System Center Configuration Manager Team Blog

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05/25/11--13:41: Configuration Manager Support Announcements for May 2011 (chan 2091226)

[Today's post comes from Harini Muralidharan] 

We are announcing support changes for the following releases. Please look for these changes to be reflected in the Supported Configuration pages within a few months.

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 SP1 is now supported on Configuration Manager 2007 R3 with Configuration Manager 2007 SP2

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3 with System Center Configuration Manager SP2 now supports Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 SP1 Desktop Client and Application Virtualization Client for Remote Desktop Services. This client release enables support for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

The following are the limitations and workaround to import App-V packages using Configuration Manager.

Configuration Manager fails to import App-V packages when there is more than one XML in the package folder. App-V Sequencer 4.6 SP1 creates the file Report.xml when creating an App-V package. Configuration Manager expects to find only one xml file in the package folder and will fail when it identifies more than one XML file in the folder. To work around this problem delete the file report.xml manually from the package folder before you import the App-V package.

No software updates are required.

--Harini Muralidharan

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.




05/27/11--15:45: Test your knowledge of Configuration Manager 2007 (yet again) (chan 2091226)

[Today's post is provided by Rob Stack]

 The Configuration Manager Information Experience (iX) team has just published an update to the Configuration Manager 2007 Quiz Application. The quizzes are a fun way to learn about some of the features in the product. Each quiz contains 10 questions that can be answered Yes or No. Regardless of your answer, the quiz will display the correct solution and provide links to the Configuration Manager online documentation.

This new version of the application includes three new quizzes:

• Configuration Manager 2007 Active Directory Quiz
• Configuration Manager 2007 R3 Quiz
• Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Quiz

The quizzes are compatible with any computer running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 and will download the correct version of Silverlight if it is not installed.

You can now install the quiz application locally or run the new web-based quizzes.

To install a local version of the quiz application, see http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b9fb478a-ec98-47f2-b31e-57443a8ae88f&DisplayLang=en

To run the quizzes directly from the web, visit http://quizapp.cloudapp.net/configmgr2007.aspx

We hope you enjoy these new quizzes and would love to hear your feedback about them and any of our other content. Contact us by emailing smsdocs@microsoft.com.

 -- Rob Stack

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.




06/08/11--14:10: Role-Based Administration Provides “Show Me” Behavior in Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2 (chan 2091226)

[Today’s post is provided by Lilian Xuan]

Every person who uses the Configuration Manager 2007 console has to work with a complicated tree that has more than fifty nodes and hundreds of actions, even if they have permission to operate on just one node. Instead of this experience, how cool would it be to have your own console based on your assigned role? Configuration Manager 2012 provides this capability with role-based administration and what we call “Show Me” in the Configuration Manager console.

What is “Show Me”?

“Show Me” is the Configuration Manager behavior that shows the administrative user only what is relevant to them. Instead of seeing all workspaces, nodes, and objects when you run the Configuration Manager console, you see only those that you need to see, based on your job role. Role-based administration in Configuration Manager hides any workspaces, nodes, and objects that you do not need to see.

Why “Show Me”?

Imagine that you have one key chain with 10 keys attached to it. One of them is to the door of your office and you don’t use the other nine keys. What would you do? Bring the whole key chain and find your office key from 10 keys, every day? I would pick out the key to my office and bring it with me, leaving the other nine at home (or throw them away).

“Show Me” in the Configuration Manager console lets you leave those keys at home that you don’t use, and bring only the one key that you need. As an example, let’s assume that you have been assigned the role-based administration security role of Asset Manager, because your job role is to collect and report on software licenses by using the Asset Intelligence feature. When you run the Configuration Manager console, would you prefer to see everything, or only objects that are relevant to this role?  

Without the “Show Me” behavior, you see all the workspaces and nodes, as shown in the following picture:

 

Note: This is prerelease UI and is subject to change

With “Show Me”, only the relevant workspaces and nodes are shown, as in the next picture, where you can no longer see the Software Library workspace or the Configuration Items node.

 

Note: This is prerelease UI and is subject to change

Benefits of “Show Me”:

• Automatic custom Configuration Manager console.
• Shows the administrative user only the objects and actions that they need to perform their job.  
• The reduced display makes it easier and more efficient for administrative users to manage Configuration Manager.

