Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager: Administration Cookbook

Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager: Administration Cookbook

by Brian Mason, Greg Ramsey
Released September 2012
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781849684941

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Book description

Over 50 practical recipes to administer System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.

  • Administer System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
  • Provides fast answers to questions commonly asked by new administrators
  • Skip the why’s and go straight to the how-to’s
  • Gain administration tips from System Center 2012 Configuration Manager MVPs with years of experience in large corporations

In Detail

Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (CM12) is a systems management application for managing large groups of Windows-based computer systems. System Center 2012 Configuration Manager provides remote control, patch management, software distribution, operating system deployment, network access protection, and hardware and software inventory.

This practical cookbook shows you how to administer System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and understand how to solve particular problems/scenarios

Packed with over 50 task-based and immediately reusable recipes, this book starts by showing you how to design a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Infrastructure. The book then dives into topics such as recommended SQL configuration for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, deploying Windows 7 with Operating System Deployment (OSD), deploying Applications and Software Updates, managing Compliance Settings, managing Sites and managing Inventory amongst others.

Table of contents

  1. Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager: Administration Cookbook
    1. Table of Contents
    2. Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager: Administration Cookbook
    3. Credits
    4. About the Authors
    5. About the Reviewers
    6. www.PacktPub.com
      1. Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more
        1. Why Subscribe?
        2. Free Access for Packt account holders
        3. Instant Updates on New Packt Books
    7. Preface
      1. What this book covers
      2. What you need for this book
      3. Who this book is for
      4. Conventions
      5. Reader feedback
      6. Customer support
        1. Errata
        2. Piracy
        3. Questions
    8. 1. Designing a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Infrastructure
      1. Introduction
      2. Dividing up site system roles
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Offloading the SUP
          2. Offloading Endpoint Protection
          3. Offloading SQL Reporting Services
        5. See also
      3. Creating migration jobs
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Using multiple sites
          2. Re-migrating objects
          3. DP sharing
        5. See also
      4. Installing SQL the right way
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Installing SQL with an unattend file
          2. Setting some limits
          3. SQL file layout
          4. Helping SQL
        5. See also
      5. Managing Internet-facing clients
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. See also
      6. Using remote and workstation distribution points, and BranchCache
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works…
        4. There's more...
          1. When to choose BranchCache
          2. When to choose a workstation distribution point
          3. When to choose a server-class distribution point
        5. See also
    9. 2. Deploying Windows 7 with Operating System Deployment
      1. Introduction
      2. Creating an OSD test environment
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. The reference image in a VM
          2. The production build in a VM
      3. Leveraging the build and capture process
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating bootable media
          2. Deploying the task sequence to a device collection
          3. Starting the build process, and troubleshooting information
        5. See also
      4. Migrating user state
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
        5. See also
      5. Managing drivers
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Auto Apply Drivers
          2. Applying a driver package
          3. Customizing with WMI conditional statements
        5. See also
      6. Customizing the build process with prestart hooks
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
        5. See also
      7. Patching your reference build
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. See also
      8. Leveraging the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with CM12 OSD
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
        5. See also
    10. 3. Deploying Applications and Software Updates
      1. Introduction
      2. Creating applications and deployment types
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating deployment types
          2. Specifying application settings
          3. Distributing an application to your DPs
          4. Deploying an application to workstations
        5. See also
      3. Managing Software Center and Application Catalog
        1. How to do it...
        2. There's more...
        3. See also
      4. Preparing for software updates
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. The Active Software Update Point
          2. Enabling software updates on clients
      5. Creating and monitoring software updates
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating a software update deployment
          2. Monitoring the deployment
        5. See also
      6. Leveraging Automatic Deployment Rules
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
      7. Reducing collection dependencies with conditional rules and global conditions
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Testing the application using a Simulated Deployment
      8. Deploying custom updates
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
        5. See also
      9. Converting classic packages to applications
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
      10. Creating and deploying Virtual Applications (App-V)
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
      11. Superseding applications
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
