that takes place but this give a good picture, end to end, of how to configure, use and understand the process of using multicasting in R2.

Good Book for Good to Great Framework

2010-09-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Good to Great: by Jim Collins Page

like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

one more virtual software : SUN V BOX

2010-09-29T02:48:00.000-07:00

one more virtual software

SUN V BOX :: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Test

2010-09-29T01:54:00.000-07:00

Good website for beginners on Windows Basics

2010-08-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/windows/win2k/index.html

People can go through with the left side list from 1 to 75

7575 questions to ask yourself : Questions are the answer.

2010-08-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

1. Why not me?
2. Am I nice?
3. Am I doing what I really want to do?
4. What am I grateful for?
5. What’s missing in my life?
6. Am I honest?
7. Do I listen to others?
8. Do I work hard?
9. Do I help others?
10. What do I need to change about myself?
11. Have I hurt others?
12. Do I complain?
13. What’s next for me?
14. Do I have fun?
15. Have I seized opportunities?
16. Do I care about others?
17. Do I spend enough time with my family?
18. Am I open-minded?
19. Have I seen enough of the world?
20. Do I judge others?
21. Do I take risks?
22. What is my purpose?
23. What is my biggest fear?
24. How can I conquer that fear?
25. Do I thank people enough?
26. Am I successful?
27. What am I ashamed of?
28. Do I annoy others?
29. What are my dreams?
30. Am I positive?
31. Am I negative?
32. Is there an afterlife?
33. Does everything happen for a reason?
34. What can I do to change the world?
35. What is the most foolish thing I’ve ever done?
36. Am I cheap?
37. Am I greedy?
38. Who do I love?
39. Who do I want to meet?
40. Where do I want to go?
41. What am I most proud of?
42. Do I care what others think about me?
43. What are my talents?
44. Do I utilize those talents?
45. What makes me happy?
46. What makes me sad?
47. What makes me angry?
48. Am I satisfied with my appearance?
49. Am I healthy?
50. What was the toughest time in my life?
51. What was the easiest time in my life?
52. Am I selfish?
53. What was the craziest thing I did?
54. What is the craziest thing I want to do?
55. Do I procrastinate?
56. What is my greatest regret?
57. What has had the greatest impact on my life?
58. Who has had the greatest impact on my life?
59. Do I stand up for myself?
60. Have I settled for mediocrity?
61. Do I hold grudges?
62. Do I read enough?
63. Do I listen to my heart?
64. Do I donate enough to the less fortunate?
65. Do I pray only when I want something?
66. Do I constantly dwell on the past?
67. Do I let other people’s negativity affect me?
68. Do I forgive myself?
69. When I help someone do I think “What’s in it for me”?
70. Am I aware that someone always has it worse than me?
71. Do I smile more than I frown?
72. Do I surround myself with good people?
73. Do I take time out for myself?
74. Do I ask enough questions?
75. What other questions do I have?

Discovery Mystery

2010-08-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Discovery Methods

Six methods of discovery are available in Configuration Manager 2007:

Network Discovery
Heartbeat Discovery----------------------------------------------------this must enabled in all sites
Active Directory System Group Discovery
Active Directory Security Group Discovery
Active Directory System Discovery
Active Directory User Discovery

As Configuration Manager 2007 discovers resources, it creates records in the Configuration Manager database. This record is called a data discovery record (DDR) and the file generated has a .DDR extension. The specific information contained in each record varies depending on the resource "discovered," but it can include data such as the NetBIOS name of a computer, IP address and IP subnet of a computer or device, operating system, MAC address, and so on.

Depending on the discovery method used, resource DDRs are periodically regenerated to keep the discovery data up to date in the database and to verify that the resource is still a valid resource within the Configuration Manager 2007 site.

Now these methods what will discover?.. below are the discover use of each

Active Directory System Group Discovery

Organizational unit
Global groups
Universal groups
Nested groups
Nonsecurity groups

Active Directory System Discovery

Computer name
Operating system
Object class
DNS Host name
Domain

Active Directory User Discovery

User name
DNS host name
Object class
Active Directory domain
Active Directory container name

Network Discovery

NetBIOS name
IP addresses
Resource domain
System roles
SNMP community name
MAC addresses

Heartbeat Discovery :- Heartbeat Discovery is active only on computers that have already been installed as Configuration Manager clients.

It is important to ensure that any schedule you create causes the DDRs to be updated frequently enough so that the original DDR isn't viewed by Configuration Manager as obsolete or deleted from the database.Heartbeat Discovery updates existing DDRs rather than creating new ones. By default, it generates an updated DDR for each client every seven days, although this timing is configurable.

Heartbeat Discovery runs on installed Configuration Manager clients according to the schedule you specify. With this method enabled, the Client Component Installation Manager (CCIM) on the client causes the Cliex32.dll to generate a DDR, which is then written to the management point. This file is the same size as a normal DDR (approximately 1 KB per client), and so it will generate approximately the same network traffic.

Active Directory Security Group Discovery

he Configuration Manager 2007 Active Directory Security Group Discovery method searches for security groups by polling the closest Active Directory domain controller. The Active Directory domain can be in mixed mode or native mode.

Discovery Troubleshooting Flowcharts http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb735871.aspx

Log files related to discovery

Adsysdis.log Active Directory System Discovery log file showing when the discovery method runs, and its results. Look for the number of DDRs created and any "bogus" entries.

Adsysgrp.log Active Directory System Group Discovery log file showing when the discovery method runs, and its results. Look for the number of DDRs created.

Adusrdis.log Active Directory User Discovery log file showing when the discovery method runs, and its results. Look for the number of DDRs created.

DISCOVERY HAS A DEPENDENCE OF CLEINT PUSH, IF DISCOVERY IS NOT ENABLED OR NOT DISCOVERED ANY SYSTEMS THEN CLIENT PUSH WILL NOT PUSH ON ANY SYSTEM’S

Scripts:- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc180843.aspx

If you deleted any system from SCCM / SMS console you can initiate the client discovery data cycle then client can be reappear in the console

Third party Discovery Tools :- enhanced discovery tool

The major discovery drop backs in SCCM is it will not do a delta discovery it will do from scratch.. that means it will not discover specific to the changes that has changed from last cycle.. to accomplish this you need to depend on Enhanced discovery tool http://www.systemcentertools.com/esd.html

now with SCCM R3 you can do delta discovery

SCCM Client Services and applets

2010-08-25T22:08:00.000-07:00

If SMS/SCCM Client is installed we will get SMS Agent host (ccmexec.exe ) service will be installed all the related information log file is ccmexec.log file

if client installed it will come in Control Panel

if the client OS version is 32 bit then you can find the applets in the control panel directly, if it is 64 bit OS then you will get in 32-bit Control Panel items (The reason is sccm is a 32 bit application) also client will be installed in windows\ccmsetup for client installation

and for client logs in 64 located in

64 bit client log files location screenshot is below

Basic Power shell commands with System center products

2010-08-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Power Shell Scripts for System Center (Master Collection)

SMS / SCCM console not connecting

2010-08-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Above is a example screenshot

There are 3 areas of consideration when troubleshooting access to the SMS provider and the site server.

1. Do you have the necessary privileges to the SMS provider on your site server?

2. Do you have the necessary security rights to the database?

3. Do you have the necessary privileges as far as WBEM is concerned?

4. Is WBEM working?

http://www.myitforum.com/articles/6/view.asp?id=250
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317872

Verify that this computer has network connectivity to the SMS Provider

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb932213.aspx

Check the adminui.log and smsprov.log and smsdbmon.log

Installation & Configuration of SCCM2007 Secondary Site

2010-08-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

1. Add the Configuration Manager Secondary Site Server Computer account to the Group “SCCM-GROUP”. As mentioned in my previous article this group must be added on to the System Management Container Security tab with Full permissions in active directory users and computers snap in as shown below.

2. Add the computer account of Configuration Manager Secondary site server to the Local Group “SMS_SiteToSiteConnection_INC” which is present on the primary Site server.

Procedure:

Logon to primary Site Server- Open Computer management drill down to Local Users and Groups, Select groups and in that we will find a Local Group named as “SMS_SiteToSiteConnection_INC” as shown below. Go to the properties page and add secondary site server computer account.

3. Create a Sender Address with the Secondary Site Code and Primary Site Information.

Procedure:

Open SCCM2007 Primary Site Server management Console, drill down to Site Management-Site Code- Site Settings- Addresses.

Right Click on Addresses and create a new Standard Sender Address

On the new Standard Sender Address Wizard, enter the Destination Site Code that is the new site code which we will give at the time of Secondary Site server installation. In our case we will give INS.

Give the Site Server name that is the Secondary Site Server Name.

If you leave the Site address account empty, the sender will use Primary Site Computer account to establish communication between both the sites (Primary and Secondary). If you leave the default, Primary site computer account must have full permissions on the secondary site server.

We can also set a windows user account that is having full admin privileges on both the site servers.

In our case we will leave as it is to use the Primary site Computer account.

In our case we selected open from Sunday to Saturday and click next

Leave the defaults and click Finish, you can also modify these settings based on your organization needs.

Once done you will see the newly created connector as shown below.

4. Check the remote installation permissions of the account with which we are installing SCCM2007.

As discussed previously, we are using the Site server system account to establish communication between 2 sites, make sure we add the SCCM-Group into the Local Administrators group on the Configuration Manager Secondary Site Server.

To verify these

Log onto the Secondary site server and add the SCCM-GROUP account in the Local Administrators group of SCCM2007 Secondary site server.

5. The SCCM2007 Primary site server Computer account must have full admin privileges on the Secondary Site Server computer account.

6. The Service account with which we are installing secondary site server must have local admin privileges on the Secondary Site Computer account.

7. Install IIS 6.0 (IIS is used for Management Point and Fallback Status Point)

Installing secondary site is two methods one from SCCM Console and second one from direct media from secondary site. we will run with the second option.

On the installation Prerequisite Check windows select Secondary site and click ok

click OK

Click ok, and

Initiate the Configuration Manager 2007 installation

Click next on the available setup options page

Accept the License agreement and click next

On the site type windows select Secondary site and click next

Provide the installation directory for binary files and click next

On the Site Settings Windows Insert the site code which we entered at the time of Sender creation and provide the site name

In our case site code is INS and Site Name is MacroALLY Secondary Site Server

On the Parent Site Settings window, enter the Primary site code, which are INC and the Parent Site Server Name. Click next to proceed

On the Update Prerequisite Components page leave the defaults and click next

On the Updated Prerequisites path, enter the path to the folder were SCCM will download the updates and put it. Click next

On the settings summary page review the settings, if any changes go back to modify or proceed further with installation by clicking next

Setup will evaluate your system and cross checks all the prerequisites once more, if the status is green proceed further by clicking Begin install.

Setup starts installing the Configuration Manager Secondary site server

Click Finish and restart the server

open the console now after restart

And the Sender will be updated with the necessary information as shown below

Vise Versa in the Secondary site settings-Address, you will also see a sender address created for Primary server as shown below

Configuration Manager Secondary Site is installed Secondary Site Information is updated in the System management Container in AD which is shown below

How confirm that Secondary site is working /Primary to secondary communication is fine:

Verify the Log Files to find out weather Secondary site is communicating with primary server properly.

Log files to monitor

ConfigMgrSetup.Log : Located on the root of system drive (Secondary site server )

Sender.log: Located on the Secondary site server installation directory (c:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs\Sender. Log) used to track weather the site is sending site information to the primary parent site.

After ensuring there are no communication problems from the above 2 logs, go ahead to check the despoiler.log on the primary site server to ensure it has received the secondary site information and is processing the secondary site information.

Despoole.log: located on the Primary site server (c:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\ Logs\Despool.log)

Hman.log: Logs actions related to the hierarchy structure of the sites, located on the primary server (c:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\ Logs\HMan.log).

Sitecomp.log: Logs information related to secondary site information publishing to Active Directory along with the primary site information, Located on the primary Site Server (c:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\ Logs\SiteComp.log)

With this you are done with Secondary site Server Installation.

Site Status Components checks :- Regular checks

2010-08-19T00:24:00.000-07:00

Site Status components are at least 51 or more than that are available. And here below of some mentioned may need to come as read / warning in your day to day operations

SMS_LAN_SENDER

SMS_EXECUTIVE

SMS_HIERARCHY_MANAGER

SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER

SMS_DESPOOLER

SMS_DISCOVERY_DATA_MANAGER

SMS_INBOX_MANAGER

SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER

SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH_MANAGER

SMS_INVENTORY_PROCESSOR

SMS_INBOX_MONITOR

SMS_INVENTORY_DATA_LOADER

SMS_DATABASE_NOTIFICATION_MONITOR

SMS_AD_SYSTEM_GROUP_DISCOVERY_AGENT

SMS_AI_KB_MANAGER

SMS_AMT_PROXY_COMPONENT

SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_AUPERPSPSS01

SMS_AD_SECURITY_GROUP_DISCOVERY_AGENT

SMS_AD_SYSTEM_DISCOVERY_AGENT

SMS_COMPONENT_MONITOR

SMS_COMPONENT_STATUS_SUMMARIZER

SMS_CLIENT_CONFIG_MANAGER

SMS_COLLECTION_EVALUATOR

SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER

SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER

SMS_SOFTWARE_METERING_PROCESSOR

SMS_STATE_SYSTEM

SMS_STATUS_MANAGER

SMS_MP_FILE_DISPATCH_MANAGER

SMS_OUTBOX_MONITOR

SMS_PXE_SERVICE_POINT

SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER

SMS_COMPONENT_MONITOR

SMS_EXECUTIVE

SMS_SOFTWARE_INVENTORY_PROCESSOR

SMS_OUTBOX_MONITOR

SMS_POLICY_PROVIDER

SMS_REPLICATION_MANAGER

SMS_OBJECT_REPLICATION_MANAGER

SMS_OFFER_MANAGER

SMS_SITE_BACKUP

SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER

And out of the regular ones in my case I am seeing these many times in the hierarchy

SMS_LAN_SENDER==================> in the error mentioned site systems are offline or network connectivity problem

SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER========> Targeted packages are not reached the DP or very frequently updated by some one

SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER==========>

Mpcert http://sccmserverName/sms_mp/.sms_aut?mpcert

MPlist http://sccmserverName/sms_mp/.sms_aut?mplist

For MP function mpcontrol.log file.. You may get 401,403 or 500 errors mostly with IIS & SQL issues. If you see error 200 that means MP working Fine.

