wally mead - overview of system center 2012 r2 configuration manager
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Wally Mead
Overview of System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
Agenda
• Discussion of exciting features that would provide benefits to upgrading to Configuration Manager 2012 R2
• Demonstrations where appropriate
Updates to Configuration Manager 2012 R2 Features• Features that will benefit everyone
• Role-based administration in reports• Distribution point updates• Resultant set of client settings• Software update specific maintenance windows• Updates to automatic deployment rules• OSD enhancements
Role-Based Administration in Reports• In Configuration Manager 2012 RTM/SP1, RBA only
extended to the actual reports that an admin could see• When running an available report however, the results
displayed often showed objects not available to view in the console
• This causes some people to have separate sites
• In Configuration Manager 2012 R2, the results of the reports, whether viewed in the console or Report Manager, filter based on RBA security• The console and reports should now match
Distribution Point Updates• Ability to redistribute failed distributions or cancel
an in progress distribution from the console• Better performance when sending to multiple DPs,
especially over various WAN connections• More DP threads• Better scalability and status for pull distribution
points• Distribution point usage report!
Resultant set of Client Settings• Clients can receive multiple client settings, such
as Default Client Settings and one or more custom settings• In these cases, it can be hard to identify the exact set of
policies that are implemented on the client• The ConfigMgr 2012 Toolkit PolicySpy tool could
enumerate those through WMI
• In Configuration Manager 2012 R2, you can view these from the Configuration Manager Console• Easy ability to find what is implemented on the client!
Software Update Specific Maintenance Windows
• Often, you have maintenance windows on collections to control software distribution
• Computers can be members of multiple collections, so may have multiple maintenance windows• This can lead to not really knowing when software
updates are to be applied
• In Configuration Manager 2012 R2, you can now configure maintenance windows that are specific to software updates
Automatic Deployment Rule Updates• Some admins didn’t trust the automatic
deployment rule in Configuration Manager 2012 RTM/SP1• Weren’t sure what updates would be added to the
software update group• So they disabled the ADR deployment, or didn’t use them
• Now with Configuration Manager 2012 R2, you can view the updates the filter criteria selects during the ADR creation
• Can also change package configuration of the ADR
Operating System Deployment Updates• Support for deploying Windows 8.1 and Windows
Server 2012 R2• Support for importing down-level boot images
• Moving from the WAIK to the ADK caused some issues for some customers due to WinPE incompatibility
Operating System Deployment Updates (2)
• We now support integration of a few native MDT actions in our task sequences• Check Readiness, Set Dynamic Variables, Run PowerShell
Script
• You can also create virtual hard drives from the Configuration Manager console• Create, modify, upload to Virtual Machine Manager• Requires Hyper-V installed on the same computer as the
Configuration Manager console
Updates to Configuration Manager R2 Features
• Features that will benefit select environments• Ability to reassign clients between sites• Multiple Network Access Accounts per site• MAC client installation wizard
Client Reassignment• Can now easily reassign clients from one
Configuration Manager 2012 R2 primary site to another Configuration Manager 2012 R2 primary site in the same hierarchy• Does not work between versions• Is not appropriate for failed site server scenarios• Can multi-select clients if desired
Multiple Network Access Accounts per Site• With the limitation of one NAA per primary site in
Configuration Manager 2012 RTM/SP1, some environments required additional primary sites to support remote untrusted forests
• With Configuration Manager 2012 R2, a site now supports up to 10 NAAs• Clients will remember the ‘best shot’ account for future
connections• SP1 clients can still only use one account
MAC Client Installation Wizard• Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 required two
command lines to install and enroll a MAC client• Not everyone was comfortable with running sudo
commands
• With Configuration Manager 2012 R2, the MAC client download now includes a wizard to install the client• Initial running allows you to install the Configuration
Manager client• Client reboots
• Wizard runs again to enroll the client
Summary• Configuration Manager 2012 R2 adds many new
benefits that make upgrade a desired operation• Role-based administration for reporting is a key• Multiple network access accounts helps a lot of customers• Distribution point changes are great for some• Everyone wants the “Distribution point usage” report• Maintenance windows specific to software updates are
very important• Great enhancements to operating system deployment• Others
http://www.microsoft.com/workstylehttp://www.microsoft.com/server-cloud/user-device-management
More Resources:
System Center 2012 Configuration Managerhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh667640.aspx?wt.mc_id=TEC_105_1_33
Windows Intunehttp://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windowsintune/try-and-buy
Windows Server 2012 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server
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