What does a DDR ( Data Discovery Record Contain) in SCCM ?

Has anyone asked you this question :

 

What does a DDR Contain :

 

Well !! The answer is : NETBIOS NAME , IP ADDRESS , AD SITE NAME , DOMAIN NAME ,DISCOVERY METHOD USED and Other Relevant Information.

 

 

DDR Vs RDR

Well !! Most of us are familiar with DDR's but perhaps very few of us know what a RDR is :

 

When SCCM Discovers a Client a DDR is created . For a Client to be managed a DDR has to exist in SCCM DB . However in cases of Initial registration , a Registration Discovery Record called as RDR is created.

 

*****Hope you have learnt something new Today !!********

USER and SID in SCCM 2012

Every user in SCCM that is being discovered by SCCM 2012 from Active Directory has a Unique SID assigned to it . Config Manager recognizes every user in SCCM 2012 using this SID which eventually is seen  a user in the Console.

When you double click a user in Console you will find that it has a unique SID attached to it :

Now see the below snap Shot you will find that in the rebootcoordinator.log , SCCM identifies users using this SID :

Your machine requires a Restart - New Look in SCCM 2012 Clients !!

Well !! In SCCM 2012 the Client Restart icon has changed so just felt like sharing the new look of this Icon to you :

 

Server up time and Last Inventory Report - Customized Using SCCM 2012.

Well !! Most of us are worried about whether our server had a sudden reboot !! Though there are many tools that can be used to Monitor the same , however if in case you do not have any of these tools then the same can be monitored using the below script :

 

SELECT

os.Caption0 as ‘Server Type’,

cs.Name0 as 'Server Name',

DateDiff(hour,os.LastBootUpTime0,ws.LastHWScan) as 'Uptime (in Hours)',

os.LastBootUpTime0 as 'Last Reboot Date',

ws.LastHWScan as 'Last Hardware Inventory'

FROM v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM cs

INNER JOIN v_GS_Operating_System os

ON cs.ResourceID = os.ResourceID

LEFT OUTER JOIN v_GS_WORKSTATION_STATUS ws

ON ws.ResourceID = os.ResourceID

WHERE os.Caption0 LIKE '%server%'

AND ws.LastHWScan <> 0 AND cs.Name0 IS NOT NULL

 

SCCM 2012 Collections - TYPES

In SCCM 2012 there are four types of Collections

1. Direct Rule : Members can be added Directly

2. Query : Members can be added using Query

3. Include : Memebrs can be other collection

4. Exclude : Members can be excluded.

SCCM 2012 Fact Points

 

 

1. In SCCM 2012 a Collection can have either systems or Users . We cannot have a mixed collection . In SCCM 2007 this was possible .

2. By Default an address is created from parent to Child and Child to parent when we add a new site to a hierarchy

3. Default time when a Client interacts with MP to find out if there is a new policy for them is 60 minutes . Maximum time frame is 24 hours.

4.           SCCM Clients are sensible enough to throttle traffic if they use                    BITS

 

SCCM report to find softwares installed in Add remove programs

Many a times you might to find out softwares that are being installed on all the systems in add remove programs . The query for the same is :

Select sys.Name0,adv.DisplayName0 FROM v_R_System sys , v_Add_Remove_Programs adv

where sys.ResourceID=adv.ResourceID

 

However if you want to find softwares installed in Add remove programs for a specific machine then the query will be :

 

Select sys.Name0,adv.DisplayName0 FROM v_R_System sys , v_Add_Remove_Programs adv
where sys.ResourceID=adv.ResourceID and sys.Name0 like '%Machine Name%'

 

SCCM Client Server Architecture

SCCM Is based on Client Server Architecture which means that the clients requests data from the server and the server based on certain criterion sends the data to the Client .