Log files location for a server with the sitecode of DC1

SMS_COLLECTION_EVALUATOR========> at this stage we can ignore this error

SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER===========> Solution: - open the wsyncmgr.log file check for errors and do a more sync if required from below given screenshot

Sample Error:- SMS WSUS Configuration Manager failed to configure proxy settings on WSUS Server "USDC1PSPSS02".

Possible cause: WSUS Server version 3.0 SP1 and above is not installed or cannot be contacted.

Solution: Verify that the WSUS Server version 3.0 SP1 or greater is installed. Verify that the IIS ports configured in SMS are same as those configured on the WSUS IIS website.You can receive failure because proxy is set but proxy name is not specified or proxy server port is invalid.

SMS_OUTBOX_MONITOR============> You need to connect to the Configmgr Service Manager and stop the inbox_monitor component and start it same applies to below one.

SMS_Inboxe_MONITOR=============>

SMS_PXE_SERVICE_POINT===========> Check the WDS Service in Services.msc console if the service is stopped raise a P-4 incident to start the service. MAKE SURE IF THE SERVICE IS IN STARTED STATE AND YOU ARE TRYING TO STOP IT MAY CHANGE THE STATUS TO STOPPING STATUS AND IT NEVER CHANGES IT STATUS TO RUNIING OR STOPPED STATE, AND It will not allow you to even kill the pid The solution is reboot the system (This also happens to SMS executive service also)

Active Directory end to end

2010-08-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

What is Active Directory? (This article taken it from http://learnthat.com and all rights and credits goes to http://learnthat.com)

Active Directory (AD) is a technology created by Microsoft to provide network services including LDAP directory services, Kerberos based authentication, DNS naming, secure access to resources, and more. Active Directory uses a single Jet database which a variety of services and applications can use to access and store a variety of information. Active Directory is used by system administrators to store information about users, assign security policies, and deploy software. AD is used in many different types and size of environments from the very small (a dozen users) to hundreds of thousands of users in a global environment.

In this tutorial, you will learn the basic structure of Active Directory, gain an understanding of how Active Directory works, learn how to install Active Directory, and learn the components of AD.

This tutorial is divided into these sections:

What is Active Directory: An overview of Active Directory and its use in technology environments.

Active Directory Structure: Learn the basics of AD, its components (such as domains, domain controllers, trust relationships, forests, organizational units, etc), hierarchies within AD, and DNS.

How to Install Active Directory: Active Directory installation is not complex in its process, but can be difficult in the future if you do not plan the installation correctly. Learn the tricks and tips you need to know to properly plan an AD installation and why administrators install AD the way they do.

This free Active Directory tutorial is not a comprehensive one on the topic, but an introduction to Active Directory and its structure and use.

History of Active Directory

Active Directory was introduced to the world in the mid-1990s by Microsoft as a replacement for Windows NT-style user authentication. Windows NT included a flat and non-extensible domain model which did not scale well for large corporations. Active Directory, on the other hand, was created as a true directory service versus a flat user-management service that NT had. Though it was introduced in the 1990s, it did not become a part of the Operating System until Windows 2000 Server was released in 2000. Since then, Windows Server 2003 and Server 2008 have been introduced and Active Directory has gone under some expansion.

This tutorial is based on Windows Server 2003 as it is currently the most widely installed version of the Windows network Operating System (NOS), though in the future we will release versions for Windows Server 2008 and future Windows releases as it becomes necessary. Though this tutorial is not focused on Windows Server 2008, much of the basic knowledge and instruction relates to either OS.

LDAP

Active Directory is based loosely on LDAP – Lightweight Directory Access Protocol – an application protocol for querying and modifying directory services developed at the University of Michigan in the early 1990s. An LDAP directory tree is a hierarchical structure of organizations, domains, trees, groups, and individual units.

Example of an LDAP Tree

Active Directory is a Directory

Sometimes, it’s easy to get lost in all of the technology and functions that are provided with AD and forget that Active Directory is a directory. It is a directory in both the common use of the term like a white pages (you can add in a person’s first name, last name, phone number, address, email address, etc) and a directory of information for use by applications and services (such as Microsoft Exchange for email). AD is functionally a place to store information about people, things (computers, printers, etc), applications, domains, services, security access permissions, and more. Applications and services then use the directory to perform a function.

For example, Microsoft Windows uses Active Directory information to allow a user to login to their computer and provide access to the security rights assigned in Active Directory. Windows is accessing the directory and then providing rights based on what it finds. If a user account is disabled in Active Directory, the directory itself is just setting a flag which Windows uses to disallow a user from logging in.

We mentioned in the introduction that administrators use Active Directory to deploy software – this is an incomplete description. Administrators can set policies and information that a certain software application should be deployed to a certain user – AD itself does not deploy the software, but a Windows service reads the information from Active Directory and then installs the software.

Once you grasp the concept that Active Directory is a directory, you’re halfway to understanding why it is built the way it is!

Unlike Windows NT, Active Directory is designed for you to create a functional and usable hierarchy for your environment. Not only does this make the environment look cleaner, but it also allows central system administrators to delegate specific authority over areas to other administrators, team members, and groups. AD has a very flexible structure, allowing you to build a hierarchy in whatever way you wish – one big unit, broken down by geographic location, by department, by astronomical sign, or however you desire.

Achieving this flexibility in hierarchical design is a defined structure. The structure of Active Directory starts with forests and domains and goes down to organizational units and individual objects (such as a user or computer account). The flexibility in hierarchical design is a benefit to network architects, but if you do not design the structure correctly in the beginning, it can be a nightmare down the road. We recommend spending a lot of time thinking about the best hierarchical structure for your Active Directory environment before diving in and building it.

In this section, we are going to look at the basic building blocks of Active Directory – all those things which make it such a flexible directory service.

Basic Active Directory Components

At its core, Active Directory needs structure to work properly. It provides the basic building blocks for people to build their own directory. These basic building blocks of Active Directory include domains, domain controllers, trusts, forests, organizational units, groups, sites, replication, and the global catalog.

Understanding Forests

At the top of the Active Directory structure is a forest. A forest holds all of the objects, organizational units, domains, and attributes in its hierarchy. Under a forest are one or more trees which hold domains, OUs, objects, and attributes.

As illustrated in this image, there are two trees in the forest. You might use a structure like this for
organizations with more than one operating company.

You could also design a structure with multiple forests, but these are for very specific reasons and not common.

Domains

At the heart of the Active Directory structure is the domain. The domain is typically of the Internet naming variety (e.g. Learnthat.com), but you are not forced to stick with this structure – you could technically name your domain whatever you wish.

Microsoft recommends using as few domains and possible in building your Active Directory structure and to rely on Organizational Units for structure. Domains can contain multiple nested OUs, allowing you to build a pretty robust and specific structure.

Domain Controllers

In Windows NT, domains used a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) and Backup Domain Controller (BDC) model. This had one server, the PDC, which was “in charge” while the other DCs where subservient. If the PDC failed, you had to promote a BDC to become the PDC and be the server in charge.

In Active Directory, you have multiple Domain Controllers which are equal peers. Each DC in the Active Directory domain contains a copy of the AD database and synchronizes changes with all other DCs by multi-master replication. Replication occurs frequently and on a pull basis instead of a push one. A server requests updates from a fellow domain controller. If information on one DC changes (e.g. a user changes their password), it sends signal to the other domain controllers to begin a pull replication of the data to ensure they are all up to date.

Servers not serving as DCs, but in the Active Directory domain, are called ‘member servers.’

Active Directory requires at least one Domain Controller, but you can install as many as you want (and it’s recommended you install at least two domain controllers in case one fails).

Trust Relationships

Trust Relationships are important in an Active Directory environment so forests and domains can communicate with one another and pass credentials. Within a single forest, trusts are created when a domain is created. By default, domains have an implicit two-way transitive trust created. This means each domain trusts each other for security access and credentials. A user in domain A can access resources permitted to him in domain B while a user in domain B can access resources permitted to her in domain A.

AD allows several different types of trusts to be created, but understanding the two-way transitive trust is the most important to understanding AD.

Organizational Units

An Organizational Unit (OU) is a container which gives a domain hierarchy and structure. It is used for ease of administration and to create an AD structure in the company’s geographic or organizational terms.

Organizational Units

An OU can contain OUs, allowing for the creating of a multi-level structure, as shown in the image above. There are three primary reasons for creating OUs:

Organizational Structure: First, creating OUs allows a company to build a structure in Active Directory which matches their firm’s geographic or organizational structure. This permits ease of administration and a clean structure.

Security Rights: The second reason to create an OU structure is to assign security rights to certain OUs. This, for example, would allow you to apply Active Directory Policies to one OU which are different than another. You could setup policies which install an accounting software application on computers in the Accounting OU.

Delegated Administration: The third reason to create OUs is to delegate administrative responsibility. AD Architects can design the structure to allow local administrators certain administrative responsibility for their OU and no other. This allows for a delegated administration not available in Windows NT networks.

Groups

Groups serve two functions in Active Directory: security and distribution.

A security group contains accounts which can be used for security access. For example, a security group could be assigned rights to a particular directory on a file server.

A distribution group is used for sending information to users. It cannot be used for security access.

There are three group scopes:

Global: Global scope security groups contains users only from the domain in which is created. Global security groups can be members of both Universal and Domain Local groups.

Universal: Universal scope security groups can contain users, global groups, and universal groups from any domain. These groups are typically used in a multi-domain environment if access is required across domains.

Domain Local: Domain Local scope groups are often created in domains to assign security access to a particular local domain resource. Domain Local scope groups can contain user accounts, universal groups, and global groups from any domain. Domain Local scope groups can contain domain local groups in the same domain.

Sites

An Active Directory site object represents a collection of IP subnets, usually constituting a physical Local Area Network (LAN). Multiple sites are connected for replication by site links. Typically, sites are used for:

Physical Location Determination: Enables clients to find local resources such as printers, shares, or domain controllers.

Replication: You can optimize replication between domain controllers by creating links.

By default, Active Directory uses automatic site coverage, though you can purposefully setup sites and resources.

Replication

Since most Active Directory networks contain multiple domain controllers and users could theoretically attach to any DC for authentication or information, each of the servers needs to be kept up to date. Domain Controllers stay up to date by replicating the database between each other. It performs this using a pull method – a server requests new information from a different DC frequently. After a change, the DC initiates a replication after waiting 15 seconds (in Windows 2003) or 5 minutes (in Windows 2000). Windows Server 2003 uses technology to only replicate changed information and compressions replication over WAN links.

Windows Server sets up a replication topology to determine where a server updates from. In a large network, this keeps replication time down as servers replicate in a form of a ring network.

Active Directory uses multi-master replication. Multimaster replication does not rely on a single primary domain controller, but instead treats each DC as an authority. When a change is made on any DC, it is replicated to all other DCs. Although each DC is replicated alike, all of the DCs aren’t equal. There are several flexible single-master operation roles which are assigned to one domain controller at a time.

AD uses Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) for replication and can use SMTP for changes to schema or configuration.

FSMO Roles

All domain controll
ers are not equal. We know, it’s hard to hear. You’ve spent this whole time reading this tutorial thinking that all DCs are created equal and now we have to burst your bubble. Some DCs have more responsibility than others. It’s just part of life!

There are five roles which are called operations masters, or flexible single-master operations (FSMOs). Two are forestwide roles and three are domainwide roles. The forestwide roles are:

Schema master: Controls update to the Active Directory schema.

Domain naming master: Controls the addition and removal of domains from the forest.

The three domainwide roles are:

RID master: Allocates pools of unique identifier to domain controllers for use when creating objects. (RID is relative identifier).

Infrastructure master: Synchronizes cross-domain group membership changes. The infrastructure master cannot run on a global catalog server, unless all of the DCs are global catalog servers.

PDC Emulator: Provides backward compatibility for NT 4 clients for PDC operations – such as a password change. The PDC also serves as the master time server.

Global Catalog

As a network gets larger, it can contain multiple domains and many domain controllers. Each domain only contains records from its own domain in its AD database to keep the database small and replication manageable. The Active Directory domain relies on a global catalog database which contains a global listing of all objects in the forest. The Global Catalog is held on DCs configured as global catalog servers.

The global catalog contains a subset of information – such as a user’s first name and last name – and the distinguished name of the object so your client can contact the proper domain controller if you need more information. The distinguished name is the full address of an object in the directory. For example, a printer in the OU Accounting in the Learnthat.com domain might have a distinguished name of:

CN=AcctLaser1,OU=Accounting,DC=Learnthat,DC=com

The GC database is only a subset of the entire database called the Partial Attribute Set (PAS), containing 151 of the 1,070 properties available in Windows Server 2003. You can define additional properties for replication to the GC by modifying schema.

Active Directory Hierarchies

Now that you understand the building blocks of Active Directory, you can start to understand how to build a hierarchy in Active Directory. One of the foundations of design for AD has been a flexibility to allow companies to build a structure which fits into their organization. This flexibility allows organizations of all sizes to use Active Directory to meet their needs.

Domains and OUs

The most basic design of an Active Directory is a single forest, single domain, no Organizational Unit design.

Basic AD Installation

For a small organization, this might be adequate, but almost every organization can benefit from some structure.

Creating multiple domains is not always the best design solution, so Microsoft created organizational units in Active Directory which can be nested to provide hierarchical control of your AD environment. It is a great idea to think about and map out your OU design before committing it into Active Directory.

Typically, companies design their OU trees based on either geographic separation (e.g. Americas, EMEA, PacificRim) or based on organizational design (e.g. Accounting, Marketing, Technology, Sales). There is no incorrect way to design your AD environment, however, consistency should be key. You shouldn’t mix the two design methods and have a top level Americas OU and a top level Sales OU. Doing so makes administration difficult as you won’t know where a particular salesperson’s account is.

Also, remember that OUs allow enterprise administrators to delegate administration responsibility to local teams. Building an effective OU design will allow you to properly delegate authority.

The other reason OUs are used is to apply policies. Policies are rules for security, access, and functionality which can apply to several different containers in Active Directory. Frequently, policies are applied by OU – so though you might separated geographically (and therefore want to set up your structure based solely on geography), it might make more sense to setup your AD by organizational divisions. Why? Because if all of your marketing employees need the same software and settings, you will setup policies based on the department instead of the physical location of the employees.

Domain Trees

Once an organization becomes large and you cannot have the entire AD database replicated everywhere, it might make sense to move to a domain tree. A domain tree allows an organization to become more decentralized as it is more independent than using an OU tree.

Domain-wide policies can be changed per domain in a domain tree which is not possible with only an OU structure. Policies such as minimum and maximum password age, minimum password length, and account lockout are domain-wide policies and cannot be changed on a per-OU basis. By creating multiple domains, administrators can set these policies for each domain.

