With the recent Cumulative Update releases CU1,CU2 and now CU3 for Configuration Manager 2012 SP1,as Configmgr admin,you will have make sure to get the Configmgr clients are running on the Version of your Primary Site.

Each cumulative update will have its new Version with its previous Cumulative Update. so if you are upgrading from previous CU’s to Newly Released Cumulative Update,you may have to look at the client versions in your environment if they are all on same boat or not.

Update: Configmgr 2012 R2 CU1 version also added to the Report.

Use this below SQL query to count the Client Versions from Configmgr environment.You can create list of PC’s with the specific client version to drill down.

select "Client Version"=
case sys.Client_Version0
when ’5.00.0000.0000′ then ‘RTM (5.00.0000.0000)’
when ’5.00.7804.1000′ then ‘SP1 (5.00.7804.1000)’
when ’5.00.7804.1202′ then ‘SP1 CU1 (5.00.7804.1202)’
when ’5.00.7804.1300′ then ‘SP1 CU2 (5.00.7804.1300)’
when ’5.00.7804.1400′ then ‘SP1 CU3 (5.00.7804.1400)’
when ’5.00.7958.1000′ then ‘R2 (5.00.7958.1000)’

when ’5.00.7958.1203′ then ‘R2 CU1 (5.00.7958.1203)’

else ‘Others(non-Clients)’
End,count(*) [Total]
from v_R_System sys
where sys.Name0 not like ‘unknown’
group by sys.Client_Version0
order by 2 desc

Note:If you have configmgr 2007 clients appearing in CM12,you can add them too here using simple case statement. List of Client versions available on Wikipedia

SSRS Report:

Configmgr 2012 SSRS Report Count of Client Versions is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

This Blog post brings up some basics about Configmgr Client Actions, what they are and what each action does.

After you have installed the Configuration manager 2012 Client on computers, Client will installed (ccmsetup.log) with exit code 0 and It takes little while ,to register the client in Configuration manager Database, assigned to Site, load policies etc.

After a while, you can open Configuration manager applet from Control panel (shortcut to use: control smscfgrc from Run Command), go to Actions, you should see more than 2 actions, if not ,as usual start troubleshooting by looking into logs. On working Configmgr 2012 Client (normal Client but not site server Client), You would see around 11 actions (at least I see on my client) which you can run independently from schedules that are configured in Configuration Manager Console.

Actions:

Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle: This evaluation Cycle is applicable to software deployments (applications) .This action will re-evaluates the requirement rules for all deployments and make sure the application is installed on the computer. The default value is set to run every 7 days.

Discovery Data Collection Cycle: This actions can be considered as Heartbeat Discovery cycle. This action will resend the client information to site and keeping the client record Active ‘I am live’,also responsible to submits a client’s installation status to its assigned site(Status:Yes).If you are migrating the client from SP1 to R2 or R2 to CU1 ,it takes time to get the client version update in Console and update action is carried out by this Cycle.Heartbeat Discovery actions are recorded on the client in the InventoryAgent.log

If you accidentally delete a computer from the configmgr console, do not be panic, it will automatically "come back" if it is still active on the network.For this to happen,wait for the next heartbeat inventory cycle or try running Discovery Data Collection Cycle using manual method or use custom tools or script based.

To know more about what information is sent back to site,refer http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/jsandys/archive/2011/04/29/what%E2%80%99s-in-a-heartbeat.aspx

File Collection Cycle: This action is to search for specific file that you have defined in client Agent settings(Software inventory—collect Files).  If the software inventory client agent finds a file that should be collected, the file is attached to the inventory file and sent to the site.This action differs from software inventory in that it actually sends the file to the site , so that it can be later viewed using Resource Explorer.

The site server collects the five most recently changed versions of collected files and stores them in the <ConfigMgr installation directory>\Inboxes\Sinv.box\Filecol directory. If a file has not changed since the last software inventory was collected, the file will not be collected again.

Files larger than 20 MB are not collected by software inventory.The value Maximum size for all collected files (KB) in the Configure Client Setting dialog box displays the maximum size for all collected files. When this size is reached, file collection will stop. Any files already collected are retained and sent to the site.

Hardware Inventory Cycle: The first and very important action to send client inventory information.This is where,most of spending our time troubleshooting clients ,about why the client is not reporting inventory from X days .Many folks think that,hardware inventory is actually getting information about hardware but it is more than that.It inventory information about ‘add and remove programs ‘,OS info,RAM ,disk and many things.

Hardware inventory is WMI inventory that collects the information from WMI ,based on the settings you defined in Client agent settings—>Hardware inventory .Configmgr client will collect only the information that you have selected/customized in client agent settings  and send it to server. More info about inventory flow,http://be.enhansoft.com/post/2013/07/25/Troubleshooting-Inventory-Flow.aspx              Hardware inventory information will be logged into inventoryagent.log

You can use the collection available here to identify the computers not sending hardware inventory:http://eskonr.com/2009/08/sccm-collection-report-for-hardware-inventory-not-reported-for-x-days/

Machine Policy retrieval and Evaluation Cycle:This action is to download policies assigned to client computer.Anything that you assign to collection(group of computers) like client agent settings,applications related to deployment or what ever.By default,this action will be triggered based on a schedule ,what you have defined in Client agent settings (Policy polling interval (minutes).                                                     If you cannot wait until the policy polling interval,you can initiate this action(Adhoc Request),will start pulling the policies from management Point.This action results will be logged into policyagent.log,Policyevalutor.log,policyagentprovider.log

Software Inventory Cycle: Unlike hardware inventory,software inventory,inventory information about file system data and file properties such as .EXE (Executables).you can customize what executable files to be inventories which allows admins to report on software inventory.When this action runs, it inventory the information in the file header of the inventoried files and send to site . This information will be logged into inventoryagent.log on the client.If you are experiencing slow software inventory issues,refer http://be.enhansoft.com/post/2013/10/03/Slow-Software-Inventory-Cycle-in-SCCM-2012.aspx

so what is the difference between Hardware & software Inventory : Hardware inventory works on WMI to get the information about computer and software inventory works on files to get information in the file header.