 

Now the point is that How does the client know where is the server is and how does it finds it . Well !! the answer is : Using Active Directory and to be precise " Active Directory Domain Services "

SCCM Patch Deployment Process

ment Process

 

How Software Updates Work
Figure 1 shows a high level overview of the software updates process in Configuration Manager.
Figure 1: Software Updates Overview
Table 2 describes each step of the Software Update process in more detail.
Step Description
1. Configuration Manager Site Server triggers a synchronisation of the SUP. This is performed on a schedule, or can be
manually triggered using the Configuration Manager Administrator Console.
2. This signals WSUS on the SUP to contact the Microsoft Update servers and download Update Metadata on all
selected products and categories. No updates are downloaded to the SUP, just metadata describing the updates and
how to detect them, and any applicable license information.
3. The metadata is retrieved by the Configuration Manager site server and stored in the Configuration Manager
database. At this stage, clients can start to report information back to the Configuration Manager server on the patch
status. The clients contact the SUP in order to retrieve Update Metadata and the Update Agent can perform a scan.
This information is sent to Configuration Manager server where an IT Administrator can view the status of software
updates across the healthcare organisation’s infrastructure.
4. Having decided which software updates are required for the healthcare organisation, the IT Administrator can now
create Search Folders (to allow required updates to be viewed easily), Update Lists (which allow compliance reports
to be viewed and updates to be grouped) and Deployment Packages (which contain the binary files necessary to
update the clients). At this stage, the IT Administrator can either download the updates from the Microsoft Update,
ready for a deployment in the future, or create the deployment at the same time.

5. The IT Administrator creates the deployment. A deployment is carried out by specifying the Deployment Package
that will be deployed, associating that package with a Collection and specifying or creating a Deployment Template.
Once the deployment is configured, the Configuration Manager server will place all update files (If not already done)
on the required DPs. A policy will be created and placed on the Management Point (MP) so clients know the new
updates are available and where they should be installed from.
6. Clients perform a scheduled scan for new updates and retrieve the policy from the MP. If any updates are applicable
on the client, they will be installed from the closest DP. As the client scans for required updates and installs them,
State Messages are sent to the Configuration Manager infrastructure so the IT Administrator has an up-to-date view
of the status of the deployment.
7. Once the synchronisation at the Central Site has occurred, a site-to-site replication of a synchronisation request is
sent to the child sites. This triggers the same actions as steps 1 to 3, the only difference being that the lower level
SUP will synchronise data with its parent, rather than going directly to the Microsoft Update servers.

WSUS Error in SCCM 2012 ? Checking for supported version of WSUS (min WSUS 3.0 SP2 + KB2720211 + KB2734608)

It has happened with a number of SCCM Implementors that when they try to sysnc updates in SCCM they get error in wsyncmgr and wcm.log files . If you happen to find this error:

The solution lies in the error itself . First you have to make sure that for SCCM 2012 Sp1 you must have WSUS 3.0 SP2 installed with patches KB2720211 + KB2734608) . Once this is done you may sync and the sync will work fine . Also make sure that in the SUp configuration the http port should be port 80 .

SCCM 2007 WMI Repair Issues

I have seen a lot of Young SCCM admins actually finding it hard to keep the health of their SCCM 2007 clients as healthy. I found this article published by a SCCM expert and wanted to share it with you guys 

 

Here is Batch script that check the functionality of wmi using simple wmic command:

wmic computersystem get name

if the the above command gives any output,script exit else repair it.

Here is the complete Batch script :

REM Check if WMI is functioning correctly or not

REM Get computername from WMI

wmic computersystem get name

IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 goto success

:failure

net stop ccmexec /y

net stop VMAuthdService /y

net stop winmgmt /y

c:

cd %systemroot%\system32\wbem

rd /S /Q repository

regsvr32 /s %systemroot%\system32\scecli.dll

regsvr32 /s %systemroot%\system32\userenv.dll

mofcomp cimwin32.mof

mofcomp cimwin32.mfl

mofcomp rsop.mof

mofcomp rsop.mfl

for /f %%s in (‘dir /b /s *.dll’) do regsvr32 /s %%s

for /f %%s in (‘dir /b *.mof’) do mofcomp %%s

for /f %%s in (‘dir /b *.mfl’) do mofcomp %%s

net start winmgmt

net start VMAuthdService

net start ccmexec

goto end

:success

goto end

:end

Some theory about WMI and how to check if it is working or not.

