Some key takeaways from the CEP session on migrating from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012. Session hosted by Eric Orman and Jeroen van Eesteren, both from Microsoft.
How migrations were commonly handled in ConfigMgr 2007:
- Clients were reassigned and updated
- Objects were migrated using scripts and custom tools
- Infrastructure was implemented side by side
- Inventory data was either regenerated or preserved
What ConfigMgr 2012 will offer in regards of migration:
- Assistance for migrating objects and clients
- Minimizing WAN impact
- Flattening the ConfigMgr hierarchy
- Maximizing the re-usability of x64 hardware
Migration functionality will come out-of-the-box with ConfigMgr 2012:
- Automated object migration (collections, packages, boundaries, metering rules, etc …)
- DP sharing: fallback to ConfigMgr 2007 DP for obtaining migrated content
- Content prestaging (similar functionality as the PkgPreLoadOnSite utility)
- Distribution point upgrade to reduce requirement to redistribute content
High-level migration steps:
- Enable migration by specifying a ConfigMgr 2007 source central site
- Enable DP Sharing
- Define migration jobs
- Upgrade and re-assign clients to a ConfigMgr 2012 site
- Distribute or leverage DP sharing for deployment of migrated objects to new 2012 clients
- After client migration start distributing content to ConfigMgr 2012 DP
- Decommission ConfigMgr 2007 Infrastructure
Objects supported for migration:
- Collections
- Advertisements
- Boundaries
- Software Packages and Virtual App packages
- Software update objects: deployments, deployment packages, templates and update lists
- OSD objects: boot images, driver packages, drivers, images, packages and task sequences
- DCM / Settings Management elements: Baselines and CI’s
- Asset Intelligence customizations
- Software Metering Rules
How to prepare your environment for migration:
- Get to the ConfigMgr 2007 SP2 level as a minimum
- Collections best practices:
- Avoid using mixed collections containing users and devices
- Avoid collections using multiple query rules which limit to different collections
- Use UNC paths for defining package sources. Avoid using local paths.
- Site codes must remain unique between ConfigMgr 2007 and ConfigMgr 2012 sites
Just a few days ahead of the next Configuration Manager CEP session I’m publishing my notes from the previous session on Mobile Device Management. Session presented by Hassen Karaa, Program Manager at Microsoft.
Microsoft Mobile Device Mgmt summary
- Formerly accomplished using Configuration Manager 2007 R3 and Mobile Device Manager 2008 SP1
- Functionality now unified in Configuration Manager 2012
- ConfigMgr will become the "single pane of glass" for managing servers, desktops and mobile devices.
- Using Exchange connector
- Depth Management of WinCE 6.0 Windows Mobile 6.x, WP 6.5 and Nokia Symbian based devices
- Secure enrollment
- Monitoring and remediation on device compliance
- Deployment of applications and configuration policies
Exchange connector
- Provides the single pane of glass for all assets in the enterprise
- Transfers management aspect of mobile devices from the Exchange admin to Configuration Manager
- Supports Exchange 2010 (and hosted Exchange)
- Supports all EAS capable devices (WP7, iOS, Symbian, Android, Palm, Etc …)
Management
- Overview:
Device Enrollment
- Secure over-the-air enrollment to simplify the end-user experience
- Establishes mutual trust between the device and the management server
Remote Device Wipe
- Administrator can wipe devices from the console
- Users can wipe devices from the application catalog
New features for Software Distribution:
- Application model
- Incorporates all supported Software types (MSI, Script, Etc …)
- Dependency handling improvements
- Requirement rules for installation
- Application supersedence and uninstall
- UDA (User Device Affinity)
- Unified monitoring experience
- Content Management (DP Groups and content library)
My notes from the CMCep Theme 8 session on Software Update Management (SUM).
Session from January 26th, hosted by Jason Githens. Jason is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft and will also be presenting at the upcoming MMS 2011 event.