Domain Tree

In the illustration above, learnthat.com has a domain tree in the Active Directory domain.

Forest of Domain Trees

In more complex environments, a company may use multiple domain trees in a single forest. This might be a large operating company with multiple subsidiaries – each requiring their own domain, for example, ThatNetwork.com is the parent company and subsidiaries might include Learnthat.com, Romancetips.com, Exampractice.com. This structure makes sense if you have different administrative staff for each domain, along with different policies and different security requirements.

You can still setup trusts between the domains to allow users to authenticate for resources in either domain.

Multiple Forests

The last possibility is using multiple forests. This is the less frequent design choice, but can be used with you want an absolute separation for one reason or another. This structure is most often found when companies merge or in the case of acquisitions. In Windows 2003, you can setup forest trusts between forests to allow some access.

DNS

Active Directory is integrated with Domain Naming System (DNS) and requires it to be present to function. DNS is the naming system used for the Internet and on many Intranets. You can use DNS which is built into Windows 2000 and newer, or use a third party DNS infrastructure such as BIND if you have it in the environment. It is recommended you use Window’s DNS service as it is integrated into Windows and provides the easiest functionality.

AD uses DNS to name domains, computers, servers, and locate services.

A DNS server maps an object’s name to its IP address. For example, on the Internet, it is used to map a domain name (such as www.learnthat.com) to an IP address (such as 64.34.165.234). In an Active Directory network, it is used n
ot only to find domain names, but also objects and their IP address. It also uses service location records (SRV) to locate services.

Active Directory Installation

Some larger organizations take months (and in some cases, over a year) to plan a proper Active Directory design and get input from a global organization of technology leaders. It is extremely important to give a lot of thought to your AD design to ensure it meets your organization’s needs.

Choosing Your AD Layout

As we mentioned earlier, there are many ways you can structure your Active Directory. From a top level down perspective, most companies either start with a geographic separation or a organizational structure separation, for example Americas, EMEA, PacificRIM for geographic or Accounting, Marketing, Technology, Sales for organizational structure. It does not matter which you select: either will provide a fine starting point for your domain structure, but you need to ensure you pick one direction and be consistent with your choices.

Many organizations start with geography at the top level, then break down into business units or departments underneath that top level. It is important to write naming conventions and standards down so a team in Europe does not call an OU “SalesMarketing” while a team in North America calls an OU “Sales.” Consistency provides for an efficient and manageable Active Directory layout.

There are many different combinations you could choose when designing your AD structure.

Installation Requirements

In this section, we will look at the installation requirements of Active Directory. Installing AD isn’t a complex process, but the design and configuration can be.

Here are the requirements for installing Active Directory on Windows Server 2003:

· An NTFS partition with enough free space

· An Administrator’s username and password

· NIC with Network Connection

· Properly configured TCP/IP (IP address, subnet mask and – optional – default gateway)

· An operational DNS server (which can be installed on the DC itself)

· A Domain name that you want to use

· Windows Server 2003 CD media or the i386 Folder

Functional Levels

In Windows 2000, you chose from two levels: mixed mode or native mode. When Windows 2000 Server was introduced, NT 4 was still a popular server option. To ensure backward compatibility with these servers and clients, Windows 2000 defaulted to mixed mode where you could add Windows NT 4 servers to the Windows 2000 Active Directory domain.

Windows Server 2003 introduced functional levels – a set level of backward compatibility for previous operating systems. If you are in an environment with NT 4 servers and Windows 2000 servers which are still accessed, you can set a functional level to ensure backwards compatibility.

Windows 2003 expands from those two modes to one of many domain functional levels including Windows 2000 Mixed, Windows 2000 Native, Windows Server 2003 Interim, and Windows Server 2003. Also, in Windows Server 2003, you have three forest functional levels available: Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 Interim, or Windows server 2003. Each functional level brings new features available and lose compatibility with some set of servers or clients.

By default, Windows Server 2003 starts at Windows 2000 Mixed functional level. Not all of the features of 2003 are available in this mode, so if you are designing a new Windows 2003 AD environment, you will want to take advantage of the new features added in Windows Server 2003.

In Windows 2000, we referred to this change as “changing the mode,” but in Windows 2003, we now raise the functional level with either Active Directory Users and Computers or Domains and Trusts.

This change cannot be reversed – once you make a decision to raise the functional level, you cannot go back to a lower functional level.

Active Directory

Please note: these installation instructions are for a brand new domain – not for adding a server as a member server or domain controller in an existing domain. Following these instructions in a production network is not recommended.

We are going to review the AD installation process from a clean install of Windows Server 2003. You may have already set some of these settings, so look through the steps and perform any tasks you have failed to do.

Set Network Settings

1. This server will be both a domain controller and a DNS server, so we are going to set a static IP address.

2. Click Start, Control Panel, Network Connections and select your network connection.

3. Click Properties.

4. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.

5. Enter in your static IP address information and preferred DNS servers. Notice one of the DNS servers I listed is the server itself – this will be a DNS server in a minute.

6. Click OK.

7. Click Close.

8. Click Close.

9. Click Start. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.

10. Click on the Computer Name tab.

11. Click on the More button.

12. Enter in the domain name you are going to be using for your AD domain in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer text field.

13. Click OK.

14. Click OK. Acknowledge that you have to reboot and click OK.

15. Click Yes to the prompt asking you if you wan
t to reboot.

Install the DNS Service

16. On the Manage Your Server window, select Add or remove a role. (Don’t see this window at startup? Find it at Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Manage Server)

17. Click Next.

18. Click DNS Server and click Next.

19. Click Next.

20. Insert your Windows Server 2003 setup cd and click OK.

21. Navigate to where the i386 folder is and click OK.

22. Click Next to start the DNS wizard.

23. Click Next to create a forward lookup zone.

24. Click Next that this server retains a the zone.

25. Name your zone with your domain name. Click Next.

26. Accept the default filename and click Next.

27. Click Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates. Click Next.

28. Select whether or not this DNS server should forward queries. If you use an ISP for DNS resolution for Internet sites, enter in your ISP’s DNS servers in the first option. If this DNS server will resolve all queries, select the second option. Click Next.

29. Click Finish.

30. Click Finish.

31. Congratulations! You have setup a DNS server!

Setting Up Active Directory

32. On the Manage Your Server window, click Add or remove a role.

33. Click Next.

34. Select Domain Controller (Active Directory) and click Next.

35. Click Next.

36. Click Next when the Active Directory wizard opens.

37. Click Next.

38. Click Next.

39. Click Next.

40. Enter in your domain name and click Next.

41. Enter in a NetBIOS name or accept the default and click Next.

42. Click Next to accept the default locations for the database and log, or select a location for these files.

43. Enter a location for the Shared System Volume and click Next.

44. Click Next.

45. Click Next.

46. Enter in a password and click Next.

47. Click Next.

48. The wizard will configure Active Directory.

49. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

50. Click Restart Now.

Congratulations,

Creating Organizational Units

As we discussed earlier, Organizational Units provide a mechanism to design a hierarchical structure within your Active Directory environment. Once you have designed your AD structure, you are ready to create the OUs in the environment.

1. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Double-click the domain name to open it up.

3. You will see a default structure with no Organizational Units. Right-click on the domain name and select New > Organizational Unit.

4. Enter the name of the OU you want to create and click OK.

5. You will now see the OU you just created. Continue the process and build out the top level OUs.

6. You now have a structure from which to build your organizational structure. For a small organization, we would create a Users and Computers organizational unit under each of the top level OUs.

7. Right-click on Accounting and select New > Organizational Unit and enter in Computers. Click OK. Repeat this process for the Users OU.

8. &nbsp
; Now repeat the process for each department and you will have a structure of OUs created

Post Active Directory Install

There are several steps you should do after the Active Directory installation to ensure installation went correctly and make sure AD operates properly in your environment.

Verify Installation

After you have installed Active Directory, there are several steps you can take to ensure setup functioned correctly.

First, you can ensure the AD tools are installed. Click on Start and click Administrative Tools. You should have these tools installed:

Next, open Active Directory Sites and Services. You should have a Default-First-Site-Name listed and when you open it up, you should find your domain controller listed as a server.

Finally, open up DNS management. Open up the DNS server name, the Forward Lookup Zones, the domain name, and _tcp. It should look like this with four SRV records:

Once you’ve performed these tasks, you’ve confirmed that your AD environment is installed.

Management Utilities

There are several management utilities you use to manage the Active Directory environment. As you saw after installation, you have these utilities (which are MMC snap-ins):

Active Directory Domains and Trusts: Manage domains and trusts between domains using this tool.

Active Directory Sites and Services: Setup and manage sites (physical networks).

Active Directory Users and Computers: Create and manage users, computers, other objects, OUs.

What and Where you can control the Network Bandwidth

2010-08-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

Ok.. Now you want to know here are all the bandwidth can be controlled in SCCM

Package Movement	Bandwidth Control	Uses Binary Differential Replication?
From package source directory to site server	None.	No
From site server to standard distribution point	None.	Yes
From parent site server to child site server	Bandwidth controlled by Address settings on the sender between sites.	Yes
From child site server to child standard distribution point	None.	Yes
From standard distribution point to branch distribution point	BITS or manually pre-staged on the branch distribution point. For more information	Yes
From standard distribution point to client	BITS, if BITS-enabled distribution point is available and advertisement is configured to download and run locally.	No
From branch distribution point to client	None.	No

SCCM Senders End to End

2010-08-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Senders can be configured on only Primary and Secondary sites, the use of senders are instead, senders use existing network connectivity to manage the connection, ensure the integrity of transferred data, recover from errors, and close the connection when it is no longer needed.

Types of Senders : 6 types

1) Standard Sender

The standard sender is installed and configured by default on all primary and secondary sites. If your site-to-site communications occur over a LAN that uses a supported protocol, you do not need to install another sender.

if you want to apply some bandwidth restrictions between site to site communication. here are the options for Standard Sender.

2) Courier Sender: The courier sender is installed and configured by default on all primary and secondary sites. It is not displayed, and cannot be created, in the Configuration Manager console because it must be manually started from the Configuration Manager programs folder on the Start menu. Courier senders are used only for software distribution to send package data to other sites by using physical media instead of sending data over the network. To use the courier sender, you must first create a standard sender connection between the parent site and the child site. Once the standard sender is created, you then create a courier sender address for each site to use the courier sender functionality.
When you have large packages that require excessive time or bandwidth to be sent over the network, this sender can be useful. You can use courier sender at the source Configuration Manager 2007 site to create a parcel (that is, a collection of files transferred from one site to another using courier sender); write the parcel to a tape, CD, or other physical medium; and then ship the tape or CD to the destination site by mail or a courier service. At the destination site, you can then use courier sender at that site to receive the parcel and import the package data into the site.; Note :- The courier sender is installed and configured by default on all primary and secondary sites. It is not displayed in the results pane because it must be manually started from the Configuration Manager 2007 program files on the start menu.

3) Asynchronous RAS Sender: Used for communication over an asynchronous line.

4) ISDN RAS Sender: Used for communication over an ISDN line.

5) X25 RAS Sender: For RAS communication over an X.25 line.

6) SNA RAS Sender: For RAS communication over an SNA link.

Ok.. Now if you in confuse what to use in your network after reading the above, Just check the below table you will get some more clarity where what type of sender you can use

Existing network connectivity between sites	Sender
LAN or WAN	Use Standard Sender, the most commonly used sender, for sending to other sites on the same LAN, or on a WAN using routers, switches, or bridges.
Asynchronous line	Use Asynchronous RAS Sender for RAS communications over an asynchronous line.
ISDN line	Use ISDN RAS Sender for RAS communications over an ISDN line.
X.25 line	Use X25 RAS Sender for RAS communications over an X.25 line.
SNA	Use Systems Network Architecture (SNA) RAS Sender in RAS communications over an SNA link.
No Connectivity to your office or None	Use Courier Sender to send packages between the sites by using removable media instead of network wiring and protocols if you have a slow or unreliable link between a site and its parent. Courier Sender is used only for package distribution, not site-to-site communications.

For my all Primary Site i have open the communication to be open all the time however for secondary sites i have done below recommendation based on the bandwidth and clients size : this is again for Standard Sender

WAN Link Speed	Time (Local time)	Monday – Friday	Saturday	Sunday	% of Available Bandwidth	Pulse Mode Settings
64Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		20KB every 5 seconds
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		20KB every 5 seconds
128Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		40KB every 5 seconds
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		40KB every 5 seconds
256Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		80KB every 5 seconds
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		80KB every 5 seconds
384Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		100KB every 5 seconds
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities		100KB every 5 seconds
512Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	75%
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	50%
1024Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	75%
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	50%
1536Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	75%
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	50%
2045Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	75%
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	50%
3072Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	75%
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	50%
5464Kbps	18:01 – 06:01	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	75%
06:00 – 18:00	High and Medium Priorities	Open for all priorities	Open for all priorities	50%

Pulse mode configure options

In real World :- You will use only Standard Sender

What is SMS_SiteSystemToSiteServerConnection & SMS_SiteSystemToSiteServerConnection group

2010-08-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

Site System to Site Server Connection Group:

The Site System to Site Server Connection (SMS_SiteSystemToSiteServerConnection_sitecode) group grants the necessary permissions for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 services running on remote site systems (such as management points) to connect to the site server to access the Configuration Manager 2007 registry keys and directories on the site server. if you are runing any below role this group should be part of remote site

Servers hosting the following site system roles should be members of this group, unless they are in a remote, untrusted forest:

Management points - MP
System Health Validator points – SHV
State migration points
Fallback status points
Software update points
PXE service points
SMS Provider computers
Asset Intelligence synchronization point (Configuration Manager 2007 R2)
Out of band management point (Configuration Manager 2007 SP1)

Site to Site Connection Group

This group has the necessary permissions for a sender to connect from one Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 site to another.

