Be sure to check out the November newsletter from TrueSec. Get some nice, helpful and very useful tricks on Deployment, Security, Configuration Manager and much more. The newsletter is written by Marcus Murray (MVP on Enterprise Security), Mikael Nyström (MVP on Setup/Deployment), Johan Arwidmark (MVP on Setup/Deployment) and Kent Agerlund (MVP on ConfigMgr.)
In a previous post I described how you create and configure an execution account for SQL Reporting Services and Configuration Manager R2. The execution account is a requirement for those who want to use the e-mail subscription feature. Due to changes in security the execution account does not have the needed permission to open the new Power Management reports. Instead you will get error messages like these: An error has occurred during report processing. (rsProcessingAborted) Query execution failed for dataset 'DataSet3'. (rsErrorExecutingCommand) The EXECUTE permission was denied on the object 'PowerManagementGetDayRange', database 'SMS_A01', schema 'dbo'. An error occurred during client [...]
Configuration Manager 2012 presentations and slides from TechED 2010 Europa and North America. You can watch these online or download them for offline viewing. Enjoy :) System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Overview http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT203 System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Site Hierarchy Technical Overview http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT303 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Device Management http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/MGT305 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Software Distribution http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/MGT309 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Migration from Configuration Manager 2007 http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/MGT307 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Technical Demonstration http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT202-LNC System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Application Management http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT302
Configuration Manager 2012 presentations and slides from TechED 2010 Europa and North America. You can watch these online or download them for offline viewing. Enjoy :) System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Overview http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT203 System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Site Hierarchy Technical Overview http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT303 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Device Management http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/MGT305 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Software Distribution http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/MGT309 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Migration from Configuration Manager 2007 http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/MGT307 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Technical Demonstration http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT202-LNC System Center Configuration Manager 2012 - Application Management http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/MGT302
The new name for Configuration Manager has been announced at TechEd Berlin, more info http://scug.dk/blogs/configurationmanager/archive/2010/11/09/configmgr-v-next-is-changing-name-to-configmgr-2012.aspx
SCCM Right Click Tools http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/rhouchins/archive/2008/04/09/sccm-right-click-tools.aspx System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Toolkit v2 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5a47b972-95d2-46b1-ab14-5d0cbce54eb8 SMS Client Center http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsclictr/ Creating Configuration Manager Reports Part 1: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/confmgr07/config-mgr-inventory-and-reporting/creating-configuration-manager-2007-reports/ Part 2: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/confmgr07/config-mgr-inventory-and-reporting/creating-configuration-manager-2007-reports-part-ii-creating-the-first-reports/ Creating Custom Reports by Using Configuration Manager 2007 SQL Views http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=87BBE64E-5439-4FC8-BECC-DEB372A40F4A&displaylang=en Read the blog at Coretech.dk for information about System Center, deployment and scripting https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/ Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard Download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=27fe0d80-38c6-464a-953a-1c2edcf35c2d Read about it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff369719.aspx See how to install it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/system-center-configuration-manager-dashboard-part-1-installation.aspx Configuration Manager 2007 driver management http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2010/04/29/configmgr-2007-driver-management-the-novel-part-1.aspx http://www.deployvista.com/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/82/language/en-US/Default.aspx List of Log Files in Configuration Manager 2007 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892800.aspx Desired Configuration Management Packs http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/systemcenter/managementpackcatalog System Center Configuration [...]
Configuration Manager will by default utilize the standard SQL ports when accessing the database. If you have configured the SQL server to use a non-standard port you will need to configure a SQL failure to do so will result in a non-working Management Point and WDS. The error: In the MPcontrol.log file you will see that the Management Point is unable to connect to the database. Attempting to connect to the configured SQL database. $$<SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER><Fri Oct 08 07:53:58.211 2010 Coordinated Universal Time><thread=2772 (0xAD4)> *** [08001][11][Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][DBNETLIB]General network error. Check your network documentation. $$<SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER><Fri Oct 08 07:59:00.227 2010 Coordinated [...]
According to this post from http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2010/10/14/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-unleashed.aspx from the System center team R3 will be available to download today 02:00 PM :-)
One of the limitations of SCCM is the use of Imagex. When you want to capture an image of a computer, this computer needs to be syspreped before capture, or the capture process will fail. To do a capture of a reference image before sysprep, you normally would have to create a separate WinPE and run ImageX from that. This is also the case if you want to backup a system. So once again MDT comes to the rescue… By using the ZTIBackup.wsf script, you not only get to run ImageX from a Task Sequence, you also utilize the [...]
SCCM Right Click Tools http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/rhouchins/archive/2008/04/09/sccm-right-click-tools.aspx System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Toolkit v2 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5a47b972-95d2-46b1-ab14-5d0cbce54eb8 SMS Client Center http://sourceforge.net/projects/smsclictr/ Creating Configuration Manager Reports Part 1: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/confmgr07/config-mgr-inventory-and-reporting/creating-configuration-manager-2007-reports/ Part 2: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/confmgr07/config-mgr-inventory-and-reporting/creating-configuration-manager-2007-reports-part-ii-creating-the-first-reports/ Creating Custom Reports by Using Configuration Manager 2007 SQL Views http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=87BBE64E-5439-4FC8-BECC-DEB372A40F4A&displaylang=en Read the blog at Coretech.dk for information about System Center, deployment and scripting https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/ Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard Download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=27fe0d80-38c6-464a-953a-1c2edcf35c2d Read about it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff369719.aspx See how to install it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/system-center-configuration-manager-dashboard-part-1-installation.aspx Configuration Manager 2007 driver management http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2010/04/29/configmgr-2007-driver-management-the-novel-part-1.aspx http://www.deployvista.com/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/82/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Some mails are just better than others :-) This one just arrived in my inbox. Dear Kent: Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in Tech·Ed Europe 2010 as a Microsoft Product Expert in the Technical Learning Center (TLC). I’ll be helping out as Microsoft Expert in the System Center area. If you are in Berlin please drop in for a little chat – look forward to see you and Berlin.
