I was asked a few days ago if ConfigMgr or SMS could inventory mapped drives, and while the answer is yes we don't do it by default. In effect we report the logical disk but not mapped drives. In order to inventory mapped drives we first need to extend the sms_def.mof.  Mapped drives are in the...

Just an FYI that we recently released a new Infrastructure Planning and Design guide for Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 for R2.  So what's an Infrastructure Planning and Design guide?  Glad you asked.  Here's the official description: The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) series...

Ever wonder what's needed to setup and configure an RMS on a Win2K8 cluster?  If so then check out the doc that Arnab Mitra was kind enough to put together for us: ======== How to Configure/Setup RMS on a Windows 2008 Cluster. 1. On each RMS cluster node, ensure that the domain Operations Manager...

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has been working on a new guide - Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 with R2 . This guide targets key information to bring your infrastructure up to date, thereby enhancing user experience and delivering business benefits. Find out how new...

There may be times when you want to monitor an agent computer that resides in a domain which is not trusted by the domain where the RMS or MS server resides.  You may also not want to use the Gateway Server option because you only have one or two agents in the remote domain.  So what do you...

The day may come when you find that you need to move the package share (SMSPKGC$) to a different drive - say from the C: drive to the D: drive, and you don't want to have to recreate any existing packages or advertisements.  Should that day come, Rob Morris wrote up some steps you can follow to...

As I was making my normal Wednesday morning rounds I discovered that the OpsManager product team has a new post on their excellent Infrastructure Planning Guide for OpsMgr 2007 Service Pack 1.  Whether you're designing a new rollout or evaluating an old one, you'll want to check this out: =====...

I've been getting a few questions lately about slow performance with the console so I thought a post might be in order.  Luckily for me, Tim Helton, one of our top Support Escalation Engineers, had already written some great tips that he uses to troubleshoot these kinds of issues.  His notes...

The IPD Team just sent out an announcement concerning the IPD beta and how it now covers VMM 2008, OpsMgr 2007 and IIS 7.  Some of you probably already get this but just in case you don't I included it below: ======== We are pleased to announce that the Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) Beta...

Have you ever downloaded an OpsMgr 2007 Management Pack but had trouble figuring out what's new, what's changed or even how to use it?  If so then what you'll want to do is check out the MP's corresponding Management Pack Guide.  Out on our TechNet site we have a bunch of cool Management Pack...

Updated: 7/13/2011 I have had few cases recently where my customer has reinstalled their SMS sites but prior to doing so they failed to remove all the traces from the DB and Register etc. This can cause a lot of issues with the Hierarchy later so to make this process easier and to help prevent some...

Overview Everyone should be aware by now that Windows PowerShell is the latest scripting environment for managing and maintaining Windows servers, workstations and applications. This cube note provides a brief introduction to PowerShell resources and a few commands to get started with. Where to get Windows...

A question I get asked every now and then that doesn't seem to be particularly well documented is whether SMS 2003 supports renaming of the domain or domain migration.  While technically two different things, the short answer is no, we do not support changing the domain name that SMS 2003 is installed...

We recently released the very cool System Center Operations Manager 2007 SCW Roles and Security Hardening Guide for Windows Server 2003 and a brief description and download link is below.  Check it out: ======== Brief Description: The Operations Manager 2007 SCW Roles and Hardening guide help protect...

We have a couple updates to the old tried and true docs you might be interested in.  The updated docs and what's new or added are below: ======== Security Guide (April Update) - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d826b836-59e5-4628-939e-2b852ed79859&DisplayLang=en New topics...

The Operations Manager 2007 Capacity Planning model has now been released to the Web. The download is available here: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6fec1f12-a62c-4e8d-8a19-56879192adc3&DisplayLang=en The Capacity Planner 2007 Model for Operations Manager 2007 is for planning...

Last week I talked about the release of OpsMgr 2007 SP1 so I wanted to take a minute and post a link to the upgrade guide.  Depending on where you're coming from there may some gotchas you'll want to keep in mind, so before you head out on the upgrade path be sure to give this a good read: ====...

One of our Premier field Engineers, Ambrose Wong, wrote a fantastic Connector Quickstart Guide that Jakob Oleksy put out on his blog.  If you're interested in developing your own connectors then this is the place to start.  The intro is below but to get the entire 36 page doc see http://blogs...

My buddy Jamie recently posted a great write-up on how to review and analyze log files quickly and easily. It's a great post and if you ever have to troubleshoot any part of SMS 2003 or ConfigMgr 2007, or any System Center product for that matter, you need to check this out: ====== How do you parse...

Yea, I know this really isn't SMS/MOM/System Center specific but it's pretty cool no matter what Microsoft technology you're planning on rolling out.  So as you plan your migration to any of Microsoft’s latest OS and Office solutions, how great would it be to get a quick and accurate assessment...

Here's a link to a cool poster we have that can help you determine the proper targets when creating rules and monitors in System Center Operations Manager 2007. The poster shows some common scenario's with their associated "Do's" and "Don't's" that you can leverage for your own particular...

We get a few questions about Wake On LAN (WOL) every now and then so if this is something you're looking at implementing then here are a few tips and links to get you headed in the right direction. So why do I care about Wake On LAN?  WOL allows you to configure scheduled Configuration Manager 2007...

Here's a quick heads up that we just updated the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Performance and Scalability Guide to include Audit Collection Services (ACS) sizing information. You can download a hardcopy here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/3/6/d3633fa3-ce15-4071-be51-5e036a36f965/OM2007_PerfScal...

We had some new performance documentation about System Center Configuration Manager 2007 that went live on the month so here's a heads up and a link.  We've received a lot of good feedback on this so I think you'll find it helpful if you're planning a rollout any time soon. ====== The topics in...

Can't decide whether or not to protect you DP?  Sounds like a silly question but in reality there are a lot of things that you'll need to consider.  Learn about the pros and cons in our latest doc update below: ====== Decide Whether to Protect the Distribution Point Topic last updated—November...