Note both should be local /Domain Local Group membership only

You need to know this by end –to end

2010-08-18T04:06:00.000-07:00

below is a sample and I am making up this for final Just pushing out from my inbox that’s alll

Hierarchy

Limitation of SCCM

http://configmgr2oo7.blogspot.com/2010/08/limitations-of-sccm-2007.html

Adding a secondary site to a primary site

Sender limitations for packages

SCCM Console Not connection
SCCM Services
SCCM Client Services
Discovery – DDR record

Boundary – IP Subnets vs AD Site name
Site to Site communications

MP Problem

DP Problem

RP Problem

OSD Problem
WOL Problem
WOL Configuration

WOL Unicast Vs SubNet broad Cast methods

Native Mode Configuration

Installing SCCM on Windows Server 2008
Office 2007 Deployment With SCCM
MSI packaging Story
Inboxes Checks
Daily Checks
Weekly Checks
Backup and Recovery

Multicasting on

OSD Advantages

SMS 2003 to SCCM 2007 Migration

1) In place

2) Side by side

3) In place upgrade on new Hardware

Site Code auto detect problem

Schema extending and publishing

IE Important products

Branch Distribution Point Vs Nomand Branch DP

Night Watchman Vs SCCM R3 Power management or WOL

SCCM WOL Vs IE WOL

Client Installation Methods

Site Maintenance

Obsolete Clients

Delete Old H/w and S/w or S/w Metering Inventory date

Backup Configure

After backup

no_sms_on_drive.sms file

Collections:-

Software Distribution:-

Program

Package

Distribution Points

Software Updates:-

Search Folder

Update List

Severity

Required

Installed

Suppressed

Expired

Every month releases

License review

Review and accept

Update List merge or Master Update List / Cleaning up Update List

Deployment Templates

Deployment Management

Deployment Packages

Sync Software update:-

OSD:

Boot Images:-

Computer Association

Reference Computer

WIM

Install packages

Operating system Images

Task Sequences

Drivers

Driver packages

Unprovisioned Computers
Task Sequence

MDT Integration

AI:-

How to enable AI

What are the Catalogs?

Software metering

Reports

SQL Web Based Reports

SQL Reporting Service point

Limitation of Reporting Point

WQL Vs SQL

DCM

CI Types

Base Lines

Remediation

Collections Query(s)

Site Status

Components status

Auditing for modification on the console by user / team / group /site

View audit messages based on Packages and Advertisements

Security Delegation for Users & Groups

User /Groups Accounts used in SCCM/SMS

Using the Site ConfigMgr Service manager and starting and stopping the components

Client Issues:

Client Supporting Third-party tools

Client Side log Files

General Reports:-

SMS_Def.MOF Vs Configuration.Mof

Scripts:-

Client Installation Scripts

Ping Scripts

Inboxes Checks Script

Inboxes Bad files delete Script
Uptime.exe
Fs.exe
Psexec.exe

Sample Ticketing Tool:-

IBM Maximo Link & User Name and Password

SMS / SCCM Site codes Names will not work

2010-08-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Be careful of reserved names for site codes

Suppose you've created a new site named 'CON' and are having trouble with it. The reason for this is that you've used a Windows reserved name for your SMS site code. The list of reserved name is fairly short and includes:

The reason that these site codes are reserved is pretty simple. In some places, SMS creates folders using the site code. Since these names are reserved names in Windows and are used for other specific tasks, SMS can't create the site folder.

Limitations of SCCM 2007

2010-08-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

Below are the Microsoft Recommendation as per MS Website

Maddy

2010-08-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever won a lottery or game show?
The only thing I have ever won was a water bottle at a school competition. But I have won a lot of

………………..will continue… .

SCCM TOOLS

2010-07-23T00:44:00.000-07:00

1E Migration Tool

The Migration of Package and Program details along with source files
Renaming of Package and Program names during migration
Direct transfer of packages from your SMS site to ConfigMgr
Export to flat file structure from SMS site and Import into ConfigMgr from flat file
Exporting of SMSNomad command line settings to new ConfigMgr Nomad tab settings

Download: http://www.1e.com/downloads/freetools/index.aspx

ConfigMgr Site Bound Tool

SiteBound.exe /s {central site server} /file {excel file} /log {path}
/s Central Site Server name.
/file Path to Excel files.
/log Log file path.
Download it from http://bdpadd.codeplex.com/

ConfigMgr 2007 CCR creator tool

Run the Create_and_copy.bat file and it will

1. Create a folder on the c drive called CCRBIN
2. Copy the IPF and Machines.cvs files to the CCRBin folder

Then it will ask you to compile the IPF with SMS installer.

Then to run it use these directions

1. Add the machines that you want CCR's created for to the Machine.cvs file (it can be 1 or many)
2. Execute the EXE
    3. It will prompt you for your ConfigMgr Server
    4. Then it will prompt you for your ConfigMgr Site code
        (This info can be hardcoded just follow directions in the IPF to do that)

---Created by: Chris Stauffer download http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2008/05/21/configmgr-2007-ccr-creator-tool.aspx

ConfigMgr Branch DP Add

This tool was written in C# and requires the .NET framework 2.0 Running the tool
BDPAdd.exe /s {central site server} /file {excel file} /log {path}
/s Central Site Server name. /file Path to Excel files. /log Log file path.
download it from http://www.codeplex.com/bdpadd

Preload Package Tool for Configuration Manager 2007

Problem Scenarios:

When software distribution packages are created, information about them is sent to child sites in the hierarchy. If a child site has a distribution point installed that is listed in the package properties to host the content, the content is transferred over the network and uses available network bandwidth sending compressed copies of all required package source files. To avoid using network bandwidth, the Preload Package Tool can be used to copy compressed software distribution package source files to the remote child site before assigning the child site distribution point to host the package source files.
If a child site fails that has a distribution point that is assigned to host software distribution package source files for a package created at a site higher in the hierarchy, all package source files will be resent over the network when the site is rebuilt and rejoined to the site hierarchy. To avoid this, the Preload Package Tool can be used to restore backed up compressed software distribution package source (.pck) files to the distribution point before rejoining the site to the hierarchy so they will already be present.
Instructions:

Copy PreloadPkgOnSite.exe file to the .\program files installation directory\bin\i386 directory on the child site that you wish to preload compressed software distribution package source (.pck) files.
Copy the applicable .pck files from the parent site or from a backup location to the distribution point share on the child site manually. After manually copying the files, ensure that the read-only NTFS file attribute for the .pck file is set.
From a command prompt, run the tool using the following syntax: PreloadPkgOnSite.exe PkgID StoredPkgVersion.
Running this command will update necessary software distribution package source location information for the site and forward this information up the hierarchy.
After the package source file location information is sent up the hierarchy, the distribution point hosting the manually copied .pck files can be added to software distribution package source locations at without the need to transfer package source files over the network.
Checks:

The command line usage is: PreloadPkgOnSite.exe PkgID StoredPkgVersion
If software package information already exists for a package at the site where the tool is used, the tool cannot be used.
This tool is meant only for child sites and cannot be used to preload packages that were created at the child site where the tool is run.
The PkgID.pck file must exist at the child site before the tool is run.
Precautions:

When run, this tool modifies site database information at all sites higher in the hierarchy. This tool should only be run on fully functioning child sites and only when necessary.
If the Configuration Manager 2007 distribution manager process has already started processing software distribution package information to be preloaded, there is no need to run the tool

Download it from here:http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/e/d/ded78c6e-59a4-43ee-b601-6527be7bd881/PreloadPkgOnSite.exe

Day to Day Operations SCCM / ConfigMgr 2007 Reports

2010-07-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

I recommend below ConfigMgr Reports to be familiar and these might be useful in day to day operations

Asset Intelligence:-

License 03A - Count of licenses by license status
Hardware 07A - USB devices by manufacturer

Software 02C - Software by Category and Family

Software 01A - Summary of installed software in a specific collection

This report provides a summary of installed software ordered by the number of instances found from inventory.

Desired Configuration Management – Compliance

Summary compliance for a collection by computer

Hardware

Count physical disk configurations

Computers with low free disk space (less than specified MB free)

Computers with low free disk space (less than specified % free)

Count memory configurations

Computers with low memory (less than or equal to specified MB)

Computers with a specific amount of memory

Memory information for a specific computer

Network

Count IP addresses by subnet

IP - Information for a specific computer

NAP

List of NAP-capable and NAP-upgradable computers

List of Network Access Protection policies

Operating System

Windows Server computers

Computers with a specific operating system and service pack

Computers with a specific operating system

Count operating systems and service packs

Count operating system versions

Services - Computers running a specific service

SMS/SCCM Client

Count SMS client versions

Servers with no client Installed

Client Deployment Failure Report

Client Deployment Success Report

Client Deployment Status Details

Client Assignment Failure Details

Count clients assigned and installed for each site

Computers with a specific SMS client version

Count clients for each site

Computers with duplicate MAC addresses

Computers that may share the same SMS Unique ID

Clients that have not reported recently (Collection)

& Clients that have not reported recently (in a specified number of days)

Site TO Site Reports:

Sites by hierarchy with time of last site status update

Computers in a specific site
Status messages for a branch distribution point
Site system roles and servers for a specific site

Software Inventory

Software registered in Add Remove Programs for a specific collection
Computers with specific software registered in Add Remove Programs
Computers with a specific product
Count of all instances of software registered with Add or Remove Programs
Computers with a specific product name and version
Count computers with a specific filename

Software Distribution:-

Status of a specific advertisement
All advertisements for a specific collection
All advertisements
Distribution status of a specific package
All packages on a specific distribution point
All distribution points
All active package distributions

Patching:-

Compliance 1 - Overall Compliance
Compliance 4 - Deployment (per update)
Compliance 3 - Update list (per update)
Compliance 4 - Deployment (per update)
Management 1 - Updates required but not deployed
Management 2 - Updates in a deployment
States 1 - Enforcement states for a deployment
States 2 - Evaluation states for a deployment
Scan 1 - Last scan states by collection
Scan 2 - Last scan states by site

Auditing

All audit messages for a specific user
All Task Sequence Advertisements
Deployment status of all task sequence advertisements
Progress of a running task sequence
Progress of OS deployment task sequences
Status of all unknown computers
Computers for a specific user name
WOL

All sites that are enabled for Wake On LAN
All computers targeted for Wake On LAN activity
All objects pending wake-up activitiy

Customized reports:

All computers based on AD site:

SELECT DISTINCT SYS.Name0,SYS.AD_Site_Name0,

SYS.User_Domain0,SYS.User_Name0,

SYS.Operating_System_Name_and0

FROM v_R_System SYS

WHERE SYS.AD_Site_Name0 LIKE @variable

ORDER BY SYS.AD_Site_Name0, SYS.Name0

--Prompt Query

SELECT DISTINCT SYS.Name0,SYS.AD_Site_Name0,

SYS.User_Domain0,SYS.User_Name0,

SYS.Operating_System_Name_and0

FROM v_R_System SYS

WHERE SYS.AD_Site_Name0 LIKE @variable

ORDER BY SYS.AD_Site_Name0, SYS.Name0

Lins with reports =è Hardware - General - Computer information for a specific computer; below is the screenshot

Also I prefer one to have below custom reports

Compliance - Detailed list - specific collection

Computer Information - specific collection

Computer information for a collection of computers

Computers with specific software

Distribution Points in All DP Group

Missing Patches

Network settings

Network settings for a specific collection

Servers with SCCM Client version
All Workstation Patching compliance reports
All Desktops & Laptops model & make reports

Reg Hack for SMS Installer 2.0

2010-07-19T02:44:00.000-07:00

Reg Hack for SMS Installer 2.0

REGEDIT4

' Primary Server: 00000001
' Workstation: 00000004

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Setup]
"Type"=dword:00000001

save it to a txt file and add this, then you can install the software

Learn More About Intel vPro Technology

2010-07-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

Power Management

wds.txt

2010-07-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Option 60: "PXEClient"
Option 66: "2k3-wds.domain.local"
Option 67: "boot\x86\wdsnbp.com"

sysprep -mini -quiet -factory -reboot
c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /quiet /generalize /shutdown /oobe

TechNet Virtual Labs: System Center

2010-07-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

TechNet Virtual Labs: System Center

Application Virtualization

Configuration Manager and Systems Management Server

Data Protection Manager

Operations Manager

SoftGrid

System Center Service Manager

Systems Center Essentials (SCE)

TechNet Virtual Lab: Introduction to System Center Essentials 2007

2k8 r2 --113 373 816 testing

2010-07-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

Test post

DP Pros and Cons

2010-07-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

BDP PROS:

· Content on demand
· Uses bits to get content
BDP CONS:
· SCCM client breaks so does the DP
· Requires an unprotected DP to get content
· Less robust reporting than a secondary site.
DP PROS:
· Senders
· Better reporting
· No need for unprotected parent DP
DP CONS:
· No content on demand
· Uses SMB to get content

System Center Family

2010-07-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

Below are the Microsoft System Center product alignment

The following WMI namespaces are created by SMS 2003:

2010-07-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

The following WMI namespaces are created by SMS 2003:

root\ccm
root\CCM\VulnerabilityAssessment
root\CCM\Events
root\CCM\invagt
root\CCM\SoftMgmtAgent
root\CCM\LocationServices
root\CCM\DataTransferService
root\CCM\Messaging
root\CCM\Policy
root\CCM\SoftwareMeteringAgent
root\CCM\ContentTransferManager
root\CCM\Scheduler
root\cimv2\sms
root\SmsDm
root\sms
root\sms\inv_schema
root\sms\site_<sitecode>

Troubleshooting WinPE and task sequence issues

2010-07-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

You can troubleshoot some common WinPE and task sequence issues.

WinPE never starts the task sequence

Check the SMSTS.LOG file at X:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log. If a package never downloaded, it is likely that you simply do not have the appropriate network drivers installed, which prevents the machine from communicating with Configuration Manager.

Check your driver catalog to ensure you have the right network drivers available and installed into the boot image, and update the boot image to your distribution points.

Additional network or storage drivers might be needed in the boot image to enable the WinPE boot to function correctly. You should add those through Drivers in the Operating System Deployment node.

The right drivers have been added to the boot image, but are not loading

The original boot.wim file (WinPE boot image) created during Configuration Manager installation is copied and modified with IBM-specific drivers and other files. Your task sequences that use the IBM Deployment Pack must use this boot image or the tools might not work properly.

Check to make sure the image into which you loaded the drivers is the same image being used by the task sequence.

This is a common error for administrators who maintain multiple boot images.

Servers will not boot using PXE

PXE is an extension of DHCP, which uses a broadcast type of communication. Broadcast communication uses standard timeout values that are not readily changeable. As a result, a computer waits for a default timeframe to receive a DHCP or PXE response before timing out and causing a failure condition.

Each time a server is rebooted, it must renegotiate the connection to the switch. Some network switches arrive configured with default settings that might incur connectivity delays. That is, the settings on the switch might cause a DHCP or PXE timeout because they fail to negotiate a connection in time.

One of the features that can be affected by this issue is Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). STP is a protocol that prevents loops and provides redundancy within a network. A networking device using this algorithm might experience some latency as it collects information about other network devices. During this period of information collection, servers might boot to PXE and time out while waiting for a response from Windows® Deployment Services. Disable the STP or enable PortFast on end-node ports for the target server to prevent such occurrences. Refer to the manufacturer’s user guide for further information.

