System Center Configuration Manager Solutions

Path is too Long

Michael Wiles — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:23:42 GMT

I ran into an issue with a customer where they were getting an error that the package could not be downloaded. The that they kept showing up in the client logs was 0x80070057. In going over the logs and researching the issue we found that the issue was in that the file path was too long. The deployment was a user based install which adds a lot of characters to the path. The problem is with writing the files to the cache on the client side. The error number 0x80070057 translates to "The parameter is incorrect." Here is a little background on how we get the full path length for the package:

The CM07 client cache directory is specified as:

<LOGICAL_DRIVE>:\<CCM_CACHE_FOLDER>\<PackageID>.<Package_Source_Version>.<System|[User_SID]>\<FolderName|FileName>

This is built up from:
<LOGICAL_DRIVE> - the logical drive of the volume where the Cache directory is stored-> <LOGICAL_DRIVE> will be 1 character from A till Z-> 3 characters in total.

<<CCM_CACHE_FOLDER> - the folder where the CM07 Client stores Package Data that was downloaded from DP -> <CCM_CACHE_FOLDER> by default is: Windows\System32\CCM\Cache-> the actual folder may be different from the default, is user configurable-> 28 characters in total: Windows\system32\CCM\cache

<PackageID> - the SMS PackageID-> the PackageID has a fixed size of 8 characters in format + the dot (“.”)-> 9 characters in total: CM70017A.

<Package_Source_Version> - the Source Version Number of the package-> a number between (1 .. xxxx), may be 1 to 4 characters in size + the dot (“.”)-> 5 characters in total: 9999.

<System|(UserSID)> - is either 'System' if package is executed in Local System context OR the Security Identifier (decimal formatted) of the user that downloaded the package source -> System is a fixed size of 6 characters + “\” -> <UserSID> is in decimal format and may be 51 bytes or less in size + “\” -> 7 characters in total when targeting to the system: SYSTEM-> 52 characters maximum when targeting to a user: S-1-5-21-1046319769-833967741-3563887046-8288-> the 52 character maximum is the maximum that a SID can be.

The path length of the CM07 client cache folder is 3 + 28 + 9 + 5 + 53 = 98 characters.

<FolderName|FileName> - a folder or file that makes part of the Package folder structure or files
The maximum allowed path length for the package is the maximum allowed path length for the OS minus the path length of the location of the cache folder.

The maximum allowed path length for the OS is 255 characters.

The maximum allowed path length for the package is 255 - 98 = 157 characters.

Everything above 157 characters in path length on the DP can be a problem for downloading a package to the CM07 client cache. Everything above 167 characters in path length will almost certainly fail with a too long path.

Branch DP’s and Hash Values

Michael Wiles — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:43:53 GMT

How can I find the package hash value in WMI on a BDP:

1. Open Webemtest and connect to root\ccm

2. Select Enum Classes, click the recursive radio button press OK

3. Scroll down to ccm_peerdpagent and double click

4. select ccm_peerdp_job and click instances.

5. click a package packageID listed.

6. Scroll Down to the hash value.

Compare this value in WMI to the Hash value that you find on the Distribution Point for the same package. To get the hash value for the distribution point content use a tool called hashdir.exe. (This is an internal tool so you would need to contact your PFE DSE for it). Compare the two hashes above with the 40 character Sha1 hash that is listed in the “NewHash” column of the SMSPackages Table of the database. Obviously these should all be the same.

What is the BDPTmpWrkFldr?

There are three folders that come into play here, they are listed below in this order:

Needs Folder

Assemble Folder

Content Folder

The flow from one folder to the next is like this:

Flow----->Needs Folder----->Assemble Folder---->Content Folder

1. BDPTmpWrkFldr\PDP5DB1.tmp - AKA "Needs" folder used by the Content Transfer Manager where deltas and needs files are downloaded and saved to, before being compiled and sent to the Assemble folder, this folder is deleted after it has been utilized.

2. BDPTmpWrkFldr\PDP5D91.tmp - AKA "Assemble" folder, Delta and needs files are brought in to the Assemble folder once downloaded to the Needs folder and then merged (or assembled). Once we have hash successes here we then copy to SMSPKG$.

3. SMSPKG$ - AKA “Content” folder, this is where the content is actually stored for client retrieval after the deltas have been merged and hash has been verified from content in the Assemble folder.

In this Short example from CTM log we will find the Needs folder is referenced first then the Assemble folder. The merge delta operation occurs in the next log entry in the Assemble folder. Both folders are created with a naming convention of PDP****.tmp

CCMRDC] GenerateTargetFile() called with OldFile as "F:\SMSPKGF$\UP10004A\Patches\WINDOWS_VISTA\Windows6.0-KB960225-x86.msu",

NeedsFile as "F:\BDPTmpWrkFldr\PDP5DB1.tmp\work\Patches\WINDOWS_VISTA\Windows6.0-KB960225-x86.msu .needs",

0 Deltafiles and AssembledFile as "F:\BDPTmpWrkFldr\PDP5D91.tmp\Patches\WINDOWS_VISTA\Windows6.0-KB960225-x86.msu"

CMergeDeltaOperation::_ProcessFile - Created merged file F:\BDPTmpWrkFldr\PDP5D91.tmp\Patches\WINDOWS_VISTA\Windows6.0-KB960225-x86.msu. ContentTransferManager 7/28/2009 5:18:16 PM 7380 (0x1CD4)

What's the difference between "Hash failed for package" and a "PDPHashMismatchEvent"?

"Hash failed for package" is shown when the current version of the ALREADY LOCALLY stored package does not match the stored package hash. If we get this message it indicates for the BDP to NOT download a delta but instead download the full current needed version of the package. Redownloading content is not so much as a "retry" but instead an indicator that we need the full content and not just the deltas.

Example of Hash Failed for Package:

Checking provisioning status for package = UP10004A, version = 3. PeerDPAgent 2/7/2009 1:20:46 PM 7660 (0x1DEC

Hash failed for package UP10004A. Redownloading content. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:43:33 PM 6312 (0x18A8)

Package UP10004A in state 'UpdatingPackage'. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:43:33 PM 6312 (0x18A8)

Raising event:

[SMS_CodePage(437), SMS_LocaleID(1033)]

instance of PDPDownloadStartedEvent

{

ClientID = "GUID:BF41F222-3D9A-4AD6-ABDF-A8E301068C76";

DateTime = "20090211234333.305000+000";

MachineName = "WAK-FS-01";

PackageID = "UP10004A";

ProcessID = 2212;

SiteCode = "UP1";

SourceVersion = 4;

ThreadID = 6836;

};

PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:43:33 PM 6836 (0x1AB4)

Package UP10004A in state 'Downloading'. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:43:33 PM 6836 (0x1AB4)

Download complete for CTM job {C2D4DFC8-670F-44A6-8332-88A0F1D3710B}, downloaded KB 8291 PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:44:36 PM 7396 (0x1CE4)

Package UP10004A in state 'DownloadComplete'. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:44:41 PM 7396 (0x1CE4)

Raising event:

[SMS_CodePage(437), SMS_LocaleID(1033)]

instance of PDPDownloadSuccessEvent

{

ClientID = "GUID:BF41F222-3D9A-4AD6-ABDF-A8E301068C76";

DateTime = "20090211234450.011000+000";

MachineName = "WAK-FS-01";

PackageID = "UP10004A";

ProcessID = 2212;

SiteCode = "UP1";

SourceVersion = 4;

ThreadID = 6028;

};

PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:44:50 PM 6028 (0x178C)

Package UP10004A in state 'HashContentSuccess'. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:44:50 PM 6028 (0x178C)

Package UP10004A in state 'HostingComplete'. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:44:58 PM 7396 (0x1CE4)

Package UP10004A in state 'Succeeded'. PeerDPAgent 2/11/2009 5:44:58 PM 1800 (0x0708)

Note the version number above is "3" Before we update the package above from 3 to 4 we rehash the content. The Hash failed for content so instead of grabbing a Delta update we download the full 4 content.

A "PDPHashMismatchEvent" is shown when the content that we downloaded from the DP fails the hash match immediately after the content was downloaded. In the example below we did in fact attempt to redownload the package however the hash once again failed.