Configuration
- Superseded Update support
- Persist SCCM 2007 behavior and automatically expire superseded updates
- Or Configure SCCM 2012 not to automatically expire them
- Supersedence expiration setting can go up to 99 months (3 is common at most customers)
- RBA
- Specific roles and scopes for Software Update Management
- Agent Settings
- Client agent settings per collection (eg. Workstations vs Servers scenarios)
- Ability to define collections to which software updates do not get applied
- Migration support (SCCM 2007)
- Migrate templates and searches built in SCCM 2007
- Preserve existing Update Lists or Deployments
- Important: SUP configuration for products & classifications must be idential on SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012
With some delay I finally managed to wrap up my notes from the last ConfigMgr 2012 CEP session. Topic for Theme 7 is Compliance and Settings Management, formerly known as Desired Configuration Management (or DCM) in Configuration Manager 2007.
The session is presented by Onur Koc, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft. Next to Compliance and Settings Management he is also responsible for the Power Management features in Configuration Manager 2012.
Vision:
- Provide a unified platform for customers and partners to define, monitor, enforce and report configuration compliance in the enterprise for users accross all supported ConfigMgr devices.
Key TakeAways:
Simplified Administration Experience
- Role Based Access Control (RBAC): builtin role for Compliance Settings Management
- CI Creation by browsing a master (or gold) system
- Baseline creation is simplified
Baseline Deployment
- Terminology change: "Assignment" as known in ConfigMgr 2007 is no longer used.
- This is consistent throughout other ConfigMgr features.
User & Device targetting
- Compliance SLA’s and Alerting
- Per user evaluation and remediation
Monitoring Compliance status
- From within the SCCM console
- Report on remediation, conflict and errors
Monitoring vs Remediation
- Automated Remediation for registry, WMI and script based settings
- Remediation reporting to identify what settings were reconfigured
CI Revisioning and Audit tracking
- CI Versioning capabilities
- Audit changes (eg who modified what and when)
Support for mobile phones
- Support for WM 6.1 and WP 6.5.x
- Windows Phone 7 not supported
Migration from SCCM 2007
- Investments on v4 config packs will be maintained
- Import CI’s and Baselines into ConfigMgr 2012
- Migration tool will automatically convert v4 schemas to v5
Noteworthy items from the Q&A:
- Monitoring compliance status will also be possible using a new Management Pack for System Center Operations manager.
- Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 release still on schedule for H1 release. Quality driven so if needed some slip will be allowed.
Below are some key takeaways from the Configuration Manager 2012 CEP session on OSD, which took place on December 15th. Session speaker for this topic was John Vintzel, Senior Program Manager in the Configuration Manager team.
Offline servicing:
- A feature allowing to update an OS stored in the Configuration Manager library, eliminating the need to redeploy and recapture it.
- Beneficial for reducing deployment time and exposure to vulnerabilities during deployment
- Allows for scheduled updating at any time
- Based on the DISM tool (from the WAIK)
- Works for Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 and later OS’s, for all CBS based updates
Media Updates:
- Prestart command (used to be pre-execution hook) improvements
- No more complex steps to add prestart command to media
- Ability to include files and add media specific variables
- Available with prestaged, bootable and standalone media
- Automation improvements
- Improvements to help with Zero Touch deployments. No more "click Next".
- Unattended boot media mode, eliminating most forms of user intervention
- Deployment selection from prestart command (scripts, custom HTA …)
- Hierarchy-wide Media
- Media no longer tied to a specific site
- Media will dynamically find site and MP based on boundaries
- Overrides and site specific media are also available
USMT 4.0 Integration:
- Easy and integrated way to use USMT 4.0 features with Configuration Manager
Application Integration:
- New SWD features can also be used for OSD
- Install application for Applications or install Packages for classic packages and programs
- Real time requirement evaluation and honoring of dependencies
- Applications do require installation mode for systems
User Device Affinity (UDA):
- Define user and device relationship during rollout of the machine
- Administrator defines the setting for UDA (do not allow, require approval or auto-approve)
- Associated to certificate, which can be revoked at any time
- Available to boot media, prestaged media and PXE
Apps and UDA new features allow different approach and specific usage scenarios:
- Use applications for complex software installations
- Use task sequence for the deployment of an OS
Centralized Management:
- Improved experience for centralized administration
- Components used for OSD can be managed from the CAS or primary site
- Also Task Sequences are global data which can be deployed from the CAS or primary site
- Computer Import and Association can occur from CAS or primary site
(Association requires 2 systems from the same site)
- OSD related roles like Distribution Point, PXE Service Point and State Migration point can only be installed at a site, as no client are managed directly from the CAS.