Another feature that can be affected by this issue is the EtherChannel or Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP). EtherChannel allows multiple links between devices to act as one fast link that shares the load between the links. Running the EtherChannel Protocol in automatic mode can cause a connectivity delay of up to 15 seconds. Switch to a manual mode or turn off this feature to eliminate this delay.

Speed and duplex negotiation can also play a role in negotiation timeouts. If auto-negotiation on the switch is set to off, and the server is not configured to that speed and duplex setting, the switch will not negotiate with that server.

For more information, see the Cisco Web site and the following Cisco documents:

Default boot order does not allow PXE to boot when a valid drive exists

When an active partition is created on a hard drive, it automatically becomes a bootable device if a valid operating system has been installed. If your PXE NIC is after the hard drive in the boot order, the hard drive tries to boot before PXE and boots to Windows, or causes an Invalid System Partition error if Windows is not installed.

To resolve this issue, be sure that PXE is placed before the hard drive in the boot order. Keep in mind that even if PXE is first in the boot order, the computer does not actually boot to PXE unless Configuration Manager has a task sequence for it to run.

When using a “Reboot” action after initializing an array controller, the task sequence fails

Configuration Manager 2007 does not allow a task sequence to reboot back to PXE. It can reboot back to WinPE or to an installed operating system, both of which require a disk partition and the appropriate installed software.

Without a disk partition, Configuration Manager will fail when attempting to reboot during a task sequence because it expects to copy WinPE to the disk. Additionally, the management point tracks when a machine has booted to PXE to run a task sequence, and once a machine has booted to PXE for a task sequence, it cannot use PXE as a boot method again for that task sequence unless the advertisement is reset.

To perform a reboot to PXE if you need to within a task sequence, use the custom action called “Reboot To PXE." This custom action, written using C# and VBScript, connects to the Configuration Manager 2007 SDK, and contains custom code to drive actions in the admin console as well as the machine being deployed. This custom action performs all the steps necessary to perform the reboot to PXE and allow for proper program flow when it occurs.

The only other way to accomplish a reboot to PXE is to use more than one task sequence, let the computer “fall off the end” of the first task sequence and manually reset the PXE advertisement for the computer.

Task sequence fails with “Failed to Download Policy” and code 0x80093102 or 0x80004005

This error code typically refers to a certificate validation issue.

The SMSTS.LOG file will show an entry with the following text:

CryptDecryptMessage ( &DecryptParams, pbEncrypted, 
 nEncryptedSize, 0, &nPlainSize, 0 ), HRESULT=80093102

no cert available for policy decoding

Possible causes are:

Misconfiguration of your domain or a site server, such as DNS not pointing to the site server, or the site server not specifying a valid FQDN (which is referred to by the DNS listing).
If your site server does not specify a FQDN (and only specifies the NETBIOS name), and your DNS server refers to the FQDN, a faulty lookup might cause this error.
The certificate being used for PXE and boot media.
Check the certificates under the Site Settings node and see if any certificates are blocked or missing. Open the certificates and ensure that they are actually installed into the certificate store. If not, install them.

If these actions do not work, try removing the package from the distribution point (via Manage Distribution Points) and adding the package again to regenerate the package hash.

Task sequence fails with “Failed to Download Policy” and code 0x80004005

This error code typically refers to a certificate validation issue.

The SMSTS.LOG file will show an entry with the following text:

failed to download policy

Check the certificates under the Site Settings node to if any certificates are blocked or missing. Open the certificates to ensure that the certificates are installed into the certificate store. If not, install the certificates.

Task sequence fails because the package is not downloading

In WinPE, the default option of “Download content locally when needed by running task sequence” will not work. When in WinPE, the task sequence engine will ignore (and fail) all actions that have packages set for this option.

Set all packages needed for use in WinPE to “Access content directly from a distribution point when needed by the running task sequence.”

Task sequence does not run again even after clearing the PXE advertisement

You must set the advertisement to “Always rerun” so that any time you reset the PXE advertisement, the advertisement is applied to the computer regardless of whether it ran the task sequence before.

Task sequences fail or act incorrectly after an upgrade

When upgrading from a previous version of this product, existing task sequences using these custom actions are not automatically updated.

To function correctly, open each task sequence action that uses a custom action in an editor. Add a “.” to the description and remove it to enable the Apply button. Click Apply to refresh the properties of the custom action and save any new automatic data or formatting that is required to function with the new version.

Files and logs are not being returned from the client

A number of issues can prevent the task sequence from returning files or logs from the client.

Among the possible issues that might prevent the task sequence from returning files or logs from the client are:

Failure of the client-side script prior to the file copy, which is usually evident in the log file.
Repeat the task and press F8 during the task to get to a command prompt, if you selected the check box for Enable command support on the boot image properties > Windows PE page.
Then open the SMSTS.LOG file. The location varies. In WinPE via PXE, the location is at X:\Windows\Temp\Smstslog\smsts.log.
Malformed XML in the IBM Deployment Packconfiguration file.
The command being executed actually has an error but exits with code 0.
This can occur when a severe error is encountered in the script while the script is set to ignore errors and use programmatic error handling. Then the error handling did not catch the same error.
Report such issues to the IBM® support site, as described in Getting help and technical assistance.
The task sequence cannot access the share or mapped drive that is the target drive for copying the files or logs.

Logs are being returned but not output files

A number of issues can prevent the task sequence from returning output files while allowing the task sequence to return log files.

Among the possible issues that might prevent the task sequence from returning output files from the client are:

No return file parameters are specified in the configuration XML.
Return file parameters in the configuration XML are incorrect.
An error is occurring with the operation of the utility that generates the output file.
A null variable is causing an error in the file name of the file to be returned.

Task step execution does not automatically change after a change to the configuration XML file

If you change the configuration XML, previously existing task steps do not automatically change unless you edit them.

To fix the existing task steps, open the task sequence editor and make a minor edit to each custom action step in the sequence. You can simply add a “.” to the description and then delete it to enable the Apply button. Click Apply. The task sequence steps are now saved with the automatically updated information from the new XML file.

Task sequence fails at “Apply Operating System” with “Failed to make volume X:\ bootable”

Several problems can cause this error.

This issue is indicated by log content similar to the following text:

MakeVolumeBootable( pszVolume ), 
HRESULT=80004005 
(e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\osdeployment\applyos\installcommon.cpp,759)

Failed to make volume E:\ bootable. 
Please ensure that you have set an active partition on the boot 
disk before installing the operating system.

Unspecified error (Error: 80004005; Source: Windows)

ConfigureBootVolume(targetVolume), 
HRESULT=80004005 
(e:\nts_sms_fre\sms\client\osdeployment\applyos\applyos.cpp,326)

Process completed with exit code 2147500037

This issue can be related to two different scenarios:

If you are using a Format & Partition action in your task sequence to partition the hard drives, make sure that you select the check box for Make this the boot partition on one of the partitions.
If you do not make a drive bootable and the computer has only the single drive, the task sequence engine automatically makes one of the partitions the boot partition. But if there are multiple drives, the task sequence engine cannot determine which drive should be bootable, and you see this error.
If you upgraded from the Configuration Manager RTM to SP1, you might have a problem if both hard drives are completely raw. If you have never partitioned the drives, a known bug in Windows PE prevents Windows PE from determining the drive where it was booted, and you see this error.
This situation is likely on a server with a RAID controller where you have just formed two or more RAID sets. The new RAID sets are completely raw because they have never existed before.
The only workaround to the problem of multiple raw drives is to manually boot into Windows PE and run "diskpart" to partition at least one of the drives. Then run the task sequence again. The task sequence should work.
The known problem with Windows PE is fixed in Windows Vista SP1 and hence in the Windows PE that is derived from Vista SP1.

Install Configuration Manager 2007 SP1

Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 includes the SP1 version of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). Download and install Configuration Manager SP1 to get the new version.

Upgrading to Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 automatically updates your default boot images, but does not automatically upgrade the IBM boot images.

Upgrade the IBM boot images by rerunning the IBM Deployment Pack installer and selecting “Modify”. You must also update your distribution points so that the new images are used. You should also update the distribution points for the default boot images as well.

The product installer detects the version of WinPE that is currently in use by the default boot images. If the default boot images are not Vista SP1, the product cannot install.

How to tell if your boot images are upgraded to Vista SP1

Boot image properties contain an identifier for “OS Version.”

Perform this procedure to see the version of WinPE in your boot images:

Click Computer ManagementOperating System DeploymentBoot ImagesIBM Deployment.
Right-click the boot image and select Properties.
Click Images.
Check the OS Version property for a value of 6.0.6001.18000 or greater.

What to do if your boot images are not upgraded to Vista SP1

You can manually recreate your boot images using the Windows AIK and following the steps listed in Technet: How to Add a Boot Image to Configuration Manager.

If your Configuration Manager processes permit, you might find it easier to remove the old boot image packages using the Admin Console, delete the files in the OSD\boot directories, and rerun the SP1 upgrade installation.

How to tell if WAIK was upgraded to Vista SP1

Click Start > Run; then run the Regedit command.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ComponentStudio.
There should be a single key under this key, which is named with the number of the Windows AIK version.
Note: Only one version of Windows AIK can be installed. However, an uninstall operation might have failed to remove the registry key.
In such a case, the registry key with the highest version number should be the correct version number.

What to do if Windows AIK was not upgraded to Vista SP1

Configuration Manager is supposed to automatically upgrade the Windows AIK version during an upgrade to Configuration Manager SP1. If that did not occur, try manually uninstalling Windows AIK and rerunning the Configuration Manager SP1 upgrade.

To download Windows AIK, see the Microsoft Download Center: AIK page.

System environment variables are not carried over to the next action in the task sequence

When a task sequence runs, commands run in a command shell. When the task ends, so does the command shell environment, which causes the loss of any system variables that are defined in the task.

To pass variables between tasks, set the variables as “Task Sequence variables,” “Collection variables,” or “Machine variables.”

IBM Link :P

2010-07-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

one other link http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/toolsctr/v1r0/index.jsp?topic=/dpsccm/dpsccm_t_running_sysprep_w2003.html

SYSPREP for 2k3

2010-07-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

When working with Virtual Machines, Sysprep is a real timesaver. You can, on a virtual machine, install several configurations of servers (SMS 2003, SQL or SCCM or vNext, etc), sysprep the images, and then have these pre-configured images ready to deploy to a VPC or any Vcenter installation when needed, by just copying the appropriate VHD file over and associating it with a new VM.

In order to run Sysprep, you first need to install it. You can get a hold of Sysprep in two ways: it is on the \Support\Tools\Deploy.cab file on the Windows Server installation media, or you can download it from here. Once you get a hold of the Deploy.cab file, you should extract the contents to a directory on your HD, for example c:\Deploy.

This directory contains several useful tools, and you should definitely read the deploy.chm file for instructions and details on the process. There are two files that are of particular importance to the process: sysprep.exe and setupmgr.exe.

For sysprep to work completely automated, it requires an answer file, called sysprep.inf. This answer file contains the “answers” to all the questions asked by the Windows installer during the setup process. The answer file can be created manually with any text editor, but fortunately there is a nice wizard-like tool that can help you generate this file. This tool is the setupmgr.exe program:

This program allows you to generate the sysprep.inf file by presenting you the options and letting you enter the default answer. In order to fully automate an installation, follow these steps on the Setup Manager:

Click Next on the Welcome screen
Select “Create new” and click “Next”
Select “Sysprep setup” and click “Next”:
Select the type of system you’re going to sysprep, and click “Next”
Select “Yes, fully automate the installation” and click “Next”
Now you need to fill in all the information required to complete the process:

Once you complete the execution of the Setup Manager, it creates a new directory in the root of the system drive called sysprep. This directory contains all the information necessary for the Sysprep tool to execute.

Now you need to execute the Sysprep tool, sysprep.exe:

In this tool:

Click “OK” on the warning dialog that appears when running the tool.
Select “Don’t reset grace period for activation”
Set the “Shutdown mode” to “Shut down”
Click on Reseal. That will leave the image ready for copying.

Once the image is copied, you can just configure a new virtual machine with the new image, and start it up. The last portion of the Windows setup process will execute:

After a little while (<10min), the machine will reboot, and the process will be completed. You now have a brand new sysprep’d and cloned server up and running!!

for more info http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc765993(WS.10).aspx

For Windows XP SP3 :-

Step #1

The first step is to download the Sysprep App which is included in the CAB file for Windows XP Service Pack 3 Deployment Tools. (Download Sysprep Tool)

Step #2

Next go to the PC you are going to be sysprepping and create a folder on the root of the C: drive called sysprep.

Step #3

Next you will need to extract the contents of the deploy.cab file you downloaded in Step #1 to the sysprep folder on the root of the C: drive.

Step #4

Now we are going to run the sysprep Setup Manager. Double click on setupmgr.exe.

Sysprep Setup Manager

Step #5

Click Next and it is going to ask you whether you want to modify an existing Answer File or create a new one. We are wanting to create a new one, so again click next.

Sysprep - New or Existing Answer File

Step #6

You now have three options: Unattended Setup, Sysprep Setup, or Remote Installation Services (RIS). In this example we are going to select the Sysprep setup option and then click next. (This creates a sysprep.inf file)

Sysprep - Sysprep.inf File

Step #7

Select Windows XP Professional and click next. (This will also work on Windows XP Home, Windows Server 2003 Standard, Web, and Enterprise.)

Sysprep - Windows XP Professional

Step #8

In this step it is asking you if you want to fully automate the installation. That is up to you, either way works fine. In this example I will be using the “No, do not fully automate the installation.”

Sysprep - Fully Automate or Not?

Step #9

Now we are at the configuration page. There is a lot in here so I am not going to go into detail. In fact, you don’t even need to input anything here for the sysprep to just work. However, everything you input in here will save you time and help shape your image.

Sysprep - Configuration Page

Step #10

Once you are all done, you should be at the bottom and selected on “Identification String”; click Finish and it is going to prompt you for a location to create and save the sysprep.inf file. The default location is fine, as it will need to be within that sysprep folder on your C: drive. Once you hit ok you will then need to click “Cancel”. There is no close button.

Sysprep - Saving the Sysprep.inf File

Step #11

Now you should verify the sysprep.inf file by double clicking on it and opening it up with Notepad.

Sysprep - Verifying the Sysprep.inf File

Step #12

There were a few changes with Windows XP Service Pack 3 and sysprep. The administrator’s profile is no longer copied over to the default profile. You will need to add a line within the sysprep.inf file to regain this important function. Under the InstallFilesPath section add this:

UpdateServerProfileDirectory=1

Once done, hit save.

