The SMS Health

Check proactively

diagnoses and

analyzes the data

collected in order to

provide

recommendations

based on best

practices that help

your organization

avoid SMS-related

problems in the future.

The SMS Health Check can help you to

Maintain maximum efficiency.

Reduce support costs.

Use practical recommendations.

Get the Most Out of Your Investment

The Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS) Health Check provides insights into the health of

your SMS environment. This multi-day engagement uses a number of tools to collect data and

statistics of the most important and critical aspects of your SMS environment.

The goal of this health check is to proactively diagnose and analyze the data collected, provide

recommendations based on best practices and therefore help your organization avoid SMS-related

problems in the future.

The tools used are passive and only collect information about SMS, SQL, and Active Directory. The

tools act in a read only manner and do not make changes to your servers.

The health check data gathering is performed onsite. Data analysis may be completed post-visit.

Documentation, reports, and prescriptive guidance are provided to your staff based on the findings.

Follow up days are available upon request.

Customers Who Benefit from the SMS Health Check

The Systems Management Server Health Check Program is designed for senior IT staff members

and engineers in charge of supporting and managing the SMS environment. The Systems

Management Server Health Check Program is available only for Premier Support customers and

provides guidance at many levels of your organization. Whether you are a CIO, a mid-level IT

manager, or an IT administrator, you can receive support and guidance to help you increase your

operational efficiency, maximize system uptime, and reduce costs. This can lead to more effective

use of Microsoft Systems Management Server.

Help Maintain Maximum Efficiency

The SMS Health Check uses Microsoft IT organization’s knowledge. By sharing our internal

expertise, we hope to help you reach your ideal SMS performance goals.

Help Reduce Support Costs

The SMS Health Check helps expose vulnerabilities in your SMS infrastructure and operational

processes. When resolved, the result can be improved uptime and lower support costs. Diagnostics

reveal causes, not just symptoms, helping you to take a proactive approach to reducing problems.

This includes helping to identify problems in optimizing productivity and uncovering potential issues

before they affect users and drive up support costs.

Use Practical Recommendations

The SMS Health Check provides possible solutions for each of the risks identified to assist you in

operating an enterprise SMS deployment. You should receive operations, configuration, and

architectural recommendations aimed at improving the operational efficiency of your SMS servers.

DATA SHEET

Systems Management Server Health Check

Key Features

During the engagement, your organization’s participants are provided with information that can help

you to take to optimize your production SMS environment. Information provided can help you:

Identify symptoms and/or potential problems before they impact production.

Review critical processes to achieve minimum downtime during disaster recovery.

Understand SMS functionality and ability to troubleshoot failures.

Identify warnings or red flags that may be adversely affecting users.

Understand common problems and common mistakes made by administrators.

Understand supportability best practices.

Phases of the SMS Health Check

Part I: Data Gathering

Design and Settings

Site by Site Breakdown

OS and Hardware Inventory Configuration

Security Settings

SQL Settings

Discovery Settings

Client Install Settings

Client Agent Settings

Task Settings

Site Server Health

Check Site Servers

Check SQL Servers

Part II: Data Analysis and Reporting

After the gathered information is analyzed, recommendations are made. Any critical problems found

will be addressed and resolved if possible. If time and internal processes delay the resolution of the

problems, assistance can be scheduled at a later date.

After the completion of this health check, a report is provided with the findings and recommendations

to help you improve the health of your organization’s SMS environment

Maximize the Value of Your IT Investments

The mission of Microsoft Services is to help ensure that you get the most out of your IT investments.

Whether you are looking to improve your bottom line, enhance productivity, or use technology to

realize new business opportunities, Microsoft is ready to assist. From business support to strategic

consulting, we offer a full range of Premier Support services for any stage in your IT lifecycle.

For more information Please visit the Premier Support Web site at www.microsoft.com/ premiersupport or contact your local Microsoft Services representative.

Check Management Points

Check Reporting Points

Check Server Locator Points

Check Client Access Points

Check Distribution Points

Check Server Status System

Client Health

Verify Clients

Duplicate GUID

Obsolete Clients

Unhealthy Clients

Check Client Status System

© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This data sheet is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft is a

registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.