Managing WIFI certificates for iOS devices with ConfigMgr MDM

This will be the last Christmas blog post from Coretech in 2014. A huge thanks to all of you who followed our Christmas blogs in December. @Coretech we wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – We look forward to service you again in 2015 with knowledge, inspiration and best practices on Microsoft technologies One of the many need features offered by ConfigMgr & Intune is the ability to deploy certificates and WIFI profiles. Both are essential when implementing a MDM/BYOD strategy. Creating the required SCEP certificate for iOS As mentioned in a [...]

By |2014-12-23T14:09:31+01:00december 23rd, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|3 Comments

Unexpected Shutdown Managementpack

Earlier this year I was talking with a customer about Windows servers which unexpectedly shutdown and how to collect info and be able to see a pattern of the crashes. My very good friend Urban Österberg did a great job in doing a great management pack that save crash info and collect the info if the severs are doing an unexpected shutdown/crash. The Management Pack contain one Rule, which is using a script and registry to check and save information about the shutdown. The rule are enabled by default, please override it if you only want to check specific servers. [...]

Service Management Automation: Runbook/Workflow for completing a SCSM SMA Runbook Activity

Almost christmas!   Today brings another example for handling Service Manager in in Service Management Automation (SMA), a part for Windows Azure Pack. More info: http://aka.ms/introToSMA SMA is based on PowerShell workflow, so this could be used in other scenarios than within SMA. This example is a runbook I use to complete an activity in service manager, in the end of most of my Service Manager runbooks. I do this cause I want to speed up the processing and not wait for the “Check SMA Runbook Activity Complete” workflow that runs every 5 minutes but completing the Runbook activity manually [...]

By |2017-08-22T09:25:51+01:00december 19th, 2014|Automation|Kommentarer lukket til Service Management Automation: Runbook/Workflow for completing a SCSM SMA Runbook Activity

Create ConfigMgr Collections and Admin Console Folders with PowerShell

Starting from ConfigMgr 2012 R2 we can use New-Item PowerShell cmdlet to create ConfigMgr Admin Console folders. Here is one simple and quick PowerShell script that allows you to create folders and Collections and finally it moves the Collection to correct folder. #Step 1 Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE Set-Location "$($SiteCode.Name):\" #Step 2 New-Item -Name 'OSD' -Path 'PS1:\DeviceCollection' New-Item -Name 'Mobile Device Management' -Path 'PS1:\DeviceCollection' New-Item -Name 'Power Management' -Path 'PS1:\DeviceCollection' New-Item -Name 'ViaMonstra' -Path 'PS1:\DeviceCollection' New-Item -Name 'Software Updates' -Path 'PS1:\DeviceCollection' New-Item -Name 'Compliance' -Path 'PS1:\DeviceCollection' #Step 3 New-CMDeviceCollection -Name 'Test 1' -LimitingCollectionName 'All Systems' New-CMDeviceCollection -Name [...]

System Center 2012 ConfigMgr Dashboard– Because we want you to look smart

Do you know the feeling when it feels like you have lost your head and can’t find the information your need? You start browsing the 468 canned reports and quickly spend a couple of hours still without finding exactly what you need. @ Coretech we know the feeling, but instead of keep being frustrated we decided to do something about it. Our solution is a System Center 2012 dashboard where we can see all the information we need in an easy way. Our dashboard will provide you with information in 3 layers and 3 dimensions….it sounds smart and Yes, it [...]

By |2014-12-16T11:59:32+01:00december 16th, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|4 Comments

Save money by using Azure Automation to deallocate VMs.

I have four Azure VMs running during normal business hours. All machines are Type A2 (2 CORES / 3.5 GB RAM) and cost $0.154/hr per VM. I start them in the morning at 8PM and deallocate them at 5PM when I leave the office. At least once a month I forget to deallocate. They then run unused until next morning (15 Hours). Apparently, I love Microsoft so much that I enjoy giving them my money. But mark my words. I will no longer pay for services that I don’t use….. Calculation Wasted hours Azure Price No. of VMs No. of [...]

By |2017-08-22T10:14:32+01:00december 15th, 2014|Automation, Azure|1 Kommentar

Service Management Automation: Runbook/Workflow for getting selected object(s) in an SCSM Request Offering Query Result Question

Hello Everyone! Today It is my turn to write in the Coretech christmas calendar! Currently I am working a lot in Service Management Automation (SMA), a part for Windows Azure Pack. More info: http://aka.ms/introToSMA SMA is based on PowerShell workflow, so this could be used in other scenarios than within SMA. The first example i want to show is an easy way to get the selected object(s) in a Service Manager Request Offering [download id="226"] Setup / Import Download or create Get-SCSMCIFromUserInput.ps1 Open WAP Admin Portal Go to Automation Import Runbook Creating Assets This runbook uses 2 assets. “SCSM Server” [...]

By |2017-08-22T09:25:51+01:00december 12th, 2014|Automation, Windows Azure Pack (WAP)|1 Kommentar

Service Manager powershell snippets

Merry x-mas! In today’s December calendar tips & trick I'm going to a post some useful powershell snippets for Service Manager. As we all know, the December 11th is the special day where the Bethlehem-powershell star outshined all the others.        The scripts here is mostly for administrative purposes. They are of course provided “as-is” so feel free to expand/optimize/ include more error handling etc. Create Management Pack UPDATE: Script now works with different windows localization. Default language will now be set according to the console language user preference and not the windows locale Unfortunately we are not [...]

