SCCM

SCCM 2012 – Set Inactive Client delay

Using System Center Configuration Manager on a wide computer scope can result in unexpected or untrue reporting.  For example, some computers can be off for a long time or an administrator has removed it from managed computers, they are inactive clients.

When you deploy an Application or Software Updates with SCCM 2012, some reports can be totally wrong, they don’t reflect the reality, if a lot of computer are no more managed but still exist in SCCM.

To workaround this, Microsoft introduced the Inactive Client property. SCCM Client gets and puts information to the management point and if it doesn’t report for a number of days, it will be set as Inactive Object. Inactive Clients can be excluded from reporting in order to be more accurate.

Inactive Client report

Inactive Client report

Let’s see how to change the default number of days before an object will be set as inactive .

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SCCM

SCCM 2012 – Set BITS throttling on client

If you manage a System Center Configuration Manager solution in your enterprise, you may have branch sites with slow bandwidth. When you deploy an Application, users in this remote site complain of slow network connections because of SCCM’s downloads.

Several solutions can be used to solve this issue, as BranchCache or deploy a Distribution Point on site. Using BranchCache needs to modify configuration on Windows Servers and Clients, like role installation and GPO. Moreover Distribution Point needs infrastructure on site, so budget allocation. Fortunately, Microsoft allows us to easily manage BITS transfer using SCCM.

BITS Throttling

BITS Throttling

Let’s see how to do deploy this configuration on remote sites.

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SCCM

SCCM 2012 – Application Catalog prompts Credentials

With System Center Configuration Manager 2012, there is a new  functionality: Application Catalog. Using Application Catalog, you can deploy an application on user collection, and all users can use this web page to install or request an application.

Credentials prompt

To launch the Application Catalog, you can use the existing link on Software Center:

Application Catalog link Software center

Link Software center

Depends on your system configuration, Internet Explorer can prompt for your login / password. Even if you are in your domain.

Application Catalog Prompt

Credential Prompt

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SCCM

SCCM 2012 – How to update SCCM Agent

When Microsoft release a new Cumulative Update for ConfigMgr 2012, the SCCM Agent is updated too with a new version. To fix some bugs and improvements, you need to deploy it on all your clients.

To do this, you can choose two solutions:

  • Use the CAB file in the folder [SCCMInstall]\hotfix\KB\SCUP and deploy it with SCUP, that means you are using Software Updates.
  • Deploy the new version with two packages, one for x86 and one for x64, included in the Cumulative Update. With this solution, you can easily update your client with no technical requisite.

We will see how to update clients with the second solution, using package.

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