Software Metering Usage Report Cycle:The name itself says,metering which means, Configmgr client monitor and collect software usage data for the software metering rules that are enabled on the Site .Client computers evaluate these rules during the machine policy interval and collect metering data and send it to site.

After you collect the usage data for specific application, you can use this information in different ways by creating collection.reporting etc. some of the uses of metering are given below:

• How many copies of a particular software program have been deployed to the computers in your organization. Among those computers, you can determine how many users actually run the program.
• How many licenses of a particular software program you have to purchase when you renew your license agreement with the software vendor.
• Whether users are still running a particular software program. If the program is not being used, you might retire the program.
• Which times of the day a software program is most frequently used.

Software updates deployment evaluation Cycle:This action will initiate scan for software updates compliance. Evaluates the state of new and existing deployments and their associated software updates. This includes scanning for software updates compliance, but may not always catch scan results for the latest updates. This is a forced online scan and requires that the WSUS server is available for this action to succeed.  This action results will be logged into couple of log files on the client: scanagent.log (scan requests for software updates),UpdatesStore.log(Status of patches like missing,Installed),UpdatesDeployment.log(update activation, evaluation, and enforcement,notify about reboot) etc.

More info about software update compliance: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb694299.aspx

Software Update Scan Cycle: This action Scans for software updates compliance for updates that are new since the last scan. This action does not evaluate deployment policies as the Software Updates Deployment Evaluation Cycle does. This is a forced online scan and requires that the WSUS server is available for this action to succeed. This action results will be logged into WUAHandler.log (if Scan is succeded or not),UpdatesStore.log(Status of patches like missing,Installed),scanagent.log (scan requests for software updates) etc

User Policy retrieval and Evaluation Cycle: This action is similar to Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle, but this will initiates an ad-hoc user policy retrieval from the client outside of its scheduled polling interval.This action results will be logged into policyagent.log,Policyevalutor.log,policyagentprovider.log

Windows Installer Source list update cycle: This action also very important while installing MSI applications.This action causes the Product Source Update Manager to complete a full update cycle. When you install an application using Windows Installer, those Windows Installer applications try to return to the path they were installed from when they need to install new components, repair the application, or update the application. This location is called the Windows Installer source location. Windows Installer Source Location Manager can automatically search Configmgr 2012 distribution points for the source files, even if the application was not originally installed from a distribution point.

I hope this blog post will be helpful to others who are looking for these action to know what they actually do.

SCCM Configmgr 2012 Client Actions and its Description is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Background: I had a requirement to not allow others except Configmgr admins to deny access to Configmgr 2012 Console, also to Configmgr SQL Database access (this can be done by revoking access from SSRS_Read Group.If the users are part of this group,they can install SQL and try to connect to configmgr database remotely to run queries).How do we provide access to service Desk /Others to access reports In General? Create AD security group,add this group to SMS Admins (to get access to the SMS Provider) on Configmgr server,Create new Security role in Configmgr by providing Run report permissions and add the AD sec group to administrative users by selecting the above created security scope.

So far,everything is fine but the problem here is,we usually create SSRS reports using custom tools like Business intelligence studio(Visual Studio) .

so during the process of new Report creation,we mostly go with Data  source connection string as ‘Data Source=SQLserverName;Initial Catalog=DatabaseName’. once you are done with reports,we publish them to SSRS by Uploading the RDL file or auto publish from BIDS. How to publish the custom reports to specific folder in SSRS available here

what happens when end users browse these reports ? they get access denied since they are not allowed to connect to SQL server(they are not part of SSRS_Read group) ,what is used in above Reports. So you are required to change the Data source to Shared Data source(default Data source for Configmgr). 

For single report,you can do this by going to report properties—data source and select the Shared Data source from Configmgr_P01 as shown below:

But what,if you want to do this change for multiple custom reports ,manual method is not preferable.

Here is the powershell script to change form Custom Data Source to Share data source for multiple reports under specific folder.

#Set variables:
#Change the Configmgr Report server name
$reportserver = "sccm2012pri";
$url = "http://$($reportserver)/reportserver/reportservice2005.asmx?WSDL";
#Provide New Data source Path ,you need to replace this with correct one from your SSRS report
$newDataSourcePath = "/ConfigMgr_P01/{5C6358F2-4BB6-4a1b-A16E-8D96795D8602}"
#Provide new Data source Name which is part of above source path
$newDataSourceName = "{5C6358F2-4BB6-4a1b-A16E-8D96795D8602}";
# provide Report folder path that contains reports to change the Data source.in my case,i want to change DS for all reports under eskonr/eswar/sup folder.If you have multiple folders to change the Data source,you need to run the script by changing the folder name .
$reportFolderPath = "/eskonr/eswar/SUP"
#————————————————————————
$ssrs = New-WebServiceProxy -uri $url -UseDefaultCredential
$reports = $ssrs.ListChildren($reportFolderPath, $false)
$reports | ForEach-Object {
$reportPath = $_.path
Write-Host "Report: " $reportPath
$dataSources = $ssrs.GetItemDataSources($reportPath)
$dataSources | ForEach-Object {
$proxyNamespace = $_.GetType().Namespace
$myDataSource = New-Object ("$proxyNamespace.DataSource")
$myDataSource.Name = $newDataSourceName
$myDataSource.Item = New-Object ("$proxyNamespace.DataSourceReference")
$myDataSource.Item.Reference = $newDataSourcePath
$_.item = $myDataSource.Item
$ssrs.SetItemDataSources($reportPath, $_)
Write-Host "Report’s DataSource Reference ($($_.Name)): $($_.Item.Reference)";
}
Write-Host "————————"
}

I have also attached the powershell script here for your reference, incase of any syntax errors.

