SCCM

SCCM (A.K.A ConfigMgr) Explained
SCCM is Microsoft Microsoft Endpoint Manager Configuration Manager. This solution is used by most of the organizations in the world to manage their enterprise devices. This is the best resource to Learn and troubleshoot on issues.

How is SCCM (A.K.A ConfigMgr) Used?
SCCM solution is mainly used to manage Windows devices. But it has rich capability to manage and Mac OS devices as well. As per Microsoft, this tool is managing more than 75% of enterprise devices of the world. Linux and Unix devices are not supported by MEMCM (A.K.A Microsoft Endpoint Manager Configuration Manager)

How CAN SCCM Be Applied to Your Organization?
This solution can be used to install the application within your organization. OS deployment is another feature of this solution used within most of the enterprises. Another important use of this solution is to deploy patches across the enterprise and secure those devices.

There are 1000000 devices managed by this solution around the world. And SCCM device management solution is used within organizations to deploy millions of applications.

Server Client Application
This solution is a server-client application. All the managed clients’ inventory is stored in the CM SQL database.

SCCM Core infrastructure, Updates for Configuration Manager, Supported configurations for Configuration Manager, Cloud-attached management of CM, Co-management for Windows 10,
Manage clients on the internet, Windows as a service, CMPivot, Application management.

Other Uses for SCCM

SCCM can used for Manage apps from the Microsoft Store for Business, OS deployment, Introduction to OS deployment, Upgrade to Windows 10, Phased deployments, Software update management, Introduction to software updates management, Manage Office 365 ProPlus updates.

SCCM MVP community group is one of the known community groups in the IT Industry.

SCUP Upgrade

Learn How to Upgrade SCUP Environment SCCM System Center Updates Publisher

Let’s learn how to upgrade the SCUP Environment SCCM System Center Updates Publisher. The new version of SCUP was released a few weeks ago. This post answers the following questions about SCUP Upgrade.

I have also created a video tutorial to help us understand how to upgrade the SCUP version to the latest one. Download the latest version of SCUP 6.0.278.0.

Do we need to uninstall the existing version of SCUP to install the new version? Do we lose all the configurations and data as part of the upgrade? 

System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) is a stand-alone tool that enables independent software vendors (third-party -3rd – applications) or line-of-business application developers to manage custom updates.

What is Microsoft SCUP?

Let’s discuss the Microsoft SCUP. The section below will help you to see more details.

What is Microsoft SCUP?
Version: 6.0.278.0
File Name:- UpdatesPublisher.msi
Learn How to Upgrade SCUP Environment SCCM System Center Updates Publisher – Table 1

You wanted to learn more about SCUP and its functionality through video tutorials. I recommend reading the previous SCUP posts for more details on this topic.

Features of SCUP?

SCUP is a tool for importing updates from external catalogs (non-Microsoft update catalogs). It also enables the modification of updated definitions, including applicability and deployment metadata.

SCUP Upgrade Experience 

SCUP is the tool used to export updates to external catalogs. Using SCUP, we can publish updates to a WSUS server.

Learn How to Upgrade SCUP Environment SCCM System Center Updates Publisher - Fig.1
Learn How to Upgrade SCUP Environment SCCM System Center Updates Publisher – Fig.1

As I showed in the SCUP Upgrade video tutorial, the SCUP upgrade process is straightforward and smooth. You won’t lose any of your existing configuration.

In my experience, everything configured in the existing version of SCUP will remain the same. The following is the high-level process that I followed to upgrade the SCUP environment.

Download the latest version of SCUP from Microsoft Download Center. The size of the MSI file is not big. It’s only ~5 MB.

The old version of SCUP is installed and configured on the server. There is no need to remove the previous version of SCUP before installing the new one; the latest version will upgrade the previous version.

Once SCUP is successfully installed on the server, we can launch it from the start menu. It will take time for you to launch SCUP for the first time.

This is because all the configuration options will happen in the background once we launch SCUP for the first time.

I will share my detailed review of SCUP in a different post. I’m interested to see the changes Microsoft promised in their SCUP release blog post.

SCUP Prerequisites or Requirements

The following are the prerequisites for the new version of SCUP.

Supported Operating System

  • Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016
  • A supported Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) console. On Windows Server, install the default Administration Console to meet this requirement.
  • For Windows 10, install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows operating systems.

SCCM Dependency

SCCM 2012 R2 SP2
SCCM 2012 R2 SP1
A supported version of SCCM CB.
SCCM LTSB version 1606

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNn77zOSiBo

Resources

We are on WhatsApp now. To get the latest step-by-step guides, news, and updates, Join our Channel. Click here. HTMD WhatsApp.