      12. Monitoring content and deployment status
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
    11. 4. Managing Compliance Settings
      1. Introduction
      2. Building Configuration Items
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Disabling the local guest account
          2. Disabling Internet Connection Sharing
          3. Verifying recent antivirus definition
        5. See also
      3. Creating and deploying a baseline
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Piloting the baseline
          2. Testing the baseline
          3. Managing revisions
            1. See also
      4. Leveraging Security Compliance Manager
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Adding an additional CI to the baseline
        5. See also
      5. Monitoring compliance with SSRS
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating a file-based subscription
        5. See also
    12. 5. Managing Sites
      1. Introduction
      2. Managing collections
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating maintenance windows
          2. Configuring power management
          3. Configuring alerts
          4. Import/export and copying collections
        5. See also
      3. Configuring site maintenance
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Setting up a Network Access Account
          2. Disabling unused Status Filter Rules
          3. Designating a fallback site
        5. See also
      4. Managing site communications
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. There's more...
          1. Configuring bandwidth restrictions on standalone DPs
      5. Configuring discovery
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Enabling Active Directory System Discovery
          2. Enabling Active Directory User Discovery
          3. Enabling Active Directory Group Discovery
        5. See also
      6. Managing Boundary Groups
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Adding/editing Boundary Groups from the Boundaries node
        5. See also
      7. Managing role-based security
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating scopes to manage security boundaries
          2. Defining administrator groups
          3. Setting security scopes on DPs
        5. See also
      8. Configuring the Application Catalog
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
        5. See also
      9. Managing and validating content for DPs and DP groups
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Monitoring the content status
          2. Monitoring DP group status
          3. Monitoring the DP configuration status
          4. Validating the content
        5. See also
    13. 6. Managing Clients
      1. Introduction
      2. Deploying clients
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Discovering computers
          2. Configuring security
          3. Pushing the client to a collection
          4. Pushing the client to all computers automatically
        5. See also
      3. Managing client health
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Viewing health in the console
          2. Viewing health in SRS reports
          3. Viewing alerts in the console
          4. Disabling client remediation
        5. See also
      4. Managing client settings
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Hiding all notifications
          2. Deploying Endpoint Protection
        5. See also
      5. Monitoring client installation and activity
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
        5. See also
      6. Making use of user centric improvements
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Associating users to devices
        5. See also
      7. Configuring power management
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Copying Power Management settings from another computer
          2. Enabling users to opt out of power management
          3. Creating an "always on" collection
          4. Configure wakeup time, but no other settings
          5. Monitoring Power Management with Reporting
        5. See also
    14. 7. Managing Inventory
      1. Introduction
      2. Managing hardware inventory
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Extending hardware inventory
          2. Using RegKeytoMof
          3. Backing up your classes
        5. See also
      3. Managing software inventory
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Adding new software inventory rules
          2. Creating a software inventory rule with a custom client policy
          3. Ignoring other options
        5. See also
      4. Managing software metering
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Automatically creating metering rules based on recent usage data
          2. Reviewing metering reports
          3. Automating uninstall processes to remove unused software
          4. Leveraging CCM_RecentlyUsedApps
      5. Monitoring inventory data flow
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
          1. Client
          2. Management Point
          3. Site
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
      6. Integrating Asset Intelligence
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Submitting applications to Microsoft for categorization
        5. See also
    15. 8. Managing Reports and Queries
      1. Introduction
      2. Installing SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Remote SSRS – remote RSP
        5. See also
      3. Configuring Reporting Services
        1. Getting ready…
        2. How to do it…
          1. Making the SSRS server an RSP
          2. Saving your CAS or primary – cache reports
      4. See also
      5. Sharing your reports with others
        1. Getting Ready…
        2. How to do it…
      6. Building queries
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating subselect queries in T-SQL
          2. Creating a WMI query
          3. Creating a WMI-based query collection
          4. Creating subselect queries in WMI
        5. See also
      7. Editing and creating reports
        1. Getting ready
        2. How to do it...
        3. How it works...
        4. There's more...
          1. Creating a new report with Report Builder 3.0
          2. Incorporating readability aids in your report
          3. Uploading reports to the RSP
        5. See also
    16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager: Administration Cookbook
  • Author(s): Brian Mason, Greg Ramsey
  • Release date: September 2012
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781849684941