R2 CU3 Management point communications update

Hi All,

with the release of R2 CU3 we now have the ability to restrict which Management points a client can talk to. This can be particularly useful in case you have a Remote MP or only certain MP’s a client can access.

All we simply need to do is

• Install the Client Hotfix KB2994331 which comes with the CU3 update above. The Client version will be 5.00.7958.1401

• add a new REG_MULTI_SZ (multi-string) type key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\CCM on each client called AllowedMPs and add the FQDN of the Management Point we want to allow the client access to. (We can control this with Compliance Settings.)

After restarting the SMS Agent Host we can see that our MP is being forced in the Locationservices.log

and we can confirm that we are talking to the correct MP in ClientLocation.log

keep in mind the following Note from the CU3 update

Note After this value is defined, there is no fallback or other method for clients to communicate with other MPs. This new entry is only intended for permanently located workstation and server clients and is not portable to devices such as mobile PCs or tablets.