Note: replace the quotes as blog converts them to fancy.

Bold letters refers require change.

Hope it helps others who wants to change the Custom Data source to Shared Data source.

SCCM Configmgr 2012 How to change Custom Data source to Shared Data Source for multiple SSRS reports is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Configmgr 2012 allow admins to specify the Client Settings at collection level to control the behavior and functionality of the clients.

You can create as many number of Custom Client Device/User settings (9999) ,which you can apply onto collections(Device/User).

What happens if client is member of multiple collections that have client settings ? All the Custom Client settings that you create are chosen with the priority. Higher the priority(1) will take over the settings with lower priority(10000).

If you are going to have multiple client agent settings,focus attention else you will see undesired results.

By Default,Configmgr will Configure default client settings at Hierarchy Level with priority 10000 (low) which is applied to every User and Device.To know more about Client Settings refer TechNet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682067.aspx

Now,lets jump into the subject line. After the Configmgr 2012 Installation ,Default Client settings is configured with necessary changes,in this case,Remote tools is configured ‘Permitted viewers of remote control and remote assistance’ with AD security groups allowing users, who are member of this AD security group can do Remote control from Configmgr.

Note: Remote control always takes control of the console session. It cannot and does not control other remote sessions.

These settings(remote Control) will be then applied to every Client (both workstations and servers) in next policy interval.what happens when this is applied ?

It will create Local security group called ‘ConfigMgr Remote Control Users’ by providing necessary DCOM permissions to this group.You can verify the remote control properties via wmi or registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Client\Client Components\Remote Control)

also,if you have the option ‘Manage Remote Desktop settings’ is set to Yes in the Remote tools,then ‘ConfigMgr Remote Control Users’ group will be added automatically to

1)  Start > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > User Rights Assignment > Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services

2) Remote Desktop settings: “ConfigMgr Remote Control Users” group added with Full Control (See screenshot below),How do i check RDP-tcp IP properties,follow guide here

So far,we have seen how remote tools works and what changes it will do on the client.

Issue: I don’t want the above changes(1 &2 ) to be reflected on the server (for workstation,it should be fine) ,this happened because i do not have separate client device settings for workstations and servers.Default client settings with remote tools enabled and is applied at hierarchy level for both workstations and servers.

How do i correct the issue 1 & 2 on the existing servers and should not occur on new servers going forward as explained above screenshots ?

Create a Custom Client device settings for Remote Tools  and other settings if you are interested to manage via settings.Go to Remote tools and set All Yes/Enabled options to No/Disabled including ‘Manage Remote Desktop settings’ to ‘No’

Note: its always recommended to not touch the default client settings and create custom client device settings for workstations and servers.

Deploy this setting to server based collection ,wait for the machine policy to load or trigger the action on one of the server from the collection and see the changes.

You should not see ConfigMgr Remote Control Users’ from rdp-tcp properties also from Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services.

What about the Local Security group which was created in the past ?

TechNet article says ,After you disable remote tools for a client, this group is not automatically removed and must be manually deleted this from each client computer.

So we have to delete this group on all the existing servers.To do this,I created simple vbscript checks the group and deletes if exist.

strComputer = "."
Set objComputer = GetObject("WinNT://" & strComputer & "")
For Each objgroup In objComputer
If (objgroup.Name) = "ConfigMgr Remote Control Users" Then
objComputer.Delete "group", "ConfigMgr Remote Control Users"
End If
next

Create a package using this script and deploy to collection.This will remove the local group  on all the existing servers and do nothing if the group do not exist.

Thanks to windows-noob (Niall Brady) for helping out on this .

Configmgr 2012 Remote control –How to get Rid of Local security group ConfigMgr Remote Control Users is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Another Configmgr 2012 SSRS Report that brings Client Health Summary.This time,it will be a dashboard instead normal SSRS report.Dashboard is nice way to display multiple reports into one report.Dashboard reports are very helpful if you want to monitor the information about client health (mainly the Count),client hardware/software,operating system,IE versions etc.You can also link all these individual reports to get list of computers with its hardware information.

I created Dashboard report to get client health summary into one Page instead browsing to multiple reports when required.

This report consists of several individual reports listed below:

1.Total Computers

2.Client Installed Vs Active Vs Missing

3.Client Health Based on CCMEVAL

4.Clients Assignment Per Management Point

5.Computers Discovered During last 30 Days

6.Computers Not Discovered During Last 30 Days

7.Clients Vs Non-Clients By Domain

8.Inventory (HW/SW) during last 30 days

9.Computers by Chassis Type

10.IE Versions

11.Computers by Architecture

12.Computers By Operating System

Note:Client health report is being filtered with lastlogon timestamp (<30 Days) attribute which is updated by AD system Discovery .

The Count in Crimson color indicates linked report to show list of computers which are not uploaded for now as there are many in this Dashboard.I will collate all of them during next update.

Download the RDL file from TechNet Gallery and uploaded to your SSRS report.

Don’t forget to change the Data source after you upload it.To know more about how to upload the .RDL file and change Data source,follow http://be.enhansoft.com/post/2010/08/26/How-to-Change-the-SSRS-Datasource.aspx

SCCM Configmgr 2012 SSRS Dashboard Client Health Summary Report is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

I think ,this post is going to be one of my Favorite on Configmgr 2012 SSRS report so far i created .Question from smsforum list asking,about if there is any pre-existing report that list all applications and its dependencies.There is none from the default reports(out of 400+) and not sure why Microsoft did not include this kind of report as part of default reports.