Author

Anoop C Nair is Microsoft MVP from 2015 onwards for consecutive 10 years! He is a Workplace Solution Architect with more than 22+ years of experience in Workplace technologies. He is a Blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group Community leader. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM and Intune. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Windows, Entra, Microsoft Security, Career etc…

SCCM CB 1803 Review of Upgrade and Features Configuration Manager ConfigMgr 1

SCCM CB 1803 Review of Upgrade and Features Configuration Manager ConfigMgr

The SCCM CB 1803 preview version was released a few weeks ago. I was busy with SCCM CB 1802 production posts, so I couldn’t get time to install it. In this post, we will review my SCCM CB 1803 upgrade experience.

What is the SCCM CB Preview Version? If you have not installed the SCCM preview version in the lab, I recommend downloading and installing the latest preview baseline version, SCCM CB 1711. The above download link should be used ONLY when you want to test the Preview version in your lab environment.

What is the SCCM CB Preview Version? The SCCM CB Preview version is valid only for 90 days or 3 months. It should NOT be installed in the production environment. The SCCM preview version supports a maximum of TEN(10) clients.

I have created a video tutorial to provide a real experience of the SCCM CB 1803 upgrade process.

SCCM CB 1803 Video Tutorial

This video tutorial also gives a real-life experience of the new features included in the 1803 preview version of SCCM CB. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for updates on the latest SCCM/Intune video tutorial.

SCCM CB 1803 Review of Upgrade and Features Configuration Manager ConfigMgr - Fig.1
SCCM CB 1803 Review of Upgrade and Features Configuration Manager ConfigMgr – Fig.1

SCCM CB 1803 – List of Features

Microsoft’s SCCM team was busy during the 1802 production release. The preview version 1803 doesn’t have as many new features as expected.

I could see only 21 features available under the SCCM 1803 console “\Administration\Overview\Updates and Servicing\Features.”

  1. Add a passive primary site server.
  2. Approve Application requests for Users per Device
  3. Client Peer Cache
  4. Cloud Management Gateway
  5. Conditional Access for Managed PCs
  6. Create and Run Scripts
  7. Data Warehouse Service Point
  8. Device Health Attestation assessment for compliance
  9. Enable third (3rd) party update support for clients
  10. OMS Connector
  11. Passport for Work
  12. PFX Create
  13. Phased Deployments
  14. Run Task Sequence Step
  15. Server Groups
  16. Support for Cisco AnyConnect 4.0..7x and later for iOS
  17. Surface Driver Updates
  18. Task Sequence Content Pre-Caching
  19. VPN for Windows
  20. Windows Defender Application Control
  21. Windows Defender Exploit Guard Policy

High-Level Description of New Features – Custom Tab for Web Page in Software Center

Once you have upgraded the SCCM client and Server to 1803, you can now create a customized tab to open a web page in the Software Center.

  • Create Custom Tab in SCCM Software Center – In Client Settings, select the Software Center group. Specify a tab name and content URL for the customized tab.
  • Upgrade the SCCM CB client to 1803 and launch the Software center.
Enable copy/paste of asset details from SCCM Monitoring WorkSpace
Enable copy/paste functionality in the asset details pane in deployment and distribution status monitoring views.
SCCM CB 1803 Review of Upgrade and Features Configuration Manager ConfigMgr – Table 1

Enable 3rd software update support on SCCM CB clients

You can now enable the configuration of the ‘Allow signed updates from an intranet Microsoft update service location policy and installation of Windows Server Update Services code signing certificate on clients.

I have posted about this feature. I would recommend reading that post-SCCM CB 1802 Enable Third-Party Software Update Support.

  • Enable third-party software updates in Software Update Point top-level site component configuration
  • Configure (default) Software Updates client agent settings to enable third-party software updates on clients
  • Deploy custom Software Updates client agent setting to enable third-party software updates on clients
  • Successfully import third-party software updates signing certificate from Windows Software Update Services.

Improvements to PXE-enabled distribution points

The WDS requirement is removed from PXE-enabled DPs. This is possible if you are NOT using the multicast feature. Configure a PXE-enabled distribution point to use a PXE responder service that supports IPv6 and does not require Windows Deployment Services (WDS).

  • On the PXE tab of the distribution point properties, check “Enable a PXE responder without Windows Deployment Service” and click OK.

Maintenance windows Details in Software Center

The client machine’s software center displays maintenance Windows details, which is useful for troubleshooting scenarios for the help desk.

  • Software Center displays the next scheduled maintenance window on the Installation Status tab.

Partial download support in client peer cache to reduce WAN utilization

SCCM Client Peer cache is improving with every release of SCCM CB. Client peer cache sources can now divide content into parts. These parts minimize the network transfer to reduce WAN utilization.

