ConfigMgr 2007 – Clients in brief

So what does ConfigMgr 2007 bring regarding client scenarios ?

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Deployment

There are a few deployment methods for clients listed below , thoose listed in bold are new to ConfigMgr 2007

• Software Update Point (Client installed via WSUS as mandatory update)
• Group Policy Installation (ADM file will be available in RC1)
• Client push installation (new feature site system computer account can be used for installation and the local sitecode is default, uses remote WMI instead of remote registry)
• Logon installation (for users with administrative rights)
• Software distribution (existing client upgrades)
• Manual installation

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Components

The new client now only have 2 binaries, ccmsetup.exe and ccmsetup.msi (msi installations). When installing the new clients , some components needed by the client is also installed if they dont already exist. The components are listed below. The ccmsetup.exe is now also used for uninstallation. New to the client is that its bandwith aware thanks to BITS.

• BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) 2.0 , 2.5 and 3.0 ( 2000 platforms = BITS 2.0,  XP/2003 platforms = BITS 2.5 and Vista/Longhorn platforms = BITS 3.0) *Note BITS 2.0 requiers a reboot setup will not continue untill machine has been rebooted manually
• Windows Installer 3.1 v2 (KB893803)
• Windows Update agent (WUA)
• Core XML services (MSXML6.msi)
• MSRDC (Remote diffirential compression) This is used for branch office scenarios, and its not possible to install this on a w2k machine which means that w2k clients dont support branch office distribution points.
• Wimgapi.msi (Used in OSD scenarios)
• Client.msi ( The Conf Mgr 2007 client package, no longer possible to run this manually)

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Assignments, Registration and Approval

• ConfigMgr 2007 clients cannot be assigned to SMS 2003 or prior sites, though its possible to manage SMS 2003 clients with a ConfigMgr 2007 site.
• Clients also need to register to be able to send and retrive data to site systems.
• There are three different approval methods for clients in mixed mode, this is needed for the clients to be able to use the network access account. Clients in native environments are  automaticlly approved.
• No automatic approval, manuall approval needed
• Automatic approval for domain joined clients
• Automatic approval for all clients.

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System Roles used during deployment

• Site Server – Used when you use the client push scenario
• Management Point – Used for client and policy download
• Server Locator Point – If you dont extend your Active Directory you need SLP records for clients to work
• Distribution Point – Used in OSD and software upgrade scenarios
• Software Update Point – This is used when you deploy client with WSUS
• Fallback Status Point (FSP) – If you want clients can send deployment status messaged to the FSP
• PXE Boot – Can be used in OSD Bare metal scenarios
• State Migration Point -Can be used in machine replacement scenarios