SMS2003: Change a SMS Sites Site Description

Several people have asked me how to change an SMS Sites Description without reinstalling the Site. Say for example they mistype the description, or after a period of time the Site Description may need to be changed due to a division being renamed, taken over due to acquisition or the site server being geographically relocated.

Microsoft currently does not support the change of a Sites Description without a reinstallation taking place. But, there is a very simple way that does not involve hacking registries or database contents in multiple locations. Instead SMS will do the job for you, by processing it's Site Control File and performing the change in a controlled fashion and updating all relevent locations with the change. Be aware this is a not something you should perform in a production environment as Microsoft does not support the method, even though it is a harmless and effective approach to solving the problem.

All of the operations below are carried out on the Site server that you want the Site Description changed on unless stated otherwise

• Open the SMS Services Manager tool and if the target site server is a secondary connect to it
  
• Locate the SMS_SITE_CONTROL_MANAGER component and stop it
  
• Open in Notepad the  %SMSDRIVE%\SMS\INBOXES\SITECTRL\sitectrl.ct0 file
  
• Locate the Site Definition section,

BEGIN_SITE_DEFINITION

 <Numerical Value>
 <Site Code>
 <Site Description>

Edit the text within <Site Description>

Note: Do not add or change the syntax of the sections in this file or you will cause serious damage to your Site server. Do not remove the < or > symbols or edit anything outside of them

• Save the updated sitectrl.ct0 file
  
• From the SMS Services Manager tool restart the SMS_SITE_CONTROL_MANAGER component
  
• The hman.log will inform you that it is processing the Site Control File. A Status Message will be generated, and described in the message is the new Site Description.
  
  You can also see this information in the Status Messages for the Site under Message ID 3306.
  
• Go to the SMS Console and refresh the Site to see the new Site Description.

The reason this works is that SMS will write back to the database the Site Control Definitions held on the Site Server in the Site Control File whenever the SMS Executive service or Site Control Manager component is started, and as a consequence the Site Description is updated in the database.