There are a very huge changes and enhancements from SCCM 2007 in Configuration Manager 2012, in this post series I will go through the main new changes and enhancements in System Center Configuration Manager 2012,
I will start in this post with addressing the main areas of changes as the following:
In this area there is a big change related to setup options like Site Recovery which is integrated in Configuration Manager 2012 Setup Wizard, also no more Setup Option to install secondary sites and secondary site can only be installed from the Configuration Manager 2012 console.
The new SCCM 2012 Console is totally different from SCCM 2007 console, and the new console become more easier than before and looks like Operations Manager Console, the new console provides allot of benefits and as an example of these new benefits is Role Based Administration which allow a certain Administrator to see only the objects that he is allowed to see as defined by role-based administration.
There are allot of changes from SCCM 2007 in SCCM 2012 related to Sites and Hierarchies, one of these changes in site mode, sites are no longer configured for mixed or native mode, instead you secure client communication endpoints by configuring individual site system roles to support client connections over HTTPS or HTTP.
There are some changes in Client Deployment and Operations, and as an example of these changes is that in Configuration Manager 2012 you can easily include or exclude the contents of another collection from a specified collection, also Software updates can be monitored now from Administrator Console to provide the following: Key software updates compliance and deployment views. Detailed state messages for all deployments and assets. Software updates error codes with additional information to help identify issues. Status for software updates synchronization. Alerts for key software updates issues.
There are some changes in Client Deployment and Operations, and as an example of these changes is that in Configuration Manager 2012 you can easily include or exclude the contents of another collection from a specified collection, also Software updates can be monitored now from Administrator Console to provide the following:
There is new features available in SCCM 2012 that provide improvements to Software updates deployment process, including Automatic Approval and Deployment for Software updates, so no more Administrative Action to approve updates from SCCM, This plus other new features in SCCM 2012 related to Software Deployment.
There is new features available in SCCM 2012 that provide improvements to Software updates deployment process, including Automatic Approval and Deployment for Software updates, so no more Administrative Action to approve updates from SCCM,
This plus other new features in SCCM 2012 related to Software Deployment.
There are some enhancement in SCCM reporting and Monitoring, and one of the new monitoring features is “Alerts” which provide near real-time awareness of current site operations and conditions in the Configuration Manager console. There is really a big change and enhancement in System Center Configuration Manager 2010 from 2007. In the coming posts I will go through the details of each area and the related changes, enhancements and new features in SCCM 2012, and how to use each new feature in SCCM 2012. Note: This information is prerelease information and maybe some changes and updates can be found in RTM version later. Related Posts: Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Dynamic Collection http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/23/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-dynamic-collection.aspx Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Power Management Part1 "Overview": http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/09/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-power-management-part1-overview.aspx Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Power Management Part2 "Update Clients for Power Management": http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/11/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-power-management-part-2-update-clients-for-power-management.aspx Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Delta Discovery http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/23/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-delta-discovery.aspx Step-by-Step how to Audit Configuration Manager 2007 Activities: http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/17/step-by-step-how-to-audit-configuration-manager-2007-activities.aspx
There are some enhancement in SCCM reporting and Monitoring, and one of the new monitoring features is “Alerts” which provide near real-time awareness of current site operations and conditions in the Configuration Manager console.
There is really a big change and enhancement in System Center Configuration Manager 2010 from 2007.
In the coming posts I will go through the details of each area and the related changes, enhancements and new features in SCCM 2012, and how to use each new feature in SCCM 2012.
Note: This information is prerelease information and maybe some changes and updates can be found in RTM version later.
Related Posts:
Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Delta Discovery http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/23/system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3-delta-discovery.aspx
Step-by-Step how to Audit Configuration Manager 2007 Activities: http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/01/17/step-by-step-how-to-audit-configuration-manager-2007-activities.aspx
It seems like there might be some big concerns related to the site\role changes for existing SCCM users which might well hamper their migration to the new release when it is available.
It is all well and good changing key features of an enterprise product but it does seem as though there isn't much thought put into those decisions with respect to existing customers.
As for the auto-approval of software updates it seems that Microsoft have a big dislike for all things change-control related and most good enterprises and alike enforce some kind of ITIL based or similar change approval process which makes an 'auto-approval' feature a complete waste of time (5 Windows Updates for Windows7\Vista have been reported to cause major enterprises issues with BSODs and failed installs in the past year alone!).