Eswar Koneti's Blog

Awarded as Microsoft Community Contributor for 2011

Eswar Koneti — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:16:00 GMT

Today morning I step into office and just checked my mails .I saw mail from microsoftcommunitycontributor saying

Dear Eswar Raju,
Congratulations! We’re pleased to inform you that your contributions to Microsoft online technical communities have been recognized with the Microsoft Community Contributor Award.

I should thank to all who has given me the support especially to Ymsen Marcus and Niall Brady.

How to Trigger SCCM Machine policy or Hardware inventory action agent on remote computers

Eswar Koneti — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:40:13 GMT

There are lot of tools available like SCCM client center or Collection commander or Right Click Tools etc. to trigger SCCM client agent Actions using these tools but the customer environment doesn’t have any of these tools to use and we had a requirement to run the machine policy and other actions items as well.

I have used the below script to run(ex:Machine policy and evaluation cycle or hardware inventory action etc) on a list of computers that you have supplied in notepad.txt using psexec tool.The script reset the hardware inventory action and deletes the instance before running hardware inventory.

What do you require to carry out this task: A Share folder(create one) ,Psexec tool, Vb script(below) and batch script(below).

Open a notepad,copy the below code and save as trigger_policy.vbs.

'Declare Variables
On Error Resume Next
Set sho = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
strSystemRoot = sho.expandenvironmentstrings("%SystemRoot%")
strCurrentDir = Left(Wscript.ScriptFullName, (InstrRev(Wscript.ScriptFullName, "\") -1))
' Get a connection to the "root\ccm\invagt" namespace (where the Inventory agent lives)
Dim oLocator
Set oLocator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator")
Dim oServices
Set oServices = oLocator.ConnectServer( , "root\ccm\invagt")
'Reset SMS Hardware Inventory Action to force a full HW Inventory Action
sInventoryActionID = "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}"
' Delete the specified InventoryActionStatus instance
oServices.Delete "InventoryActionStatus.InventoryActionID=""" & sInventoryActionID & """"
'Pause 3 seconds To allow the action to complete.
wscript.sleep 3000
'Run a SMS Hardware Inventory
Set cpApplet = CreateObject("CPAPPLET.CPAppletMgr")
Set actions = cpApplet.GetClientActions
For Each action In actions
If Instr(action.Name,"Hardware Inventory") > 0 Then
action.PerformAction
End If
Next

since the above script you have created is to trigger hardware inventory action,You will have all the Actions ID given below for each.

Hardware Inventory – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001
Software Inventory – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002
Data Discovery – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000003
Machine Policy Assignment Request – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000021
Machine Policy Evaluation – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000022
Refresh Default Management Point – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000023
Refresh Location (AD site or Subnet) – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000024
Software Metering Usage Reporting – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000031
Source list Update Cycle – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000032
Refresh proxy management point – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000037
Cleanup policy – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000040
Validate assignments – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000042
Certificate Maintenance – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000051
Branch DP Scheduled Maintenance – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000061
Branch DP Provisioning Status Reporting – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000062
Software Update Deployment – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000108
State Message Upload – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000111
State Message Cache Cleanup – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000112
Software Update Scan – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000113
Software Update Deployment Re-eval – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000114
OOBS Discovery – 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000120

Again,open notepad and copy the below code into it and save as name.bat

@Echo off
REM Initiating Hardware inventory agent action
cd d:\script
d:
psexec @computers.txt -c \\Servername\actions\trigger_policy.vbs

Exit

Now run the batch script which you created above from either command prompt or directly from folder.

Hope it helps someone who doesn’t use the automated tools.

SCCM Report to list Computers with IP address with their Subnets from Given Collection

Eswar Koneti — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:04:30 GMT

Below is the report to list computers with IP address and Subnet information from Given collection.

select distinct A.Name0,c.IPAddress0 ,D.IP_Subnets0 from v_R_System A inner join
v_FullCollectionMembership B on A.ResourceID=B.ResourceID
Inner join v_GS_NETWORK_ADAPTER_CONFIGUR C ON A.ResourceID=C.ResourceID
Inner Join v_RA_System_IPSubnets D ON A.ResourceID=D.ResourceID
where CollectionID=@COLLID and C.IPEnabled0='1'
group by A.Name0,c.IPAddress0 ,D.IP_Subnets0
order by A.Name0,c.IPAddress0 ,D.IP_Subnets0

Prompt for Collection :

Select CollectionID,Name from v_Collection

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization(MED) v2 Release Candidate is now available for download

Eswar Koneti — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 01:35:00 GMT

The Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization v2 Beta Refresh is now available for download on the Microsoft Connect site. The updated software provides fixes to customer reported issues and new features including Workspace packager updates which add additional options for customizing the MED-V computer names.

