Hardware Inventory SCCM:
Figure: 1
Flow Chart for hardware Inventory:
It has been seen in a lot of cases that Auditors without having core knowledge of the subject come up with strange things . Once of my SCCM Fellow faced a problem wherein the auditors asked him to stop BITS and WMI on all the machines . In case you face the same kind of issue in your projects , Please make sure that you ask the auditors the questions " What are the bad impact do you see when we keep these services running "
And By the way , We cannot live without BITS and WMI being stooped. BITS being stopped would mean our network will choke .
Off Late I have been in touch with a lot of SCCM Admins who have been giving Interviews in Various Companies . I have noticed a pattern which is specific to specific companies . Some of the generic questions being asked are :
Some Reporting Related Questions Could be :
Write a SQl Script to find all the programs in Add Remove Programs
Write a SQl to find Xp machines in the Environment
Trust me !! If you have Answers to these questions , you will get 50 % questions similar to ones mentioned above ( Unless the Interviewer sees this post ;-) )
However If you are getting Interviewed by me Do not expect even a Single question from the above list .
Are you Working on a SCCM Design and Architect Project ?
Are you wandering on how to get relevant Information ?
Well !! Below are some set of question you Must ask your Client before you proceed with the SCCM Design and Architecture ?
- What are the company expectations for growth or contraction?
- Are there any non-Domain clients that should be managed
- Will 3rd Party Software be considered as part of the project? (ie. 1E Nomad)
Inventory Question ( HARDWARE + SOFTWARE)
- How often should it be updated?
- Classes that should be collected
How Often Software Distribution will take place
What is the size of Software to be pushed
How Frequently OSD will be done
Do we have a big OSD plan in place ?
Do you require Cloud DP's
Similarly , a lot of other Important Design questions needs to be asked before you start !!
It is very important to understand that with SCCM 2012 , Distribution Points have the capability to Throttle and Schedule the Network Traffic coming towards it . However still , the Network data flow between DP and clients cannot be managed using Throttling and Scheduling feature of Distribution Point . For this various ways you may use are :
Place a Distribution point at a location which is closest to other branches where you cannot place a DP . Make sure that there is a direct link between these locations .
Place as many DP's as you can .