If you want to know all dependencies for specific application,you can directly get this from Configmgr 2012 console by right click on the application and choose view relationships——dependency  but how to get list of applications that dependent on specific application.

For Ex: Get list of all applications who dependent on  Microsoft .net Framework 4.5 or Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 etc.

Before you jump into creation of reports,i would recommend you to read deep technical drive on Application Model and its Internal how they stored in Database by Steve Rachui.

I would like to thank Todd for the original SQL Query that helped me to write this blog post.

So this blog post brings you ,3 different SSRS Reports named 1 ) List all applications and its count of Dependencies and 2) linked report to list Dependencies for Specific Application 3) List all applications that Dependent on specific application

1 )List all applications and its count of Dependencies:

2) List Dependencies for Specific Application

Click on any application that has dependencies ,it will show give you apps list.

For Ex; Interactive 6.2: You can see the parent application folder name where it resides,dependencies and its folders where do they sit.

3) List all applications that Dependent on specific application:

Download these 3 reports .RDL files from TechNet Gallery and Uploaded to yours SSRS report folder. Don’t forget to change the Data Source ,to know How refer Garth blog.

you can also use powershell script to change the Data source for multiple reports at one go instead one by one refer blog post.

Note: When you upload these .rdl files ,make sure 1st and 2nd reports should be in same folder as they both are linked each other.

Hope it Helps!

SCCM Configmgr 2012 SSRS Report List Applications and its Dependencies is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Its always painful to check via reports for specific application if an assigned application successfully installed for Computer or User ,especially for GSD/helpdesk guys as they are the first point of contact for basic troubleshooting and they cannot always browse to default reports for such information and there is no straight report to give this information.

I have created 2 Reports 1 ) List all applications with status for specific Computer 2) List applications with status for Specific User.

These 2 reports will help you to get quick information about specific application whether it is installed /requirements not met /error what ever the reason before you jump into troubleshoot it.

While running report for User,you will have specify Username which is NTUser name which is used to log into domain for Ex:eskonr\eswar ,specify only eswar,domain name is not required.

1.List all applications with status for specific Computer

2.List applications with status for Specific User:

you can download there 2 reports from TechNet Gallery .

As usual,Download the reports,uploaded to SSRS report folder .

Don’t forget to change the Data Source ,to know How ,refer Garth blog.

you can also use powershell script to change the Data source for multiple reports at one go instead one by one refer blog post.

SCCM Configmgr 2012 How to check Status of applications Assigned to Computer or User is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

During month of March 2014,Microsoft released first Cumulative Update CU1 for Configmgr 2012 R2 and now ,Microsoft released 2nd Cumulative Update CU2 for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2 with lot of fixes,powershell changes and some of them been modified.

This Update (Cumulative Update 2) Replaces Cumulative Update 1 .If you have not installed R2 CU1 yet,you can directly go with Cumulative Update 2.

Download the Cumulative Update 2 from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2970177

Description of Windows PowerShell changes in CU2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2962855

About Cumulative Update documentation,creation of collection ,refer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj553405.aspx

You can apply this update to:
Central Administrative site
Primary Site(Stand Alone)
Primary Site(Hierarchy)
Secondary Site
SMS Provider
Configuration manager console
Client

Admin Console Version :5.00.7958.1303

Configmgr Client Version:5.00.7958.1303

No Version change to Site System :5.00.7958.1000

So what are issues that are fixed and functionality that is updated in Cumulative Update 2 (CU2) ?

1. Administrative Console
2. Remote Control
3. Mobile Device Management /Intune
4. configmgr Client
5. Operating System Deployment
6. Site Systems
7. Application Virtualization
8. Content Management
9. Windows Powershell
10. Additional changes to Ubuntu OS 14.04
11. Cloud based Distribution Point

This update do not require Restart after the installation but recommended to close the admin console before you start the installation.

How to determine the installation status of this cumulative update:
This cumulative update changes the following Configuration Manager version numbers and installation properties.
The CULevel value is located under the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Setup 
The CULevel value is set to 2 for Cumulative Update 2.

Admin Console Version :5.00.7958.1303

Client Version:5.00.7958.1303

SCCM Configmgr 2012 R2 Cumulative Update 2 –KB2970177 Available for Download is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Had a problem with sccm 2012 client installation today,it keeps generating error code 1638 from ccmsetup.log .

File C:\Windows\ccmsetup\{181D79D7-1115-4D96-8E9B-5833DF92FBB4}\client.msi installation failed. Error text: ExitCode: 1638

Use ctrl+L to find the error code description for 1638, it says “Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel”

I tried uninstalling the client using ccmsetup.exe /uninstall,also tried with ccmclean.exe  before reinstalling client but that doesn’t help.

It seems like,the previously installed client was either partially installed and it cannot continue further to install .

I also checked if there is any configuration manager applet from control panel,there is nothing as such.

So what next ? why does it says,another version of this product already installed ?

If you have any such type of problems with removal of any partially installed or removed, use MSI Clean Up Utility that will help you to remove the hidden products completely. 

Download MSI Clean Up Utility from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.08.utilityspotlight.aspx.

Run the application with administrative rights on the problem computer.

Open the application (windows Installer Clean up) and identify Configuration manager client ,click remove.

Now try installing the Client,it should go smoothly without any issues.

Hope it helps !

SCCM Configmgr 2012 ccmsetup installation failed Error Exitcode 1638 is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Few weeks Ago, When Robert announced about his new product called LocationAware to control the selection of Management Points, I was elected as one of the beta tester to test the functionality of this product .After many modifications /revisions to the tool,the final product has come out and is available to order.

