Some of the main topics in this chapter are
In this chapter, you learn how to set up SMS on your network and use it to make your work more productive. Detailed information is provided to help you set up a primary site server for your central site, install other primary site servers and secondary site servers, and implement the site relationships you have already planned. You learn how to add logon servers and clients to a site.
The automatic installation features of SMS are powerful and potentially dangerous. The default settings are safe, but with a few clicks of the mouse you can tell SMS to automatically detect logon servers and update logon scripts. Depending on how your network is set up, SMS will find servers and clients, even those across routers in other cities. If this is what you want to happen, and it proceeds according to plan, it saves a tremendous amount of time and effort. If it happens by accident, it can result in a lot of unwanted network traffic on your WAN lines and a lot of work to undo the configuration.
During the setup process, you need the following key pieces of information:
CAUTION: If you're adding a site to an existing SMS system, you must be sure that you have a unique three-character site code. This code must be unique across the entire SMS system. Check with the administrator of the existing SMS system to get an unused code.
The database administrator (DBA) for the SQL Server you will be using can provide the database information in addition to a SQL Server ID and password. This account needs sa (system administrator) or dbo (database owner) privileges for the SMS database. The SMS service account can be created by an administrator of the domain containing the account. If you are using a master domain model, the SMS service account should be a master domain account. You can find the computer name and domain name by logging on to the proposed site server computer and double-clicking the Network icon in Control Panel. If you are using Integrated or Mixed security for SQL Server, you can use your Windows NT domain account as the ID for SQL Server. Be sure to GRANT this ID sa or dbo privileges for the SMS database and log.
If the SQL Server that will store your SMS database is running on a different computer from what you will use for your SMS site server, the SMS database, and an appropriately sized log file, should already be created, as well. You can create SQL Server devices, the SMS database, and the log file with the SQL Enterprise Administrator. If the same server will be used for SMS and SQL Server, the SMS Setup program automatically creates the SMS database.
TIP: Use the following information as a general rule for estimating the sizes of your database devices::
- SMSData device The number of clients you will manage multiplied by 20K per client
- SMSLog device 20 percent of the SMSData device size or 5M, whichever is greater
- TempDB 20 percent of the SMSData device size or 20M, whichever is greater
Insert the CD-ROM containing SMS. To launch the Setup program, you must know the directory in which it is located. The exact location depends on the specific product you are using (SMS itself, BackOffice, CPU type, upgrade, and so on); but for BackOffice 2.5 for Intel processors, it should be located in the \sms12\smssetup\x86 directory. Start the Setup program; then follow these steps to install SMS:
2. Enter your name, organization name, and the product identification number. Click Continue.
3. Verify the information you just entered, and either correct it or click Continue again. The Installation Options dialog box appears (see Figure 25.1).
Use the SMS Installation Options dialog box to select the type of SMS installation you want to perform.
5. If you agree with the terms of the license agreement, click the check box to signify your agreement. Click OK. The Systems Management Server Setup dialog box appears.
6. This dialog box provides important reminders about the steps you should have already taken prior to starting Setup. Make sure that you have completed these steps, and then click Continue.
7. The Installation Directory dialog box appears after the Setup program checks for necessary disk space.
8. Specify the directory where you want to install the SMS system. By default, SMS chooses the root directory of the NTFS partition that has the largest amount of free space available. You should have at least 100 megabytes (M) of available space on the drive you select.
9. Click Continue. The Setup Install Options dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 25.2.
The SMS Setup Install Options dialog box enables you to select the SMS components that you want to install.
The SQL Database Configuration dialog box enables you to specify the SQL Server you want to use and enter the logon ID and password required to connect to SQL Server. You also must enter the database name, database device, and log device you want to use.
Use the Primary Site Configuration Information dialog box to specify the unique three-character site code that will identify this site. You also must enter other site-specific information and specify the server and domain that will contain the site server.
CAUTION: You should use the Automatically Detect All Logon Servers option only if you are sure that you understand the ramifications of this selection. In particular, you should not use this option if you want the site server domain to span multiple sites.
14. SMS attempts to verify the user account you entered. In addition, if the SQL Server that you specified does not have maximum user connections set to a number larger than 20, SMS displays the SQL Connections dialog box. Enter a number greater than 20, and click Set.
TIP: A good rule of thumb for SQL Connections is to add 20 (or more) to the existing number of connections if you have additional databases. If the SQL Server is used only for SMS, 20 connections should be plenty. You can change this setting later by using the SQL Enterprise Administrator, if needed.
To be certain that everything has been installed properly, verify that all SMS services have been started and check the event log for possible errors. You can check the status of SMS services by using the SMS Service Manager. Check the event log by using the Windows NT Event Viewer. SMS events appear in the applications log.
To change the site properties, you must first start the SMS Administrator program: Choose Programs, Systems Management Server, SMS Administrator from the Start button, and you see the Microsoft SMS Administrator Login dialog box shown in Figure 25.5. Enter the SQL Server Name that contains the SMS database, the name of the Database (usually SMS), the logon ID and password for SQL Server, and click OK.
The SMS Administrator starts and presents you with the Open SMS Window dialog box, as shown in Figure 25.6. This dialog box makes it easy to open the windows that you work with when you use the SMS Administrator.
The SMS Administrator Login dialog box enables you to gain access to the SQL Server database for SMS so you can run the SMS Administrator program.
Use the Open SMS Window dialog box to open selected windows when you start the SMS Administrator. You can open these windows later by using toolbar buttons if you prefer.