Here is an example of "PDPHashMismatchEvent":

Package UP100035 in state 'Downloading'. PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 7:30:28 PM 6028 (0x178C)

Download complete for CTM job {772B7EAF-D420-4D6B-B421-45B7226A2D0B}, downloaded KB 4961 PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 7:30:50 PM 1908 (0x0774)

Package UP100035 in state 'DownloadComplete'. PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 7:30:50 PM 1908 (0x0774)

Raising event:

[SMS_CodePage(437), SMS_LocaleID(1033)]

instance of PDPHashMismatchEvent

{

ClientID = "GUID:BF41F222-3D9A-4AD6-ABDF-A8E301068C76";

DateTime = "20090428003051.129000+000";

MachineName = "WAK-FS-01";

PackageID = "UP100035";

ProcessID = 672;

SiteCode = "UP1";

SourceVersion = 5;

ThreadID = 5792;

};

PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 7:30:51 PM 5792 (0x16A0)

Package UP100035 in state 'HostingIncomplete'. PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 7:30:51 PM 5792 (0x16A0)

Raising event:

[SMS_CodePage(437), SMS_LocaleID(1033)]

instance of PDPPkgDeleteEvent

{

ClientID = "GUID:BF41F222-3D9A-4AD6-ABDF-A8E301068C76";

DateTime = "20090428013514.996000+000";

MachineName = "WAK-FS-01";

PackageID = "UP100035";

ProcessID = 672;

Share = "";

SiteCode = "UP1";

SourceVersion = 5;

ThreadID = 4724;

};

PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 8:35:14 PM 4724 (0x1274)

We did in fact retry again and failed the hash again at 10:40:51

Package UP100035 in state 'DownloadComplete'. PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 10:40:51 PM 5244 (0x147C)

Raising event:

[SMS_CodePage(437), SMS_LocaleID(1033)]

instance of PDPHashMismatchEvent

{

ClientID = "GUID:BF41F222-3D9A-4AD6-ABDF-A8E301068C76";

DateTime = "20090428034051.189000+000";

MachineName = "WAK-FS-01";

PackageID = "UP100035";

ProcessID = 672;

SiteCode = "UP1";

SourceVersion = 5;

ThreadID = 4168;

};

PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 10:40:51 PM 4168 (0x1048)

Package UP100035 in state 'HostingIncomplete'. PeerDPAgent 4/27/2009 10:40:51 PM 4168 (0x1048)

Why we still do MD5 hash in Config Manager as the SHA1 hash has not been used for content security since SMS 2003 RTM?

We use this value as a quick integrity check as it's very fast. Something to note is that the older MD5 Hashes are always 32 characters in length and corresponds to the "Hash" column in the SQL Database. Newer (as of SMS 2003 SP1 and Config Mgr) and more secure SHA1 hashes are always 40 characters in length and correspond to the "New Hash" column in the SQL DB.

Clients Never See the Pop Up Balloon in the Systray

Michael Wiles — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:00:18 GMT

I ran into a really strange issue a while back with a customer and then last month I hit the same issue with a different customer.

Have you run into an issue where you send out a normal software distribution but the clients never see the pop up balloon in the systray informing them that they have a program that will run? You know that this should work because you have the “Display Notification” checkbox check in the admin console but no matter what you try the client still will not display the notification in the systray.

The New Program Notification for clients is controlled by two Policy entries and if either entry is set to FALSE then the new program pop up notification will not show in the systray. These two Policies are found in the following WMI locations and can be viewed with Wbemtest:

1. Root\CCM\Machine\Policy, once there then look at the CCM_SoftwareDistributionClientConfig item. Look at the instances and then choose “Show Mof”. You will see a box similar to this:

2. Root\CCM\Machine\Policy, once there then look at the CCM_ClientAgentConfig item. Look at the instances and then choose “Show Mof”. You will a box similar to this:

Notice how one box says True and one says False. This will cause the Notification to fail. You can manually change this setting in WMI and it will work for a while but policy will change it back to a False setting causing notifications to once again fail.

Once a Client is in this state it is fairly easy to get them out of it. Follow the steps below to fix this issue:

1. Verify that the Display Program Notification checkbox is checked in the admin UI. If it is not checked, check it and wait for the policy to update on the client.

2. Go into the “Computer Client Agent properties” for this clients parent, choose the Customization tab and make a change to the “Organization Name” field. Click OK to keep the change.

3. Wait a couple of minutes for the policy provider on the server to write the policy into the database

4. Force the client to refresh policy or wait for the normal policy refresh

That should flip the above bits to True and allow Notifications to happen on the client. This has been filed as a bug.

One additional note is that this is a Per Site setting so you will need to change this at each site where clients are having the issue. Making the change at the central site will not fix the problem. You can use the console connected to the central site to make the change at each site but you will need to allow time for the changes to flow from the central site to the child sites. I would recommend that you make the change at each site and then let the changes flow up to the central site.

Troubleshooting “Failed to Insert Object” error message

Michael Wiles — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:33:01 GMT

I have run into a few CI update problems over the last few months. It seems that these are becoming more frequent. I found the information below in my research. I did some additional testing and rewrote part of it. Let me first say that before doing anything we need to make sure that we have a good backup in-case something should go wrong. I also would try out the queries first in a lab environment to be sure that everything works as needed.

The way Software Updates in ConfigMgr work is that the Central site syncs with WSUS and pulls in the update data into various CI_ tables. That in turn triggers those updated data objects to be sent down the hierarchy to child sites. So the child sites do not sync directly with their WSUS servers but instead inherit the software update data from the Central (their local WSUS servers are still used by their clients for scanning though). This is also why only the Central has the option to 'Run synchronization' on the Updates Repository context menu. These Software Updates can also be linked to other data items, for example updates they rely on, or updates they supersede, or are superseded by etc. In other words there can be multiple interdependencies involved.

New updates arrive at the child through the regular site replication data processes and Replmgr moves them to objmgr.box\incoming for processing. In simplified terms the .cid files have information on an update, for example a Windows Defender signature update, or a SQL fix, or Win2003 update etc. The SDM files are xml data files that have the information linking updates with other data. For example, updates superseding another, or that rely on another, or bundles of updates. You can see the data by opening these files in notepad.

You may see a great many .sdm, or .cid etc. files processing through in the objreplmgr.log. For example, when a new .cid arrives its object data is inserted into the db and the various relationships are checked. If a related bit of data is missing the CI insertion is rolled back and file goes into retry. The idea is that as more data arrives it fills the holes until the CIs can be inserted on retry. It's not unusual to see stacks of retrying files, and it can take a *long time* before they all process through (think in terms of several hours, or days for the initial data transfer).

Here's a .cid at a child site failing and going to retry:

Referenced configuration items are not available yet:

http://schemas.microsoft.com/systemsmanagementserver/Site_9D7E5B47-34D4-4F30-B8B6-DCEE435896D6/SUM_424b67ab-ad7c-4501-ad67-c6e23bf2861e/2(2)(6);

Failed to insert Object bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae from replication file c:\CM07\inboxes\objmgr.box\INCOMING\Retry\ORG_24277.CID.

So this tells us that object bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae from file ORG_24277.CID (ORG being my Central site) couldn't get into the db because it relies on the object 424b67ab-ad7c-4501-ad67-c6e23bf2861e(/2 means version 2)

which is not yet in the db.

If we run the SQL query below at the Central site we can see this is a bundle of updates:

select * from ci_configurationitems where CI_Uniqueid = 'bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae'

Looking at the xml data of the SDMPackageDigest column will tell you more about the updates. I can see that bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae is really an update to 424b67ab-ad7c-4501-ad67-c6e23bf2861e and it also supersedes that object , so I would think that the 424b67ab-ad7c-4501-ad67-c6e23bf2861e object needs it to be there in order to flag it as superseded.

The files cannot keep retrying forever, so if after 100 retries the CI still cannot be added then it goes into 'bad', with a log entry like this:

Replication file c:\CM07\inboxes\objmgr.box\INCOMING\Retry\ORG_21864.CID has been retried 100 times and has reached the maximum retry limit, give it up

Once the other data actually shows up and gets processed into the database and we then retry the failed update above it does process correctly. Here is the log file:

Processing replication file c:\CM07\inboxes\objmgr.box\INCOMING\Retry\ORG_24277.CID.

Successfully inserted Object bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae from replication file c:CM07\inboxes\objmgr.box\INCOMING\Retry\ORG_24277.CID. Successfully updated CIXML body for CI 424b67ab-ad7c-4501-ad67-c6e23bf2861e

Successfully processed Object bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae

Let’s take a closer look at this object with the SQL query below.

select CI.CI_UniqueID, UCI.CI_ID, UCI.BulletinID, UCI.ArticleID, UCI.RevisionNumber,CI.ModelName, CI.IsBundle, CI.IsHidden, CI.IsTombstoned, CI.IsEnabled, CI.IsExpired, CI.sdmpackage_id, CI.DateLastModified as CIDateLastModified,

CISDM.SDMPackage_ID, CISDM.SDMPackageName, CISDM.DateLastModified as SDMDateLastModified

from CI_UpdateCIs as UCI

Join ci_configurationitems as CI on UCI.CI_ID = CI.CI_ID

Join ci_sdmpackages as CISDM on CI.sdmpackage_id = CISDM.sdmpackage_id

where ci.CI_Uniqueid = 'bb62de3b-38c5-409d-8c26-dacb3d91e9ae'

It’s MS09-002, KB number 961260. You won’t always get a KB article that get returned. It could be part of a bundle, a hidden update, an expired update, or something else. The point is that with the above queries you should be able to link this together and get an idea of what the object is.

Troubleshooting

So a child site is missing updates in the UI. We need to determine whether the problem is that the child sites never received the updates, or that it did receive them but cannot process them. Not always an easy question to answer, but here are some points to consider when looking at the child site:

1. Looking at objreplmgr.log at the child site. Are different updates processing through OK? Software Updates replicates vast amounts of data, especially when a child site is added and first receives all the updates data (I've seen it take 2 days to send and process it all!). You may just need to be more patient.

2. Also, a .cid may be retrying for perfectly legitimate reasons, i.e. it is waiting for more data to arrive. So a retrying cid is not indicative of a problem per se.