How “Show Me” works

“Show Me” behavior is the result of configuring role-based administration in Configuration Manager 2012.  First, your Windows user account is granted access to the Configuration Manager console as an administrative user.  Then, when your account opens the Configuration Manager console, only the nodes and objects that you have permission to manage are displayed.  Objects you do not have permission to view or manage are hidden.  This is controlled by the association of security roles, security scopes, and collections to your administrative user configuration:

• Security roles define the actions, or permissions, you have for different object types. For example, a security scope can grant an associated user the right to create, deploy, and delete an application.  Access and visibility to the following are controlled by security role configurations:
  • Workspaces
  • Console nodes and folders
  • The type of objects that you can access
  • Available actions for accessible objects (such as which actions are displayed on the ribbon)
• Security scopes are sets of objects. Each securable object in Configuration Manager 2012 must be assigned to at least one security scope. When you are associated with a security scope, you gain access to manage the specific objects that are assigned to that security scope.
• Collection associations determine which collections are displayed when you take actions such as deploying content or viewing a list of collections.

Shown, Hidden, or Disabled

With the “Show Me” experience, administrative users might see different behaviors for objects in the Configuration Manager console. These behaviors include objects that are shown and accessible, shown but disabled, or hidden from view:

Shown

• All objects:  All objects are shown when an administrative user has permission to manage them. If this is a node or folder, parent objects in that workspace are also displayed.

Hidden

• Workspace: A workspace is hidden if the administrative user doesn’t have any permissions to view or operate any node in that workspace.
• Node: A node is hidden if the administrative user doesn’t have permissions to create, modify, delete, view, or configure anything in that node.
• Object: Objects are hidden if the object is not in a security scope associated with the administrative user.  Objects are also hidden when the security roles do not provide any permissions to this object type.
• Action: Actions are hidden if the administrative user doesn’t have permission to operate the specific action for the object. Permissions to take actions on objects are granted by the administrative users’ associated security roles.

Disabled

• Action:   There are two scenarios when an object or action is disabled (not available).

1)  First, you might have permissions to an object and specific actions, but the action is displayed as disabled. The action is shown as disabled because the action is not currently available, but might become available if prerequisites are met or changed.

For example, in the following picture, the action Enable or Disable Asset Intelligence Synchronization Point is disabled because the Asset Intelligence synchronization point is not installed. However,  when the Asset Intelligence synchronization point is installed, the administrative user’s assigned security roles grants them permissions to enable or disable this site system role. 

 

Note: This is prerelease UI and is subject to change

 2)  Second, you might have permissions for some objects, but not the selected object.  This can occur when you are associated with multiple security roles, and your role-based administration configuration associates your associated security roles with specific security scopes or collections. 

Troubleshooting Tips

When you use the “Show Me” behavior, watch out for these commonly reported issues:

1. You can’t see the workspaces, nodes or actions that you expect to see.
   Solution: Make sure that your administrative user account is associated with a security role that grants permissions to the correct object types.
2. You can’t see the objects that you expect to see in the console:
   Solution: Make sure that your administrative user account is associated with the correct security scopes and collections.

You can also use the following two logs files to troubleshoot Configuration Manager console problems:

• <smsprovider setup dir>\Logs\SMSProv.log
• <adminconsole setup dir>\AdminUILog\SmsAdminUI.log

For information about configuring role-based administration, see Configure Role-Based Administration in Configuration Manager 2012 in the Configuration Manager 2012 TechNet library

--Lilian Xuan

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.

 




06/27/11--14:15: Tips for Finding Objects in the Configuration Manager 2012 Console (chan 2091226)

[Today's post comes from Min Yang ] 1. Introduction In System Center Configuration Manager 2012, the Configuration Manager console has been greatly improved to enhance its usability. In addition to improvements in performance and layout, there are...(read more)


06/30/11--10:52: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for June 2011 (chan 2091226)

[Today's post is from the Configuration Manager Writing Team ] The Configuration Manager 2007 documentation library and the Configuration Manager 2012 documentation library have been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: June 1, 2011...(read more)


07/12/11--15:00: Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Library Downloadable Update for June 2011 (chan 2091226)

[Today's post is provided by Rob Stack ] The latest downloadable update for the Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Library has been posted to the Microsoft Download Center. The June 2011 version is the newest downloadable update available and...(read more)


07/26/11--12:40: How to create Prestaged Media for WES 7.1, PosReady7 and ThinPC in ConfigMgr 2007 R3 (chan 2091226)

[Today’s post comes from Chaohao Xu ] This blog post introduces how to create prestaged media for Windows Embedded Standard 7.1, PosReady7 and ThinPC with ConfigMgr 2007 R3. First, you need to setup a reference machine that runs the operating...(read more)


07/26/11--13:13: Configuration Manager Support Announcements for July 2011 (chan 2091226)

