Reasons for installing a secondary site server in ConfigMgr 2012 have been somewhat limited to very few scenarios. I recommend installing secondary sites when you have:

  • More than 500 clients in a remote location
  • Need a local Management Point
  • Need a local Software Update Point
  • Need a local State Migration Point

Run the Prerequisites Checker

You should always run the prerequisite checker before starting any secondary site installation. The benefit of doing that is the ability to catch errors upfront. Below I’m running the prerequisites checker to verify that my future secondary site server CM05 is ok.

  • Log on to the primary site server and open the command prompt as Administrator.
  • Navigate to the ConfigMgr 2012 installation media.
  • Run this command from the .\SMSSETUP\BIN\X64 folder:

prereqchk.exe /SEC cm05.SC2012.Local.com /INSTALLSQLEXPRESS /Ssbport 4022 /Sqlport 1433

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  • You can also verify the process by reading the C:\prereq.log file on the site server
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    Now you might be wondering what the prerequisites are. The answer to that is simple, run the prerequisites checker and fix all the issues. There will be an explanation for each missing prerequisite.

Install the Secondary Site Server

  • Navigate to the Administration workspace, Site Configuration, Sites.
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  • Click Create Secondary site on the ribbon.
  • On the Before You Begin page, click Next.
  • On the General page, configure these settings and click Next:
    Site Code: PS2
    Site Server Name: CM05.SC2012.Local
    Site Name: Secondary site, Copenhagen
    Installation folder: D:\Program files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\
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  • On the Installation Source Files page, select Copy installation source files over the network from the parent site server and click Next.
  • On the SQL Server Settings page, keep the default settings and click Next.

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  • On the Distribution Point page, enable Install and configure IIS if required by Configuration Manager and click Next.
  • On the Drive Settings page, configure these settings and click Next.
    Drive space reserve (MB): 1024
    Primary content library location: D
  • Primary package share location: D

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    Notice: You can still use the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.SMS file if you want to exclude specific drives from being used as Contentlibrary.

  • On the Content Validation page, enable Validate content on a schedule and click Next.
  • On the Boundary Groups page, Add the local boundary group, remove the checkmark in Allow fallback source location for content and click Next.

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  • On the Summary page, read the summary and click Next.
  • On the Completion page, click Close.

Verify the installation

  • You can monitor the installation by reading the Hman.log file on the primary site server.

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  • You can also monitor the bootstrap.log, configmgrsetup.log on the new secondary site server.

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Post SQL Server Express Configurations

ConfigMgr automatically installs SQL Express 2008 R2 SP1 on the secondary site server. This version should be upgraded to SQL Server Express 2008 R2 SP1 CU6.

  • On the secondary site server, stop these three services:
    SMS Agent host (the Management Point service)
    SMS Executive
    SMS Site Component Manager

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  • Open a command prompt with administrative permissions and run this command from a folder where you have SQL 2008 R2 SP1 CU6 SQLServer2008R2-KB2679367-x64.exe /Action=Patch /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms /AllInstances /Quiet
    Notice that this is a quiet installation, if you want to monitor the installation process use the Task Manager or remove the /quiet command line.

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  • After the upgrade is finished, restart the three ConfigMgr services and the SQL Server (CONFIGMGRSEC) service.

Verify the Secondary Site Installation

You can monitor and verify the status of the secondary site in the ConfigMgr console.

  • In the Administration workspace, select Site Configuration, Sites.
  • The secondary site server State is listed as Active.

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  • Open the Monitoring workspace and select Site Hierarchy. Here you see a Hierarchy diagram and the overall status of the sites. You can also select a geographical view – nice.

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  • In the Monitoring workspace, select Database replication.

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