3. Check the log for patterns; is it the same .cid files persistently retrying again and again over a long period of time when other data has processes through OK?

4. Is objreplmgr.log not doing anything, in which case it may be the processing has finished, or data never arrived, or the 100 try limit is reached and the .cid files have gone bad. So do check the bad folder.

5. Are there many retrying or bad .cid files at the child? This should tie up with the log, and just to stress the point, are the same files repeatedly retrying?

So let's say you find there are a number of .cid files in the ..\inboxes\objmgr.box\incoming\retry folder on the child site, and the log shows them retrying over and over again without success. As we saw earlier ObjReplMgr.log should tell you why it does not like them, along the lines of :

1. Processing replication file ... in retry.

2. Referenced configuration items are not available yet...

Now that could mean either:

1. Related CI_ConfigurationItems have not yet arrived at the child site.

-OR-

2. Data for the associated SDMPackage is incorrectly flagged and does not show as 'IsDeleted = 1'. As such the child site is trying to locate non-existent CI_ConfigurationItems linked to that SDMPackage (which the .cid links to).

There are really two methods to fix the above issues:

Resend all updates. This can be done by dropping a <childsitecode>.sha file into the Central site objmgr.box folder. This replicates *all* the CI data back down so that should fix any missing updates. However, this does mean a lot of data will be re-sent, most of which will be unnecessary. I do mean an awful lot. Plus it make take a very long time before you know if it worked or not. When I ran this test in my lab 93,000+ objects were sent down to the child site. The number depends on the number of items you are syncing with MS Update. I call this the Shot Gun approach. While it does work there is a lot of unneeded data sent down.

Resend just the missing updates. Individually update the DateLastModified on the specific CI_ConfigurationItems at the Central site. This is a more granular approach; by modifying this date it will cause just that record to resend. Of course you must identify the correct row by its ci_uniqueid for this to work. So let's say we have a .cid failing to insert and the log tells us it is because the referenced configuration items are not available yet:

http://schemas.microsoft.com/systemsmanagementserver/Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd/1(1)(6);http://schemas.microsoft.com/systemsmanagementserver/Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_c7f8ad7a-6530-4109-a57a-996548d564d9/1(1)(6);http://schemas.microsoft.com/systemsmanagementserver/Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_e1288ee2-7d60-4045-bde0-46b68be56cea/1(1)(6);

Those are 'missing' entries this new update is expecting to be present (but aren't). So check they really do not exist at the child. Note that these ids are taken from the above log entry, with the site specific GUI ('Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_' in this case) chopped off. Run the query below at the child site to verify that the entries do not exist and then run the query at the central site to verify that the entries are there.

Select * from ci_configurationitems where ci_uniqueid in ('5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd', 'c7f8ad7a-6530-4109-a57a-996548d564d9','e1288ee2-7d60-4045-bde0-46b68be56cea')

If they exist at the central we can use the query below to update the time value on them which will cause us to resend them to all child sites:

Update ci_configurationitems

set datelastmodified = getdate()where ci_uniqueid in ('5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd', 'c7f8ad7a-6530-4109-a57a-996548d564d9', 'e1288ee2-7d60-4045-bde0-46b68be56cea')

See if they process through at the child. If not why not? Perhaps they have a further dependency missing which you need to repeat this process for. If they exist at Central site and you resend and they should process OK, then the retrying .cid should as process correctly and disappear from the retry folder.

When the problem remains?

If the above (including a .sha as a Shot Gun approach) does not work then things can get nightmarish as untangling the problem can be horrible. However, the cases I've had (so far) that the above did not fix were solved as follows:

It may be that these referenced CIs don't even exist at the Central! So the child site has an update that relies on another update that does not exist at the Central. That does not make sense until you look at the SDMPackage. As mentioned

earlier this ties together updates, and it may be that an SDMPackage is flagged as 'IsDeleted' at the Central but the child site missed this fact and still has the SDMPackage as an active one (IsDeleted = 0). So the Central never worries about

these referenced CIs because they are referenced from a dead SDMPackage, but the child site thinks it is active so on object insertion the SP follows the links to these other CIs (which don't exist). So presuming the earlier query shows the referenced CIs do *not* exist at the Central then we then need to compare the SDM entries at the Central and child (plus any sites in between). Use the same ids (but including the site part) to check the SDMPackageName:

SELECT * FROM ci_sdmpackages where SDMPackageName in ('Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd','Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_c7f8ad7a-6530-4109-a57a-996548d564d9','Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_e1288ee2-7d60-4045-bde0-46b68be56cea')

Compare the results from running the above at the Central and the child, in particular check the 'IsDeleted' value. Be careful as a row might look the same but be a different *version*. In other words SDMPackageName is not unique, but

SDMPackageName & SDMPackageVersion together are. For example at the child site we see:

SDMPackageName	SDMPackageVersion	SourceSite	IsDeleted	IsDigest	DateLastModified
Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd	3	CNT	0	1	14/05/2008 03:11

...but at the parent site we see:

SDMPackageName	SDMPackageVersion	SourceSite	IsDeleted	IsDigest	DateLastModified
Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd	3	CNT	1	1	26/06/2008 14:18

Note the IsDeleted value is 0 at the child and is 1 at the parent. Somehow the child site 'missed' updating these entries so we still check them. The real problem then is not with other missing configuration items then, but rather with SDMPackages not being correctly flagged as deleted. If the SDMPackage details are different then there is little point re-replicating them from the Central as that does not update them. You need to manually fix the IsDeleted values by running the SQL query blow at the *child* site:

update ci_sdmpackages

set IsDeleted = 1

where SDMPackageName = 'Site_E667A12A-772A-4896-9B46-A2D496CA6880/SUM_5ad7a514-0e96-499c-b0e2-41e86b742ddd'and SDMPackageVersion = '3’

Once the tables are corrected the retry file should go back through (if it has gone bad in the meantime drop it back into retry, or resend it from the Central with a date change on the row).

How to Move the WSUS Database

Michael Wiles — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:27:27 GMT

I ran into an issue where a customer needed to move the WSUS Database to a different SQL server. In my research I found most of the information below. In testing I added a few pieces to it since my customer was using a remote SQL server. To move your WSUS Database to another SQL server just follow these steps, this should work with SQL 2005 or SQL 2008:

1. In the Services tool Right-click IIS Admin Service, and then click Stop. It will stop other services (WWW Publishing, Windows Remote, and HTTP SSL).

2. In the Services tool, Right-click Update Services, and then click Stop.

3. On the old SQL server, DETACH the SUSDB database. You can do this by right clicking the SUSDB, choosing Task and then choose detach. You get the "Detach Database" wizard. You should be able to just choose "OK" and it will start the detach process. You may need to choose the "Drop Connections" box.

4. Copy the database files (MDF and LDF) from the old SQL server to the new SQL server. (Make a backup copy of these files as well.) Most of the time these files will be in the MSSQL\Data directory.

5. Attach the database files as SUSDB to the new SQL server. Right click Databases and choose Attach. Point to the place where you copied the files and choose "OK".

a. Verify permissions on the SQL Server instance. In SQL Server Management Studio, open the instance and select Security, then Logins. The NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account should be listed as a login. If not listed, add the account as a login. If the SQL server is a remote box then add the WSUS server's machine account to the permissions.

b. Verify permissions on the database. Right-click the database, select Properties and then click Permissions. The NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account should be listed as a login. If not listed, add the account as a login. If the SQL server is a remote box then add the WSUS server's machine account to the permissions.

c. Verify members of the webService role. Under the WSUS database, select Security, select Roles, select Database Roles, then right-click webService and select Properties. The NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account should be listed as a member of this role. If it is not, it should be added. If the SQL server is a remote box then add the WSUS server's machine account to the permissions.

6. Back on the WSUS server, open the registry editor: Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

7. Browse to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\UpdateServices\Server\Setup\SqlServerName, and in the Value box, type [ServerName]\[InstanceName],and then click OK. If the instance name is the default instance, then simply type [ServerName].

8. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

9. Restart the following services: IIS Admin, HTTP SSL, WWW Publishing, and the Updates Services.

10. To verify that everything is working run the Update Services Console.

What Collections is your Client a Member of?

Michael Wiles — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:23:08 GMT

Many times during the course of troubleshooting, you may come across a situation where you need to find out how many Collections a specific Client machine is a member of. Here is how you can find that information, along with the Collection Names and the ID's.

Run the following SQL query in against the SMS Database:

select v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID As 'Collection ID', v_Collection.Name As 'Collection Name', v_R_System.Name0 As 'Machine Name' from v_FullCollectionMembership
JOIN v_R_System on v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID = v_R_System.ResourceID
JOIN v_Collection on v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID = v_Collection.CollectionID
Where v_R_System.Name0='ClientMachineName'

You will need to replace ClientMachineName with the name of the Client Machine in question.