[Today's post comes from Harini Muralidharan] We are announcing support changes for the following releases. Please look for these changes to be reflected in the Supported Configuration pages within a few months. Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard...(read more)


07/27/11--15:25: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for July (chan 2091226)

[Today's post is from the Configuration Manager Writing Team ] The Configuration Manager 2007 documentation library and the Configuration Manager 2012 documentation library have been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: July1, 2011...(read more)


08/16/11--15:53: Remote site systems and network latency (chan 2091226)

[ Brian Huneycutt has contributed today’s article] Configuration Manager 2007 can operate successfully in a wide variety of network environments. However, there are still some factors to consider in regards to planning the location of site systems...(read more)


08/17/11--15:45: Known Issue and Workaround: Duplicate Records When You Use Unknown Computer Support with Active Directory Delta-Discovery (chan 2091226)

[Today’s post comes from Minfang Lv ] This post describes how and when you might see duplicate records when you use unknown computer support with Active Directory Delta-Discovery in Configuration Manager 2007 R3, what problems you might see,...(read more)


08/30/11--12:09: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for August (chan 2091226)

[Today's post is from the Configuration Manager Writing Team ] The Configuration Manager 2012 documentation library has been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: August 1, 2011 at the top of the topic. There are no significant...(read more)


09/08/11--11:33: R3 Client Computers Fail to Load Power Management Policy (chan 2091226)

[ Brian Huneycutt provides today’s blog post] An issue with the client patch process was recently discovered, which might lead to Configuration Manager 2007 R3 clients failing to load power policy. Affected clients are those that have applied...(read more)


09/08/11--11:53: Configuration Manager Support Announcements for August 2011 (chan 2091226)

[Today's post comes from Harini Muralidharan] We are announcing support changes for the following releases. Please look for these changes to be reflected in the Supported Configuration pages within a few months. Configuration Manager 2007 supports...(read more)


09/23/11--14:38: Introducing Role-Based Administration in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (chan 2091226)

[Today’s post contributor is Lin Tang ] Overview Role-based administration (RBA) is a new feature introduced in Configuration Manager 2012. RBA provides Configuration Manager administrators with an easy way to implement the security model...(read more)


09/30/11--10:21: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for September (chan 2091226)

[Today's post is from the Configuration Manager Writing Team ] The Configuration Manager 2012 documentation library has been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: September 1, 2011 at the top of the topic. There are no significant...(read more)


09/30/11--11:31: Release announcement: System Center Monitoring Pack for Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 (Converted) (chan 2091226)

[Today’s announcement comes from Brian Huneycutt ] The Sustained Engineering team has released an update to the “Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007...(read more)


11/01/11--12:09: Announcement: Configuration Manager 2012 Release Candidate is Available (chan 2091226)

The release candidates for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection are now available on the Microsoft Download Center . In case you missed it, the release announcement describing the features of the release...(read more)


11/01/11--12:16: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for October 2011 (chan 2091226)

The Documentation library for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager has been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: October 1, 2011 at the top of the topic. There are no significant updates for the Configuration Manager 2007 documentation...(read more)


11/01/11--12:40: How to use the Definition Update Automation Tool for Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Update Rollup 1 (chan 2091226)

Earlier today we released an updated version (found here ) of the Definition Update Automation Tool for Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Update Rollup 1. This document provides steps for how to use this tool. Tool Description With Forefront Endpoint...(read more)


12/02/11--14:23: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for November 2011 (chan 2091226)

The Documentation library for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager has been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: November 1, 2011 at the top of the topic. There are no significant updates for the Configuration Manager 2007 documentation...(read more)


12/19/11--13:26: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for December 2011 (chan 2091226)

The Documentation Library for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager has been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: December 1, 2011 at the top of the topic. There are no significant updates for the Configuration Manager 2007 documentation...(read more)


01/24/12--10:43: Announcement: Configuration Manager Documentation Library Update for January 2012 (chan 2091226)

The Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Library and the Documentation Library for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager have been updated on the web and the latest content has Updated: January 1, 2012 at the top of the topic. New this month...(read more)


01/30/12--12:23: Where is the Documentation for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Features? (chan 2091226)

Many of our existing Configuration Manager customers are used to thinking in terms of installing and configuring sites, and then configuring individual features, such as hardware inventory, software distribution, and software updates. This reflected the...(read more)


02/10/12--11:10: Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Group Policy Tool is unable to import policy files exported from System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection (chan 2091226)

Symptoms: When you use the Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2010 Group Policy Tool to import a policy file that was exported from System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection, it will fail with a screenshot similar to the following: Cause: The...(read more)