Because The join domain account is often visible in your deployment answer file (unattend.xml of sysprep.inf) during the WinPE phase, it is important that this specific account does not have any more permission, than the bare minimum.. I often experience that a domain admin account is used for this job, which is a huge security breach. When i ask why this is, the answer is normally “ we can not find the information on how to create an account with only join domain rights”. So her is a step by step guide on how to create such an account! [...]
One question I often get from System Center folks is about the SQL Reporting Services and report timeout. Unfortunately Microsoft have an default value on many report dataset which is to low for an production environment. The easy solution would be to edit the RSReportServer.Config XML file, I mean - in this file we have a Tag called SQLCommandTimeoutSeconds and would it be great if we could use this one. But in fact your Report server dosn't use the SQL timeout value specified in this file... Symptoms: If you see the error message: "An error occurred during client rendering" Like [...]
It looks like the guys over at SCUG have arranged yet another exiting event - http://scug.dk/content/SystemCenterUserGroupMeeting-November2010.aspx Pretty interesting names on the speaker list, Wally Mead & Johan Arwidmark :-)
I had a problem with my PSP (PXE Service Point) on a Windows 2008 R2 box. Every time I restarted the server the service wouldn’t start (Which is not good). The error only happens when I add the PXE Service Point role in the Configuration Manager console, without the role my WDS service is starting like a charm. The errors in the event viewer First error An error occurred while trying to initialize provider SMSPXE loaded from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\CCM\x64\smspxe.dll. If the provider is marked as critical the Windows Deployment Services server will be shutdown. Error Information: 0x4005 Source: WDSPXE Second Error [...]
In this post I will explain how you can integrate SCUPdates from Shavlik from A to Z. I’ll focus the post on these topics. Installation of the product Richness of the update catalog Configuration Manager integration Approving Updates Deploying Updates Reporting How to get started Installation of the product SCUPdates requires that you have installed and configured Microsoft System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP). In my test lab I already use SCUP to monitor and deploy updates from different hardware vendors like HP and Dell. For those of you who hasn’t yet played with SCUP I strongly advise you to have [...]
New Version out! 1.0.4! Get it here: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/?p=2852 Since we found a minor bug in the 1.0.3 version, we have decided to release version 1.0.3.1. This has fixed the bug that cause distribution points that did have “-“ in the name, not to show up in the list of DPs. We are still working on a newer version, but can not give any info about when it will be released, since we don’t know. Changelog / What’s New 1.0.3 -> 1.0.3.1 Fixed bug that caused DP’s that had “-“ in their name, not to show up in the list. 1.0 RC1 [...]
In the following weeks I will blog about the some of the different 3rd. party software update solution we can integrate with Configuration Manager. I will focus my articles on: Installation of the product Richness of the update catalog Configuration Manager integration Approving Updates Deploying Updates Reporting How to get started First I will test drive Secunia, a world-leading provider of Vulnerability Intelligence. Secunia has been around since 2002 and is most known for its award winning product CSI - Corporate Software Inspector. The installation Secunia requires a few components that are all easy to install and configure: The CSI [...]
Working on a project today, i needed to serialize one of my classes that included at System.Net.IPAddress property. Problem problem is that IPAddress does not support XML Serialization since it does not implement a parameterless constructor! I tried to search the net, but couldnt find a complete guide, therefore i am posting this, hoping to help others in the same situation! My solution is to serialize the IPAddresses as a string, and later parse them top ip adresses again. public class IPRange : IComparable, IXmlSerializable { public IPAddress StartIP { get; set; } public IPAddress EndIP { get; set; [...]
Just downloaded a few HP Bios updates with ConfigMgr 2007 and SCUP 4.5 today. Being an old football player I have often heard from my coach that I should “give 100%”. In my world 100% is pretty much but apparently not when you are downloading HP updates. 220 percent - not bad :-)
One of the features available when running a Task Sequence in Config Mgr R2, is to run a command line as a different user, which can comes in handy in a number of scenarios. There is however a small but important thing to be aware of. When using this step to run a script, you will notice that you cannot use any of the “task sequence variables”, as they are not passed through to script. So if you need to use any of the TS variables in your scripts you will have to pass them to the script as arguments [...]
Recently I got a question from a student who wanted to have two collections for each software deployment. 1 collection containing computer that ran the advertisement successfully; and 1 collection for those who failed. There can be several ways to solve this puzzle. In my example I look at the status messages coming from the client. In order to use this solution you first need to find the advertisement ID for the deployment. Navigate to the advertisement and make a note of the advertisement ID. In my example the advertisement ID is A0120005 Next create two query based collections and [...]
[download id="22" format="1"] This slides are from my session at Global Knowledge, 12. maj 2010.
A new version of ConfigMgr. 2007 toolkit is released, more info http://scug.dk/blogs/configurationmanager/archive/2010/04/30/new-version-of-the-configmgr-2007-toolkit.aspx