Here is the output of SQL when I ran the query for one of my clients:

Additionally, you can also make a Custom Report to get this information if you intend to use this frequently:

The SQL Statement For this Report would be as follows:

Click on Prompts while providing the SQL Statement, and Create a new prompt named 'Comp' without the quotes. Provide a SQL Statement for the prompt as follows:

select Name0 from v_R_System

How to Remove Custom Discovery Architecture

Michael Wiles — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:43:37 GMT

A while back a customer had added some custom discovery architecture to their sites but needed to change a column name due to a conflict in SQL. We searched the web but didn’t find much on how to remove the added information. I did some testing and came up with a solution but didn’t think much about it. Last week a coworker asked the same question so I thought maybe I need to add this information to my blog. Here it is:

Make a backup before you try this to be on the safe side. All my statements below reference a 7 in the name, that’s because once I figured out how to clean it out I added it all back in again to verify my tests so it changed the table name. Just replace the 7 with a 6 or whatever your number is and you should be good to go.

1. Stop the SMS_Executive and SMS_Site_Component Services on the site with the Database that has the issue.

2. Delete the entry out of the wbem repository. Use wbemtest and connect to root\sms\site_sitecode. Once connected click on the Enum Classes button and then find the class that you need to remove (in this case it was called SMS_R_STRMetrics) and highlight like this screen shot:

Next hit the Delete button and that should remove it

3. Verify the name of the table that the custom architecture is in. For me it is called Cust_Arch_7_Disc. For you it is most likely Cust_Arch_6_Disc. Once you have the table name then you need to drop the table using this SQL command: Drop table Cust_Arch_7_Disc

4. Next we need to do the same thing with the view. Mine was called v_R_Cust_Arch_7. Once you get that view name then drop it using this SQL command: Drop view v_R_Cust_Arch_7

5. Now is where the fun comes in. In my tables I had a reference to a table and it would not let me delete the entries related to the Custom Architecture until I cleaned that out. Here is more information. I was trying to run this SQL command: delete from DiscPropertyDefs where DiscArchKey = '7'. When I run this command I get this error:

Msg 99951, Level 16, State 1, Procedure DiscPropertyDefs_del, Line 1

Cannot delete row because referenced table exists in database.

Msg 3609, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

The transaction ended in the trigger. The batch has been aborted.

If you run a Select * from DiscPropertyDefs where DiscArchKey = '7' then you will see this in the results:

It is those entries in the ArrayTableName that is causing the issue. Run this SQL command to fix that: update DiscPropertyDefs set ArrayTableName = '' where DiscArchKey = '7' Once this complete do another Select * from DiscPropertyDefs where DiscArchKey = '7' to verify that all rows in the ArrayTableName column are blank. Once that is the case then you are ready for the next step.

6. Run this SQL query to clean up the DiscPropertyDefs table: delete from DiscPropertyDefs where ArrayTableName = '' and DiscArchKey = '7’

7. Run this SQL query to clean up the DiscoveryArchitectures table: delete from DiscoveryArchitectures where BaseTableName='CUST_ARCH_7_DISC'

8. Run this SQL query to clean up the DiscItemAgents table: delete from DiscItemAgents where DiscArchKey = '7’. You may get a 0 rows affected on this statement as there is a trigger when a delete statement is issued on the DiscoveryArchitectures table that will delete entries in this table as well. Go ahead and run the delete statement on this table just in case.

9. Restart the SMS Services on the box

10. In the console delete any collections and queries that referenced this custom architecture.

Asset Intelligence is failing to Sync

Michael Wiles — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:54:00 GMT

If you have looked at your AIUpdateSvc.log file lately you may have notice a few errors in there showing that you are not syncing with the System Center Online Catalog. The errors may look something like this:

Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Information: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:33 GMT:Authentication: Did not find machine certificate in ALM store
Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Information: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:33 GMT:Enrollment Certicate Path is
Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Information: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:34 GMT:Redirected to URL https://sc.microsoft.com/CatalogService/service.svc
Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Warning: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:36 GMT:WebException trying to enroll: Status = ProtocolError
Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Error: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:36 GMT:Exception attempting sync - The request failed with HTTP status 403: Forbidden.

In Service Pack 2 for CM07 we removed the need for customers to have a certificate to connect with System Center Online. This was only partly true. We still require an internal certificate to connect. This certificate is built into Config Manager and is require to verify that it is a valid Config Manager Site that is connecting to us to upload and download information. In late April this internal certificate expired and that is causing the error shown above. Take a look at KB article 2483225. This article will provide more information about the error and also include a link to a hotfix that will take care of this issue. Once the hotfix is install I had to restart all my SMS Services and then the next sync cycle connected correctly.

Since most folks create the AI sync point and then forget about it this is something that can go undetected for a while. Take a look at your log as soon as possible to see if you are having this issue. Everyone should run into this when the certificate expires.

Where are the patches in Resource Explorer

Michael Wiles — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:12:16 GMT

On Server 2008/Vista and Server 2008R2/Windows 7 machines you will not find the patch information in Resource Explorer like you will for other OS’s. This is due to a change in the way that those OS’s store their patch information. Let me explain more.

Remember that Config Manager only gathers this information from WMI and then carry’s that information back to the database where you can then use resource explorer to see it. With XP SP3 Windows stores the patch information in the Add Remove section of WMI. You can view that by using wbemtest. Connect to root\cimv2 and then run this query: Select * from Win32Reg_AddRemovePrograms

As you can see in the above screen shot that WMI value has a lot of the patches stored there as well as installed programs. Config Manager uses the information in the SMS_Def.mof file to collect this information automatically and it then appears in the Resource Explorer for each client.

In Server 2008 (Win 7) the patches are no longer stored in the Add Remove section of WMI. They are in the Win32_QuickFixEngineering section. In Wbemtest you can run this query: Select * from Win32_QuickFixEngineering

You then get a list of all the hotfixes that have been installed on that Server 2008 (Win 7) box. You can also collect this same information via the SMS_Def.mof file. We have that section in the mof already but it is turned off. Here is what it looks like in the default SMS_def.mof file:

//===================================================================
// W A R N I N G        W A R N I N G        W A R N I N G
//   DO NOT: Enable the Win32_QuickFixEngineering class unless you have
//         installed the QFE for Q279225. Enabling this class without
//         the QFE will result in inventory cycles taking a very long
//         time to complete on the client and the WINMGMT service
//         using 99% to 100% CPU time and leaking memory.
//
//===================================================================
[ SMS_Report     (FALSE),
SMS_Group_Name ("Quick Fix Engineering"),
SMS_Class_ID   ("MICROSOFT|QUICK_FIX_ENGINEERING|1.0") ]
class Win32_QuickFixEngineering : SMS_Class_Template
{
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     Caption;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     Description;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     FixComments;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE), key]
        string     HotFixID;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        datetime   InstallDate;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     InstalledBy;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     InstalledOn;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     Name;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE), key]
        string     ServicePackInEffect;
    [SMS_Report (FALSE)     ]
        string     Status;
};

Note the warning at the top. If you have older OS’s like Windows 2000 then make sure you have that Hotfix installed before turning this on for those clients. Once you do get it turned on and clients start sending in the information you will see it in the Resource Explorer like this:

This is on my Windows 7 box. The hotfixes are listed there now. All you need to do is change all the FALSE to TRUE in the above section of the SMS_Def.mof file on each site and once the clients get the policy change they will send in the new hotfix information.

Questions about Service Locator Points (SLP’s)

Michael Wiles — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:51:03 GMT

I was working with a customer last week on a few questions about SLP’s. We needed to check what information is really returned by the SLP to the client. It took a while to search for this information so I thought a post might be beneficial. The SLP is used to help clients find a Management Point (MP). The client will get information about an SLP from either AD or WINS,or it can be specified on the command line when the client is installed. In order for clients to find the SLP in AD your site must be publishing the SLP to AD. Workgroup clients on the other hand or not able to query AD to find the SLP so you must publish the SLP in WINS for them to be able to find it. It is also important to know that the SLP is really only used during client installation or when a discovery is performed via the Config Manager Control Panel applet. Information about what the SLP finds is found in the location services log file of the client.

When the client finds the SLP he sends an LDAP query to the SLP service running on the IIS server hosting the SLP. You can run this same query by using the commands below in your IE Browser:

Find a Site:
http://<SLP Server Name>/sms_slp/slp.dll?site&ip=12.19.86.0

Find a Management Point (MP):
http://<SLP Server Name>/sms_slp/slp.dll?MP&ip=12.19.86.0

You will need to replace the ip= part with the IP Subnet that you are looking for. Each of these can be added to the URL separated by '&'.

ad= <Active Directory site name>
ip= <IP Subnet>
ir= <IP Address>

When running the above in IE you should get back something like this:

The MP Query will return a list of the MP’s for the client:

This information can be very helpful when troubleshooting why a client can’t get policy or why the client is not finding a MP. Most of the time it is a boundary related issue but it could also be an issue with the MP or with SQL.

How to remove Custom Discovery Information from the Database

Michael Wiles — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:17:40 GMT

I was working with a customer recently on an issue where they had added custom discovery information but they needed to change some of it. In doing some research I found that there is not a lot of information on how to remove the customer discovery information.

A word of caution before proceeding. This is totally unsupported by Microsoft and you are on your own. Please make sure that you have a good backup of the Database before trying any of the steps below.