NOTE: The MED-V_HostAgent_setup.exe replaces the MED-V client install MSI and the MED-V_WorkspacePackager_setup.exe replaces the MED-V console install MSI. This change simplifies the install and deployment of these components as they now detect install the correct architecture in a single install. All of the command line options provided for the MSI’s in the previous installs are still supported for these installers.”

The Guest Agent MSI no longer has to be installed by the administrator on the Windows XP image. The Guest Agent is now installed automatically as part of first time setup. For more information see the MED-V Release Candidate Release Notes.

Please read the release notes for important information about upgrading and the rename of the MED-V Installers.

Release Candidate Release Notes

https://connect.microsoft.com/medv/content/content.aspx?ContentID=23311

Download Release Candidate software :

http://connect.microsoft.com/medv/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=32936

SCCM report to list all the advertisement that are currently assigned to computer

Eswar Koneti — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:42:00 GMT

When you assign any advertisement (either application or Task sequence) to collection(Group of computers) ,all the advertisement will be tracked(logged) in SCCM Database with its status and other details.The advertisement will run on the computer and gives the status of it which can be find Via Default reports “All advertisement for specific computer(Report ID:126)”.

What ,if you move the advertisement to different different collection where the computers(which you advertised above) are not part of this collection and you want to track all the advertisements that are currently assigned to specific computer.

You can get this currently assigned advertisements by simply Right click on computer--->properties--->Advertisements Tab (its list only currently assigned ones) but how about the status and what is the package name and program name etc. details.

Do you use the default report(126) ? No,because it will gives you all the advertisements that are assigned to computer but not current advertisements assigned to it (computer) since it uses View called V_advertisement

Below is the report to fetch the list of current advertisements assigned to computer with other information added to it.You can still apply the same to collection instead of specific computer as well.

SELECT distinct dv.AdvertisementName,stat.LastStateName,adv.AdvertisementID,pkg.PackageID,adv.ProgramName from v_Advertisement adv
    inner join v_FullCollectionMembership FCM ON FCM.CollectionID=adv.CollectionID
    Inner join v_CurrentAdvertisementAssignments CADV ON CADV.AdvertisementID=adv.AdvertisementID
    inner join v_Package pkg ON pkg.PackageID=adv.PackageID
    JOIN v_ClientAdvertisementStatus stat ON stat.AdvertisementID = adv.AdvertisementID
    where FCM.Name=@computer

Prompt for computer: Select name from V_R_system

If you use the prompt value for computer,it might take some time to display all the computer from Database if you have more than 1000 computers instead,you can specify the computer name directly in Query before you run the report.

Hope it helps you .

Report for computers which has their(Next) Maintenance Window settings in SCCM

Eswar Koneti — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:22:00 GMT

Here is another report today ,to list all the computers with their maintenance window setting and are part of which collection.

The maintenance window information( collection ID,Description,time etc.) is available from SQL view called v_ServiceWindow.

Below is the report to display all the computer with their maintenance window settings .You can also limit this collection to specific with the help of Prompts.

select
v_FullCollectionMembership.Name as Computername ,v_Collection.Name as CollectionName,
v_ServiceWindow.Description as “Next Maintanance Window”
from v_ServiceWindow
inner join v_FullCollectionMembership on (v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID = v_ServiceWindow.CollectionID)
inner join v_Collection on (v_Collection.CollectionID = v_FullCollectionMembership.CollectionID)
order By v_Collection.Name

Report for computers where the discovery agent time is older than 30 days

Eswar Koneti — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:51:52 GMT

Report to list all the computer where the discovery agent time shows older than 30 days.

This you can find out if you right click on the computer ,go to properties and see Agent name[0] (ex:SMS_AD_SYSTEM_DISCOVERY) respect to Agent time[0] for the above discovery method which will be the recent date.

select a.Name0,b.AgentName,b.AgentTime from v_R_System a
join v_AgentDiscoveries b on b.ResourceId=a.ResourceId where
(AgentName like 'Heartbeat Discovery' and DATEDIFF(Day,AgentTime,Getdate())>=30 ) OR
(AgentName like 'SMS_AD_SYSTEM_DISCOVERY_AGENT' and DATEDIFF(Day,AgentTime,Getdate())>=30 )

group by name0 ,agentname,AgentTime

Order by Agentname

You can add other discovery methods if you enabled in your site to the above report.