What is WMI (windows management Instrumentation)?

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is the infrastructure for management data and operations on Windows-based operating systems

WMI can be used in all Windows-based applications, and is most useful in enterprise applications and administrative scripts

For example, you can:

· Start a process on a remote computer.

· Schedule a process to run at specific times on specific days.

· Reboot a computer remotely.

· Get a list of applications installed on a local or remote computer.

· Query the Windows event logs on a local or remote computer.

How to connect to WMI (local or remote computer):

Type wbemtest from Run command

Click on Connect

The Default Name space is root\cimV2 .You have many namespaces available in WMI.

Click on Connect

Click on Enum Classes

Select Recursive

You can see lot of classes available for cimV2 name space. For more information about available classes in WMI namespace called cimV2 ,please look at here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa394084(v=vs.85).aspx with its description and objects within it.

Now you can see all the classes available within cimV2 name space.

To know more about what each class contains and its objects with in it

Double click on any class which you want to look at it and click on name which you desire

Now we will see how to execute to get required information with in WMI:

Go back to namespace called cimV2 shown below :

Click on Query:

Click on apply to see the results. You can execute any query which has correct syntax to get the correct information.

How do you run wbemtest on remote computer?

1. To connect remotely using tools like CIM Studio or Wbemtest, you must specify a namespace in the form “\\<machinename>\root\<namespace>”
For example: \\mymachine\root\cimv2 as shown below and perform the steps whatever you need as did above.

2.

How do you check remotely if WMI is working well or not ?

You do it via wbemtest or wmimgmt.msc from run command

 

See the error above. The RPC server is unavailable means something wrong with the computer could be machine doesn’t not exist on the network or name resolution or permission issue etc

If computer is connect successfully and if you look at properties of the computer ,you will see the below screen,

SCCM 2012 Client Settings Window

SCCM 2012 provides this cool feature where we can customize our Clients basis our requirements . Like if you want to enable Hardware Inventory , the frequency etc .

SCCM 2012 Distribution Point Installation Step by Step Guide .

Here I am !! Back with my guide on How to Set up Distribution Point in SCCM 2012 . Below screen shots will help you understand the concept and how to set up a DP .

One important thing is with regards the accounts being used for DP creation , I will take this part once we reach there .

This is am Important part , it is better to remain this option as default account if you are installing the DP on the SCCM Server .

SCCm 2012 Client Activity Window

SCCM 2012 Client Activity window : A very helpful feature

Remote control in SCCM 2012 !!

Remote Control is finally made usable during times when the user is not in front of the
device. CTRL-ALT-DEL is supported (again), a popular feature that was lost in ConfigMgr
2007 due to using the Windows Vista RDP, which allows administrators to get to the
logon dialog, as shown in Figure

 

 

Geographical view of SCCM Sites in SCCM 2012 !! New Feature of SCCM

SCCM Software Distribution Working

SCCM 2007 to SCCM 2012 Migration

Well there is no upgrade migration but yes there is side by side migration available.

If SQL is the heart of SCCM then WMI is the LifeBlood

               If SQL is the heart of SCCM then WMI is the LifeBlood

SMS_DEF.mof - Tedious Task of Editing it . No Longer in SCCM 2012

I AM LOVING IT !! 

 

yes , this is what you will say when you will come to know that you would no longer need to edit the ugly looking SMS_def.mof files for customization in Hardware Inventory !! All you need to add some new data in hardware is using the below Pop Up :