Steve Rachui's Manageability blog - ConfigMgr/OpsMgr

Using System Center Update Publisher 2007 with Verisign Certificates

steverac — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:00:07 GMT

Using System Center Update Publisher with Verisign Certificates The System Center Update Publisher (SCUP) allows for third party or custom updates to be published in the WSUS catalog for consumption by ConfigMgr or other systems that use WSUS as a back...(read more)

System Center Updates Publisher 2007 and WSUS Self-Signed Cert Option

steverac — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:39:34 GMT

What exactly do you need to do to get your environment ready to use the System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) with the WSUS Self-Signed Cert (WSSC) option? There are a few key steps. First, you have to configure SCUP to sign patches with the WSSC. To...(read more)

Extending a Class in the Authoring Console

steverac — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:15:57 GMT

Sometimes as an OpsMgr administrator you may need to extend a class to include an additional attribute or two. This action is very easy in the Operations Console but results in management packs that are potentially confusing when opened in the authoring...(read more)

Integrating ConfigMgr 2007 and ForeFront Endpoint Protection 2010

steverac — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:28:00 GMT

The integration between ConfigMgr 2007 and ForeFront Endpoint Protection 2010 (FEP) has been a topic of interest lately in ConfigMgr circles so figured it would be worth spending a bit of time going through the installation and integration process. In...(read more)

How to create offline or standalone USB media for OS Deployment in ConfigMgr 2007

steverac — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:44:00 GMT

Wrote up this entry over on the system center support team blog - http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2011/05/05/how-to-create-offline-or-standalone-usb-media-for-os-deployment-in-configmgr-2007.aspx...(read more)

Software Updates–INTERNALS! (MMS 2011 session)–part III

steverac — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 21:08:00 GMT

In this final installment of this software updates series we will review the software update synchronization process. There are a couple of variations of the sync process but, as you might expect, all involve a WSUS server – known as a software...(read more)

Software Updates–INTERNALS! (MMS 2011 session)–part II

steverac — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 14:57:00 GMT

In part II of this discussion we will review CI’s and SDM packages. Our discussion is focused on software updates but the concepts we will discuss also apply to DCM, NAP and OSD – all components that are built on the CI and SDM objects. ...(read more)

Software Updates–INTERNALS! (MMS 2011 session)–part I

steverac — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:36:00 GMT

Several folks have asked that I transform my MMS 2011 presentation on the internals of software updates into a blog post. Happy to oblige! The topic at hand is focused on software updating – in my MMS presentation I discussed the WSUS (SUP) sync...(read more)

So Long MMS 2011

steverac — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:25:44 GMT

MMS 2011 – GREAT to see everyone! TONS of really exciting stuff announced – a lot more details about ConfigMgr 2012 – really cool changes – throttled DP’s, support for Linux/Unix devices and even for the iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, Symbian...(read more)

Microsoft PFE (Premier Field Engineering) is hiring

steverac — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:18:13 GMT

Are you ready to be a rockstar? Do you have a passion for technology and customers? Microsoft PFE is hiring. Check out opportunities with PFE at the Microsoft careers site - http://careers.microsoft.com/ . Simply enter PFE into the job search field. Any...(read more)

SCCM state messaging–in depth

steverac — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:54:46 GMT

State messaging is a new mechanism in SCCM which reflects point in time conditions on the client. Status messages, by contrast, work to help administrators track the flow of data through various SCCM components. There is even a status message...(read more)

Presenting at MMS 2011

steverac — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:54:12 GMT

Just got confirmation today that I will be presenting at MMS 2011. My session will be on SCCM software updates. BA 23 - Configuration Manager 2007 Software Update Flow - INTERNALS! If you are attending MMS this year (and you should be ) and would...(read more)

Test remote SQL connectivity EASILY!

steverac — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:26:59 GMT

I learned about something very useful today and thought I’d share. Have you ever been troubleshooting a problem with remote SQL Iproxy MP, remote DB, etc) and wanted to test to see if the local system account (or any account for that matter) could make...(read more)

Focusing on the printer! Printer Monitoring MP Supplement

steverac — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 19:24:00 GMT

The released version of the printer monitoring MP is available in the MP catalog and is an effective monitoring tool if you want to know about 1. Printer performance 2. Print server health 3. Problems with ANY (key point here) of the...(read more)

The case of the MIF and WMI repository

steverac — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:10:34 GMT

If you have spent much time around SCCM engineers – at least those of us from Microsoft – you will have heard us decry customers deleting the WMI repository to fix issues with WMI. True that often deleting the repository seems to fix an issue but...(read more)

Introducing SCCM 2007 R3

steverac — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:37:49 GMT

SCCM 2007 R3 (R3) has released! R3 is not a service pack – it is an addon that brings additional functionality. R3 includes all of the features of R2 and requires that SCCM 2007 SP2 be installed because the SP2 version of the SCCM client has...(read more)

Problems Creating USB Media with Windows 7

steverac — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:47:41 GMT

I’ve seen a number of folks running into issues creating USB media when the SCCM admin console is running on a Windows 7 system. Windows 2008 R2 should have the same issue but on at least one system I’ve tested I didn’t see it – and it was configured...(read more)

Intel vPro does Powershell

steverac — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:53:00 GMT

For those of you Powershellers out there – and I’m one too – this is good news from Intel. This new module allows adminstrators to manage vPro clients programatically with ease! http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-5403...(read more)

OS Imaging via Web Page

steverac — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:27:00 GMT

OSD is a powerful imaging tool but setting up systems to be imaged may require a user have access to the SCCM console. This often means that the SCCM staff gets assigned the task of imaging. Wouldn’t it be cool if the OSD users could setup imaging...(read more)

Updating custom alert fields using subscriptions and powershell

steverac — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:13:00 GMT

Alerts in OpsMgr have lots of good information on them already – but wouldn’t it be cool if you could add your own custom information to the custom alert fields of the alert? There are lots of reasons why this might be useful – you might just want...(read more)

Place a Group in Maintenance Mode with Powershell

steverac — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:20:52 GMT

Steve? Why are you writing a post on how to place a group in maintenance mode using powershell? There are already LOTS of solutions out there to put a group in maintenance mode – why spend time on another? Good question. The reason? ...(read more)

Direct Access – SCCM – Managing internet clients

steverac — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:19:26 GMT

Do you have internet based clients that you want to manage? Does the idea of switching to SCCM native mode to manage those client make you nervous? Do you have Windows 2008 R2 servers in your environment and are the internet systems you want...(read more)

Understanding Site to Site Communication in SMS/SCCM

steverac — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:06:06 GMT

I’ve been intending for a while to write a post on the internals of site to site communication in SMS/SCCM. The internals really haven’t changed much since SMS 2.0 so no matter what version of the product you are using, the detail here will apply...(read more)

OpsMgr R2 Cumulative Update 2 has released

steverac — Sat, 01 May 2010 16:05:00 GMT

The OpsMgr R2 Cumulative Update 2 has released – available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979257 Kevin has a walkthrough of installing it posted at http://blogs.technet.com/kevinholman/archive/2010/04/30/opsmgr-2007-r2-cu2-rollup-hotfix-ships...(read more)

SCCM Toolkit 2 Released

steverac — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:51:49 GMT

The SCCM toolkit 2 has released – available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5a47b972-95d2-46b1-ab14-5d0cbce54eb8 This iteration of the toolkit includes all of the tools from toolkit 1 and adds some additional...(read more)