List of Advertisement Status Message IDs with its Description

Eswar Koneti — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 02:10:00 GMT

Today,I come across several advertisement status message IDs for a particular advertisement which can be viewed under system status--->advertisement status.

I,Thought of sharing the excel sheet with you about all the advertisement status message ID’s with its description along with. This might be helpful in creating reports or collections with status message ID’s.

SCCM collection to list all the Laptop computers

Eswar Koneti — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:13:13 GMT

If your boss ask to get list of laptops which are managed by SMS or SCCM.what do you do and how do you get that. Right click on computer and go to resource explorer to identify the computer is Laptop or Desktop ?

You can identify if the computer is Laptop or Desktop based on its chassis Types.

Below are listed the Chassis types available to create SCCM collection or reports.

For Laptops Chassis Types : 8 , 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 21

For Desktop Chassis Type : 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16

For server Chassis Type: 23

Below is the collection to list all the computers which are laptops which fall in above Chassis type. All these values are from SQL table called SMS_G_System_SYSTEM_ENCLOSURE .If you are looking to create SCCM report,you can create using Views(v_GS_SYSTEM_ENCLOSURE).

You can also replace the values with Desktop computers or servers also you can use joins to club these with AD groups for deploying the applications based on this.

select SMS_R_System.ResourceId, SMS_R_System.ResourceType, SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_R_System.SMSUniqueIdentifier, SMS_R_System.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup, SMS_R_System.Client from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_SYSTEM_ENCLOSURE on SMS_G_System_SYSTEM_ENCLOSURE.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_SYSTEM_ENCLOSURE.ChassisTypes in ( "8", "9", "10", "11", "12", "14", "18", "21" )

Here are some sample reports/queries available which you can make use of it

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/snorman/archive/2007/09/18/count-of-chassis-types-by-collection.aspx

SMS/SCCM Clients installation Troubleshooting Check list

Eswar Koneti — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:01:00 GMT

Seen Lot of questions/helps in many forums on the SCCM client issues like client is not reported to SCCM console ,site code unsuccessful, Client is installed but Console shows NO and many more.

Here is the check list which i have prepared to follow in brief .There may be other issues which are not mentioned here but mostly, issues lies under the below conditions.

There are a variety of Client deployment methods that are available to you when installing the client. Each has its advantages and disadvantages along with the need to meet specific business requirements.

If you choose to go SCCM client push installation method, Ensure you have created Client push installation account which should have Admin rights on the target computer else it may fail .Client push installation Step by Step Guide is here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb632380.aspx and with Screen shots how to configure from Windows-Noob

Once you initiated the Client push installation from SCCM console( right click on computer,say install client etc ),you can start monitoring CCM.log from your <SCCM installation folder:>\Logs. For more info on how SCCM client push installation works,please refer this article for process and troubleshooting .

The procedure is same what ever the installation method you choose.The CCMSETUP.EXE will be downloaded to the system (c:\windows\system32\ccmsetup) and is executed. The ccmsetup.exe reads the manifest file (and also mobileclient.tcf) and fetches the remaining files(prerequisites files listed below ) to continue the client installation.

Some of the components that are used in the client deployment process include the following:

• CCMSetup.exe: Used to Install, uninstall and upgrade the SCCM 2007 client using client push installation or manual installation. It is low bandwidth aware and is the single way to launch client deployment. You also do not need to use CCMClean to uninstall the client as the uninstall switch can be used instead.
• BITS: BITS 2.0 is required for Windows 2000 clients. BITS 2.5 is used for most of the Windows operating systems with the exception of Windows Vista which uses BITS 3.0.
Note: When installing BITS 2.0 on Windows 2000 SP4 machines, a restart is required. This means that if you do not have BITS 2.0, then ccmsetup will stop the install and wait until the next process of reboot before it starts the next process.
• Microsoft Windows Installer v3.1 v2 (KB 893803): Update to all operating systems except Windows Server 2003 SP1 and later
• Windows Update Agent (WUA) version 7.0.6000.363: Used on clients to support detection of applicable updates and deployment
• MSXML6.msi - Windows installer script for installing the Core XML Services
• MSRDC (Remote Differential Compression): Required for branch DP to support binary differential replication. For more information on binary differential replication, please visit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693953.aspx .
Regarding windows 2000 clients, they don't support MSRDC, so Windows 2000 clients cannot be branch DP’s. Windows XP and later will install this utility and the associated windows server code will be used to install the bits.
• Wimgapi.msi: Imaging API for custom tools for image management
• CCMSetup.msi: Windows installer package for deploying of the SCCM 2007 client using AD GPO. You cannot run CCMSetup.msi to install clients manually.