There are certain times, we would tell to customer,that there is no way that you can control the clients to choose particular management point with today’s product and customer would say ,ahh no,there should be way to do it .But now,with the release of Robert tool,you can say ,that there is way to control it and that is nothingbut LocationAware.

Why do you need this tool?

Do you remember Robert’s Configmgr SwitchMP tool? This tool allows you to switch over the client from One MP to other or block all, more info ,you can refer the post.

Using this tool,you can only manage one client and what if you  want to have control the of management points on the existing environment across all Configmgr clients.

In today’s configuration manager product, you cannot control the selection of management point for clients, because it is purely Random.

Clients can select any of the existing MP’s, whether it could be local MP or Remote MP (Over WAN).

If the clients choose Local MP, you will not have any burden on the network for sending the client data but what if the clients choose remote MP over WAN which is far and creates lot of network traffic for client communication and sending the client information.

SCCM Admins always wanted to have specific number of clients or clients from particular region should be assigned to specific Management point to avoid bandwidth issues and easy administration.

Long Ago ,i did a post on, how many and what MP ,the clients are choosing for communication. This report show,what are the number of clients each MP is responsible for client communication.

More information about Secondary Sites and Boundary Groups,refer Jason blog post http://blog.configmgrftw.com/secondary-sites-and-boundary-groups/

A simple Diagram picked from SMSMarshal web that illustrates the scenario:

What happens, if You do not use LocationAware?

Look at the above snippet,Clients from New York can select MP from London and clients from London can select MP from New York which adds burden on the network utilization and no way to control this in today’s configmgr product.

What happens, if You use LocationAware?

You can define the clients from Boundary/Boundary Group called ‘New York’ to select MP from New York and do a fallback on London MP incase of New York MP down.

How does it work?

You are provided with LocationAware console and LocationAware agent.

LocationAware console is responsible to do the administrative work to choose what boundaries/boundary groups assigned to what Management Point /Fallback MP’s etc.

LocationAware agent Is Responsible to select the defined management Point by Administrator in LocationAware Console.

How difficult to manage this tool?

It’s very simple to use and friendly GUI which you can run it from anywhere on the network. No Installation required and will not do any changes to the existing hierarchy*.

This tool allows you to select boundary group and to which Management point you want specific boundary assigned to.

This tool also allows fallback MP meaning, if the specified MP is not available for some reason, client will be choosing the Fallback MP and many other features.

How do i get this tool and what is the Price?

Refer http://www.smsmarshall.com/Pages/LocationAware.aspx

Robert Launched his new tool called LocationAware to control Configmgr clients for choosing the MP Selection is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

few weeks Ago, Microsoft released Cumulative Update 2 (kb2970177) for Configuration manager 2012 R2 which supersedes previously released cumulative Update (1).

This update fixes several issues ,supports to new platform for Unix/Linux and brings changes to Configmgr powershell cmd-lets as well.

Download the Cumulative Update 2 from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2970177

Description of Windows PowerShell changes in CU2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2962855

About Cumulative Update documentation,refer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj553405.aspx

The installation procedure is straight forward.You can refer my previous blog post ,where i showed how to Install Configmgr 2012 R2 CU1 http://eskonr.com/2014/03/how-to-install-configmgr-2012-r2-cu1-part-1/.

In this post,I will show you how to create collections to bring the configmgr clients which are not with R2 CU2 .This will help you to target CU2 to these lower Version clients.

Note: If you have not installed CU1 yet on top of Configmgr 2012 R2,you can directly go with CU2 and it doesn't require any restart.

After you install R2 CU2 hotfix ,you will see folder kb2970177 from your Configmgr Installation Drive:\Configmgr folder\hotfix (for Ex:F:\SCCM\hotfix)

Packages in Configmgr Console:

It Contains updates to Admin Console,Client (X86 and X64),SCUP,Server (Includes Primary and Secondary Sites).

Lets start creating collections for all above:

Collection for R2 CU2-Site server:

After you install CU2 update,it will only write information to registry with CU level (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Setup ) and no into add and remove programs.so it would be difficult to create collection for sites that are not running on CU2 until unless you use regkey2mof to pull this via hardware inventory.

So it would be good to create collection for site server (secondary's) manually using direct membership or using the query below but you need to exclude Primary site manually in Query based.

select SMS_R_System.ResourceId, SMS_R_System.ResourceType, SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_R_System.SMSUniqueIdentifier, SMS_R_System.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup, SMS_R_System.Client from  SMS_R_System where SMS_R_System.SystemRoles = "SMS Site Server"

Collection for R2 CU2-Console:

Again,for Console,you will get list of all Computers with configmgr 2012 console installed whether they are running on R2 CU2 or not .

select SMS_R_System.ResourceId, SMS_R_System.ResourceType, SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_R_System.SMSUniqueIdentifier, SMS_R_System.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup, SMS_R_System.Client from  SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName = "System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager Console"

Collection for R2 CU2 X86:

This will list all configmgr Clients with criteria : should include X86,Client=1,Client <CU2 (5.00.7958.1303) and client version >= R2( 5.00.7958.1000).

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_SYSTEM.ResourceId = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_R_System.Active = "1" and SMS_G_System_SYSTEM.SystemType = "X86-based PC" and SMS_R_System.ClientVersion < "5.00.7958.1303" and SMS_R_System.ClientVersion >= "5.00.7958.1000"

Collection for R2 CU2 X64:

This will list all configmgr Clients with criteria : should include X64,Client=1,Client <CU2 (5.00.7958.1303) and client version >= R2( 5.00.7958.1000).

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_R_System.Active = "1" and SMS_G_System_SYSTEM.SystemType = "X64-based PC" and SMS_R_System.ClientVersion < "5.00.7958.1303" and SMS_R_System.ClientVersion >= "5.00.7958.1000"

Now you have 4 packages and 4 collections .Deploy the CU2 package to respective Collection to have them on CU2 level.