Recently I have been involved in a service mapping exercise. During these offerings a specific tool is used to create the actual service maps: the Service Map Designer. This tool can be best described as a lightweight Visio specifically designed for creating service maps.
When installing the utility on a Windows 7 x64 workstation I ensured all prerequisites were in place. The tool installed flawlessly but when trying to create a new service map or opening up an existing one the following error is returned:
First step in the troubleshooting process was going over the prerequisites again:
Prerequisites for the tool as per the documentation:
- Net Framework 4
- Visio 2010
All requirements are met, so no issues there.
Eventually it turned out the problem was related to the x64 installer of the package: although the OS on the workstation is x64, the installed version of Microsoft Office 2010 (Visio) was the x86 edition. To resolve the issue the x64 version of the Service Map Designer was removed and replaced by the x86 version.
Conclusion: the version of the Service Map Designer must be identical to the architecture of Office, not the OS. In other words: if you are running an x86 version of Microsoft Office (Visio), then the x86 installer of the Service Map Designer tool is to be used, regardless of the architecture of the Operating System.
To my knowledge this is not (yet) documented anywhere – so this post might save you some troubleshooting time.
Just before the weekend, on the 19th of November, the Opalis product team announced that version 6.3 is RTM.
New features as outlined in the release notes:
- Windows Server 2008 Compatibility
- Integration pack for System Center Configuration Manager
- Integration pack for System Center Service Manager
- Integration pack for System Center Virtual Machine Manager
- Integration pack for System Center Data Protection Manager
- Integration pack for System Center Operations Manager
A few key links to start test driving the product:
- Download the 180-day trial version here.
- Read the release notes here.
- System requirements and installation instructions are documented in the release notes.
I will be posting about my lab experiences with Opalis 6.3 shortly.
At the TechEd Europe conference in Berlin the official name for Configuration Manager vNext was announced: as of now we can refer to it as Configuration Manager 2012! During a visit at the System Center booth I had to opportunity to talk to Mark Florida about the next version and walk through a pre beta 2 installation. Pretty cool features are on the horizon and I’m looking forward to test drive the next beta as soon as possible.
Looks like Configuration Manager is not the only product being stamped “2012″: during yesterdays (only) session on Operations Manager vNext there was also a reference to the name Operations Manager 2012. According to the roadmap information currently available both products are expected to RTM in 2011.
November will be a busy month with plenty of opportunity to learn about System Center products and meet people with the same interests. Two events for next month which I have marked on my calendar:
1) System Center Day
This event is hosted by the Belgian System Center User Group, or SCUG. On the agenda are a wide variety of System Center topics presented by the SCUG team MVP’s and some top speakers from Microsoft like Wally Mead and Travis Wright.
Place to be on the 3rd of November is Living Tomorrow in Vilvoorde, Belgium. Agenda and registration details can be found here.
2) TechEd Europe
The yearly re-occurring Microsoft event for the IT professional. The opportunity to update your skills, learn about the latest Microsoft technologies and meet with peers. Having had a quick peek on the session scheduler there will be plenty of sessions on SCCM vNext and other upcoming and recently released SC products.
This year the event is taking place again in Berlin. From the 8th till the 12th of November. More details on the TechEd Europe homepage.
If you would like to meet up at one of these events, make sure to leave a comment or send a mail.