Select the windows with which you want to work. For now, you need only the Sites window open. You can open these windows with toolbar buttons, as well. You might prefer to clear the Show This Dialog at Startup check box if you don't want to see this dialog box each time you start the SMS Administrator. Click OK. If you see the Sites window, you have successfully started the SMS Administrator (see Figure 25.7).
The Sites window in the SMS Administrator displays the site hierarchy.
The dialog boxes that enable you to change properties for the SMS system have two option button controls. One indicates that you are viewing the current properties, and the other indicates that you are viewing proposed changes to the properties. When the Current Properties button is selected, all the other controls on the dialog box are grayed out, indicating that changes are unavailable. As long as you don't click the Proposed Properties button, you cannot change any site properties. You can safely view all the current selections.
To open the Site Properties dialog box, start the SMS Administrator program, and open the Sites window. Then, highlight the primary site name in the left-hand pane, and choose File, Properties to display the Site Properties dialog box shown in Figure 25.8.
The Site Properties dialog box displays the site code, site server name, and various other site properties.
You can now view some of the site's properties such as the site code, site server name, and site server domain. You also have buttons that enable you to call up other dialog boxes with additional properties. These dialog boxes are discussed in the next four sections of this chapter. If you just want to view the properties, do not click the Proposed Properties option button on any of the additional properties dialog boxes (Services, Inventory, Parent Site, and so on). As long as you leave the Current Properties button selected, you cannot make accidental changes.
Site Services Settings. An SMS system works in cycles. When you give SMS a job to do, it typically takes several minutes to an hour or more for SMS to complete the job. This makes sense, given the nature of the work SMS is designed to perform. At regular intervals, a new cycle begins, and SMS checks to see what work, if any, it should perform.
The Services dialog box controls the speed of the SMS system. It does this by controlling the interval between cycles for seven of the SMS server-based services. These services are responsible for carrying out jobs and coordinating system events in the SMS system. By making the interval between cycles longer or shorter and exercising good judgment about how many jobs you create, you can control the amount of work that SMS is given in a particular time period. You have the choice of the following four settings for the Response rate:
The Very Fast speed is appropriate to use only for testing in a small SMS environment. Setting your site services to Very Fast can potentially waste processing power by causing the SMS services to frequently poll for work that isn't there and initiate unnecessary monitoring processes.
The following four services poll the SMS database for updates at a regular polling in-terval:
In addition, three other services have specific monitoring intervals affected by the Response rate: Site Configuration Manager, Maintenance Manager, and Despooler.
Table 25.1 shows the polling interval setting shared by four of the services and the monitoring intervals used by three other services (Maintenance Manager, Site Configuration Manager, and Despooler), based on the setting you select.
| Setting | Very Fast | Fast | Medium | Slow |
| Polling Interval | 1 | 5 | 15 | 30 |
| Maintenance Manager | 12 | 60 | 180 | 360 |
| Site Configuration Manager | 24 | 120 | 360 | 720 |
| Despooler | 24 | 120 | 360 | 720 |
To change the Response rate settings for a site, click Services in the Site Properties dialog box. You see the Services dialog box shown in Figure 25.9. Click the Proposed Properties button, select the option that corresponds to the Response rate you want, and click OK.
Change the response rate setting for SMS Site Services by using the Services dialog box.
You also can move some services to other servers by using the Services dialog box. If you are using SMS for a lot of package distribution, you might want to move some of the workload off the site server and onto a helper server. In the Services dialog box, enter the name of the server and the disk drive you want to use in the Server Name and Drive text boxes. Make sure that you have designated a server that is already running and attached to the network. Also make sure that the SMS service account has administrative rights on the server you designate. You can move the following four services to a helper server:
Default Client Component Settings. You can control which of the client components of SMS install on client workstations as they are added to the SMS system. By making selections on the Clients dialog box, you control which, if any, of the components are added to a new client workstation and whether they start automatically.
To set default client setup properties for a site:
You set default client setup properties for a site by using the Clients dialog box.
3. Select the components you want to load by default on all clients added to the site. You also can indicate whether you want them to load automatically when the client workstation starts.
4. If you want SMS to update logon scripts automatically for the entire site, select the corresponding box. You can instruct SMS to add its instructions at the top or the bottom of existing logon scripts. If a particular user doesn't have a logon script, they are set up to run SMSLS.BAT, the SMS logon script.
5. You can set options for remote troubleshooting of Windows NT clients by clicking the Options button, which brings up the Remote Troubleshooting Options (see Figure 25.11). You can specify which users or groups are permitted to access Windows NT clients, you can have SMS install special accelerated video drivers on NT clients, and you can specify the default network protocol to be used with NT clients.
The Remote Troubleshooting Options dialog box enables you to specify parameters that affect the way Windows NT clients are accessed.
Inventory Settings. To change the inventory properties for your site:
Use the Inventory Properties dialog box to set the frequency at which you want inventory information collected for a site.
3. Make selections for the hardware inventory frequency, the software inventory frequency, and the slow network strategy. Hardware inventory happens quickly enough (usually under ten seconds) that it is negligible at most sites with the majority of computers. It is often done at every logon or once a day. Software inventory on the other hand can take quite a bit longer, even several minutes. You also might want to consider how current your information needs to be. A good place to start with these settings is to set hardware frequency to every (1) day and software to every 7 days.
4. Inventory can take significantly longer on a slow network link. Your situation should dictate your strategy. If you have a group of users that requires the services SMS offers but are always on the other side of a slow link, you will probably want to take inventory anyway. If the usual scenario for a slow link is a laptop (that has been taken home or on a trip) connecting to the network over a Remote Access Service (RAS) line, then you are likely to already have inventory information for that computer and can wait until it returns to the office for an update.