Monitor the report to know the Deployment status .

SCCM Configmgr 2012 R2 Collections to Upgrade Clients to CU2 Version is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Microsoft released another Configuration manager extension tool called Service Extension (Beta) that provides useful information for maintaining a Configuration Manager environment.

This tool provides the following benefits from Configmgr Admin Console (administration Pane):

• Notifies you of Configuration Manager updates as they become available, with the ability to filter updates according to which major release they apply to
• Provides details on the sites in your environment, including the last major Configuration Manager version installed and the most recently installed Cumulative Update
• Provides a list of Configuration Manager client versions that may be present in your environment, and makes it easy to create queries to locate these clients
• Provides a built-in RSS reader to display recent blog postings from the System Center Configuration Manager Team Blog and The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog

Download the tool and documentation from Configuration Manager Open Beta community! http://connect.microsoft.com/ConfigurationManagervnext/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=53752.

I have just installed this tool (msi) on my client computer which is running configuration manager 2012 R2 Console.After the installation is done,launched the console,can see some new add-ons to the console.

Note: The computer where you install this tool need to have internet connection to connect to RSS feeds/technet blogs to provide you the necessary hotfix info,updates etc.If you dont have internet connection,you will not be able to see any information except site versions Updates.

If you have installed any cumulative update to the Configmgr 2012 ,there is no way to check its CU level or version directly from Configmgr .you either have to look for admin console Version or look at the registry for CU level but with this service extension tool,it will provide the CU level and version info within the Console.

Lets take a look at the the console for new add-ons:

This extension adds 4 panes for Site Servicing node:

The Site Servicing pane is a top-level overview of information that you can use to maintain your Configuration Manager environment. It includes collapsible lists that show only the most recent updates to the following:
1.Updates to configuration manager
2.System Center Configuration Manager Team Blog
3.The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog

Next, if you click on Site Updates Pane :This shows the updates that are applicable are applicable to a specific release of Configuration Manager. By choosing a release in the Show releases for list, you can filter which updates are shown in this pane to show the updates that are applicable to a specific release.

you can see the list of all available hotfix releases for all Configuration manager product releases For Ex: Configmgr 2012 R2,Configmgr 2012 SP1, Configmgr 2012 R2 CU1 etc.

The bold letters shows that, I have not marked the article as mark as Read ,If i click on Mark as read for specific article,Bold will changed to normal font to remind you that you have already reviewed this information.

Next is Site Versions : This tab gives you the information about Server name ,Site Code ,Site Name ,Base Version and CU Level.

Note: To display the CU level for all sites in your Configuration Manager environment, you must ensure that the Remote Registry service is enabled on both the computer that is running Servicing Extension, and on all other site server computers in your environment (Remote Registry service is enabled by default on Windows Server). Additionally, the user account must the user account must have sufficient privileges to use the Remote Registry service and to read the Configuration Manager registry path on all site server computers in your environment.

Client Targeting pane :
The Client Targeting pane helps you to create queries that you can use to target client computers in your Configuration Manager environment for updates. You can target clients with a version below a selected release, or with a version at or above a selected release.

Example: You could create a query to find all clients running a version below System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager. You could later use that query to deploy a package that updates those clients to this release. Then you could re-run the query to confirm that all clients were successfully updated.

If you click on Create Query for CU 2 for Configmgr 2012,it prompt Query Creator asking to create query:

go to monitoring node—>queries ,you will see the query created for and you can import this query while creating collections.

Blogs pane : provides a dedicated RSS reader for Microsoft’s official Configuration Manager blogs. Choose a blog to display from the Display Blog list, and then click the title of the applicable blog to open
it in a browser window

SCCM Configmgr 2012 Servicing Extension Tool available is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

This post is an extension to my previous article to view the content status for the applications,packages,driver packages,software updates,windows images using SSRS report instead of Console.

Few people contacted me ,if there is way to get the status /Report of all packages on all Distribution points with its compliance % and other information what is available in SCCM console, when you look at monitoring-Distribution Status—>content Status and the reason for this is, performance of the console for this node is little slower .

To know the distribution status of specific application,we generally refer to monitoring node—content Status. By default this node display only 1000 rows and if you have more than 100 applications, you will have to click on ‘Click here to view a maximum of 100000 results and then search for specific application which is bit slow what i have observed.

If you have not noticed any slow performance with content status ,still its worth to take a look at the report with some extra information added like Installed,Not installed and drill down the report to Not Installed Servers etc.

This SSRS report gives you the same columns what you see from the content status node in addition with Installed, Not Installed and Hyperlink to Not installed DP servers.

Red color indicates hyperlink to failed servers.

Click on the numbers indicating in Red color (Not installed) to view the Distribution points on which, the package is failed to install .Happy troubleshooting

Download the RDL file from TechNet library ,upload to your SSRS Folder .

Note: don't forget to change the Data Source after you upload. How to change the DataSource refer http://be.enhansoft.com/post/2010/08/26/How-to-Change-the-SSRS-Datasource.aspx

SCCM Configmgr 2012 SSRS Report Content Status with Compliance – Console View is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Last year i wrote blog post on summary of patch compliance status report --month wise and am sure ,it would helped many of Configmgr guys who are responsible for patching and to let security /management know whether they met the company SLA for each month or not.

I have received couple of comments for my previous blog post ,asking for ,is there way to limit this report to specific collection instead of all active clients .My previous report get the compliance status for all active clients in Configmgr irrespective of ,whether you manage the patching for all clients or not.

There are cases ,where in,you are not supposed to patch some of the clients (workstations\servers) for different reasons and you are requested to get the patch compliances only for specific clients.

