Friday, September 18, 2015

What's New in ConfigMgr VNEXT - TP3 - SUP Model



Hey guys.  Its time for the second part of the series What's New in ConfigMgr VNEXT - TP3. read the first part here

http://delphintipz.blogspot.in/2015/09/whats-new-in-configmgr-vnext-tp3.html


 This time its about the SUP model in ConfigMgr vNext TP3. I was able to spend some time to work with SUP model and there are some interesting stuff. Those will eventually off load the engineers who do patching. The below are the changes / Enhancements I have noticed in vNext

  1. WSUS cleanup can be done from within ConfigMgr console
  2. Templates for ADR
  3. ADR supports multiple deployments

1. WSUS cleanup
 In vNext,We have the option to schedule WSUS cleanup with a configured interval. This is actually kind of a good approach to deal with the Expired or orphaned content within WSUS and we all should be happy that Microsoft is at least trying to help us, But changing the way ConfigMgr client scans against the SUP would be the solution.


As seen in the screenshot, the option can be selected while installing the SUP and by default the interval at which the cleanup runs is 30 days.
The same can be seen in the wsyncmgr.log

Setting sync alert to active state on site DLP    SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER    9/15/2015 11:11:38 AM    3824 (0x0EF0)
Sync time: 0d00h00m19s    SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER    9/15/2015 11:11:38 AM    3824 (0x0EF0)
Skipping Delete Expired Update relations since this is not a scheduled sync.    SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER    9/15/2015 11:11:38 AM    3824 (0x0EF0)
WSUS Cleanup wizard interval is : 30 days and time since last WSUS Clean wizard run is 16693 days. Calling WSUS Cleanup wizard.    SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER    9/15/2015 11:11:38 AM    3824 (0x0EF0)
Successfully completed WSUS Cleanup wizard.    SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER    9/15/2015 11:11:41 AM    3824 (0x0EF0)
Next scheduled sync is a retry sync at 9/15/2015 12:11:38 PM    SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER    9/15/2015 11:11:41 AM    3824 (0x0EF0)
 As this just is equivalent to launching the WSUS cleanup wizard from WSUS console, we need to take care of the superseded updates as we do in ConfigMgr 2012.

2. ADR Templates

Another interesting thing in vNext SUP model is that there are Pre-configured templates for ADR. This is not a quite a big improvement but we could see that Microsoft is trying to off load the engineers. We have 3 templates available by default, each one with different search criteria and custom schedule as the ADR rule.

  1. Definition Updates
  2. Patch Tuesday
  3. CAMP Updates


Patch Tuesday

 Search Criteria : Update classification - Critical and Date revised
 Schedule           : Once in 30 days                                     








Definition Updates

Search Criteria : Definition updates for FEP / WIN Defeneder
Schedule           : Run the rule after any SUP synchronization


CAMP updates

Search Criteria : Critical updates for FEP
Schedule           : Once in a day



3. Multiple deployment in ADR

 In ConfigMgr 2012 we can have only one deployment for an ADR. If you want to differ in the deployment time or user notification etc.. for some clients, you actually need to create a new ADR.

But in vNext you don't have to create a new ADR. You can just keep on adding new deployments with different schedule, collection, user notification etc.. to an existing ADR. Cool isn't it ?.

The below screenshots illustrate how we can add multiple deployments for an ADR







With all these, there isn't a huge change in SUP model of Configmgr vNext yet, but there are things which can actually reduce some of the loads on the engineer..

Hope you enjoyed this !                                                                                               S A Delphin


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

What's New in ConfigMgr VNEXT - TP3 - Introduction

Hey Guys. I am happy to meet you all with another post, only this time it is gonna be a series of posts about "What's new in ConfigMgr Vnext - TP3"

As you all know that ConfigMgr vNext TP3 is made available by Microsoft on 19-Aug-2015 and I got a chance to evaluate the functionality in my LAB. This series of blog post will talk about the features and functionality introduced or changed in vNext. Hope you guys will enjoy this series.

New Features / Enhancements in ConfigMgr vNext

 The listed below are the improvements in vNext technical preview 3, collected from Technet.

  • Windows 10 in-place upgrade
  • Mobile Application Management
  • Data protection for mobile devices
  • Preferred management points
  • On-premises mobile device management (MDM)
  • Support for Microsoft Azure virtual machines
  • Client deployment status in console monitoring
  • Sideloading apps in Windows 10
  • Windows PE Peer Cache
  • On-premises MDM: Adds support for Windows 10 desktop
  • Bulk enrollment of Windows 10 devices
  • Support for multiple Automatic Deployment Rules
  • Diagnostics and Usage Data
  • Service a server cluster
  • Support for SQL Server AlwaysOn for highly available databases
  • Deploy Windows Business Store applications
  • App deployment to Windows 10 devices with on-premises MDM
  • Compliance settings for Windows 10
  • Improved workflow for creating mobile device configuration items
  • Updates for Windows 10 in-place upgrade
  • Updates for bulk enrollment of Windows 10 devices with on-premises MDM

I will be testing every possible scenario in my LAB and share my experience with you guys in upcoming articles.

The complete detail and limitations are available in this artcile
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn965439.aspx

ConfigMgr vNext TP3 can be downloaded from Microsoft evaluation center
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-system-center-configuration-manager-and-endpoint-protection-technical-preview

Outlook - ConfigMgr vNext TP3

As I just completed setting up my vNext LAB, i though it would be really cool to share the outlook of the tool with you guys.

Asset and compliance


The Asset and compliance looks the same as ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 other than the "Windows" folder under All Corporate-Owned devices.

 Software Library


Windows sideloading keys is new which helps "Sideloading apps in Windows 10" We will be seeing that later in detail.

 Monitoring


Production and Pre-production client deployment. Not sure how this works yet, But we will get know very shortly.

Administration


I see a new node "Update and servicing" under cloud servicing. This is most probably related to the new windows service "Configuration_Manager_Update" which is available along with the other tradition ConfigMgr windows services.

Windows Services




Along with the traditional ConfigMgr windows services, there is a new Windows service with the name "Configuration_Manager_Update" is listed under services.msc. There is a log file associated with component as well, But i am not really sure about the functionality of this at the moment.


Client settings


There is this new client setting node "Windows PE peer cache" is added to support Windows PE Peer Cache feature. This is gonna be one of the coolest feature in ConfigMgr vNext since you don't need to install a Server DP in a remote location just for the sake of OSD. Excited to test this functionality.


Hope u enjoyed this :-)                                                                                                  TechyTipz



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