By |2014-12-11T09:36:00+01:00december 11th, 2014|Powershell, Service Manager (SCSM)|Kommentarer lukket til Service Manager powershell snippets

Get Direct Collection Memberships And Machine Variables Information

On several occasions I have had the need to pull information on SCCM devices, and recently I was asked to do a backup of all client direct memberships and some specific machine variables. So I thought I would share my latest version of a script that does that. The script takes an argument that will allow you to limit the process to only a set of named clients or just one if you prefer. Param($clients) The script starts by create a class to contain the information pulled from SCCM, making it easier to work with afterwards. Add-Type -Language CSharpVersion3 @" [...]

By |2014-12-10T00:02:00+01:00december 10th, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Powershell|Kommentarer lukket til Get Direct Collection Memberships And Machine Variables Information

How to populate object properties with data from a database using PowerShell

  You probably know how you can use a registry discovery to populate properties on windows computer instances, but what if you already have the data in SQL database/CMDB and want to avoid having to first write the data to the registry and then use a discovery to get the data into SCOM? Or what if the objects are not windows computers and hence the registry method is not an option? The solution is to use PowerShell to read  the data from the database and then update the objects in SCOM. This post will show you how to do this [...]

By |2014-12-09T04:09:00+01:00december 9th, 2014|Operations Manager (SCOM), Powershell|Kommentarer lukket til How to populate object properties with data from a database using PowerShell

Deploy Office dependent applications with custom requirements based on architecture of OS and Office with SCCM 2012 R2.

In this blog post I’ll go through how to set up a custom requirement detecting whether a computer is running x86 or x64 version of Windows 7 or Windows 8 (Works for 8.1 as well). Furthermore I’ll set a requirement that detects whether Outlook.exe is a 32-bit or 64-bit edition. The detection is flexible and independent of the Office Version. Shorter explanation about the environment where the new application is about to be deployed: Environment contains a great mix of: - Windows 7 x86 with Office 2010 32 bit edition - Windows 7 x64 with Office 2010 32 bit edition [...]

By |2014-12-08T06:20:49+01:00december 8th, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|Kommentarer lukket til Deploy Office dependent applications with custom requirements based on architecture of OS and Office with SCCM 2012 R2.

How many Incident Requests are resolved within the same day?

Do you use System Center Service Manager, and do you or your boss want to know how many Incident Requests the support team are resolving within the same day as it was created? If yes, then you are on the right blog post. Run the query below against the Data Warehouse database DWDataMart, and you will get a monthly trend report on resolved Incident Requests. Configure variables in the Query There are two variable in the Query you need to configure before you run it. SET @Year = 2014; define the year the request was resolved SET @Supportgroup = '1. [...]

By |2014-12-05T08:20:00+01:00december 5th, 2014|Service Manager (SCSM)|Kommentarer lukket til How many Incident Requests are resolved within the same day?

SMSTS.log Size and History is Reset During Refresh Scenarios

If you have changed the default values for LogMaxSize and LogMaxHistory in your SMSTS.ini in your boot media, some of you might have experienced that these values gets reset to their default values (1000000 and 1) during a refresh scenario. This causes us to loose build history and makes troubleshooting quite difficult as logs are incomplete. Well, our friends over at E1 have created a nifty little tool that you can use to overcome this issue. The tool will change the following variables that controls the log behavior, these are normally read-only and can not be changed the way we [...]

Measure Mail/SMTP Round Time from SCOM

Have you ever thought about how to measure the actual SMTP/Mail round time on your Mail installation? And have you tried to configure the Exchange MP for external mail bounce without any luck? Its differcult… The solution we did for a customer was first of all to ensure the customer have Exchange on-prem, next develop a .exe file which sends a mail to [email protected] – recieve the ndr and measure the round time. The file SMTPRoundTrip.exe needs the following parameters: Your Exchange server, Your Exchange server version, Mailbox, Timeout My sample: sServer = "ctex01.coretech.intra" sVersion = "2013" sMailbox = "[email protected]" [...]

Change device ownership in Configuration Manager with PowerShell

All newly enrolled devices are enrolled as Personal Devices by default in Configuration Manager and we cant change the default behavior. If the Device Ownership is Company, then we can inventory all the installed applications and we can also do mandatory installations. If the Device Ownership is Personal, then we can inventory only applications that are installed through Company Portal. If your company policy is that all the devices must be company-owned, then you can use this script to query a specific collection devices and it will set the Device Ownership to Company. Import-Module $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH.Replace("\bin\i386","\bin\configurationmanager.psd1") $SiteCode = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider CMSITE [...]

Why System Center Updates Publisher aka SCUP is still a great tool

Welcome to the Coretech x-mas blog Calendar where we will give you a little insiders tip every single day in December.   Even if I don’t deploy 3rd party updates with SCUP 2011 I still use the tool for two purposes. I always upgrade my ConfigMgr clients and consoles to the latest CU using the built-in cab files. This allow me to use my existing software updates collections and I don’t have to worry about specific platforms since the detection rules in SCUP will take care of that. You can find the cab files on the site server in %Program [...]

By |2014-12-01T08:56:43+01:00december 1st, 2014|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|1 Kommentar