How to run Secunia CSI scanning without installing the CSI agent

Lately I have done a lot of Secunia CSI installations. One of the questions that keeps coming up is “what client scanning options do we have, if we do not install the CSI agent locally?”. You basically have three options as described below. Software Inventory You can use ConfigMgr Inventory and gather information about *.EXE, *.OCX and *.DLL files. This process will get the job done although you are gathering much more information than CSI requires. This method requires that the Site Server (where you installed CSI) have access to the Cloud based database hosted by Secunia. Network scanning Perform [...]

Coretech WMI & PowerShell Explorer Part II

As mentioned in my previous post (using the WMI feature of the tool) we have recently released a new tool – the Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer. For information about downloading and installing the tool checkout this blog post from Kaido Järvemets.  The second main feature of the Coretech WMI and PowerShell Explorer is the PowerShell module. The intention with this module is to help you get started with Microsoft PowerShell and especially System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 and PowerShell. The feature can be used to import custom PowerShell modules as well as built-in PowerShell modules. Once imported you [...]

Notes and slides from the TechEDNA 2013 precon – Simplify and Maximize System Management with Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 – Configuration Manager: Notes from the Field

First, a huge thank to all the attendees in the Sunday precon session. Johan and I asked for questions in the morning, and I must say that I do not remember the last time we got so many good questions. Download the slide deck Download information about SQL recommendations: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/kea/system-center-2012-configuration-manager-sql-recommendations/ SQL re-indexing scripts: http://ola.hallengren.com/sql-server-index-and-statistics-maintenance.html Working with Management Point and SQL replicas:Step-bystep guide to create a Management Point replica: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/kea/working-with-database-replicas-on-your-management-point/ Download the Collection update scripts Migrate reports from ConfigMgr 2007 to ConfigMgr 2012: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/kea/migrate-reports-from-sccm-2007-to-sccm-2012-sp1/ Update the package source location: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/jgs/coretech-package-source-changer/ Shutdown tool: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/kea/new-version-of-the-coretech-shutdown-tool/ Managing 3rd. party software updates: Complete SCUP 2012 [...]

By |2013-06-03T20:55:59+01:00juni 3rd, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Events|2 Comments

Where are my Software Update state messages

My experienced ConfigMgr 2007 administratos are wondering how it can be that Software Update compliance reports are not showing states like “Waiting for Maintenance Windows” but only Enforcement State unknown or Compliant. The answer to that question can be found in the State Message detail settings for the software update deployment. By default only Error and success messages are reported. Example 1 – using the default software update state details settings:   Example 2 – Software Update deployment configured to send all state messages :   Controlling the state message detail level The correct way to configure the state message [...]

PowerShell to the rescue – Clean up direct collection memberships

We where talking to a customer about how to avoid waiting for Active Directory group synchronization to occur and place a device in the correct collections faster than “until the next synchronization”. The main problem with this setup was caused by the fact that they used a group-in-group membership to identify collection memberships and apparently SCCM 2012 don’t include indirect changes to group membership as delta changes (I have not tested this in details yet). So we came up with the idea to just create a direct membership to place the device in the collections instantly to make sure that [...]

By |2013-03-12T12:31:15+01:00marts 12th, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Powershell|3 Comments

Automatic Client Upgrade greyed out

In ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 you might run into the Automatic Client Upgrade feature being greyed even if you are a full administrator. In this example I have a group called ConfigMgr Administrators that has been assigned Full Administrator rights but are still not able to enable the Automatic Client Upgrade settings. To fix the issue log in with the account that installed the primary site server. In the Administration workspace, select Security, Administrative Users and open the properties for the ConfigMgr Administrators group. Click Add, Security Scope and select All Security Scopes. Click OK and all users in the ConfigMgr [...]

By |2013-02-19T18:00:33+01:00februar 19th, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Security|11 Comments

Slides and notes from my Advanced Infrastructure session @NIC 2013

A huge thanks to all NIC 2013 attendes, once again you proved that Norway is a perfect place to host the Nordic Infrastructure Conference. Two great days where I also had the pleasure of attending sessions hosted by some A-Class speakers. As promised here is my slide deck from my Friday afternoon session on dvanced infrastucture. Key take-away from the session is “ways to max the performance in your ConfigMgr infrastructure and plan for redundancy”. Step-by-step guide on Creating Management Point database replicas Great blog post from Brian Mason on Management Points and database replicas Must see SCCM Guru video [...]

By |2013-02-04T14:23:18+01:00februar 4th, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|3 Comments

Slides and notes from my 3rd. party Patch Management session @NIC 2013

A huge thanks to all NIC 2013 attendees, once again you proved that Norway is a perfect place to host the Nordic Infrastructure Conference. Two great days with some A-Class speakers. As promised here is my slide deck from my 3rd. party software update session. During my session, I discussed how to prepare your environment for 3rd. party patch management and demonstrated two different solutions. Download Slide deck System Center Updates Publisher Download the complete SCUP 2021 guide here Checkout the SCUP videos  Checkout the PatchMyPc catalog here: Check out the “scupdates” catalog here: Secunia Download Secunia PSI, a freeware [...]

Correct – SCCM 2012 does not support SQL Mirroring and can breake a SCCM SP1 upgrade

As stated here SQL mirroring is not supported for the ConfigMgr database. However a technet article do not stop all database administrors’s from enabling the setting anyway believing that it will not cause any issues – but boy it does. SQL mirroring will break the SCCM SP1 upgrade process and leave the primary site server in a non-functional mode where a site restore is the only way back. The issue can be found in the ConfigMgrSetup.log file. USE [cm_ps1]; ALTER DATABASE [cm_ps1] SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;  $$<Configuration Manager Setup><01-11-2013 10:38:29.887+00><thread=4136 (0x1028)> *** [42000][1468][Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0][SQL Server]The operation [...]

By |2013-01-13T10:29:19+01:00januar 13th, 2013|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info|5 Comments

Role Based Administration change in ConfigMgr SP1

RBA or Role Based Administration is one of the many new features in ConfigMgr 2012. It’s a very powerful feature and has already helped lots of customers minimizing the need for having multiple primary sites. One annoying fact in RTM is that all collections (users and devices) shows up when running a report. This has changed in Service Pack 1 which makes the RBA feature even more powerful. In this example I have a user (DskAdmin) who is member of the Desktop Admins group in Active Directory. Desktop admins must all be granted Application Administrator permissions and allowed to work [...]

By |2012-12-10T16:16:53+01:00december 10th, 2012|Configuration Manager (SCCM), General info, Security, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)|Kommentarer lukket til Role Based Administration change in ConfigMgr SP1

Mastering SCCM 2012 SP1 training

System Center 2012 SP1 just released, and it’s not a minor release. I have been working with SMS since 1996 and I haven’t seen anything like this in the past. If you need training on Configuration Manager 2012 I highly recommend that you attend the correct class and it must be a class where the material is based on the latest Service Pack. There a huge changes in Service Pack 1 and we will make sure that you learn about all of them. Our Mastering Configuration Manager 2012 class has been running with great success since May 2011 and is [...]

By |2012-10-04T12:50:04+01:00oktober 4th, 2012|Configuration Manager (SCCM), Training|2 Comments