1. Stop the SMS_Executive and SMS_Site_Component Services on the site with the Database that has the issue.

2. Delete the entry out of the wbem repository. Use wbemtest and connect to root\sms\site_sitecode. Once connected click on the Enum Classes button and then find the SMS_R_STRMetrics class and highlight like this screen shot:

Next hit the Delete button and that should remove it. The item above is the name of your custom discovery class.

3. Verify the name of the table that the custom architecture is in. For me it is called Cust_Arch_7_Disc. Once you have the table name then you need to drop the table using this SQL command: Drop table Cust_Arch_7_Disc

4. Next we need to do the same thing with the view. Mine was called v_R_Cust_Arch_7. Once you get that view name then drop it using this SQL command: Drop view v_R_Cust_Arch_7

5. In my tables I had a reference to a table and it would not let me delete the entries related to the Custom Architecture until I cleaned that out. Here is more information. I was trying to run this SQL command: delete from DiscPropertyDefs where DiscArchKey = '7'. When I run this command I get this error:

Msg 99951, Level 16, State 1, Procedure DiscPropertyDefs_del, Line 1

Cannot delete row because referenced table exists in database.

Msg 3609, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

The transaction ended in the trigger. The batch has been aborted.

If you run a Select * from DiscPropertyDefs where DiscArchKey = '7' then you will see this in the results:

It is those entries in the ArrayTableName column that is causing the issue. Run this SQL command to fix that: update DiscPropertyDefs set ArrayTableName = '' where DiscArchKey = '7' Once this complete do another Select * from DiscPropertyDefs where DiscArchKey = '7' to verify that all rows in the ArrayTableName column are blank. Once that is the case then you are ready for the next step.

6. Run this SQL query to clean up the DiscPropertyDefs table: delete from DiscPropertyDefs where ArrayTableName = '' and DiscArchKey = '7’

7. Run this SQL query to clean up the DiscoveryArchitectures table: delete from DiscoveryArchitectures where BaseTableName='CUST_ARCH_7_DISC'

9. Restart the SMS Services on the box

10. In the console delete any collections and queries that referenced this custom architecture.

That should clear up the custom discovery that was added. You will need to perform this on all primary sites where the information was added.

Easy setup of SRS with Config Manager R2

Michael Wiles — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:47:00 GMT

I just completed a screen cast video for my customers on configuring SRS with Config Manager. While I can’t share the video with you I can post the document that contains the steps I used. This is all information that is on the Microsoft TechNet site but is kind of hard to find and understand. I took it and compiled it into a more readable format and included it in a complete R2 document that I wrote last fall. Let me know if this helps anyone out there:

SQL Reporting Services Reporting

The SQL Server Reporting services product is a reporting platform that provides advanced reporting functionality currently not available in the existing Config Manager reporting solution. Building the Config Manager reporting solution on this platform enables advanced reporting scenarios for the Config Manager administrator and enables future extensions and improvements to further enhance the Config Manager product from a reporting perspective.

Config Manager 2007 R2 with SQL Reporting Services Integration enables rich reporting and advanced information gathering and delivery for current and future configuration management releases, by providing rich reports highlighting the strengths of the product to executive level audiences and enable the Config Manager administrator to perform their job more effectively.

SQL Reporting Services Integration is being added as a reporting solution for Configuration Manager 2007 R2 to accomplish the following goals:

Provide best in class reporting capability by integrating SQL Reporting Services, with the leading change and configuration management product: SCCM 2007
Enable Ad-hoc reporting - Make it easy for both SCCM administrators, and non administrators to find the information they need to make the right decisions for their business
Integrate core SRS functionality without requiring significant changes to the Configuration Manager product
Assist customers by migrating both existing reports and customer generated custom reports to the SRS solution
Integrate Reporting Services side by side with the existing Configuration Manager reporting solution, so customers can slowly migrate to the SRS solution
Implement a new Reporting Services Point that can be added as a site role to an existing or new SCCM Site System that has SQL Reporting Services already installed
Support alternative databases as the reporting database, such as a replicated or backup database
Provide ability to convert out of the box classic SCCM reports and to convert customer- generated reports to SQL Server reports.
Allow custom report creation via a report authoring wizard.
Enable report browsing and viewing via the SRS Report Viewer.
Take advantage of rendering in all supported SRS formats, report caching, and subscriptions.

Planning for SQL Reporting Services

The following considerations should be taken into account when configuring the Configuration Manager 2007 R2 SQL Reporting Services feature.

Performance

Location of SQL Reporting Services Installation - Configuration Manager 2007 R2 supports locating the SQL reporting server on the site server or a remote computer. However, for performance reasons, you should locate the SQL reporting server and the reporting services point on a remote site system.

Security

Unattended Report Processing Account - If you intend to allow report subscriptions, you must configure an execution account to allow these to run unattended. This account must be a Windows user account. If you configure this account with a password expiry date, or if you change its information in Active Directory, you must also update this information in Reporting Services. You should set read-only permissions to reports for this account.

Credentials Options when Configuring the Connection to the Configuration Manager Database - Use the option, Credentials are not required in the Report Server Properties: Data Source Authentication Tab for testing purposes only. This setting is not recommended for a production environment.

Best Practices for SQL Reporting Services

Optimize SQL Reporting Services Queries - Optimize your report queries. Usually, the bulk of report execution time is spent executing queries and retrieving results. If you are using SQL Server, tools such as Query Analyzer and Profiler can help you optimize queries.

Report Subscription Scheduling - Whenever possible, schedule report subscription processing to run outside of normal office hours. This will reduce load on the reporting server and improve availability for ad-hoc report requests.

Prerequisites for SQL Reporting Services

SQL Reporting Services in Configuration Manager 2007 R2 has external dependencies and dependencies within the product.

The following table describes the external dependencies for SQL Reporting Services running in Configuration Manager 2007.

Dependency

More Information

A SQL Reporting Services reporting server must be installed and configured in the site hierarchy.

Before you can use SQL Reporting Services integration in Configuration Manager 2007 R2, you must configure reporting services on a SQL Server installation in your network.

For more information about installing and configuring SQL Reporting Services, visit the SQL Reporting Services Web site at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=111840.

SQL Reporting Services requires Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 or later for the Reporting Services Web Site.

For more information about installing Internet Information Services, see your Windows Server documentation.

Note

Computers running Windows Server 2008 require further configuration of Internet Information Services to operate as sccmshortname site systems.

The following table describes the dependencies within Configuration Manager 2007 for running SQL Reporting Services.

Dependency	More Information
The site server must be running Configuration Manager 2007 R2.	SQL Reporting Services requires Configuration Manager 2007 R2.
Reporting services point site system role.	The reporting services point site system role must be configured before you can use SQL Reporting Services.

Configuring Microsoft SQL Server for SQL Reporting Services

Before you can use SQL Reporting Services integration in Configuration Manager 2007 R2, you must configure reporting services on a SQL Server installation in your network. The following steps will allow you to install the SRS Component of SQL:

1. From the installation media you used to install SQL Server 2005, run setup.exe to launch the SQL Server Setup Wizard.

2. Accept the end user license agreement, then click Next.

3. Review the Installing Prerequisites page, and click Next.

4. After SQL Server setup performs a configuration check, the Welcome page of the SQL Server Installation Wizard is displayed. Click Next.

5. Review the results of the system configuration check to identify any problems that may prevent the configuration of SQL Server from completing successfully. Click Next.

Note:

If you receive an Edition Change Check warning message, you must reapply any previously applied SQL Server Service Packs after you have finished configuring the software.

6. On the Registration Information page, enter your name, company name and product key, then click Next.

7. On the Components to Install page, make sure that Reporting Services is selected, then click Next.

8. On the Instance Name page, specify a name for the instance of SQL Server you are upgrading. If you are upgrading the default instance of SQL Server, select the Default instance check box, then click Next.

9. On the Service Account page, specify the account details that the reporting services service will use to log in. Check the Reporting Services check box to start the reporting services service after setup completes. Click Next to continue.

10. On the Report Server Installation Options page, verify that the option Install but do not configure the server is selected, then click Next.

11. On the Error and Usage Report Settings page, select whether you want to inform Microsoft of any error and usage data for SQL Server, then click Next.

12. On the Ready to Install page, review the information shown, then click Install.

13. After installation is complete, click Next.

14. On the Completing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Setup page, review any information shown, and click Finish to close the wizard.

15. If you need to reapply the Service Pack, please do so at this time before moving on to the next section.

Configuring SQL Reporting Services in SQL Server 2005

1. From the Windows Start menu, navigate to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 / Configuration Tools, then click Reporting Services Configuration.

2. In the Report Server Installation Instance Selection dialog box, specify the name of the server hosting SQL Reporting Services, select the database instance from the drop-down menu, and then click Connect.

3. In Reporting Services Configuration Manager, click Server Status. Verify that Service Status is set to Running. If it is not, click Start, and then click Apply.

4. Click Report Server Virtual Directory, and then click New to specify a new virtual directory.

5. In the Create a New Virtual Directory dialog box, select Default Web Site from the Website drop-down list, and specify the name you want to call the virtual directory created by Reporting Services (or use the default ReportServer), then click OK.

6. Ensure that Apply default settings is selected, then click Apply.

7. Click Report Manager Virtual Directory, and then click New to specify a new virtual directory.

8. In the Create a New Virtual Directory dialog box, select Default Web Site from the Website drop-down list, and specify the name you want to call the Report Manager virtual directory created by Reporting Services (or use the default Reports), and then click OK.