5. Click OK. Click Yes when prompted to confirm an update to the site.
SMS Service Account Settings. To change the SMS service account and password properties for a site, follow these steps:
The Account dialog box is used to change SMS service account properties.
3. Enter the User Name (ID) that you want to use for the SMS service account. This account with its associated rights is the security context that all SMS services run under. In other words, when an SMS service attempts an action, its capability to perform that action depends on the rights associated with this account. The username is not case-sensitive--that is, upper- and lowercase letters are treated the same. If you are using a master domain model, this account should be a master domain account. Enter the name with the following format: domain\name.
4. Enter the password associated with the account. For security reasons, you do not see the letters of the password as you enter them.
5. Enter the password again to confirm that you entered it accurately. SMS does not check that the password is valid for this account, so if you enter an incorrect ID or password, the services will not be able to start the next time they are shut down and restarted.
6. Click OK. Click Yes when prompted to confirm an update to the site.
CAUTION: It's a good idea to change the account being used at regular intervals rather than simply change the password. This is due to the nature of SMS and the time that elapses while some actions are carried out. If you simply change the password and the site server is rebooted while the service account change is being done, your server can get caught in a state in which some services will have the correct password and some won't.
If you have set up a primary site server and want to add it to an existing SMS system, you need to make an entry in the Parent Site Properties dialog box. In this dialog box, you can specify the parent (primary) site that you will attach the current site to as a child site. For this site relationship to function, you must have operational senders and addresses set up for the two sites. It is helpful if you have already done this before implementing the site relationship.
In the simplified case in which you are connecting to another site on the same LAN, do not worry about creating senders because the LAN sender is installed by default. You do still need to create an address, but you can do this directly as part of the site relationship procedure, discussed in the steps immediately following. To change the parent site properties for a site:
2. Highlight the primary site name in the left pane.
3. Choose File, Properties. The Site Properties dialog box appears.
4. Click Parent Site. The Parent Site dialog box appears (see Figure 25.14).
Use the Parent Site dialog box to create a site relationship with another site. The other site becomes the parent of the current site.
6. Click Attach to Parent Site and enter the three-character site code of the primary site that is to be the parent of this site, or select it from available sites in the drop-down list. The parent site only shows up in the list if you have already defined an address for the proposed parent site. If the address has already been created, skip to Step 10.
7. If you haven't defined an address for the parent site, a message box prompts you to create an address. Click Yes. The Address Properties dialog box appears (see Figure 25.15).
The Address Properties dialog box enables you to define the type of connection between two sites.
Details for the Address Properties dialog box are entered into a dialog box that is specific to the type of connection between the sites. This figure depicts a LAN Address dialog box.
10. Enter the Logon Account that the sender will use to access the other site. You can use the SMS service account that you have already defined, or you can define an account for use by senders. If you're using a master domain model, this account should be a master domain account.
11. Enter the Password and then confirm the password. Click OK and then confirm the update to the site.
After you have finished the installation process for the primary site server and set basic properties for your site, you are ready to connect to other sites. This process begins by telling SMS about other sites that you want to be part of the same SMS system. You establish communications with other sites by setting up connections using a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Systems Network Architecture (SNA) network, or a Remote Access Service (RAS) link. Then you define the SMS components used to move information from one site to another--senders, outboxes, and addresses.
If you have only one site, you can skip the sections about establishing communications. With a single site, you can still use the default LAN sender, described in the next section; but because this is set up automatically during site installation, no further action is necessary on your part.
You are also ready to add additional computers to your local SMS site, as a task separate from adding other sites. SMS can automatically scan for computers or enable you to manually add only the machines you want. Once again, remember to be careful with the automatic scan. On some networks, this process can "see" as far as 16 router hops!
Three key entities are involved in communicating between sites:
A sender is a Windows NT service that moves instructions and data from one site to another. It uses one of three means of communication:
These communications links must be established independently of SMS. For example, if you are going to use an SNA link, you need to install Microsoft SNA Server to create the SNA link. If you want to use RAS as a method of connectivity, you need to install a RAS server at each site. In addition, with both RAS and SNA senders, you have multiple options for the type of link. RAS, for example, supports connections over a standard phone line, X.25 network, or ISDN, and there is a different sender for each of these connections. SMS provides two different SNA senders corresponding to the two types of SNA connections supported. There are different sender types for each of these different links. Configuring a LAN sender is easier, but you should make certain that both sites are running at least one common LAN protocol.
The instructions and data processed by senders are temporarily stored in outboxes. After you have installed a sender, you must configure an outbox for the sender to use. An outbox is simply a directory on a server's hard disk that a sender uses to pick up instructions and data that needs to be transferred to another site. All senders of a particular type share the same outbox. When you install a site server, an outbox for each type of sender is created on the site server's hard disk. There are six types of outboxes, corresponding to the six different senders.
You also need to create addresses for other sites that your site will communicate with. An address defines the information needed to connect to another site, including the destination site code and the type of sender to use. A site can have multiple addresses defined for a particular destination site. SMS automatically keeps statistics on the speed with which jobs are processed using different addresses. The SMS system reviews the requirements for a specific job, and other current system status information, and chooses the fastest means possible.
A default LAN sender is created automatically when you install a primary site. In addition, an outbox for each type of sender is created on the primary site server. If you need to manage additional sites linked to your primary site via a phone connection or an ISDN line, you need to define additional senders to move data between sites over these links. You might even want to install an additional LAN sender on a server besides the site server to offload work from the site server and improve throughput of site-to-site data.
CAUTION: The default LAN sender created during site setup is used to help manage the local site in addition to connecting to other sites linked by a network connection. Even if you do not need to connect to other remote sites, do not delete the original LAN sender.