Sysprep - Adding line to sysprep.inf so the administrator profile will copy over to default profile

Step #13

Now you are ready to start the sysprep, reboot, and capture your sysprepped image. Double click on the sysprep.exe and then select the following three options in order: Use Mini-Setup, Shutdown Mode: Reboot, and click Reseal. Make sure you have your media ready to capture your image. If you reboot fully without booting to your capturing software it will ruin the sysprep and you will have to redo the sysprep.

Sysprep - Preparation Tool 2.0

Sysprep will now get rid of any machine specific identifiers and shutdown the computer.

The hard disk is now ready to be imaged. You can at this stage use tools such as Ghost or boot using your WinPE CD and capture the image to a WIM file.

Deploy your image to a computer and restart it.

If you start the new computer using the newly deployed image, sysprep will now setup Windows according to the settings in sysprep.inf.

For Windows Vista / 7 / 2008

Type this command with administrative privileges in command prompt

c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /quiet /generalize /shutdown /oobe

c:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe

The experience is also streamlined considerably. Simply run sysprep.exe above and you are presented with:

Check the “Generalize” checkbox (regenerates system SID), change the Shutdown Options to “Shutdown”, and click OK. The system will go through the sysprep process and shut itself down.

Using Your SysPrep’d Image to Create a New Virtual Machine

Now, creating a new virtual machine will only take just a couple minutes.

First, you need to copy your SysPrep’d image to a new name and to a new location where you will use this new virtual machine. Copy your SysPrep’d image files (.vmc & .vhd) to a new location where you want your new virtual machine file to reside.
Rename them to a new, appropriate name. For example, if you are going to create a SharePoint server you might name them something like:
1. MySharePoint2007.vmc
2. MySharePoint2007.vhd
Add this new virtual machine to you Virtual PC or Virtual Server; which ever you are using;
Edit the configuration and make sure the virtual hard drive (VHD) is pointing to your new .vhd file. In this example, the MySharePoint2007.vhd file.
Configure any other items such as memory allocation and network cards as necessary.
Start the virtual machine.
You will receive a few prompts such as the name for you new machine.
If you wish, you can now join you virtual machine to a domain.

SysPrep is a must have time-saving tool for anyone who uses Virtual PC and/or Virtual Server.

Microsoft Security Bulletin Minor Revisions

2010-06-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

********************************************************************
Title: Microsoft Security Bulletin Minor Revisions
Issued: June 30, 2010
********************************************************************

Summary
=======
The following bulletins have undergone a minor revision increment.
Please see the appropriate bulletin for more details.

* MS10-041 - Important
* MS10-040 - Important
* MS10-038 - Important
* MS09-040 - Important

Bulletin Information:
=====================

* MS10-041 - Important

- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-041.mspx
- Reason for Revision: V1.3 (June 30, 2010): Corrected the registry
key verification for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2.
- Originally posted: June 8, 2010
- Updated: June 30, 2010
- Bulletin Severity Rating: Important
- Version: 1.3

* MS10-040 - Important

- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-040.mspx
- Reason for Revision: V1.1 (June 30, 2010): Added a link to
   Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 982666 under Known Issues in
   the Executive Summary to address the issue where specific
   installations of IIS fail on restart after installing this
   security update.
- Originally posted: June 8, 2010
- Updated: June 30, 2010
- Bulletin Severity Rating: Important
- Version: 1.1

* MS10-038 - Important

- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-038.mspx
- Reason for Revision: V1.2 (June 30, 2010): Added a link to
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2027452 under Known Issues
in the Executive Summary.
- Originally posted: June 8, 2010
- Updated: June 30, 2010
- Bulletin Severity Rating: Important
- Version: 1.2

* MS09-040 - Important

- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-040.mspx
- Reason for Revision: V1.1 (June 30, 2010): Added a link to
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 971032 under Known Issues in
the Executive Summary.
- Originally posted: August 11, 2009
- Updated: June 30, 2010
- Bulletin Severity Rating: Important
- Version: 1.1

All Available IMP Links for SCCM destination

2010-06-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Many times people things about the destination of SCCM Available resources below are some i can suggest

Books:- Yep there are Three Books available below are the links

1) System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 Unleashed by Kerrie Meyler $37.79 http://www.amazon.com/System-Center-Configuration-Manager-Unleashed/dp/0672330237

2) Mastering System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 by Chris Mosby $37.79

3) System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed by Kerrie Meyler $40.94

CBT’s,

Yes there are two best CBT’s offered these are most popular

cbtnuggets

http://www.cbtnuggets.com/webapp/product?id=421

Exam-Pack 70-401: Microsoft Systems Center - Configuration Manager
$299.00 - Includes 20 Videos

CBT Planet

http://www.cbtplanet.com/microsoft-it/microsoft-system-center-configuration-manager-training-video.htm

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) CBT Training Course

Topics Based Courses also offered from

http://blogcastrepository.com/level5/sccm/default.aspx

for some of them it is free and for most of them you need to pay :D

OK, Now Cools free supported WebPages for SCCM & SMS is below

and also…..

Rod Trent's Blog

Great people Blogs:

SMS 2003 Client Health : GP Based Script

2010-06-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

Source:-http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/Articles.aspx?articleid=17217&zoneid=87

Overview

Workstation Client Health maintenance is a continuous process that must be maintained. The following document gives an overview on how to fix several common workstation issues.

CliFix GPO startup script :- Can be downloaded from here http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/scassells/Public_SMS_CLIFIX_4.19.vbs.txt

In an effort to reduce the amount of common workstation issues I have developed a script to check and change the following common issues. This script is to be run via GPO startup scripts. This requires the script to work as the system account and have intranet connectivity. Both are accomplished by running as a GPO. Script Requirements

Script must be in a location where the computers system account has access. Usually on your domain controller ex. \\FQDNDomain\sysvol\ FQDNDomain\
sc.exe must be present for full successful run.
1. Either in the run path
2. system32
3. system32\DLLCache
4. Note: there are multiple versions floating around in the average environment
regsvr32.exe needs to be present
%systemroot%\system32 needs to be in system path

Script Settings

All, unless I missed some, sections of the script can be turned on and off in the top of the script. Please review the script as some features will fail without modification.

Please Review the following CONFIG SETTINGS Variables:

SMSVersion
ConfigMgrVersion
WKS_ASSIGNSITECODE
WKS_CacheSize
WKS_LocalAdminGroup
WKS_admACCT
RegPath
strWebAddress
StrCCRServer
strCCRSiteCode
CCMSetUP

What the Script Does

Checks to make sure the script has not run in X many hours.
1. Example if X = 12 the script will not run again until at least 12 hours after the last occurrence.
2. This will prevent a slow down on multiple reboots.
Sets DCOM permissions to be correct for SMS / SCCM configuration
Checks to make sure System Path has the 3 required windows paths enabled. (does NOT use WMI or require a restart to change values)
1. C:\windows
2. C:\windows\sysetm32
3. C:\windows\system32\wbem
4. Also removes %systemroot% from path replacing it with correct full path value
5. If one of the 3 paths is missing, it will parse the full path removing duplicates and adding a,b,or c to the beginning of the path statement leaving all else unchanged.
Check to see if sc.exe exists in the run from directory and if not in the system32 directory
Checks to see if this script is run on a workstation or server. If a server kills the script
Checks to make sure the correct local admin group is present (value is set in header of script)
Checks WMI service to see if it is set to auto and running. If not executes sc.exe to start the service.
Attempts to connect to WMI object
If the WMI object connect fails
1. Attempt to do a repair (if no previous status is present in the registry and approved via script switches)
2. Attempt to do a rebuild (if ‘repair’ status is present in the registry and approved via script switches)
3. If both the above have failed then do nothing and report major error
Checks to see if Admin$ is present, if not forces existence via WMI
Checks to see if msxml3.dll is registered, if not forces existence via WSH
Checks to see if Qmgr.dll and qmgrprxy.dll are registered, if not forces existence via WSH
Checks to see if OLEAut32.dll is registered, if not forces existence via WSH
Checks to make sure the following services are set to appropriate Status and Mode
1. RPC
2. WMI
3. Firewall/ICS
4. Server Service
5. Remote Registry
6. BITS
7. Windows Update Services
8. Terminal Services
9. Windows Installer
10. Note: You may want to review the settings for your environment on each of these services. All of the above services are set to default and either Manual or Automatic.
Check the SMS version
Checks the CCMExec service
If SMS is not correct version can be forced to do an install
1. Needs Review
If the all of the above test passed without issue you have a healthy workstation. The following two checks are for SMS.
1. Check log file last update time. If the PolicyEvaluator.log file has not been modified in past 14 days do a repair of the client.
2. Check client assignment. If no assignment set new site code based on AD boundaries in which the client is present.
  1. Note: Some people may want to disable this as it relies on AD
If any fixes above had to be preformed
1. Check the advanced client state. Which client policies have enabled.
2. Check the cache size
3. Send a Client Configuration Request (CCR) to have client installed
4. Run CCMSetup from the install share on the server.

Note during this script several forms of reporting, logging, and information submitting have been preformed. The standard methods of reporting are:

Event log
Log file in the %temp% directory for the account used to run
- GPO = C:\windows\temp
Reporting to a website that submits client status to a SQL table.
- Future WebPost on how to do this

Other verbose methods include:· Two levels of command line reportingo Log to Command lineo Verbose to command line· network share copy

Future Additions:

Area's that need improvement

Checking the SMS Client
Install methods for SMS/ConfigMgr Client
ConfigMgr 2007 specific changes
WMI fixing / integration with WMIDiag.vbs
- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/help/wmidiag.mspx
BITS Checking - Correct security
BITS version correct

Below are the port Numbers used in SMS 2003

2010-06-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

• Site Server to child and secondary sites as well as SMS SQL Server.
445 - Server Message Block (SMB)
389 - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
636 - LDAP (Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection)

• Proxy Management point to parent SQL Server
1433 - TCP (SMS Site Server to SQL Server)
389 - LDAP
636 - LDAP (Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection)

• Advanced Client to Management Point and Distribution Point
80 - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
139 - Client sessions (for non BITS-enabled DPs)
445 - Server Message Block (for non BITS-enabled DPs)
389 - UDP (User Datagram Protocol) LDAP Ping
389 - TCP LDAP
636 - TCP LDAP (Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection)
3268 - TCP (Explicit connection to Global Catalog)

• Remote Control System service (Wuser32)
2703 - TCP SMS Remote Chat
2703 - UDP SMS Remote Chat
2701 - TCP SMS Remote Control (Control)
2701 - UDP SMS Remote Control (Control)
2702 - TCP SMS Remote Control (Data)
2702 - UDP SMS Remote Control (Data)
2704 - TCP SMS Remote File Transfer
2704 - UDP SMS Remote File Transfer

• Remote Control UDP *
137 - Name resolution
138 - Messaging
139 - Client sessions
* Only applies if you use NetBIOS over TCP/IP for SMS Remote Control
• Microsoft SQL Server
1433 - TCP SQL server
139 - TCP Named pipes

• Active Directory Discovery methods
389 - TCP LDAP
389 - UDP LDAP
636 - TCP LDAP (Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection)
135 - TCP RPC Endpoint Mapper
135 - UDP RPC Endpoint Mapper
3268 - TCP Global Catalog LDAP
3269 - TCP Global Catalog LDAP (Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection)
88 - TCP Kerberos
88 - UDP Kerberos

• Microsoft Windows NT UDP
53 – UDP Domain Name System (DNS)
67 – UDP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
135 – TCP Remote procedure call (RPC)
138 – UDP Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
138 – UDP NetBIOS Datagram Service Computer Browser
139 – TCP NetBIOS Datagram Service Messenger

OSD Log Files Location

2010-06-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the smsts.log can be stored in one of 7 locations, depending on the stage of the build and the architecture of the OS:

WindowsPE, before HDD format:
x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log

WindowsPE, after HDD format:
x:\smstslog\smsts.log and copied to c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

Full version windows, before SCCM agent installed:
c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

Full version windows, after SCCM agent installed:
c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

Full version x64 windows, after SCCM agent installed:
c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\Smstslog\smsts.log

After Task Sequence has finished running
c:\windows\system32\ccm\logs\smsts.log

After Task Sequence has finished running(x64)
c:\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\smsts.log

Windows Update Explained

2010-06-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Windows Update Explained

Source as it is

http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/9/4/a94af289-a798-4143-a3f8-77004f7c2fd3/Windows%20Update%20Explained.docx

How the Software Update Service Works and Why it Matters to You

Published: September 2008

For more information, please see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/default.mspx

Contents

Introduction. 1

The Problem with Keeping Computers Up to Date. 1

Windows Update to the Rescue. 2

Windows Update for Individual Computers. 2

Windows Update in Windows Vista. 2

Windows Update in Windows XP. 4

Updating Networked Computers. 6

Windows Server Update Services. 6

Customizing Windows Server Update Services. 6

How Updating Works. 7

Checking for updates. 7

Downloading updates. 7

Installing Updates. 8

Rebooting your computer. 8

Reporting. 8

When the Windows Update Client is Updated. 9

Security Protections in Windows Update. 9

Additional Resources. 10

Introduction

We’ve all heard about or even experienced the havoc that computer viruses and other malicious software can cause to PCs and computer networks. Computer hackers are constantly trying to find ways to attack networks and computers with the intent of committing fraud and other crimes. When they succeed, individuals and enterprises can lose a great deal of time and money. In spite of their high cost and the headaches they cause, many security breaches are easily avoidable. The security fixes are available, but users don’t get them installed quickly enough (or at all).

Have you ever wondered what Microsoft is doing to help? Or did you know that Microsoft® Windows® Update is an important part of the solution, but weren’t sure exactly what it does or how it works. If so, this paper is for you.

For individual PC users, this paper will help you understand how to use Windows Update to keep your PC up to date, not only to help protect it from malicious software, but to keep it functioning at its best. If you’re responsible for networked computers, this paper will help you understand how Windows Update and Windows Server® Update Services (WSUS) can help protect groups of computers.

The Problem with Keeping Computers Up to Date

With Internet usage increasing, it’s more important than ever to keep your PC protected from malicious code. Understanding this, the people at Microsoft have been hard at work to help ensure that your PC continues to function well and that your personal information is very safe. Special teams at Microsoft proactively search for security vulnerabilities in Microsoft software and provide security updates. One of those teams is the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). The MSRC is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and dedicated to identifying, monitoring, resolving, and responding to Microsoft software security vulnerabilities.

In addition to security updates, Microsoft provides other software updates that make your computer run better and give you a better Windows experience. For example, an update may fix an issue with a hardware device, improve the performance of your computer, or deliver improved Windows features.