9. Ensure that Apply default settings is selected, then click Apply.

10. Click Web Service Identity. If you do not want to change the defaults in this section, click Apply.

11. Click Database Setup, select a server from the Server name drop-down list, and then click Connect.

12. In the SQL Server Connection Dialog dialog box, specify the SQL Server name and connection details for the Reporting Services server, then click OK.

13. On the Database Connection page of Configure Report Server, click New.

14. In the SQL Server Connection Dialog dialog box, specify a name for the new Reporting Services database (or use the default, ReportServer), then click OK.

15. Click Apply to complete configuration of the new database.

16. Click Email Settings. Specify the following information:

Note:

If you do not want to use report subscriptions, you do not need to complete this step.

Sender Address: Specifies the email address that will appear as the sender address of any email sent from SQL Reporting Services. The account specified must have sufficient permissions to send email from the specified SMTP server.

Current Delivery Method: Specifies that the delivery method used to send emails will be via. SMTP server. This is the only delivery method you can configure through reporting services configuration. For details about configuring other delivery methods, see the SQL Reporting Services documentation.

SMTP Server: Specify the name of the SMTP server to use when sending reports. This can be a local or remote server.

17. Click Apply.

18. Click Execution Account. Specify the domain\username and password of a Windows user account that will be used to run unattended reports, for example those used by subscriptions. Click Apply.

Note:

If you do not want to use report subscriptions, you do not need to complete this step.

19. Click Apply, and then click OK.

20. Click Exit to close Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

Creating a Reporting Services Point for SQL Reporting Services

Before you can use SQL Reporting Services in Configuration Manager 2007, you must configure a reporting services point. The reporting services point is a site system role that must be configured on a server running Microsoft SQL Server with the Reporting Services component installed.

Use the following procedure to create a reporting services point on a Configuration Manager 2007 site system computer.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Site Management / <site code>-<site name> / Site Settings / Site Systems.

2. Determine whether to create a new site system or add the reporting services point site role to an existing site system, and then follow the associated step.

To create a new site system and add the reporting services point role:

Right-click Site Systems, click New, and then click Server.

On the General page of the New Site Role Wizard, specify the name of the server that will be used to host the reporting services point.

To add the reporting services point role to an existing site system:

□ Right-click the site system name, and click New Roles.

3. On the General page of the New Site Role Wizard, configure the general settings for this site system, then click Next. Click Next.

4. On the System Role Selection page of the wizard, select Reporting Services point, then click Next.

5. On the Reporting Services Point page, specify the folder that will be created on the report server to contain the SQL Reporting Services reports used in Configuration Manager and then click Next.

Note:

The folder will not be created on the report server until you create reports or copy reports into SQL Reporting Services.

6. Review the information shown on the Summary page, then click Next.

7. Click Close to exit the wizard.

Configuring Properties for the Reporting Services Point

Before you can begin to generate reports in the Configuration Manager 2007 R2 console using SQL Reporting Services, you must configure properties for the reporting services point.

Use the following procedure to configure the reporting services point.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Reporting / Reporting Services, and expand the node.

2. Right-click the reporting services point server you want to configure, then click Properties.

3. On the General tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, review information about the currently selected report server.

Note:

Information about the report folder will only be shown after you have created a new report or copied existing reports to this report server.

4. On the Data Source Settings tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify the Configuration Manager 2007 database server and database name to be used as the data source for SQL Reporting Services reports. Click the test button to verify that you have correct data entered.

5. On the Data Source Authentication tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify the credentials used to access reports on the report server.

6. On the Data Source Security tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify permissions for the users who have access to the data source specified in the Data Source Settings tab.

7. On the Security tab of the Report Server Properties dialog box, specify the users who have access to the selected report server.

8. Click OK to close the Report Server Properties dialog box.

Copying standard Configuration Manager reports to Reporting Services

In Configuration Manager 2007 R2, standard reports can be copied to a folder on a Reporting Services server by using the Copy Reports to Reporting Services Wizard. Use the following procedure to copy existing Configuration Manager reports to Reporting Services.

Use the following steps to copy standard Configuration Manager reports to Reporting Services.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Reporting / Reporting Services Reporting.

2. Right-click the Reporting Services server that the standard reports will be copied to, then click Copy Reports to Reporting Services.

3. On the Data Source Settings page of the Copy Reports Wizard, specify the Configuration Manager 2007 database server and database name from which to copy the reports.

4. Click Next.

5. On the Data Source Authentication page of the Copy Reports Wizard, choose the authentication method required to run the copied reports on the reporting point server.

6. Click Next.

7. On the Select Reports page of the Copy Reports Wizard, select the reports you want to copy to the reporting services point. Select Overwrite existing reports if you want to overwrite any reports that already exist on the reporting services point.

8. Click Next.

9. On the Security page of the Copy Reports Wizard, specify which users can access the copied reports and the roles they must belong to. For more information about the options on this page, see Report Server Properties: Security Tab.

10. Click Next.

11. On the Summary page of the Copy Reports Wizard, review the reports that will be created, and then click Next.

12. After the reports are copied, click Next.

13. On the Confirmation page of the Copy Reports Wizard, review the information, and then click Close to exit the wizard.

Note:

If a report fails to import, it will be indicated by a red cross. Double-click the entry to open the Details dialog box, which lists details of the error in copying the report.

Reporting Services Server Properties Grayed Out

Michael Wiles — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:05:02 GMT

In doing some research and testing for one of my screen casts on SRS and Config Manager I ran into an issue that I couldn’t find much information on.

My SQL Server is running SQL 2005 SP3 with CU 1 and is on a different box than the Config Manager site server. I also run on a named instance of SQL.

I was at the point of configuring the properties of the SRS Server in the Config Manager Console when I got the screen below:

Everything was grayed out on all tabs. I also saw this in the SRSRP.log file:

Failures reported during periodic health check by the SRS Server STRAWBERRY. Will retry check in 57 minutes SMS_SRS_REPORTING_POINT 2/17/2009 8:13:14 PM 2388 (0x0954)

I found in the Event Log this event ID:

For some unknown reason when I did the install of SRS the Network Service account was not granted permissions to the Temp ASP.Net folder. Not only did this cause the SRSRP Service to have issues but this affected the Config Manager Console to allow me to configure the properties of the SRS Server.

I went into the properties of the Temp ASP.Net folder and added the Network Service account and granted him full control permissions. I then restarted the SRSRP service and the log then cleared up. I went back to the Config Manager box and selected properties of the SRS server and now the tabs were allowing me to enter data.

January’s Config Manager Newsletter

Michael Wiles — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:31:22 GMT

Each month, right after Patch Tuesday, I put together a newsletter for my customers and for all of Microsoft PFE in general. While I can’t post the current edition of the newsletter as it would not be fair to my customers that have paid for it I will post last month’s newsletter. I will try and post this on a monthly basis but it will be the previous month’s newsletter. There also maybe some formatting issues but I will work on them.

January 2009

Hello 2009. With a new year comes a few changes to the newsletter. I have added 2 sections: Blogs, and the Blog Spotlight. The blogs section is just a list of blogs that have some useful information related to Config Manager. I will be adding to the list each time I find a new blog with good useful information. The Spotlight is a blog entry that I have found in my research that may be useful to you in your day to day Config Manager activities. In late December we released Service Pack 3 for SQL 2005. I would recommend that you apply this as soon as possible. There have been several Config Manager hotfixes also released so please take a look at this list to see if there are any that you need to fix current issues in your environment. One last thing is that Windows 7 beta is out. Config Manager doesn’t really support Win7 yet but will with SP2. I have been testing it and you can install a SP1 client on Win7 and it will return Hinv and Sinv. You can also deploy applications and patch it. More to come on this as we get closer to SP2.

I will be in the office this month. No planned trips at this point.

January 2009 Released Patches:

This alert is to provide you with an overview of Security Bulletins released by Microsoft on January 13^th, 2009.

New Security Bulletins:

Microsoft is releasing the following security bulletins for newly discovered vulnerabilities:

MAXIMUM SEVERITY	BULLETIN NUMBER	Title	Products Affected	Replaces	Distribute With	Restart
Critical	MS09-001	Vulnerabilities in SMB Could allow Remote Code Execution (958687)	All currently supported versions of Windows	MS08-063	ConfigMgr-WSUS	Yes

Summaries for these new bulletins may be found at the following page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-jan.mspx

Customers are advised to review the information in the bulletins, test and deploy the updates immediately in their environments, if applicable.

The Microsoft Security Team has created a new Blog that will explain more in-depth detail about each Security Bulletin that comes out. If you really want to know the ends and outs of the vulnerabilities then this blog is for you.

Keep up to the minute with the Microsoft Security Teams Blog.

This is a new section that will list blogs that deal with Config Manager and related products. The list below are blogs that I will usually visit on a regular basis and when I am doing research on a customer’s issues. I will be adding to the list as I find new blogs that contain helpful information. I subscribe to the RSS feeds on a lot of these. If you run across any that you would like to see on the list please let me know.