You need three pieces of information to define a sender:
To define a new sender, follow these steps:
2. Select Senders. The Senders dialog box appears.
3. Select the Proposed Properties option. Click Create. The Sender Properties dialog box appears.
4. Select the type of sender you want to create from the drop-down list.
5. Enter the name of the server on which you want to install the sender.
6. Enter the drive letter for the disk drive on which you want to install the sender.
7. Click OK, and confirm your changes.
By reconfiguring the outbox for a particular type of sender, you can control when those senders are active and the priority level of jobs they will process during specific hours of the day. For example, you might not want LAN senders to process any jobs at all during the busiest part of the business day, to handle only high-priority jobs during the evening, and to process all types of jobs during the night when traffic is lightest. In addition, if you install a sender on a server other than the site server, you might want to move the outbox for that type of sender to the same server.
You also can rename outboxes if you want. You cannot create new outboxes, but you can move or rename the outboxes created originally. To reconfigure an outbox:
2. Choose File, Properties to open the Site Properties dialog box.
3. Select Outboxes. The Outboxes dialog box appears (see Figure 25.17).
Select the Outbox you want to reconfigure by using the Outboxes dialog box.
5. Select the outbox you want to reconfigure. Click Properties. The Outbox Properties dialog box appears.
6. Make the changes you want to the name, server, and drive for the outbox. By default, all outboxes are on the site server.
7. If you want to change the schedule for this outbox, click Schedule. The Outbox Schedule dialog box appears (see Figure 25.18).
The Outbox Schedule dialog box enables you to set the hours of operation for a particular outbox and the priority of jobs that will be handled at specific time intervals.
9. Click one of the buttons to indicate what type of jobs should be handled, if any, during this block of time. To prevent a particular sender type from being active during a block of time, highlight that block and click Closed.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 as often as required. When you are done changing the schedule, click OK.
11. Click OK on the Outbox Properties and Outboxes dialog boxes, and confirm your changes.
To use a sender, SMS also must have at least one address defined to connect to another site. In addition, the other site must have an address to reach your site because the communications need to be bidirectional. Both of these addresses are created automatically for any secondary sites that are set up. Only the addresses between primary sites need to be created manually.
To define an address for another site:
2. Choose File, Properties to display the Site Properties dialog box.
3. Select Addresses. The Addresses dialog box appears (see Figure 25.19).
The Addresses dialog box enables you to create, modify, or delete addresses.
5. Click Create to access the Address Properties dialog box.
6. Enter the site code you want to communicate with in the Destination Site Code box. Using the Type drop-down list, select the type of sender you want to use to move information between these sites. Click Details. A dialog box appears with the specific properties for the type of sender you've selected.
7. Enter the name of the destination server in the Destination Server box. Also enter the ID for the account that the sender will use in the Logon Account box and the password for the account and confirm it in the boxes provided.
8. Click OK in the Address Properties and Addresses dialog boxes, and confirm your changes.
After the server and its sender have been established at a remote site, it's not necessary to have an on-site administrator. It's possible to build the server for a remote site at your main location, complete some basic testing, and then ship it to the remote site. Removing the need for an on-site administrator at each location is one of the main benefits of a well-run SMS system.
It is occasionally useful to be able to completely shut down a remote server, power it off, and then turn it back on again. If you have set up your server on a computer from the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for Windows NT Server, applied all available service releases, and tested the server for a "burn in" period of a few days, you should have very few surprises. You might, however, encounter an intermittent hardware failure or a problem with power surges. For these and a handful of other reasons, you might want to install a device that enables you to power cycle the computer remotely. A number of devices are available that let you turn a computer off and back on by using a telephone or LAN connection. If a person isn't available to provide occasional assistance, one of these devices can be very helpful.
Adding Primary Sites. To create other primary sites, follow the same procedure as you did with the original central site server. These servers must be configured by running SETUP from the distribution media (usually CD). There is no automatic installation procedure for primary sites. After these servers have been installed, you should set basic site properties and implement the site relationship by using the procedures outlined in the first section of this chapter.
Adding Secondary Sites. A secondary site is a site that does not contain its own SMS database. No one administers it locally; someone at its (primary) parent site handles its administration. A secondary site cannot have any subsites beneath it as child sites.
Secondary sites are created by an administrator of the primary site who will manage the new secondary site. A server must already be prepared to have the secondary site components installed. This server might have Windows NT Server installed and configured at the primary site and then shipped to the secondary site. Alternatively, the server can be prepared at the secondary site by a person with Windows NT experience or by a visiting administrator.
The server should be a member of the appropriate domain. If you are using a master domain model, the secondary site server's domain might need a trust relationship established with the domain containing its parent primary site server. Alternatively, it can be a member of the same domain as its parent.
At the primary site, you also must be sure that the sender that will be used to communicate with the new secondary site is operational, as well as any communications services that will be used by the sender (for example, RAS or SNA). If you are using a LAN sender, you need only verify that the LAN or WAN link to the other site is functioning properly and the SMS service account has the appropriate permissions.
If you are using a RAS or SNA sender, make sure that these communications services are operational at the secondary site and that the primary site can successfully connect. Finally, if you are using an SNA sender, you must install an SNA receiver at the secondary site. The secondary site server also must be running SNA Server.
To create a secondary site, you need the following information:
To create a secondary site server, follow these steps:
2. Choose File, New. The New Secondary Site dialog box appears (see Figure 25.20).
Use the New Secondary Site dialog box to initiate the creation of a secondary site and its site server.
