05 August 2008

SCCM 2007 Resources

SCCM 2007 Resources

Sccm 2007 Toolkit
The new Configuration Manager 2007 toolkit is live. The toolkit comes with the following tools:

Client Spy - A tool to help troubleshoot issues related to software distribution, inventory, and software metering on Configuration Manager 2007 clients.


"This is the Advanced client spy you might now from the sms 2003 toolkit 2"
Policy Spy - A policy viewer to help review and troubleshoot the policy system on Configuration Manager 2007 clients.


"Policy spy is again a tool that was already available in the sms 2003 toolkit 2. It allows you to take a look at the content of the policies that a client has received. This is a GREAT troubleshooting resource, and a terrific tool if you want to do Sccm 2007 deep dives.
Trace32 - A log viewer that provides a way to easily view and monitor log files created and updated by Configuration Manager 2007 clients and servers. "The Sccm 2007 log viewer, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! This beautiful gem make those Configuration manager logs really readable. Apart from making the logs more readable it also comes with an error lookup tool built-in that lets you convert error numbers to readable error messages. This error lookup tool accepts win32 errors in Decimal and hexadecimal (-2147024891 or 80070005) and Network error messages (53).
Security Configuration Wizard Template for Configuration Manager 2007 - An attack-surface reduction tool for the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system with Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2 (SP1 and SP2) that determines the minimum functionality required for a server's role or roles, and disables functionality that is not required.
"The template to lock your SCCM 2007 site systems air-tight"


DCM Model Verification - A tool used by desired configuration management content administrators for the validation and testing of configuration items and baselines authored externally from the Configuration Manager console. "DCM authoring assistant, I'll do a separate blog post on DCM in the near future, it wasn't my favorite feature in Sms 2003, were it was a feature-pack, and I wasn't too thrilled with it becoming an integral part of the product. After some recent new things I learnt about it though, I guess I will have to change my mind.


DCM Digest Conversion - A tool used by desired configuration management content administrators to convert existing SMS 2003 Desired Configuration Management Solution templates to Desired Configuration Management 2007 configuration items.
"For the few brave souls out their that decided to get their hands dirty using the Dcm feature pack for Sms 2003"


DCM Substitution Variables - A tool used by desired configuration management content administrators for authoring desired configuration management configuration items that use chained setting and object discovery.
"You know what, I don't know enough about DCM to understand what this does"

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=948e477e-fd3b-4a09-9015-141683c7ad5f&DisplayLang=en

Configuration Packs
As mentioned in the description of the toolkit, I will do another post on DCM, but below you will find some configuration packs to use with DCM in Sccm 2007.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/scp/configmgr07.aspx

Microsoft Deployment
Microsoft Deployment has been released as well, this is the successor to the Business desktop deployment accelerator. A lot of the functionality that BDD had, was directly rolled into Sccm 2007. The main reason to use Microsoft Deployment in combination with Configuration manager 2007 according to me is the support for unknown "bare metal" computers, and potentially the dynamic selection of the userstate store depending on statesize, and available local storage. And a more flexible way to slip-stream package installs after the image has been deployed.
Download details- Microsoft Deployment
SCCM 2007 Documentation
The Configuration manager 2007 technical library has been updated with new content.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892811.aspx
SCCM 2007 Webcasts
There is a great bunch of Configuration Manager webcast available, and quite a few new ones are planned for the near future.
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetmms.aspx?tab=webcasts&id=42364#42364
SCCM 2007 Virtual Lab(s)
We only have one Configuration Manager Virtual lab available for now, but I assume several new ones will be added over the next couple of months.
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetmms.aspx?tab=virtuallabs

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