Forefront Client Security and Management Insights

Thoughts on Microsoft TechEd 2009 in LA

2009-05-27T20:52:00Z

Hi folks

First, I'd like to thank everyone who I got to chat with at the Forefront Client Security/Forefront codename "Stirling" both at TechEd 2009 in LA during mid-day. It's always a great experience to hear from customers directly

This year, I got a good amount of positive stories about customers who've deployed FCS v1 and are looking at the Stirling wave of products to migrate to. During those discussions, I heard lots of good suggestions for features and we are actively working on a set of them for our next milestone :-)

I'd like to open it up to any readers who have suggestions for FCS v2 / Stirling that you'd like to send my way - just leave me a comment!

Thanks

Chris

Automatically target your SCCM client installs using FCS Policy

2009-05-09T00:09:00Z

Hi folks

Here's a little tidbit that can help make deploying the FCS v1 agent package a little bit easier when you use SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) or any other 3rd party software distribution system. Let's take the following customer deployment scenario

Scenario

Customer size: 40k users

FCS v1 configuration: 4 FCS v1 "pods", all managed via the FCS Enterprise Manager

Since you've got 4 different FCS v1 pods, you need 4 seperate installer command lines (because each package needs to point to the proper Collection Role server - each server has a unique server name and management group name)

Anytime you need to push the client out to new assets, you have to ensure you pick the right one - also, 4 command lines means it's 4x as likely you'll make a typo :-(

Solution

FCS provides a built-in mechanism to automatically "target" assets to receive the FCS client install via WSUS - when you deploy an FCS v1 policy to the asset, we write a set of marker keys to the client that contain the MOM Management Group name and Server name.

If you deploy the client bits to the asset via SCCM and do not specify the Management Group and Server Name on the command line, the installer automatically checks the known registry key location for the values. Since you deployed the policy to the machine, those keys are present and the machine is properly installed with the correct parameters!

This means you can create a single package with no Management Group or Server name command line parameters, freeing you from typo's as well as having to maintain more than 1 package.

You can leverage the power of the WSUS deployment system's marker keys for any deployment tool you choose, making it just a little bit easier to deploy FCS v1 clients to your assets

Hope it helps

Chris

Forefront Stirling PM

Welcome to The Forefront Guy Blog!

2009-05-09T00:04:00Z

Hi folks

Welcome to The Forefront Guy Blog! I'll try to series of regular posts around Forefront Client Security v1 (all topics) and some tidbits of information on the upcoming Forefront codename Stirling release. I'll try to cover topics that help make deploying and managing FCS v1 and Stirling a little bit easier

Some background on myself: I was the Customer Program Manager for FCS v1, which means I spent pretty much all my time working with Microsoft IT and our collection of early adopter customers (TAP). For Forefront codename Stirling, my primary responsibility is around the overall Setup and Deployment experience, so I'll try to lend some insight into the what and why of the product (only publicly released features can be discussed!)

I'll be looking for your input - have a topic or question you haven't been able to get an answer to? Drop me a comment and I'll try to tackle it with a little insight from the inside

Thanks!

Chris

Forefront Stirling PM