4. If you're using an account from a trusted domain, you must enter the Username as domain\username.
5. If desired, select the check box to Automatically Detect Logon Servers. Click OK.
CAUTION: Only use the Automatically Detect Logon Servers option if you are sure that you understand the ramifications of this selection. In particular, you should not use this option if you want the site server domain to span multiple sites.
7. When asked to confirm the creation and installation of a new site, click Yes.
8. If you're using an SNA sender, be sure that the SNA receiver is installed and started at the secondary site. You can do this by using the Windows NT Server Manager utility.
After you've completed the preceding process, the secondary site is installed and configured automatically. This process can take several hours, depending on the speed of the communications link and the workload the SMS system is already processing. While this process is occurring, an "under construction" icon appears in the Sites window of the SMS Administrator program. If you want to check the status of the site installation, select the secondary site and then choose File, Properties. A Job Properties dialog box appears. During installation, the site goes through four phases, which can be viewed in this Properties dialog box.
If you want, SMS can automatically detect and add all servers in the domain you are adding to the SMS system. Alternatively, you can add the domain and then select specific servers within the domain to be added to the SMS system. This is strictly a matter of personal preference. The Use All Detected Servers option is an easy and powerful way to handle a domain with multiple servers; however, there is a relationship between power and responsibility. If something goes wrong, a manual "one-at-a-time" process is less catastrophic than an automated multiple-server process. And there is at least a small chance that something will go wrong. You must weigh the safety versus ease of installation tradeoff and decide what is best in your situation.
To add a domain to the site:
2. Choose File, Properties. The Site Properties dialog box appears.
3. Select Domains. The Domains dialog box appears (see Figure 25.21).
4. Select the Proposed Properties option.
5. Click Add. The Domain Properties dialog box appears (see Figure 25.22).
6. Enter the Name of the domain you want to add. If you're adding a Windows NT or LAN Manager domain, the domain must already exist. If you're adding a NetWare domain, you are free to create a unique domain name under which you can group one or more NetWare servers. Select the Type that describes the network operating system being run on the servers in this domain.
The Domains dialog box enables you to add, modify, or remove domains. The domains currently defined in this site are listed.
Use the Domain Properties dialog box to select the servers from a domain that will be used as logon servers. You can use all servers or select them by name.
8. Click OK, and confirm your changes.
If you intend to create multiple SMS sites that all contain servers from a single Windows NT domain, you need to add that domain to each site manually. You should not select the option to Use All Detected Servers for such a domain. Use the Domains dialog box to add the domain to each site that contains one or more servers from this domain. Make sure that you select the Use Specified Servers option and manually add each server from this domain to the site. See "Manually Adding Servers to Your Site" later in the chapter.
You can add servers to a site one at a time or have the SMS system automatically scan for, or enumerate, all the servers in the site server domain. In this section, you learn how to add servers by using both methods. The best method to use depends on your particular situation. Guidelines for selecting the best method for your site are given in the section "Adding Domains" earlier in this chapter.
Automatically Adding Servers to Your Site. For the site domain (the domain that contains the site server) there are two methods to tell the SMS system to automatically detect all logon servers. You can set the option during the installation of the site, or you can later change the properties for the site domain by using the Domains dialog box. For domains other than the site domain, you must change the Use All Detected Servers setting for the domain in question, using the Domains dialog box.
When you set up a primary site, the Primary Site Configuration Information dialog box includes the option to Automatically Detect All Logon Servers. During the installation of secondary sites, the New Secondary Site dialog box includes the option to Automatically Detect Logon Servers. Selecting this option when installing either type of site causes the Use All Detected Servers option for the site domain to be set. Conversely, if you do not select this option during installation, the Use All Detected Servers for the site domain is not set. See "Setting Up Your Site" and "Adding Secondary Sites" earlier in this chapter.
You can change the Use All Detected Servers setting for any domain, including the site domain, by accessing the Domains dialog box by using this procedure:
2. Choose File, Properties. The Site Properties dialog box appears.
3. Select Domains. The Domains dialog box appears.
4. Select the Proposed Properties option.
5. Select the Domain you want to configure and click the Properties button. The Domain Properties dialog box appears.
6. Select the Use All Detected Servers option to turn on this setting.
7. Click OK and confirm your changes.
Manually Adding Servers to Your Site. To manually add logon servers:
2. Select Domains. The Domains dialog box appears.
3. Select the Proposed Properties option.
4. Select the Domain you want to configure and click the Properties button. The Domain Properties dialog box appears.
5. Select the Use Specified Servers option to turn on this setting.
6. Enter the name of the logon server you want to add in the New Logon Server box. If you want, you can specify on which drive (for LAN Manager and Windows NT servers) or on which volume (for NetWare servers) the SMS components should be located. By default, SMS uses the drive or volume with the largest amount of free space.
7. Click OK, and confirm your changes.
The addition of client workstations to the SMS system is driven by one of three events:
TIP: Be sure that client workstations have their date and time set accurately. If your clients are running LAN Manager software or Windows NT, you can synchronize their time with the site server by using the following command:net time \\siteserver /setA similar feature is available to set NetWare clients' time the same as their logon server. Make sure that NetWare servers' times are set the same as the site server.
Automatically Adding Client Workstations to Your Site. If you want to automate the process of adding client workstations to your site, you should use the Automatically Configure Workstation Logon Scripts option for the site. This option only works if two other conditions are met:
Because this option depends on the Use All Detected Servers option, you cannot use it in situations in which a single domain spans multiple sites. You cannot use Use All Detected Servers in such a scenario, and therefore you also cannot use Automatically Configure Workstation Logon Scripts. You can, however, manually set up these domains, and they can still participate in the SMS system.
