SCCM IBCM Vs CMG Differences a Real World Comparison

Let us check the SCCM IBCM Vs CMG Differences in a Real-World Comparison. Isn’t a revolution (really?) happening with Digital Transformation?

Let’s check the SCCM internet client management revolutions. I will try to give a quick SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG comparison in this post.

What is SCCM Internet Client Management?

Managing SCCM clients from the internet is called Internet client management. There are two (2) methods to manage SCCM clients from the internet.

The SCCM clients connected through a traditional VPN tunnel are NOT SCCM internet client management.

Patch My PC

SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG

The following table will give a quick overview of SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG. A more detailed discussion on all the columns and some pointers are available in the below sections of this post.

SCCM IBCMSCCM CMG
CostFixed CostVariable Cost
LocationOn-Prem/Private CloudAzure Cloud (PaaS)
StabilityStableContinuous Improvements
Complexity (Setup + Troubleshoot)ComplexComplex
Location AwarenessNo (for internet clients)No Support for location-awareness
OperabilityUse existing Process We might need to set up a new process
SecurityYes (Traditional)Yes (Modern)
Future ProofNOYes
IT Community SupportLess Blog posts/VideosMany Blog Posts/Videos
Co-MGMT SupportYesYes (Advanced)
API SupportYesNo (checkout the comments to get more details)
SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG Differences in a Real World Comparison




All SCCM client Communications are supported (Almost?) Only selected SCCM client Communication is supported.

Cost

Yes, the cost is one of the factors which we need to look into when we try to decide between SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG.

The comparison here is between variable and fixed costs. I won’t say IBCM always will have set prices, but it’s more or less fixed or internal to your organization. So, it’s near to a FIXED cost.

Adaptiva

On the other hand, SCCM CMG is a variable cost depending on data storage usage, data transfer, client count, etc… The best way to analyze SCCM CMG cost is by using Azure Pricing Tool. The following SCCM CMG component list will give you some hints:-

Locations

The location topic is essential from the decision making perspective. You should be clear about your location preferences before checking on the SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG comparison.

  • SCCM CMG is a Platform As A Service (PaaS) solution located in Microsoft Azure (You can’t create an SCCM CMG in Amazon or Google Cloud – Full Stop)!
  • SCCM IBMC is a solution you can build within your ON-PREM data center. Or in Private cloud or Amazon/Google Cloud

Stability

SCCM IBCM has been used to manage internet-based clients for many years. However, CMG is introduced with SCCM 1610 version as a pre-release version. SCCM CMG has been promoted since SCCM 1802 version.

Stability is essential for SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG discussions. I don’t think SCCM CMG is unstable at all. But, many new features are getting added to SCCM CMG, and CMG code is changing in all the releases.

Location Awareness

SCCM CMG doesn’t have regional awareness capabilities. So the SCCM client connected to the internet can go to any one of the CMG available.

The new SCCM CMG behavior with boundary groups helps scenario, which will help you to move SCCM traffic off the expensive and slow WAN/VPN and onto the cheaper Internet links to SCCM CMG.

The new preview version of SCCM 1902 will give more parity to SCCM CMG with IBCM features. So the new developments will help you decide between SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG.

Setup Troubleshooting Complexity

I think SCCM CMG and IBCM are equally complex to set up + troubleshooting because of different reasons.

SCCM IBCM complexity is mainly because of dealing with your organization’s PKI, Firewall, and Security teams.

SCCM CMG complexity is mostly because it’s pretty new to many SCCM admins. SCCM admins should go through an upskilling process (continuous learning) and learn more about the concepts of SCCM CMG.

[Related PostSCCM Co-Management Video Guide With 16 Posts]

Operability

You can use your existing processes (SAL, TOM, RACI, etc.) to manage and operate SCCM IBCM components.

SCCM CMG requires a modern way of thinking, and you might need to create or update existing SLA, TOM, RACI, etc. But these changes will help you start the digital transformation for your organization, which is helpful.

Security

There should not be any comparison between modern and traditional security verticals. Both are made for different reasons.

SCCM IBCM components are placed in the DMZ of your organization’s data center. The SCCM clients from the internet will directly connect to those IBCM components (sometimes via reverse proxy).

SCCM CMG components are placed in the Microsoft Azure data center and not in your on-prem DMZ. Moreover, the internet clients are NOT communicating directly with SCCM on-prem elements. SCCM CMG components will always create outbound connections to the Microsoft cloud.

Future Proof

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying SCCM IBCM is not future-proof. But what I can see is that Microsoft put much more effort into improving the capabilities of SCCM CMG.

Co-Management Support

SCCM IBCM Vs. CMG comparison always reaches a point where co-management support will come into the discussion. There is NO hardcore dependency on co-management and CMG.

SCCM CMG is more aligned with co-management options and scenarios.

Resources

8 thoughts on “SCCM IBCM Vs CMG Differences a Real World Comparison”

  1. Hi Anoop –

    Nice comparison and very helpful to help decide. For Parallels it came down to IBCM has an open to development API and CMG doesn’t. We would have preferred to go with CMG but couldn’t integrate it for Mac management in SCCM. To bring Macs into the policy management of SCCM, external off-prem Mac’s can use an HTTPS URL to receive a download of our Parallels Mac Management for SCCM agent, connect through the DMZ where IBCM is, then be enrolled into SCCM for off-prem policy management. For associates that will seldom be in the office, this gives a secure method to achieve a well managed Mac no matter where it is.

    Regards!

    Reply
  2. Hello Anoop,

    Have you ever find yourself in the scenario of having an IBCM and try to install clients from Intune, using the IBCM MP as the managementpoint to point to when sending the client’s deployment from Intune?

    Thanks!

    Reply
  3. any suggestions on reverse proxy to use for IBCM …having a impossible time to get the clients to talk over the internet to my IBCM server via an nginx proxy …

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.