Downloading and installing the latest software updates, particularly security updates, quickly and consistently on your PC is vital to maintain both its security and its proper functioning. For network administrators, applying updates on computers across your organization—small, medium, or large—is a crucial measure for keeping your systems secure and running properly. Yet doing this manually requires constant time and attention, which many people simply don’t have available for the task. There must be an easier way!

Windows Update to the Rescue

Fortunately, there is an easier way, thanks to Windows Update, a free, built-in service included with Windows. This service helps you keep your PC more secure and reliable as well as compatible with devices and applications. It provides a single location for getting updates and scheduling automatic updating.

Using Windows Update by itself, you get updates for Windows and new or updated hardware drivers. For the other Microsoft software installed on your computer, use Microsoft Update. By turning on Microsoft Update, you get all of the benefits of Windows Update, but you get security and non-security updates for your other Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Office and the Windows Live™ network of internet services. Turning on Microsoft Update is recommended for all Windows PCs. To turn on Microsoft Update, go to http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate.

Windows Update for Individual Computers

It is easy to improve the security and reliability of your PC, and take advantage of the continuous improvements Microsoft makes to Windows. Just use this four-step process:

1. Turn on Windows Update. You probably did this when you set up your new PC by selecting the option to “Help protect Windows automatically.”

2. Use the recommended settings. Windows Update is designed to work automatically and not interrupt you while you’re working on other things. Using the recommended settings, you get all of the benefits from the service, such as quick delivery of very important security updates, and you get them with fewer interruptions.

3. Turn on Microsoft Update. Microsoft Update includes updates for both Windows and other Microsoft products. This makes it easy to keep all your Microsoft software updated. To turn on Microsoft Update, go to http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate.

4. Check Windows Update periodically. You will find a list of lower priority recommended and optional updates that you can choose to download and install. These include driver updates, new product features, and so forth. These updates will keep your PC functioning smoothly.

Windows Update has slightly different settings in the Windows Vista® and Microsoft Windows XP operating systems, as described in the following sections. For more information about Windows Update and its features, see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/default.mspx.

Windows Update in Windows Vista

In Windows Vista, you can configure Windows Update settings and view and install updates from Windows Update in your Control Panel. If you go to the Windows Update Web site (http://update.microsoft.com), Windows Update opens automatically.

Getting Help in Windows Vista

Windows Update Help provides complete information and procedures for using Windows Update. To open it, click the Help button in the upper-right corner of the Windows Update control panel.

Figure 1: Windows Update control panel in Windows Vista

To configure or change settings, click the Change settings link in the left navigation pane. The Change settings screen displays.

Figure 2: Change settings screen in Vista

The most secure option is Install updates automatically (recommended). When you choose this option, you don't have to worry that critical fixes for Windows might be missing from your computer if you don’t have time to install them personally. Nor must you worry about Windows Update slowing down your PC’s Internet connection, while it downloads updates, because it operates in the background in a way that won’t interfere with your Internet usage. For more information about how Windows Update behaves during the download and installation process, see “How Updating Works,” later in this paper.

Updates in Windows Vista

Important updates offer significant benefits, such as improved security and reliability. Examples include security and critical reliability updates.

Recommended updates address non-critical problems and help enhance your computing experience. Examples include upgrades to Windows features and less important software updates.

Optional updates are not downloaded or installed automatically. Examples include less critical driver updates and new Windows or Microsoft software.

You can choose to have updates downloaded automatically and then install them manually, or you can choose to both download and install updates manually. In either case, Windows Update still continuously checks for updates automatically and notifies you when important or recommended updates are available. Still, the most convenient and secure option is to make both download and installation automatic.

Even if your PC is configured for automatic updating, you should periodically check that important updates have been installed and also check for Optional updates. To do to this, click the Check for updates link in the left navigation pane of the Windows Update control panel. On the screen that displays, you can review any available updates and install them.

Windows Update in Windows XP

In Windows XP, check for updates from the Windows Update Web site http://update.microsoft.com, and configure automatic updating settings from the Automatic Updates program in Control Panel, shown in the following figure.

Getting Help in Windows XP

For general Windows Update help and support go to http://update.microsoft.com and click Get help and support in the left-hand navigation pane.

To get help for the Automatic Updates program in Control Panel, click How does Automatic Updates work?

Figure 3: Automatic Updates control panel in Windows XP

The most secure option is Automatic (recommended). When you choose this option, you don't have to worry that critical fixes for Windows might be missing from your computer.

Updates in Windows XP

High-priority updates offer significant benefits, such as improved security and reliability. Examples include security and critical reliability updates.

Optional updates are not downloaded or installed automatically. You need to manually view and install these updates from within Windows Update. Examples include less important software updates, drivers, updates to Windows features, and new Windows or Microsoft software.

You also don’t need to worry about Windows Update slowing down your PC’s Internet connection and computer. It is designed to operate in the background and minimize interruptions. For more information about how Windows Update behaves during the download and installation process, see “How Updating Works,” later in this paper.

You can choose to have updates downloaded automatically and then install them manually, or you can choose to both download and install updates manually. In either case, Windows Update still continuously checks for most updates automatically and notifies you when High-Priority updates are available. Still, the most convenient and secure option is to let Windows Update download and install updates automatically.

With Windows XP, you should check the Windows Update Web site regularly because many of the updates that improve your experience with Windows are not installed automatically. To view all of the available updates, first make sure you upgrade to Microsoft Update, and then click the Custom button, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 4: Windows Update Web site for Windows XP

Updating Networked Computers

Windows Update makes it easy to automatically update a home computer or small group of business computers. However, if you are managing a network of 10 or more computers, you may want to manage the update process for computers on your network. By managing the update process, you have more control over which updates are installed and when they are installed.

Windows Server Update Services

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is a free add-on for the Windows Server operating system to help network administrators manage updates for computers. By using WSUS with Active Directory® group policy, administrators can fully manage update settings and the distribution of updates for computers on their network. To find out more about using WSUS, go to the Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) Web site http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/default.aspx.

Note: Microsoft also provides the System Center Family of business software for fully managing (including updates) desktop computers and servers in medium to large organizations. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/default.aspx.

Customizing Windows Server Update Services

Microsoft provides a complete, programmable, and scriptable API that network administrators and software developers can use to create custom updating behaviors for WSUS. System administrators can use the WSUS API to determine which updates apply to a computer or group of computers, download those updates, and install them with little or no user intervention. Independent software vendors and developers can integrate WSUS features into computer management or update management software to provide a seamless operating environment. For more information, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905331.aspx.

How Updating Works

During the updating process, the Windows Update client operates in the background to download and install updates. (The Windows Update client is the Windows Update component running on your PC.) It does this automatically, according to your settings, and in a “silent” manner that doesn’t disrupt your computer usage. This section describes how Windows Update behaves during the update process.

Checking for updates

The Windows Update client on your PC checks the Windows Update server at Microsoft for the availability of new updates at random intervals, every 17 to 22 hours. The randomization ensures that the Windows Update server is not overloaded with requests for updates all at the same time. The client is very efficient in checking for new updates and searches only for updates that have been added since the last time updates were searched, allowing it to find updates quickly and efficiently.

When checking for updates, the Windows Update client evaluates whether the update is appropriate for your computer using guidelines defined by the publisher of the update, for example, Microsoft Office.

If the computer is not online at the time you specified to check for updates, then the Windows Update client begins checking every five hours until it successfully finds updates. If more than 30 days have gone by without successfully finding updates, the client will notify you. If you should receive such a notification, you should connect your computer to the Internet, go to the Windows Update Web site, and check for updates.

Downloading updates

Once the Windows Update client determines which updates apply to your computer, it will begin downloading the updates, if you have selected the option to automatically download updates. It does this in the background without interrupting your normal use of the computer.

To ensure that your other downloads aren’t affected or slowed down because updates are downloading, Windows Update uses the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) technology which downloads updates using idle bandwidth. This technology ensures that Windows Update downloads only when no other active download is in progress on the computer. This allows you to smoothly carry on day-to-day activities even while updates are being downloaded in the background.

Windows Update also supports pausing and restarting downloads. You do not have to worry if you need to shut down your computer, or if you have lost your Internet connection while an update is downloading. Once the connection is reestablished, the download will continue where it left off.

Installing Updates

When downloading is complete, depending on your Windows Update settings, the Windows Update client either installs the updates automatically, or else it notifies you of the download without performing the installation. You do not need to be logged in to your computer for Windows Update to automatically install updates.

When you install Microsoft software

When you install or reinstall a program, you must reinstall updates that came out after the installation CD or installer was created. For some programs there may be multiple updates available and some updates may require a previously released update to be installed.

When the option to automatically install updates is configured, the Windows Update client tries to install updates as they become available. For example, if updates are available when you begin shutting down your computer, it gives you the option to install the updates before shutting down the computer. Otherwise, it installs them during the time you have specified for updates to be automatically installed. The default time for updates to be automatically installed is 3:00 AM daily.

If your computer is not turned on during the scheduled time for installing updates, the Windows Update client will try to wake up the PC (if the PC was asleep), or wait for the PC to be turned on again. As soon as the PC is running again, it will install the updates.

Rebooting your computer

When the option to automatically install updates is configured, the Windows Update client, in most cases, automatically restarts the PC for you after installing the updates. This is necessary because your PC may be insecure, or not fully updated, until a restart is completed. To reduce the number of computer restarts required, the client attempts to install as many updates as possible together. If you are using the computer, you may be given the option to postpone the restart.

Most updates can be installed automatically without any user intervention. Some updates, however, such as service packs require the user to provide explicit consent. These are not automatically installed. When you install updates manually, be sure to restart your PC if prompted to do so. Otherwise, the PC may not be updated until a restart is performed.

Reporting

The Windows Update client reports back to Microsoft regarding which updates have installed successfully and which, if any, failed to install. This helps the Windows Update team verify the quality of the updates provided by Windows Update. No personally identifiable information (PII) is sent to Microsoft or stored by Microsoft with the report. For more information, read the Windows Update privacy statement online at http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/vistaprivacy.aspx?ln=en-us.

The Windows Update client keeps a log of all the different actions it performed on a particular computer at %windir%\windowsupdate.log. On Windows Vista, this log is available from the Windows Update control panel.

When the Windows Update Client is Updated

From time to time, Microsoft needs to update and enhance the Windows Update service, and that includes updating the Windows Update client software on your PC. If Windows Update is configured to check for updates, it installs a newer version of the Windows Update client automatically, so that it can continue to check for updates. If Windows Update is completely turned off, the client is not updated. If the client doesn’t update automatically then it may not be able to notify you about new updates. For this reason, Windows Update always updates the client automatically before checking for other updates. Given how important it is to maintain the quality of the update service, Windows Update always updates itself when it is turned on, regardless of whether you've chosen the option to have updates automatically installed or to be notified that they are available so that you can manually install them. If you have automatic updating turned off completely, the next time you manually check for updates, you will be prompted to update the Windows Update client before installing any updates.

Security Protections in Windows Update

Windows update implements many security checks and restrictions to ensure that the security of your computer is not compromised. The most critical checks validate the authenticity and quality of the software and updates that are installed on a machine. Some of the ways in which Windows Update maintains the integrity of the updates that get installed are as follows:

1. Windows Update uses the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol to send and receive information. SSL is used to encrypt the information being transferred, prevents hackers from tampering with information being transferred, and verifies that the Windows Update agent is transferring data from an authorized Microsoft server.

2. Each update is individually signed using the Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA-1). This technology allows Windows Update to confirm that the update has been downloaded correctly and hasn’t been changed by anyone. The update signature is also compared to information in the update metadata that was previously downloaded.

3. Windows Update also checks for the certificate associated with each update. This certificate provides a means for Windows Update to validate the source of each update. Currently Windows Update will only install updates that have certificates issued by Microsoft or other providers that are trusted by Microsoft.

Windows Update has many more internal security checks and controls. For example, Windows Update ensures that any action that can make your machine less secure (like turning off Windows Update) can only be performed by an authorized administrator.

To help keep your PC more secure and reliable, it's a good idea to install new updates as soon as they're available. The easiest way to install updates is to use the Windows Update service and make sure automatic updating is turned on. Now that you know how important—and easy—it is, be sure to check your Windows Update settings today.

Additional Resources

For additional information about configuring and using Windows Update or to find a discussion group, see the Windows Update Home Page. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/default.mspx

For help and support, including solutions for top issues with using Windows Update and explanations of error messages, see the Microsoft Update Solution Center. http://support.microsoft.com/ph/6527#tab3

For information about managing Windows Update on an enterprise network, see the Update Management Tech Center.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/updatemanagement/bb259683.aspx

To learn how Microsoft monitors and responds to security issues, see the Microsoft Security Response Center Web site. It offers tools such as an alert service, monthly webcast, blog, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to help you stay current with security-related updates and information for Windows. http://www.microsoft.com/security/msrc/default.mspx

To learn about new security updates, find how-to articles and security tips, and get answers to security-related questions, see the Microsoft Security at Home Web site for the free, monthly Security Newsletter for Home Users from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/protect/default.mspx

For a clearinghouse of information and links about protecting your computer, see http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/updates/default.mspx.

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This white paper is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
DOCUMENT.

Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

Microsoft, Active Directory, the Security Shield logo, Windows, Windows Live, Windows Vista, Windows Server, the Windows logo, and the Windows Update Icon are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

RUN Command Tip’s

2010-06-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

1. Click Start/Run and type APPWIZ.CPL to open "Add/Remove Programs"

2. Click Start/Run and type SYSDM.CPL to open "System Properties"

3. Click Start/Run and type HDWWIZ.CPL to open the Add New Hardware Wizard

4. Click Start/Run and type NCPA.CPL to open "Network Connections"

5. Click Start/Run and type LOGOFF and press Enter to LOG OFF the current logged user

List of log files with the description of each to remember easy.