To set Automatically Configure Workstation Logon Scripts for a site, use the following procedure:
2. Click Clients. The Clients dialog box appears.
3. Select the Proposed Properties option. Then click Automatically Configure Workstation Logon Scripts. You can instruct SMS to add its instructions at the top or the bottom of existing logon scripts. If a particular user doesn't have a logon script, her account is set up to run SMSLS.BAT, the SMS logon script.
4. Click OK. Click Yes when prompted to confirm an update to the site.
For this option to function properly in a Windows NT domain, you must make sure that the Replicator service is operational. The administrator for the site domain might have already configured this service for existing logon scripts. If not, an administrator for the domain needs to set up the Replicator service.
Manually Adding Client Workstations to Your Site. To manually add a single client workstation to your SMS system, you can do one of two things:
If you plan to manually change logon scripts for selected users instead of using the Automatically Configure Workstation Logon Scripts option for a site, you must manually copy a number of SMS files to the directory containing logon scripts on your logon servers. If you are using the Replicator service, you should copy the files to the SCRIPTS directory in the REPL$ share. If you are not using Replicator, you should copy the files to the NETLOGON share. Copy the following files from the SMS_SHR of a logon server:
NOTE: You must rename the SETLS files. For example, the SETLS32.EXE for Intel X86 processors should be renamed to SETLS32I.EXE. The different versions are located in subdirectories of the LOGON.SRV directory.
By default, the computer is added to the domain containing the logon server. You can use the SMSLS.INI file to control to which domain the SMS client is added. If you are using a master domain model, all client workstations appear in the master domain by default because this is the domain containing the logon servers. You might want to have client workstations appear in resource domains instead of having all client workstations appear in the master domain.
By making an entry of the form
logondomain = SMSDomain
in the [DOMAIN] section of the SMSLS.INI file, you can control the SMS domain that contains particular client workstations. For example, if you want a workstation to appear in the INTERNAL domain even though the user logs on by using an account from the GSULLIVAN master domain, you should place the entry
GSULLIVAN = INTERNAL
in the SMSLS.INI file for those users whose workstations belong in the INTERNAL domain.
After you place the files listed previously in the logon scripts directory and optionally create appropriate SMSLS.INI files, you are ready to modify user logon scripts. The format for the SMSLS.INI file is covered in Chapter 3 of the SMS Installation and Configuration Guide.To change a user's logon script:
2. If the site domain is not the displayed domain, choose User, Select Domain. Select the site domain from the list of domains, or enter the domain name in the Domain box.
3. Scroll down the list of users until you find the user in question. Double-click the user's name. The User Properties dialog box appears.
4. Click Profile. The User Environment Profile dialog box appears (see Figure 25.23).
Use the User Environment Profile dialog box to select the logon script for a user.
6. Close User Manager for Domains.
You also can add a client workstation to the SMS system manually without modifying the user's logon script. This process adds the SMS components to the client workstation and adds the workstation to the SMS system. If the user manually deletes one or more components from the workstation, however, they are not automatically added back to the workstation. If the user's logon script executes the SMS logon script, the SMS system is quite resilient at repairing or replacing damaged or missing client files. The logon script modification is, therefore, a slightly preferable method for adding clients.
If you do want to manually add a client workstation without modifying the user's logon script:
2. Run the SMSLS batch file.
In a LAN Manager or Windows NT environment, you can accomplish this by entering the following commands:
NET USE Z: \\logonserver\SMS_SHR Z: CALL SMSLS NET USE Z: /DELETE
In a NetWare environment, the procedure is slightly different. You connect a drive letter to the NetWare volume on which the SMS logon server components have been installed. Then change the current directory to the LOGON.SRV directory. Because Z: is usually used by NetWare to map a search drive to the PUBLIC directory, you should pick a different, unused letter. If you are unsure which letters are currently being used, enter the MAP command with no arguments. The following is a series of commands for a NetWare environment using L for a drive letter and assuming that the SMS root directory on the logon server is named SMS:
MAP L: \\logonserver\volume L: CD \SMS\LOGON.SRV SMSLS.BAT
One of the most powerful and useful capabilities of SMS is to build and maintain an inventory of servers and workstations on your network. SMS client components scan the computer for hardware information, including the amount of Random Access Memory (RAM), number and type of processor(s), video display type, disk drive types, sizes, and available free space, network adapter type, and much more. The SMS administrator also can define software packages that should be inventoried on a regular basis. This information is gathered at intervals set by the SMS administrator. A typical schedule would be daily for computer hardware and weekly for software.
A closely related task is the capability to audit software packages. A software inventory looks for a small number of well-defined software packages on a relatively frequent basis. A software audit, on the other hand, scans computers for a relatively large number of potential software packages. Because the number of packages to search for is greater, the audit takes longer and is therefore done less frequently to avoid alienating the user community. Software auditing is discussed in the next section, "Setting Up Auditing."
The SMS system uses the Inventory Agent service to scan servers running LAN Manager and Windows NT. NetWare servers are scanned by the Maintenance Manager service running on the site server. These services scan the servers at intervals controlled by the Hardware Inventory Frequency and the Software Inventory Frequency settings. These settings appear on the Inventory dialog box, which is opened from the Site Properties dialog box. If the settings indicate to scan at every workstation logon, servers are still scanned only once in each 24-hour period.
The inventory process for client workstations begins with a user logging on to the network. Client components on the user's computer scan for hardware and software depending on the inventory interval settings. The scanning process creates a "raw" file that is placed on the logon server in the INVENTORY.BOX directory. The Maintenance Manager service on the site server polls the INVENTORY.BOX directories on all logon servers at regular intervals and moves the raw files to the SITE.SRV\INVENTORY.BOX directory on the site server.