You can monitor CCMSETUP.LOG ,CLIENTMSI.LOG from your ccmsetup folder. It will take few min to complete the installation .Once you see, client installation succeeded,You may confirm that,installation is done but it doesn't mean,client is healthy and able to receive policies /send information to Management Point.

Below are the SMS Related services which should (applicability depends on the client perform actions let say BITS is not used when you run the Application from DP) be running on the Client to be healthy all the time..

Automatic Updates
Background intelligence Transfer service
Remote Registry
SMS agent Host
Terminal Services
Windows Installer
Windows Management Instrumentation

To know if the client is healthy and able to send /receive polcicies /able to talk to Management point or not ,there are few Log files which you should look into:

CCMSETUP.LOG----->Logs the Client installation activities

ClientLocation.log----> Records site assignment tasks. Can help to troubleshoot scenarios where the client is not assigned to a Configuration Manager 2007 site.

LocationServices.log---> Records attempts to find management points and distribution points.Can help to troubleshoot scenarios where the client cannot find a management point or distribution point.

AND open the configuration manager Applet from control Panel and go to actions tab,check if you are able to if you are able to see more than 5 policy agents displaying or not which means that client is healthy and sent its inventory information to SCCM site server. You should be able to see the Client with SCCM client Installed and assigned Yes

more information about SCCM client log files,please refer TechNet

Now its time to do the actual troubleshooting why client is not getting the above policy agents or not reported to SCCM console with Client YES and Installed YES

1.Check the Firewall Enabled or Disabled if enabled,allow the ports to talk to site server.Guide to add Ports to the firewall to allow the required files or policies to download.

2.Check Boundaries (could be (AD site or IP Range or IP Subnet) of the Agent are specified in the site server

3.Schema extension and ensure attributes published into AD system management container (you can see component status if there are any errors while updating the system Management container with attributes)

4.Check the if there no DNS issue in the client and that client is able to resolve the SCCM server NetBIOS as well as FQDN without any issues.

5. Check if the Client is able to talk to Management Point or not using the following Links.

http://<SCCM_SERVER/SMS_MP/.sms_aut?mplist ----should give you blank page

http://<SCCM_SERVER/SMS_MP/.sms_aut?mpcert------should give you some random numbers

6.Check if WMI is working or not if not try repairing the WMI by stopping WMI service and renaming repository folder (C:\Windows\System32\wbem) and start the service.

If the above test fails make sure that MP is working fine. You can check mpcontrol.log on the site server to find the error and make sure that the same works.

4.Check the Locationservices.log( Finds management points and distribution points) and clientlocation.log( Site assignment tasks) and ClientIDManagerStartup.log(Creates and maintains the client GUID)

If you see anything apart from the above discussed,you may can post the query on SCCM forums also I would like to hear from you if i miss anything from above steps.

collection Query/ Report to get computer Model/Serial Number for a given computer

Eswar Koneti — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:33:30 GMT

Create a New report and paste the below query with prompt asking for computer name:

select a.name0 ,b.SerialNumber0,c.model0 from
v_R_System a,v_GS_PC_BIOS b,v_GS_COMPUTER_SYSTEM c
where
a.ResourceID=b.ResourceID and
a.ResourceID=c.ResourceID AND
a.name0=@hostname

Prompt for computer name @hostname:

select name0 from v_GS_computer_system

Below is the collection which will prompt for computer name which should be created under component management--->queries section.

select SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Manufacturer, SMS_G_System_PC_BIOS.SerialNumber, SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.Model, SMS_R_System.LastLogonUserName from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_PC_BIOS on SMS_G_System_PC_BIOS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId inner join SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM on SMS_G_System_COMPUTER_SYSTEM.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_R_System.Name = ##PRM:SMS_R_System.Name##

How To Expire Software Updates in System Center Updates Publisher And Synchronize the Expired Updates In Configuration Manager 2007

Eswar Koneti — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:22:00 GMT

System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) helps users to publish their private updates to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and synchronize the updates in Configuration Manager 2007. Typically users synchronize these updates with WSUS by clicking "Run Synchronization" in the Configuration Manager console. This manual synchronization process does not synchronize the "Expired" flag from WSUS to Configuration Manager, so when you want to expire an update by using SCUP and then run the manual synchronization, the log (SMS\logs\wsyncmgr.log) would read "No changes made to the SMS database" as follows:

Read full post At http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2010/11/05/how-to-expire-software-updates-in-system-center-updates-publisher-and-synchronize-the-expired-updates-in-configuration-manager-2007.aspx