This blog post is about,how to limit the report to specific collection.

Download the RDL file from TechNet gallery ,upload to your SSRS report folder.

Don't forget to change the Data Source after you upload. If you want to know How to change the DataSource, refer http://be.enhansoft.com/post/2010/08/26/How-to-Change-the-SSRS-Datasource.aspx

Configmgr 2012 summary of Patch Compliance status Report month wise for specific Collection SSRS report is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

I had a requirement to deploy patches (part of patch testing) to Department (group of user around 200+) who resides in one OU in Active Directory .The computers used by them are different due to their work nature and they keep moving with different computers (with different apps). I need to get list of computers used by these 200+ users from specific Organizational unit in Active Directory.

With CM12,feature called User Device Affinity --associating a user with one or more specified devices and it eliminates the need to know the names of a user’s devices .More info about UDA ,refer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg699365.aspx

How to do I use this feature (UDA) to get computers that are associated with users from specific OU ?

Long ago ,I posted Collection query to get list of computers with primary user (UDA) is NULL means http://eskonr.com/2014/03/sccm-configmgr-2012-collection-for-computers-with-primary-user-uda-is-null/

I use instance called SMS_UserMachineRelationship to get the User machine relationship.

Create a device collection ,limit to whatever collection you want and then add query rule ,paste the below query and click ok.

select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client from SMS_R_System   JOIN SMS_UserMachineRelationship ON SMS_R_System.ResourceID=SMS_UserMachineRelationship.MachineResourceID   JOIN SMS_R_User ON SMS_UserMachineRelationship.UniqueUserName = SMS_R_User.UniqueUserName
WHERE   SMS_UserMachineRelationship.RelationActive=1 AND   SMS_R_User.UserOUName = "ESKONR.COM/BLG/WF/GIM"

Change the bold letters to the required OU.

ESKONR.COM/BLG/WF/GIM—Contains list of users and we are retrieving the computers which are associated with UDA.

Hope it helps!

SCCM Configmgr 2012 How to Create Collection to get list of computers from Users OU using UDA is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

In this blog post,I will show you ,how to know /monitor the clients with software update scan status results .

For patch management,all Configmgr Managed clients should do successful software update scan else,client will not be able to get updates from SCCM and thus ,SUP compliance go down the SLA.

I looked at the default reports to check if there is any such report to get count of clients that performed successful scan ,not successful scan and how many do not even report anything about scan.

I come up with nice SSRS Report gives you count of clients with success SU Scan,Failed and client that do not report anything.

All the counts in the report have linked report means,you can get list of clients for troubleshooting why they failed.

Software update scan results stored in v_updatescanstatus ,with LastErrorCode='0' considered as success and rest are considered as failed.

Download the RDL files from TechNet Gallary,uploaded all the reports to your SSRS Folder (make sure you uploaded all these files into same folder as they are linked) and change the data source before you run them.

Note:All these reports filtered with criteria DATEDIFF(dd,sys.Last_Logon_Timestamp0,GetDate()) <30 (computers did not logged into domain during last 30 days will not be reflected in this report ,I feel that ,no point looking at these computers since they are not on the network) and no other filters added like OU limitation /Server limitation etc. If at all you want,you can customize the RDL File.

Uploaded to your folder:

Software Update Scan Results:

Linked report- List of client SUScan Failed:

List of Client NoSUScan:

This report includes clients with no sccm client and you are required to get the client install on all computers with client=No.

Hope this report will help you to get some idea how the client are doing with respect to Soft update Scan  ,from this point,you can start troubleshooting the failed clients.

Feel Free to share your feedback via comments section .

SCCM Configmgr 2012 Report Get the Status of Software Update Scan results is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Question asked in the forum ,if it is possible to get patch compliance /deployment status report (installed,required,not applicable and unknown) based on OU for specific software update group instead of collection.

Long ago,I posted patch compliance report for specific collection month wise http://eskonr.com/2014/09/configmgr-2012-summary-of-patch-compliance-status-report-month-wise-for-specific-collection-ssrs-report/ but it gives you overall compliance for each month for past 12 months.

If you are having multiple OU's and if you have asked to get the patch compliance status based on the OU Wise per Update Group ,how would you get ? The default report doesn't deal with such a requirement and you are required to create custom report.

It took few hours for me to identify the right views from excel spread sheet that store the information about software update group and its compliance results.

For this requirement (report based on OU ), I need to know the view for software update group and its compliance status info.

Software update group info stored in v_AuthListInfo and compliance results stored in v_Update_ComplianceStatusAll

I created 2 nice SSRS reports 1) count computers with success,not success status and 2) linked report to drill down to see the computer names ,its recent HW Scan,Software Scan etc.

Download the 2 SSRS Reports from TechNet Gallery ,upload to your SSRS Folder ,change the Data source and run the report.

Report:

You need to look at the unknown status clients since they did not report anything about the software update scan ,could be that software update component not functioning correctly or for different reasons.

SCCM Configmgr 2012 Patch Report – OU based Compliance status per Update Group is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Trying to run the patch compliance report based on OU per Software update Group (For October 2014) ,report is available to download from http://eskonr.com/2014/11/sccm-configmgr-2012-patch-report-ou-based-compliance-status-per-update-group/ . Report shows some good success rate but still there are computers with unknown status .Unknown status means,these clients do not report anything to CM DB whether they required patches or not required ,no compliance information at all.

I pick one computer randomly and start looking at Software Update logs on the client side . The software update logs that helps to identify the scan issues are WUAHandler.log (CCM\logs),windowsupdate.log(%Windir%)

WUAHandler.log log shows ,client started to search for windows updates but it failed with error code 0xc8000222.

Error message : OnSearchComplete - Failed to end search job. Error = 0xc8000222.

Scan failed with error = 0xc8000222.