The Inventory Processor processes files that it finds in the site server's inventory box and creates another intermediate file type called a Delta-MIF. The Delta-MIFs created by the Inventory Processor are placed in another directory on the site server. They are then loaded into the site database by the Inventory Data Loader service.
This process obviously takes some time. A common misconception for new SMS administrators is to expect inventory information to show up immediately. The actual time required for a particular computer to be added to the site and inventory information to be processed depends on many factors, including the monitoring frequency and system load settings for the site, the number of computers on the network, and the amount of network activity. Even if the Response setting for site services is set to Fast, the Maintenance Manager's logon server monitor interval is 60 minutes. It is not unusual, therefore, for an hour or more to elapse before computers appear in the site database.
Client workstations that have been added to the SMS system automatically begin hardware inventory scanning at the interval specified. To conduct a software inventory, however, the software packages that you want to inventory must be defined for the SMS system, as described in the following section.
The three distinct sets of properties for an SMS Package are as follows:
To define an inventory package:
2. Open the Packages window, and choose File, New. The Package Properties dialog box appears (see Figure 25.24).
The Package Properties dialog box enables you to define new packages.
4. Enter a brief description of the package in the Comments box.
TIP: A package can be one or more files of any type, including data files, although they are most often used to define applications.
You define package properties for software inventory by using the Setup Package for Inventory dialog box.
7. Click Add AND. The File Properties dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 25.26.
8. Enter the name of a particular file that is part of this package (for example, EXCEL.EXE). Enter the complete filename with extension. You cannot use wild-card characters.
Use the File Properties dialog box to describe a file so that it can be identified during inventory processing.
10. Select one of the properties listed in the Properties Available scrolling list box. For example, you might select SIZE if you want to specify the size of the file as an identifying attribute. Click Add, and a dialog box for the specific attribute appears.
11. Enter a value for the attribute selected. For example, enter the size of the file in bytes (characters) if you selected the SIZE attribute. Click OK to close the attribute's dialog box.
12. Repeat steps 10 and 11 as many times as desired to define attributes for the file specified in the File Name box. When you've entered all attributes for this file, click OK to close the File Properties dialog box.
13. If you've entered all the characteristics you need to identify the package, skip to Step 15.
14. If the package includes multiple files, and you want to add one or more additional rules to specify identifying attributes for other files, you can add additional clauses. You can combine these clauses with the original clause by using logical AND and OR operators to form a complex expression. Click the Add AND or the Add OR button to insert a logical operator into the Count This Package If System Finds box. Return to Step 7.
15. When you've specified all the files and properties you need to uniquely identify this package, click OK twice.
SMS now scans for this package, using the rules you defined, whenever software inventory is performed. Packages defined with Workstations properties or Sharing properties do not become active until a job is created. There is no need, however, to create a job to activate the Inventory properties of a package. After the inventory properties are defined, the package definition is used to inventory this package whenever software inventory is taken.
After SMS has started collecting inventory information, you can use the Sites window in the SMS Administrator to view the information for particular computers. The information available is extensive. SMS also keeps track of changes that occur over time by maintaining historical inventory information. The SMS Administrator program can even highlight historical records that are different from the latest inventory information to make it easy to identify elements of the inventory that have changed.
To view the inventory information for a particular computer, follow these steps:
2. Open the Sites window. Choose Tree, Expand All from the menu to completely expand the display to show all sites and domains in the left pane of the window. Select the domain that contains the computer in which you are interested.
3. In the right pane of the Sites window, select the computer. Choose File, Properties. The Personal Computer Properties window appears (see Figure 25.27).
The Personal Computer Properties window shows properties for the computer named KELLY.
Scroll down the Properties pane and select any item you want. Details for that item display in the right pane. If the item has multiple instances, a computer with several disk drives for example, the details for those items display in tabular format in the right pane.
5. To view information on software inventory, scroll down the Properties pane until you see the Packages icon. Click the icon, and information about the packages you have defined with inventory properties displays in the right pane.
6. To view historical information for a particular item, highlight the item in the left (Properties) pane. The current information for that item displays in the right pane. You can step one record backward or forward by choosing View, Previous History Record, or View, Next History Record from the menu.
7. Alternatively, you can choose View, History Record at Time from the menu. The History dialog box appears. Select the View Historical Data option button. You can enter the date for which you want to view information. The date and time specified appear in the title bar of the Personal Computer Properties window.
You can select any item in the Properties pane to see the historical information for that group. Any information that differs from that in the current inventory record for a particular group appears in red so that it can be readily identified. When you want to reset the view to current data, choose View, History Record at Time from the menu again. Select the View Current Data option button.
8. To close the Personal Computer Properties window for a computer, click the Control Menu icon at the left end of the title bar and choose Close from the menu.
You can view inventory information in many different ways. You have already learned how to use the SMS Administrator program to see the details of a particular computer's inventory. In an upcoming section, you learn how to use queries to find all computers with a certain attribute. For example, you can display all computers that have a 486 processor or all computers that have more than 20M of available disk space. In addition, a utility program called SMSVIEW makes it easier to use other applications to view information in the SMS database. For example, you can use Microsoft Access to create reports on the inventory information. The SMSVIEW utility program is discussed in Appendix A of the SMS Administrator's Guide.
Now that you have seen how to view information about a computer's inventory, there are a few additional things you should understand about how the SMS system processes inventory information. A common misconception among people new to SMS is that the inventory information is "live." First-time users of the system often think that the SMS Administrator program connects to the computer in question and polls it for inventory information. Although this is exactly what the SMS Help Desk utilities do, the majority of inventory information is not retrieved directly from the computer workstation.
