Configuration Manager with Jason Lewis

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Create a Bundle

2009-06-15T17:57:00Z

Here is the next in a series of SCUP screencast. Today’s topic covers “SCUP – Create a Bundle”. Enjoy!

Here is the sample code to create a bundle.

<sdp:UpdateSpecificData UpdateClassification="Updates" />
<sdp:BundledPackages>
<sdp:PackageID></sdp:PackageID>
</sdp:BundledPackages>

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Create an Update with a Prerequisite

2009-06-08T23:36:11Z

Here is the next in a series of SCUP screencast. Today’s topic covers “SCUP – Create an Update with a Prerequisite”. Enjoy!

Here is the sample code to create an update with prerequisite.

<sdp:Prerequisites>
    <sdp:AtLeastOne>
        <sdp:PackageID><!-- My package ID -></sdp:PackageID>
      </sdp:AtLeastOne>
</sdp:Prerequisites>

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Resigning an Update

2009-06-02T03:30:31Z

Here is the next in a series of SCUP screencast. Today’s topic covers “SCUP – Resigning an Update”. Enjoy!

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Revising an Update

2009-05-27T01:09:35Z

Here is the next in a series of SCUP screencast. Today’s covers “SCUP – Revising an Update”. Enjoy!

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Publishing an Update

2009-05-22T21:58:21Z

Here is a new screencast covering SCUP. Today’s topic is “SCUP – Publishing an Update”. Don’t forget you can maximize the screen size to get a better view of the demo. Also here is a link to details steps on publishing an update. Enjoy!

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Creating an Update

2009-05-18T23:51:19Z

Here is my next screencast, today’s topic is “SCUP – Creating an Update”. If you have any questions or comments please post them in the comments section below. Enjoy!

Reference: Using Third Party Certificate with SCUP

2009-03-31T02:33:36Z

Here is a great blog article written by colleague Steve Rachui on how to use a third party certificate with SCUP. This has been a frequent customer question and it is great to have an article that covers this topic. Thanks Steve!

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Finding, Managing & Importing Catalogs

2009-02-28T02:58:00Z

Here is my second screencast for SCUP, this time covering finding, managing and importing catalogs. If you have any questions or comments about the screencast please post those to the comments section below Enjoy!

Screencast: System Center Updates Publisher – Installation

2009-02-17T00:40:00Z

This here is my first screencast, covering System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) installation. I’m planning on doing several more of these in the future. If you have any topic ideas, please use the “Email” link above to send them to me. Also don’t forget to maximize the screen so you can see everything clearly. Enjoy!

New Configuration Manager Blog

2009-01-22T23:00:27Z

The Configuration Manager team now has a team blog. You can find it here: http://blogs.technet.com/configmgrteam

Here you will find in depth content regarding anything Configuration Manager related. Enjoy!

What are bundles, drivers, detectoids and updates with prerequisites?

2009-01-07T00:10:00Z

There have been some questions regarding the new update types introduced in System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) 4.0. Here I will try to clarify a few things.

First off the SCUP console does not support creating, editing or duplicating any of these update types. If you need to create them the best option would be to use the schema files (found in the “data” folder) and generate the updates manually with a XML editor then import it into SCUP to publish. The only actions the SCUP console supports are importing, exporting, publishing, expiring and deleting.

Here is more detailed information on the new update types…

Bundle
Bundles are a logical grouping of one or more updates. Bundles themselves do not have a payload (binary update) but instead reference other updates that do have payloads (or other bundles). An example of a bundle is when you have a single type of machine, lets say “Model 123” which has updates for the video card, sound card and NIC card. You can group all those updates into “Model 123 January Bundle” which allows the IT administrator to approve the bundle verses all the individual updates.

Driver
Driver updates are exactly what it sounds like. Driver updates don’t have the typical, Prerequisite, Installable and Installed rules but rather uses driver metadata to determine if the update is needed. Driver properties such as hardware ID, driver ID, manufacturer, model, class and version are used to determine applicability.

Prerequisites
Updates can now reference other updates as prerequisites. Which means that before an update can be installed it must have the prerequisite update installed. There are a couple common uses for this, one would be to define detectoid prerequisites (more on that in the detectoid section) and another would be to reference another update that the main update is dependant on. For example if you have an update for a product that does not roll up a prior update, then you can reference the first update as a prerequisite to the new update. This will force that the first update is installed before the new update is applied.

Detectoid
Detectoids are really a root level rule. Meaning detectoid updates do not have a payload and only include Installed rules. An example of a detectoid would be one with a single rule that verifies the OS language is English. Or an update with a single rule that verifies the CPU architecture is x86. Detectoids verify a single object, such as OS language, OS version, product version or CPU architecture type. A single detectoid would not look for both OS version and OS language, that would be two separate detectoids. To use detectoids with an update you need to reference the detectoids as a prerequisite to your update.

Updates that use detectoids are preferred over individual updates that just use prerequisite rules defined in the update itself. This might be a little confusing so let me clarify. There are now prerequisite updates which are references to another update(s) that must be installed before this update can be installed. Secondly there are prerequisite rules, those are the rules defined inside the update itself that determine if the core requirements are met before going forward with scanning for the update.

A list of well known detectoid IDs can be found here. Lastly here is some information on how to create correct detection logic as well as detectoids.

System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) 4.5 has Released!

2008-12-15T23:39:00Z

SCUP 4.5 has been released to the web and can be downloaded here.

New in version 4.5

New command line tool (SCUPSync.exe) that allows for automatic import and publishing of updates. This tool will enable customers to synchronize full catalogs into their Configuration Manager environments without user interaction. Also with the help of software distribution or Windows Task Scheduler customers will be able to schedule their catalog synchronizations.
The ability to publish updates as “Metadata Only”. This will enable customers to publish entire catalogs without worrying about disk space for all the update binaries.
The ability to authenticate to proxy servers inside the SCUP console.

I will be blogging more details on the release over the next several weeks.

System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) 4.0 has released.

2008-08-25T19:27:00Z

SCUP 4.0 has release and can be downloaded here.

New in version 4.0

Ability to import and publish the following update types: bundle, driver, detectoid and updates with pre-requisites.
New “Software Update Details” view with “Dependencies” tab that displays update dependencies (prerequisites for a single update or children of an update bundle).
Note: none of the above update types can be duplicated or edited in the SCUP console (only export ,import, flag for publish, expire, delete and publish is available)

Who is using System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) 3.0

2008-07-18T20:36:00Z

If you are using SCUP I would like to hear from you and possibly discuss what you think of the product. Please use the "Email" link above and let me know how you use it and include any comments you have about the product.

Thanks...
_Jason

System Center Configuration Manager SP1 & R2 video!

2008-05-07T19:43:00Z

The link below is a video one of my co-workers (Bryan Keller) did at the end MMS last week. It covers some of the things we are working on for Configuration Manager SP1 & R2. Enjoy...

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Whats-coming-in-System-Center-Configuration-Manager-with-Bryan-Keller/