· SMSandMom, SoftGrid, and WSUS blogs

· Michael Wiles Blog

· Carlos Santiago Blog

· Steve Rachui Blog

· Russ Slaten Blog

· Michael Niehaus Blog

· The Deployment Guys Blog

· Jeff Gilbert Blog

· Paul Thomsen Blog

· Donnie Taylor Blog

· Greg Ramsey Blog

In this section I will hight a Blog entry that I think stands out and might help you in your day to day activites with Config Manager. This months entry comes from Jeff Gilbert’s blog.

At the end of October Jeff blogged about how to “Deploy SQL Server 2005 SP2 using an OSD Task Sequence”. There is a Part 1 and a Part 2 to complete the blog entries. Part 1 goes over how to create the SQL 2005 package, but part2 really gets to the meat of the issue with lots of screen shots and steps on how to make this work correctly. Now that SP3 has released I think that this would be a good blog entry to review if you are thinking about deploying SP3 with Config Manager. I know that Jeff shows how to do it with SP2 but I am sure that most if not all of the steps will work correctly with SP3. I plan to test this in my enviroment over the next couple of weeks and will let you know how it goes in the next newsletter.

· The System Center Config Manager Documentation Library has been updated, this link will take you there.

· Here is the link to the System Center Configuration Manager TechCenter web page.

· This link to Microsoft Connect will take you to the System Center Service Manager beta that is now available. A whitepaper outlining the Service Manager vision is here.

· This link will take you to some Training Video’s for the Intel vPro AMT integration with Config Manager SP1.

· This link will point you to the App-V Extensibility Today Before the SDK Document.

· Here is a link to the Creating Customer Reports by using CM07 SQL Views document.

· Version 4.5 of the System Center Updates Publisher can be found here.

· Here is the link for the Third Party Custom Catalogs for CM07.

· This link will take you to the Configuration Packs available for DCM.

· CM07 R2 is now out and the eval can be downloaded from this link.

· PreLoadPkgOnSite tool has been released to the web.

· Config Manager SP1 can now be downloaded from this link and ICP’s can be found here.

· Custom Error Codes for Config Manager can be found here.

· This link will explain what all the CM07 logs are for, and here is a list of the CM07 Icons and what they are for.

· Config Manager Software Updates Synchronization SuperFlow is now available at this link.

· The Config Manager Toolkit is now out and the CM07 SDK has been released.

· Here is a link to the Config Manager 2007 Technical Library, the CM07 Reviewers Guide PDF file is here, and CM Software Update Guide Whitepaper is at this link.

· Here is a link to all SMS 2003 Service Packs ( SP1, SP2, and SP3).

· Here is a link to the SMS 2003 Documentation, the SMS 2003 Technical Library, and the SMS 2003 Scripting Guide.

This month we take a look at the last item in R2: Forefront Client Security Integration.

Microsoft Forefront Client Security provides unified virus and spyware protection for business desktops, laptops, and server operating systems. You can use desired configuration management to monitor the Client Security agent on clients managed by Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 sites.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 provides insurance that this critical service is running and in a state to provide up to date protection from security threats. R2 contains the Forefront Client Security – Client Health DCM baseline and several supporting configuration items. These CI’s assess the state of the FCS agents on the machines managed by SCCM 2007 R2. The SCCM administrators will be notified when a machine is determined to be in an unhealthy state or non-compliant so that action can be taken to restore these services and/or the correct agent configuration.

Reports are available to give a global view of the overall state of the FCS clients. These reports allow the SCCM admin to quickly identify machines that may not be protected because of a service or configuration problem with the FCS client.

No changes are made to the FCS product to support this work. FCS monitoring in SCCM R2 assesses the health of the FCS agents on SCCM clients and reports any issues that are found. Malware events and other data regarding malware found by the FCS agent are not monitored or reported on. Administrators use their existing FCS infrastructure for notification of this type of information.

To monitor the Client Security agent, you import the configuration pack included on the Configuration Manager 2007 R2 CD, assign the baseline to a collection that contains computers running the Client Security agent, and then monitor the compliance evaluation reports as you would for any other configuration baseline. No additional installation or configuration is needed.

Configuration Manager 2007 does not actually report back about malware or viruses detected; those alerts are monitored by Client Security as long as the Client Security agent is operating correctly.

Prerequisites for Forefront Client Security Reporting

In order to implement the functionality of the Forefront Client Security Configuration Pack, we need to make sure that the Desired Configuration Management Client Agent is enabled. Additionally, clients also have to have .NET Framework 2.0 installed on the clients we wish to monitor.

The above information is taken from the “Config Manager 2007 R2 Install and Features” document. If you need this document please let me know.

Please follow the steps below to install the Config Manager RTM eval bits for testing:

· Start with a baseline of Windows 2003 SP2

· .NET Framework 2.0 is required. The .NET Framework 2.0 is available for download at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=56407

· Install SQL 2005 and apply SQL 2005 SP2

· Hotfix number 932303 addresses a known WMI issue where the Configuration Manager 2007 console stops responding. You should apply the hotfix to the site server and to all Configuration Manager 2007 consoles. The KB Article for the hotfix is available on the Microsoft Support site at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83055. This fix can now be downloaded from this link.

· Install WSUS 3.0 RTM. You can download it from here.

· Install Config Manager 2007 RTM.

Once your RTM site is working follow these steps to upgrade that site to SP1:

· Upgrade WSUS 3.0 to WSUS 3.0 SP1 which can be downloaded from this link.

· Apply the Windows 2003 Schannel Hotfix KB Article number 942841.

· Apply the Windows Remote Management Tool to run the Out of Band Console. This can be downloaded from here.

· Apply the MMC Update from KB Article number 940848.

· Install the CM07 SP1 upgrade.

Once you Config Manager site is at SP1 you can down install the R2 eval bits. No PreReqs are needed, just SP1.

New SMS 2003 and SCCM 2007 Knowledge Base Articles

KB959812: Operating System Deployment (OSD) tasks may fail randomly in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1-based systems (959812)

KB958157: Inaccurate software metering reports may be generated from Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 3-based primary site servers (958157)

KB955955: A task sequence that contains many packages may take longer to run after you install System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 or hotfix 949225 (955955)

KB959040: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 systems cannot provision AMT 2.2/2.6 clients in PKI mode and AMT 2.1/2.5 clients in PSK mode (959040)

Hotfixes

· We have a new support option available on the Microsoft Help and Support website. Customers can now request hotfixes on the website. Click here for the website.

· 961328 has been released as a hotfix. This hotfix corrects a PKI Provisioning issue that was not working on 2.2 ATM systems. The KB on this is not public yet but the hotfix is done.

· 960065 has been released as a hotfix. This hotfix corrects a problem where Updates are not deployed to some clients when you use WSUS or SUM to deploy updates in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1. The KB on this is not public yet but the hotfix is done.

· 960804 has been released as a hotfix. This is A hotfix rollup package addresses some issues with the Out of Band Management (OOB) feature in Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1. The KB on this is not public yet but the hotfix is done.

· 958598 has been released as a hotfix. This hotfix corrects the problem of the Audit Message for “Create a Task Sequence Package” does not identify system, component and user name. The KB on this is not public yet but the hotfix is done.

· 957255 has been released as a hotfix. This hotfix corrects an issue where the Wake On Lan Manager did not consider DST when calculating the next wake time. The KB on this is not public yet but the hotfix is done.

· 959038 has been released as a hotfix. This hotfix corrects a problem where a task sequence would continue to execute even if a failure exit code was returned. The Reports would also show a success for the failed installation. The KB on this is not public yet but the hotfix is done.

Config Manager 2007 SP1/R2 Updates and Hotfixes:

· KB956944 - Error message when you use the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 console to connect to a Configuration Manager 2007 site server that is not running Service Pack 1

· KB959812 - Operating System Deployment (OSD) tasks may fail randomly in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1-based systems (959812)

· KB959040 - System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 systems cannot provision AMT 2.2/2.6 clients in PKI mode and AMT 2.1/2.5 clients in PSK mode (959040)

· KB956194 - Distribution Manager in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 may require several hours after startup before it begins to process packages

· KB958021 - Error message in the Configuration Manager console when you create a new task sequence: "The task sequence cannot be created" (958021)

· KB958808 - User data from the USMT may be deleted unexpectedly by the task sequence engine during the operating system deployment process in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 (958808)

· KB954716 - The SMS_EXECUTIVE service of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 on a child site server may crash when it handles the .sha file and sends inventory data to its parent site (954716)

· KB956733 - Some attributes of a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 client may be missing after it is configured as a branch distribution point (956733)

· KB957325 - The Inventory Data Loader component cannot process hardware inventory data from System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 clients if one or more properties contain more than 256 characters in the NOIDMIF files (957325)

· KB955842 - The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 hardware inventory may recognize an x64-based client as an x86-based client (955842)

· KB954718 - You cannot use the Out of Band Management console in Configuration Manager 2007 to connect to computers that use versions of Intel AMT that are earlier than version 3.2.1

· KB955126 - The SMS_Executive service process (Smsexec.exe) in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 may crash if you have Intel AMT-related software installed

· KB955388 - Error message when you use the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1-based Configuration Manager Configuration Manager console to check software distribution point settings

