Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (CM12) is arguably the most complex (and feature rich) offering of the System Center suite. CM administrators must be proficient in a variety of technologies in order to effectively design and operate a CM hierarchy. The list of technologies that CM touches on is almost overwhelming, for example, SQL, IIS, MDT, WSUS, WMI, PXE, SSRS, workstation and server operating systems, networking, and more. It should come as no surprise then that CM admins have built themselves a strong network of support. Forums such as Microsoft TechNet and myITforum are daily filled with questions and answers. There are local user groups, online webcasts, and conferences held routinely for admins to learn and share their trials and tribulations.
We often hear of an Exchange or Active Directory admin suddenly getting CM dropped in his lap from the boss. There is little time to sink or swim. By giving quick recipes to get things done, readers can get things going (or keep them running) to buy time to better learn the product. This book does not spend time going into why CM does things the way it does, nor does it go into deep details as admins too often don't have the time for that. There are also other Con figuration Manager 2007 (CM07) admins who don't want to spend time reading bible-sized books on CM12. They know CM07 very well and just need a quick guide to get them up to speed. Therefore, this book is aimed at getting admins up to speed fast with CM12.
This book will get the reader up to a working knowledge of the product. For example, we cover Operating System Deployment (OSD) far enough for the reader to create a Windows 7 image and deploy it. Real world finesse will come only with time, but that cannot begin until the reader picks up the terminology and fundamentals. This book should remove that feeling of being overwhelmed by putting the reader straight to work with step by step recipes. Once the reader has actually tried a recipe, the topic will seem less intimidating. By using these recipes, the reader will gain the fundamentals of site administration, reporting, software distribution and patching, and client management.
Chapter 1, Designing a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Infrastructure, covers ways to reduce the drag on primary sites to help keep you on just one site if possible, such as installing SQL to be as efficient as possible and how to offload roles.
Chapter 2, Deploying Windows 7 with Operating System Deployment, shows you how to create an image and deploy it, taking into consideration the need to manage drivers or migrate user data.
Chapter 3, Deploying Applications and Software Updates, covers applications and patching, monitoring deployments, and use of the new Software Center and Application Catalog.
Chapter 4, Managing Compliance Settings, covers how to create configuration items, put them into baselines and deploy them, and then monitor computers for compliance to those baselines with e-mailed drift reports.
Chapter 5, Managing Sites, details ways to configure and manage sites, set up discovery tasks to find systems, and how to set up security roles and scopes for other admins.
Chapter 6, Managing Clients, covers installation of the CM client on systems, how to manage and monitor the health of that client, and how to manage power on those clients.
Chapter 7, Managing Inventory, details setup and usage of the various inventory methods of CM12 as well as metering of software usage.
Chapter 8, Managing Reports and Queries, walks you through Reporting Services installation, building queries for reports, and editing and creating reports.
Readers with experience in CM07 will get up to speed sooner, but it isn't a requirement. However, experience is needed in the following areas:
Installing server features
Installing Windows operating systems, and installing programs (for example, what is an MSI?)
Finding Windows event logs
Navigating to an IP or UNC, HTTP versus HTTPS, and so on
This book is for administrators who need to get up to speed quickly with CM12. Readers are given how-to steps without all the fat and fluff. Need to get SQL and CM installed right away? This book has recipes for design considerations. Need to just get a Windows 7 deployment started right now? There is an entire chapter dedicated to that. Need to set up a security drift report for your boss? There is a chapter for that as well. All the main features of CM12 have recipes written as concisely as possible to give the reader a quick start.
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."
A block of code is set as follows:
[default] exten => s,1,Dial(Zap/1|30) exten => s,2,Voicemail(u100) exten => s,102,Voicemail(b100) exten => i,1,Voicemail(s0)
When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
[default]
exten => s,1,Dial(Zap/1|30)
exten => s,2,Voicemail(u100)
exten => s,102,Voicemail(b100)
exten => i,1,Voicemail(s0)Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
# cp /usr/src/asterisk-addons/configs/cdr_mysql.conf.sample /etc/asterisk/cdr_mysql.conf
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "clicking the Next button moves you to the next screen".
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