To know the description of this error code,tried error lookup from the CMtrace log ,but that doesn’t give me any clue.

The next log to look at is ,Windowsupdate.log  ,to know more about windowsupdate.log and how to read it,please refer https://support.microsoft.com/kb/902093?wa=wsignin1.0 and http://www.updatexp.com/windows-update-log.html

Windowsupdate.log errors out with message : DtaStor    FATAL: Failed to initialize datastore, error = 0xC8000222

It seems to like,the datastore or  other related component from C:\windows\softwaredistribution folders are corrupted.

Solution :

The solution for this issue ,is to stop windows update service,rename software distribution folder,start windows update service and then run the software update scan action.

1. Open the CMD (run as administrator) ,type net stop wuauserv to stop the windows update service

2.Type rename C:\windows\softwaredistribution softwaredistribution.old to rename

3.Type net start wuauserv to start windows update service

4.Initiate software update scan cycle from Configuration manager applet .

To run action 4,there are various scripts/tools available,like wmic,right click tools,sccm client center etc.

You can also script this solution to perform on bulk clients.

After you run action 4,monitor WUAhandler.log ,should see sync status with success.

Hope it helps!

SCCM Configmgr 2012 Software Update Scan failed OnSearchComplete – Failed to end search job. Error = 0xc8000222 is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Over the past few weeks,I posted several patch Compliance reports because ,the default report do not meet the requirements what I need thus ,created custom reports that would help the team to analyze the patch Statistics and troubleshooting non compliant machines.

Software update compliance report month Wise: http://eskonr.com/2013/11/sccm-configmgr-2012-patch-compliance-summary-report-month-wise/

Software update Compliance report month Wise for Specific Collection:http://eskonr.com/2014/09/configmgr-2012-summary-of-patch-compliance-status-report-month-wise-for-specific-collection-ssrs-report/

Software update compliance report Per Update Group Per OU: http://eskonr.com/2014/11/sccm-configmgr-2012-patch-report-ou-based-compliance-status-per-update-group/

Software Update Scan Results: http://eskonr.com/2014/10/sccm-configmgr-2012-report-get-the-status-of-software-update-scan-results/

Recently ,while running the Default patch compliance report Compliance 1 - Overall compliance from category called Software Updates - A Compliance ,it gives me the count of clients with  Compliant ,Non-compliant ,Compliance state unknown for selected  Software update group and collection . This report looks good with overall compliance but the linked report for non-compliant and  Compliance state unknown do not give much information to start or analyze before you take any action.

It provides the basic information about the client like  computer name,last logged on user,assigned site and client version ,but this information do not really help you  to start troubleshooting why it is non-complaint .

I feel that, It would be good to have some additional information like last logged on time,OS,last hardware inventory,last software update scan ,client is Yes or No and other important information.

Overall Compliance (Default report):                                            Linked report for Non-Complaint(Default Report):

Having this additional information about client in linked reports will help the team to analyze whether SCCM client is having problem or issue with SUP component or offline line since long time ?

I tried modifying the default report but I find some difficulties with functions and other stuff used in the report.

So ,I thought of creating a new report with my requirement and Yes,this report runs faster than the Default report.

Overall Compliance (Custom report):

The blue color indicates the Linked report to get list of clients with specific status.

Linked report : list clients with specific Status (Custom Report):

Download the RDL files from TechNet Gallary ,uploaded to your SSRS Folder (both reports should be in same folder) ,change the Data Source ,run the report.

Enjoy!

SCCM Configmgr 2012 SSRS Report Overall Compliance Per Update Group Per Collection will help to troubleshoot the clients is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog

Did you ever had difficulties importing, exporting or migrating the reports from Configuration manager 2007  (SSRS ) to Configuration manager 2012 ? If so,how do you migrate reports to Configmgr 2012 ?

To get the SSRS Reports from Configmgr 2007 to Configmgr 2012,you will have to download each report (.RDL) manually and upload it your Configmgr 2012 SSRS Folder. If you have bunch of reports ,what do you do ? Doing this task manually is tedious and involves lot of time.

This blog post discuss about how to migrate reports ,download,upload your custom reports to Configmgr SSRS folder.

During my Search ,I found a tool called ReportSync that does the following activities .

• Sync reports between two SSRS servers.
• Download RDL Files from SSRS  to local PC.
• Upload RDL files to a SSRS server
• Attach datasources automatically on upload(Data source name given in the report must exist on server)

I use this tool oftenly while working with SSRS Reports since it gives me the flexibility to upload multiple reports to specific folder in SSRS. (Default via SSRS browser allows only one at a time).

Download the tool from https://code.google.com/p/reportsync/

Run the Tool

This tool contains 2 fields 1) Source SSRS Web service and 2 ) Destination SSRS Web service.

As I said before,you can use this tool download SSRS Reports to local Drive,migrate reports between the SSRS Servers,upload the reports from Drive.

If you want to download the Reports (.RDL) files from your SSRS server (Configmgr 2007 or 2012 ),enter the source URL ,User hat has permissions to connect to SSRS,Password in Source URL Web Service and click on Load.

How to get the right SSRS URL that has been configured in your environment ?

From your Configmgr server or SQL Server,Launch Reporting services Configuration manager tool and look for Web service URL

After you run the tool ,It takes few seconds or minute to load the reports from your SSRS Folder .

Select the report that you want ,provide the local path to store these reports (.RDL files) and click on Download.

Each category what you see in this tool will be created as Folder in yours local Path.

Reports folder look like this :

You can also try to upload your customized reports to Destination server ,sync and do other functions with this tool.

Hope it helps!

SCCM Configmgr How to Import Export Migrate upload reports to CM12 easy way using ReportSync Tool is a post from: Eswar Koneti's Blog