You already know that the SMS system uses a SQL Server database to store information about the computers it is managing. This includes the current and historical inventory information that you learned how to view in the preceding section. The SQL Server can be installed on the site server, or it might be installed on a different server to help distribute the workload. An overview of the flow of inventory information from workstation to logon server to SQL Server database was presented earlier in the "Using SMS to Inventory Your Computer Network" section.
SMS provides a great deal of information about the computer systems it inventories:
This list is not comprehensive, and not all of these items are available for every type of computer. It does, however, give you an overview of the type of information and the level of detail that is available. The SMS system might be constrained in what it is able to determine about a particular piece of equipment by the characteristics of the hardware itself. The more current the product, the likelier it is that SMS will be able to accurately identify it and provide detailed information on its attributes. With some older equipment, it is simply impossible to tell exactly what is being scrutinized through an automated scanning process. A good example is the video resolution of a particular system. This can be determined on some equipment but not on others.
There is some information that a computer system is never able to scan for automatically. Good examples of this would be the name of the person who usually uses the computer, the person's phone number, or the identifier used to denote the location of the computer in a particular building. The SMS system provides a mechanism to extend the inventory information about the computer to include these types of attributes.
A group of companies in the information systems business formed an association called the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF). The DMTF created a standard file format for identifying information called the Management Information File (MIF). By creating a file that adheres to this format, you can cause SMS to include additional information in the inventory database.
You could use any word processor or text editor to create a MIF because it is a standard ASCII text file. There are rules regarding the structure of the file, however, and it might be easier to create a MIF by using the utilities provided with SMS for this purpose. There are two such utilities: the SMS MIF Form Generator and the MIF Entry utility. By using the MIF Form Generator, you can create a form that the MIF Entry utility then uses to capture information that you want to add to the inventory. This process can be automated by creating a Run Command on Workstation job to send this utility to an appropriate group of users or everyone on the network. These utilities are documented in Appendix B of the SMS Administrator's Guide.
You've already seen how to view inventory information for one machine at a time. In this section, you learn how to ask the SMS system to display all the computers that match certain criteria. You learn how to formulate a query, submit it to the SMS database, and view the resulting answer that returns. You can create queries and store them for later use, or you can create an ad hoc query for immediate execution.
The process for creating each type of query is similar. You learn how to create and store queries and how to execute a stored query. Using ad hoc queries is a simplification of this process, which is not covered. To create a query, follow these steps:
2. Open the Queries window. Choose File, New. The Query Properties dialog box appears (see Figure 25.28).
3. Enter a name for the query in the Query Name text box. Then enter descriptive text in the Comment text box. The name and comment together should describe the query well enough that you can tell what the query is for without having to view the query properties you are about to define.
4. Select the architecture appropriate to the items you want to find in the Architecture drop-down list. The default is Personal Computer, which is the architecture you'll probably use most often.
Use the Query Properties dialog box to define a query that you can apply to the SMS database.
6. Select the attribute you want to add to the query expression from those listed in the list at the top of the dialog box. You can re-sort this list by group, class, or attribute by clicking the heading of that column.
7. Choose an Operator from the drop-down list in the middle of the dialog box.
8. Select a value by using the Value drop-down list. You also can type in a value manually if an appropriate value does not appear in the list.
9. Click OK to add this expression to the query you are building.
10. If you've entered all the expressions you need to build your query, go to Step 11.
If you want to add one or more additional expressions to specify identifying attributes for this query, you can add additional clauses. These clauses can be combined with the original clause by using logical AND and OR operators to form a complex expression. Click Add AND or Add OR to insert a logical operator into the Find All `architecture' Items Where box. The Query Expression Properties dialog box appears again. Return to Step 7.
11. Click OK to return to the Queries window.
To execute a query that you've defined:
2. Open the Queries window. Choose File, Execute Query. The Execute Query dialog box appears (see Figure 25.29).
3. Select the query you want to execute from the Query drop-down list box.
4. Select the format you want to use to display your query results from the Query Result Format drop-down list.
Use the Execute Query dialog box to specify the target sites for a query and to begin its execution.
6. Click OK. The query executes and displays your results in a Query Results window.
Although the capability to inventory software applications is useful when you want to carefully watch the usage of a small number of packages, it also is useful to be able to check for the presence of a larger list of applications on an infrequent basis. The Software Audit program enables you to perform exactly this function. Used in conjunction with a Run Command on Workstation job, the Software Audit program can provide important information about your organization's compliance with licensing regulations, track usage patterns for applications, and aid the planning and budgeting process for network growth. To audit software packages:
2. The SMS system creates a package rule file that contains rules for all files for which inventory properties have been defined. This file is stored in the SITE.SRV\MAINCFG.BOX\PKGRULE directory on the site server. You should make a copy of this file in the \PRIMSITE.SRV\AUDIT directory and edit it so that it includes only those packages you want to audit. Alternatively, you might want to use the AUDIT.RUL file provided with SMS as a starting point and add to it.
3. Convert this file to the format used by the Software Audit program by using the RUL2CFG.BAT utility provided in the \PRIMSITE.SRV\AUDIT directory. This converts the file and copies it to the \PRIMSITE.SRV\AUDIT\PACKAGE directory.
4. Create a package for software auditing by importing the AUDIT.PDF package definition file. Specify the \PRIMSITE.SRV\AUDIT\PACKAGE directory as the source directory for the package.
5. Create a Run Command on Workstation job to execute the Software Audit program using the rule file you've created.
To view the audited software, follow the steps outlined earlier in the section "Viewing Inventory Information." The software audit information appears in the Audited Software group of the Personal Computer Properties window.
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