2010-06-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

Client Component Installation Manager - Ccim

Client Configuration Manager - Ccm

Client Install Data Manager - Cidm

Collection Evaluator - Colleval

Component Status Summarizer - Compsumm

Courier Sender - Coursend

Courier Sender Confirmation - Cscnfsvc

Despooler - Despool

Discovery Data Manager - Ddm

Distribution Manager - Distmgr

Hardware Inventory Agent - Hinv

Hierarchy Manager - Hman

Hierarchy Manager - Sitecomp

Inbox Manager - Inboxmgr

Inbox Manager Assistant - Inboxast

Inventory Data Loader - Dataldr

Inventory Processor - Invproc

LAN Sender - Sender

License Metering - Licrsvc

License Server Manager - Licsvcfg

Network Discovery - Netdisc

Offer Manager - Offermgr

Offer Status Summarizer - Offersum

Replication Manager - Replmgr

Scheduler - Sched

Sender - Sender

Setup - SMSsetup

Site Component Manager - Sitecomp

Site Control Manager - Sitectrl

Site System Status Summarizer - Sitestat

SMS Administrator Provider - SMSprov

SMS Executive - SMSexec

SMS NT Logon Manager - NT_logon

SMS Provider - SMSprov

SMS SQL Monitor - SMSdbmon

SMS_Bootstrap Service - SMS_bootstrap

Software Inventory Agent - Sinv

Software Inventory Processor - Sinvproc

SQL Error Logs – Errorlog and sqldbmon

Status Manager - Statmgr

Windows Networking Logon Discovery - NTlgdscm

Windows Networking Logon Installation - NTlginst

Windows NT Logon Discovery Agent - Ntlgdsca

Windows NT Logon Discovery Manager - Ntlgdscm

Windows NT Logon Server Manager - NT_logon

Windows NT Server Discovery Agent – Ntsvrdis

SCCM Product released Dates

2010-06-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

SMS & ConfigMgr Support

2010-06-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

If you are running SMS 2003, its time to migrate. That product ended Mainstream support Jan 11, 2010
If you are running the RTM version of Configuration Manager 2007, that level of product is now out of mainstream support as of July 2009
If you are running Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, that level of product will go out of Mainstream support at the end of calendar 2010.
If you are doing a net new deployment, the recommendation is ConfigMgr SP2, on Windows Server 2008 or ‘08 R2.
If you are at a current level like SP2 now, its time to check out the very cool new features in the R3 beta – like Power Management.

What Service Pack level required for Supporting

2010-06-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 as a managed client requires ConfigMgr SP2

Windows Server 2008 either as a managed client or a host for a site role required Service Pack 1

Windows Server 2008 R2 either as a managed client or a host for a site role requires Service Pack 2

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)

2010-06-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

Productivity, manageability and reduced total cost of ownership for enterprise desktops

Enterprise IT infrastructures are increasingly complex to manage. The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a dynamic desktop solution that is available as a subscription for Software Assurance customers. The solution suite enhances application deployment and compatibility, increases IT responsiveness and end user uptime, and helps reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) of your desktop software and IT management.

MDOP employs six innovative technologies to increase desktop manageability, reduce TCO, and improve overall infrastructure satisfaction:

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) turns applications into centrally managed services that are never installed, never conflict, and are streamed on demand to end users.
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) provides deployment and management of virtual PC images to enable key enterprise scenarios, primarily resolving application compatibility with a new version of Windows.
Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) enhances governance and control over Group Policy through robust change management, versioning, and role-based administration.
Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS) is a hosted service that collects software inventory data and translates it into actionable business intelligence.
Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) reduces downtime by accelerating troubleshooting, repair, and data recovery of unbootable Windows-based desktops.
Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) provides insights into application and operating system failures, allowing helpdesk to be more proactive in managing PC problems, without installing an agent to the endpoint.

MDOP 2009 R2 for Windows 7 is now available!

Learn more about MDOP 2009 R2 features.

Read more about how customers and partners use MDOP.

MDOP subscribers can download the software at Microsoft Volume Licensing Site (MVLS).

MDOP is also available for test and evaluation for MSDN* and TechNet** subscribers in accordance with MSDN and TechNet agreements.

* Available to levels: TechNet Plus SA Media; TechNet Plus (retail); TechNet Direct (retail); TechNet Plus (VL); TechNet Plus Direct (VL); TechNet Cert Partner; TechNet Gold Cert Partner; T1.

** Available to levels: VS Pro with MSDN Premium (Empower); Developer AA; MSDN Universal (retail); VSTS Team Suite (VL); VSTS Architecture (VL); VSTS Development (VL); VSTS Test (VL); VS Pro with MSDN Premium (VL); MSDN Universal (VL); VSTS Database (VL); VS Pro with MSDN Premium (retail); VSTS Test (retail); VSTS Development (retail); VSTS Architecture (retail); VSTS Team Suite (retail); VSTS Database (retail); BizSpark Admin; BizSpark.

HTTP 500 Internal Server Error when accessing SCCM Reports

2010-06-21T02:49:00.000-07:00

If you are receiving HTTP 500 Internal Server Error when accessing SCCM Reports via web browser, check the following settings:

1. Make sure that you are not hitting the limit of maximum rows returned by a report query. By default, report viewer in SCCM 2007 is configured to limit the results returned by a report query to 10 000 rows.

To change the number of rows returned by a report query, create the Rowcount DWORD value under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SMS\Reporting registry key.

Set its value to the number of rows that you want returned in the report query. If you want to return all rows, set the value to 0xffffffff, which is the hexadecimal equivalent of –1.

For more information, refer to the following TechNet article: How to Configure the Maximum Rows Returned by a Report Query, available at the: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680885.aspx

2. Increase the ASP response buffer limit size (aspbufferinglimit).

In IIS 6.0 change has been introduced which limits a default ASP response buffer to 4 MB. Increasing the buffer limit might help you in resolving this problem. To increase the buffer limit, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cd /d %systemdrive%\inetpub\adminscripts

Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript.exe adsutil.vbs SET w3svc/aspbufferinglimit LimitSize

LimitSize represents the buffering limit size in bytes. For example, the number 67108864 sets the buffering limit size to 64 MB.

To confirm that the buffer limit is set correctly, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cd /d %systemdrive%\inetpub\adminscripts

Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cscript.exe adsutil.vbs GET w3svc/aspbufferinglimit

In my case, setting the limit to the value of 12582912 (12 MB) did the trick in the Configuration Manager environment of approximately 10 000 managed devices (SCCM Clients).

For more information about the ASP response buffer limit, refer to the following article: Error message when a Web browser sends a request for an active server page to a Web server that is running IIS 6.0: “Response buffer limit exceeded”, available at the: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925764

2010-06-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

Below are the basic exceptional for any antivirus for Microsoft products…

Windows:
KB822158 Virus scanning recommendations for Enterprise computers that are running currently supported versions of Windows

Windows / Active Directory:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837932
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943556

Cluster:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/250355

Forefront: Considerations when using antivirus software on FF Edge
Products
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943620
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc707727.aspx

FRS:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815263

SQL:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309422

IIS:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821749
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817442

DHCP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927059

SCOM / MOM:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975931

Hyper-V:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/961804

Exchange:
Exchange 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332342.aspx
Exchange 2007: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332342(EXCHG.80).aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328841
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823166
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245822
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332342(EXCHG.80).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332342.aspx

SharePoint:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952167
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320111
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322941

SMS:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327453

ISA:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887311

WSUS:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900638

SBS:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885685

System Center:
Recommendations for antivirus exclusions in MOM 2005 and Operations Manager 2007

APP V

2010-06-21T02:28:00.000-07:00

Below are the APP-V Virtual LABs available

Learning App-V Basics includes preparation, streaming and launch of virtual applications

Learning App-V Intermediate Skills includes Application update, Dynamic Suite Composition and Metering

Learning to Configure App-V for Standalone Client Mode includes Standalone Client Mode and AppLocker

ConfigMgr admin must aware of these

2010-06-16T23:23:00.000-07:00

Prerequisites for Installing Configuration Manager
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb694113.aspx

About Configuration Manager Client Installation Properties
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680980.aspx

Planning for PXE Initiated Operating System Deployments
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680753.aspx

Operating System Deployment in Configuration Manager
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632767.aspx

Step-By-Step Example Deployment of the PKI Certificates Required for Configuration Manager Native Mode: Windows Server 2008 Certification Authority
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc872789.aspx

ConfigMgr 2007 Super Flows

2010-06-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Others who downloaded Application Virtualization Sequencing SuperFlow also downloaded:

IMP Downloads from MYITFORUM Central place

2010-06-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

This is the place you will get all must needed tools and software's and documents that you need at your finger tips.

http://myitforum.com/cs2/files/

script that has WMI connection error will skip it and move to next

2010-06-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

strComputer = "MYcomputername"

Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

objExcel.Visible = True

objExcel.Workbooks.Add

intRow = 2

objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Value = "Logon Name"

objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Full Name"

objExcel.Cells(1, 3).Value = "Description"

objExcel.Cells(1, 4).Value = "Domain"

objExcel.Cells(1, 5).Value = "Password Changeable"

objExcel.Cells(1, 6).Value = "Password Required"

objExcel.Cells(1, 7).Value = "Password Expires"

objExcel.Cells(1, 8).Value = "Account Disabled"

objExcel.Cells(1, 9).Value = "Account Locked Out"

On Error Resume Next
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
If err.Number <> 0 then
Call Wscript.echo("Error has occurred connecting to WMI on workstation: " & strComputer)
End if

Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_UserAccount")

For Each objItem in colItems

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 1).Value = objItem.Name

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 2).Value = objItem.FullName

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 3).Value = objItem.Description

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 4).Value = objItem.Domain

If objItem.PasswordChangeable = True Then

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 5).Value = "Yes"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 5).Font.ColorIndex = 10

Else

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 5).Value = "No"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 5).Font.ColorIndex = 3

End If

If objItem.PasswordRequired = True Then

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 6).Value = "Yes"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 6).Font.ColorIndex = 10

Else

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 6).Value = "No"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 6).Font.ColorIndex = 3

End If

If objItem.PasswordExpires = True Then

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 7).Value = "Yes"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 7).Font.ColorIndex = 10

Else

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 7).Value = "No"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 7).Font.ColorIndex = 3

End If

If objItem.Disabled = True Then

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 8).Value = "Yes"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 8).Font.ColorIndex = 10

Else

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 8).Value = "No"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 8).Font.ColorIndex = 3

End If

If objItem.Lockout = True Then

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 9).Value = "Yes"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 9).Font.ColorIndex = 10

Else

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 9).Value = "No"

objExcel.Cells(intRow, 9).Font.ColorIndex = 3

End If

intRow = intRow + 1

objExcel.Range("A1:I1").Select

objExcel.Selection.Interior.ColorIndex = 19

objExcel.Selection.Font.ColorIndex = 11

objExcel.Selection.Font.Bold = True

objExcel.Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit

MsgBox "Done"

Excel output Script : for file version check well explained

2010-06-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

Correct Script

Set Fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set InputFile = fso.OpenTextFile("MachineList.Txt")
Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
objExcel.Visible = True
objExcel.Workbooks.Add

intRow = 2
Do While Not (InputFile.atEndOfStream)
strComputer = InputFile.ReadLine

intRow = intRow +1
objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Value = "System Name"
objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Version"
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colFiles = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from CIM_Datafile Where Name = 'c:\\windows\\system32\\mshtml.dll'")

For Each objFile in colFiles
objExcel.Cells(intRow, 2).Value = objFile.Version
objExcel.Cells(intRow, 1).Value = strComputer
objExcel.Range("A1:B1").Select
objExcel.Selection.Interior.ColorIndex = 19
objExcel.Selection.Font.ColorIndex = 11
objExcel.Selection.Font.Bold = True
objExcel.Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
Next
loop
Set objSheet = objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(1)
Set objRange = objExcel.Range("B1")
objRange.Sort objRange,1,,,,,,1
' loop
MsgBox "Done"

Wrong Script

Set Fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set InputFile = fso.OpenTextFile("MachineList.Txt")
Do While Not (InputFile.atEndOfStream)
strComputer = InputFile.ReadLine
Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
objExcel.Visible = True
objExcel.Workbooks.Add
intRow = 2
objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Value = "System Name"
objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Version"
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colFiles = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from CIM_Datafile Where Name = 'c:\\windows\\system32\\mshtml.dll'")
For Each objFile in colFiles
objExcel.Cells(intRow, 2).Value = objFile.Version
objExcel.Cells(intRow, 1).Value = strComputer

objExcel.Range("A1:B1").Select
objExcel.Selection.Interior.ColorIndex = 19
objExcel.Selection.Font.ColorIndex = 11
objExcel.Selection.Font.Bold = True
objExcel.Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
Next
loop
Set objSheet = objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(1)
Set objRange = objExcel.Range("B1")
objRange.Sort objRange,1,,,,,,1
' loop
MsgBox "Done"

2010-06-15T03:25:00.000-07:00

Send Activity in Inboxes

ConfigMgr / SCCM Roles

2010-06-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

SCCM Roles

2010-06-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

Collection : For software distribution status if system pending for reboot

2010-06-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

For software distribution status if system pending for reboot

select 
     SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,
     SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,
     SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,
     SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,
     SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,
     SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client 
 from 
     sms_r_system AS sms_r_system
     join SMS_StatMsg  as st on sms_r_system.Name = st.MachineName
     join SMS_AdvertisementStatusInformation sti on st.MessageID = sti.MessageID 
 where 
        sti.messagestate = 102

102 is the reboot pending code
you can get the complete list of codes using the following sql query

 select distinct messagestate,MessageStateName from dbo.v_AdvertisementStatusInformation

Collections based on software updates deployment status in Configuration Manager

2010-06-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

ConfigMgr sccm patching status based collections

LastEnforcementMessageID
LastEnforcementMessageName

1 Enforcement started

3 Waiting for another installation to complete

6 General failure

8 Installing update

9 Pending system restart

10 Successfully installed update

11 Failed to install update

12 Downloading update

13 Downloaded update

So in this example we would like to use the status of reboot pending, the WQL query for the collection should look like this:

select 
    SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,
    SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,
    SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,
    SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,
    SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,
    SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client 
from 
    sms_r_system AS sms_r_system    
    inner join SMS_UpdateComplianceStatus as c on c.machineid=sms_r_system.resourceid    
where    
    c.LastEnforcementMessageID = 9

SMS 2003 Patching : Pending for reboot collection

2010-06-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

A collection listing all servers/clients that were pending reboot (see query statement):

select SMS_R_System.ResourceID,SMS_R_System.ResourceType,SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_R_System.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_System.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_System.Client
from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_PatchStatus on SMS_G_System_PatchStatus.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_PatchStatus.LastStateName = "Reboot Pending"

2010-06-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

One other best site to search for rapid links

2010-06-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

One other best site to search for rapid links

http://www.frameworkmx.com/

Where MS going?

2010-06-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

TO GET THE USER STATUS : Guest account status

2010-06-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

Set Fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set InputFile = fso.OpenTextFile("MachineList.Txt")

Do While Not (InputFile.atEndOfStream)

strComputer = InputFile.ReadLine

strUserName = "Guest"

On Error Resume Next
Set objUser = GetObject("WinNT://" & strComputer & "/" & strUserName)

If objUser.AccountDisabled = True Then

Wscript.Echo (strUserName) & " Is Disabled On " & UCase(strComputer)

Else

MsgBox UCase(strUserName) & " Is Enabled On " & UCase(strComputer)

End If

loop