· KB955355 - A distinguished name that contains more than 100 characters and that is discovered from Active Directory for an AMT host causes the SMS_EXECUTIVE service to crash in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB956337 - System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 is unable to remove AMT user ACLs during the provisioning process for AMT 2.x computers

· KB957576 - Status message ID 7404 is reported frequently in an installation of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 that uses SQL Server 2008 as the site database

· KB957469 - FIX: The Out of Band Power control function does not work for clients that have the Intel AMT 4 or Intel AMT 5 chipset in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1

· KB957879 - The ConfigMgr Service Manager tool in Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 cannot query the SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP service, and you receive an "Error communicating with component" error message(957879)

· KB956941 - You cannot take some actions when you take remote control of a Windows Vista-based client computer that has User Account Control enabled in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1(956941)

· KB957183 - You cannot add a group as an AMT user account in Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 if the group name has more than 20 characters(957183)

· KB955114 - The SMS_Executive service process may crash when the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 Hierarchy Manager handles the site control (.ct2) file from child sites that are running the RTM version of Configuration Manager 2007

· KB955955 - A task sequence that contains many packages may take longer to run after you install System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 or hotfix 949225

· KB956465 - The SMS_EXECUTIVE service process restarts unexpectedly when a limit is set for the maximum transfer rate between two sites in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 954474 - System Center Configuration Manager 2007 blocked from deploying security updates

· KB 954214 - The SMS_Site_Component_Manager service stops unexpectedly when you try to install Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 or reinstall a specific component after an unsuccessful installation attempt

Config Manager 2007 Post-RTM Updates and Hotfixes:

· KB955115 - The "Client Push Installation" operation fails when both multiple management points and customized ports are configured in a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 site

· KB 950527 - Windows Vista SP1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2, and Windows XP SP3 are not listed as supported platforms for software distribution, update management, or desired configuration management in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 946519 - Every even task sequence reports exit error code 183 if you advertise several task sequences to a Systems Management Server client in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 945306 - Execution requests may remain in the WaitingDisabled state after a task sequence that uses operating system deployment is run in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 944542 - The "wake on LAN" feature does not work as expected if a site server uses a non-daylight saving time zone in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 945898 - The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Offer Status Summarizer does not process advertisement status summary data

· KB 942700 - The task sequence does not run on the protected branch distribution points in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 944342 - Users cannot modify advertisements that they created in the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Administration Console

· KB 942536 - You cannot move created objects into a folder or out of a folder if the folder was created on a secondary site of System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 946518 - Inventory data is not completely removed after you delete a system resource in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· KB 945501 - Some users do not receive a program that is advertised to a user group in System Center Configuration Manager 2007

· System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Library (November 2007)

SMS 2003 Post-SP3 Updates and Hotfixes:

· KB 942212 - The SMS Executive service process for Systems Management Server 2003 stops repeatedly

· KB 941214/KB 941395 - A hotfix rollup package that provides an updated Client.msi/Client.msp is available for Systems Management Server 2003

· KB 940619 - After you install Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 3, the Client Configuration Manager may return incorrect error codes when a remote client computer is unreachable

· KB 934206 - You cannot use the software inventory method to collect files from a mobile device after you install Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 3

· KB 941820 - NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing does not work correctly on a computer that is running the SMS 2003 Service Pack 3 Advanced Client

· KB 936465 - In a three-tier SMS 2003 hierarchy, packages may not be decompressed or copied to the distribution point of the secondary site

· KB 943457 - Some newly added access accounts of a Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 package may be missing on the child sites

· KB 907311 - Only one of the multiple distribution points is added to a package in a multi-tier SMS 2003 hierarchy

· KB 939332 - SMS 2003 with Service Pack 3 cannot deploy a package to client computers that are running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1

· KB 945639 - The new collection that you created by using the Distribute Software wizard in SMS 2003 does not appear in the user interface

· KB 945635 - Systems Management Server 2003 clients cannot download a software package from a BITS-enabled Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 distribution point on a Windows Server 2008-based computer

· KB 939872 - Reports that use the v_Add_Remove_Programs view stop responding and cause high CPU use in SMS 2003 SP3

· Microsoft SMS 2003 SP3 Asset Intelligence Catalog Update (February 2008)

Administrator Console Updates and Hotfixes:

· KB 940848 - A hotfix rollup package is available for Microsoft Management Console (MMC) in Windows Server 2003 (XP fix available also)

· KB 941132 - FIX: You receive a NullReferenceException exception when you run a .NET Framework 2.0-based application that uses the ShowDialog method, and the method specifies an IWin32Window owner (x64 only - included in .NET 2.0 SP1)

· KB 932303 - FIX: The WMI service stops responding on a computer that is running the .NET Framework 2.0 and System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (included in .NET 2.0 SP1)

· KB 913538 - A WMI enumerator object is canceled before the client computer can finish using the enumerator object on a Windows Server 2003-based or Windows XP-based client computer

WMI Updates for SMS Clients:

· KB 933061/KB 933062 - An update is available that improves the stability of the Windows Management Instrumentation repository in Windows XP/2003

· KB 913538 - A WMI enumerator object is canceled before the client computer can finish using the enumerator object on a Windows Server 2003-based or Windows XP-based client computer

SQL Server 2008 Update:

· KB 958136 - Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2005 SP3 Update:

· Service Pack 3

· KB 959195 - Cumulative update package 1 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

SQL Server 2005 SP2 Update:

· KB 958735 - Cumulative update package 11 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2

Click on these links for the Config Manager On Demand Webcasts and the Audiocasts for Config Manager.

TechNet Webcast: Configuration Manager SP1 and R2 Overview (Level 300)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 3:00 PM Central Time

Presenter: Jeff Wettlaufer, Senior Technical Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 shipped recently, but we are not done yet! This year, we will also release a service pack and an R2. In this session, we cover the changes we are making in the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) timeframe, in addition to the following System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 release. We briefly introduce System Center Configuration Manager, but our focus is on the new elements to support Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008, in addition to some additional changes for Asset Intelligence and Intel AMT Integration.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/detail/webcastdetails.aspx?seriesid=37&webcastid=1032369054

TechNet Webcast: Information About Microsoft February Security Bulletins (Level 200)

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:00 PM Central Time (US & Canada)

Presenter: Adrian Stone, Senior Security Program Manager Lead, Microsoft Corporation

On February, 11, 2009, Microsoft releases its monthly security bulletins. Join us for a brief overview of the technical details of the February security bulletins. We intend to address your concerns in this webcast, therefore, most of the webcast is devoted to attendees asking questions about the bulletins and getting answers from Microsoft security experts.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032395122%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

Config Manager 2007 Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: Introduction to System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Deploying System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (Level 200)

TechNet Webcast: Deploying System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Clients (Level 300)

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007: Deployment (Level 300)

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007: Managing Servers (Level 300)

TechNet Virtual Lab: Introduction to System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007

TechNet Virtual Lab: Upgrading from Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 to System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Here is a link to the SMS Archived Webcasts on Demand:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/AdvSearch.mspx?EventsAndWebcastsControlName=As1%3AAdvSrc&As1%3AAdvSrc%3AAudienceID=0&As1%3AAdvSrc%3AProductID=12b833ad-46b1-440c-a481-4f2ff4fa1e72&As1%3AAdvSrc%3AEventType=OnDemandWebcast&As1%3AAdvSrc%3ACountryRegionID=en%7CUS%7CUnited+States&StateProvinceID=0&As1%3AAdvSrc%3ATimeframeID=-1&As1%3AAdvSrc%3ASearchFilter=%C2%A0+Go+%C2%A0

Client Schedule ID’s

Michael Wiles — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:57:05 GMT

I get asked this quite often so I have been compiling a list of the Schedule ID’s for a Config Manager client. This is not a complete list by no means but I think that it is most of them. I add to it as I find new ones.

Hardware Inventory Collection Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}

Software Inventory Collection Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002}

Heartbeat Discovery Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000003}

Software Inventory File Collection Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000010}

Request Machine Policy Assignments

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000021}

Evaluate Machine Policy Assignments

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000022}

Refresh Default MP Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000023}

Refresh Location Services Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000024}

Location Services Cleanup Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000025}

Software Metering Report Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000031}

Source Update Manage Update Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000032}

Policy Agent Cleanup Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000040}

Request Machine Policy Assignments

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000042}

Certificate Maintenance Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000051}

Peer Distribution Point Status Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000061}

Peer Distribution Point Provisioning Status Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000062}

Compliance Interval Enforcement

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000071}

Software Updates Agent Assignment Evaluation Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000108}

Send Unsent State Messages

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000111}

State Message Manager Task

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000112}

Force Update Scan

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000113}

AMT Provision Cycle

{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000120}

You can use the above codes to kick off different events on the client. There are several scripts out there that will allow you to to do this. One of the most used is the SendSched.vbs file from the SMS 2003 Toolkit2. The toolkit can be downloaded from this link.

My First Post

Michael Wiles — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:15:00 GMT

I am now venturing in new uncharted territory: Blog posting. This being my first post I just wanted to say that I plan to post to this blog at least once a week with something interesting that I have learned or come across in the support of my customers. I hope that the information posted here will be of benefit to other folks running System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Please leave comments and keep me on my toes.

Thanks

Michael