Pull DP support Cloud DPs as a source.

You can set a cloud distribution point as a source for a pull distribution point.

Management Insights – SCEP for Mac and Unix Depreciation

I could see a new management insight option in the SCCM 1803 console: “\Administration\ Overview \ Management Insights\All Insights\MacOS and Unix.” It seems that SCEP for Mac and Unix will be depreciated by the last release of SCCM CB in 2018.

Resources

  1. SCCM CB 1803 Microsoft Documentation
  2. Know more about the SCCM Technical Preview Version 

We are on WhatsApp now. To get the latest step-by-step guides, news, and updates, Join our Channel. Click here. HTMD WhatsApp.

Author

Anoop C Nair is Microsoft MVP from 2015 onwards for consecutive 10 years! He is a Workplace Solution Architect with more than 22+ years of experience in Workplace technologies. He is a Blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group Community leader. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM and Intune. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Windows, Entra, Microsoft Security, Career etc…

Microsoft Intune Training Course Intune Certification | Free training Videos 2

Microsoft Intune Training Course Intune Certification | Free training Videos

Microsoft Intune training course from Microsoft Learning is free. However, if you need a verified certificate, you’ll need to pay around USD 99$. 

Microsoft Course Number INF260x – Microsoft Azure Security Services includes one module on the Microsoft Intune device management solution. If this is your first edX course, I recommend you check out DemoX.

Updated Intune training – 63 Episodes Of Free Intune Training For Device Management Admins HTMD Blog (anoopcnair.com). Learn Microsoft Intune – Use the Microsoft Intune Starters Kit to start learning Intune. Video experience of Intune training course and certification.

I have gone through the content of the Intune module, and it’s exciting and useful. One of the topics is How Intune Works? And the answer to that is “Intune device management works by using the protocols or APIs available in the mobile operating systems.”

The Content of the Intune Training Course Module

Let’s discuss the Content of the Intune Training Course Module. The list below will help you to see more details.

  • Microsoft Intune for Windows, iOS, and Android devices
  • Device Health Attestation
  • Mobile Device Management (MDM)
  • Mobile Application Management (MAM)
  • Data governance with GDPR
  • Security aspects of AutoPilot

How to Enrol in the Intune Training Course

You have four (4) options to enrol in the EdX training course. You can use either of the following options to start the training course. The table below will help you to see more details.

How to Enrol in the Intune Training Course
Facebook
Google
Microsoft
Create a New Account
Microsoft Intune Training Course Intune Certification | Free training Videos – Table 1

Review of Intune Training Course Content

Overall, the Intune training course content is good. This course is more about the security aspects of Microsoft Intune, but I agree that it covers Intune basics and design considerations, so Intune topics are helpful.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will take effect in May 2018. The Intune module of this course provides more details about GDPR and privacy.

However, I also think the Microsoft learning team needs to update the content for some parts of the Intune training course. For example, the Intune training module references the Mobile Device Management Design Considerations Guide v2.

The TechNet gallery PDF document is pretty old (it was updated in 2015). It talks about Intune hybrid (with SCCM) architecture considerations, which are not relevant in 2018.

More Details on the First Topic of the Intune Training Course Module

The Intune module starts with a necessary explanation of Intune technology. It’s nicely explained.

What is Microsoft Intune
How Intune Works
Azure Active Directory integration with MDM Intune
MDM (Intune?) Design Considerations
 Identify your mobile device management requirements.
 Plan for mobile device management
 Plan for enhancing mobile device protection
 Plan for SaaS mobile device management
Application Management with Intune
General Data Protect Regulation with Intune

How is the Intune Training Course Placed?

To get the verified Certificate, you need to complete all the modules of the course INF260x. However, I covered only the Intune module in detail in this post. You have three(3) months to complete this course, and I think that is more than enough to finish the course.

One module will be released each week, with a moderated discussion board. Students will complete hands-on labs in an online virtual environment. A verified certificate is available after obtaining 70% of the course-graded events.

Start the Microsoft Azure Security Services training course

Microsoft Intune Training Course Intune Certification | Free training Videos - Fig.1
Microsoft Intune Training Course Intune Certification | Free training Videos – Fig.1

Resources

We are on WhatsApp now. To get the latest step-by-step guides, news, and updates, Join our Channel. Click here. HTMD WhatsApp.

Author

Anoop C Nair is Microsoft MVP from 2015 onwards for consecutive 10 years! He is a Workplace Solution Architect with more than 22+ years of experience in Workplace technologies. He is a Blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group Community leader. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM and Intune. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Windows, Entra, Microsoft Security, Career etc…