Configuration Manager Folder Structure

When working with Configuration Manager there are an endless number of applications, operating system images, operating system install files, drivers, source files, package files, log files etc. And there is almost as many structures as there is installations of Configuration Manager, so this blog post presents an example folder structure that can be used for general application and operating system deployment files. It’s written in PowerShell and I’ll try to update it regularly when better ideas or suggestions on how to organize the structure comes up, so please feel free to comment with any suggestions you might have.

You can download the script from here or see below for the code;

#Set the Following Parameters
$Source = 'D:\PackageSource'
$ShareName = 'PackageSource'
$NetworkAccount = 'DOMAIN\CM_NA'

#Create Source Directory
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "$Source"
 

Configuration Manager 2012 Right Click Tools Updated

Today there was released an update to the Configuration Manager 2012 Right Click Tools;

Updates for 2007

• Fixes the issue with the interactive command prompt on the client tools

Updates for 2012

• Fixes the issue with restarting the ConfigMgr Agent Host on the client tools
• Fixes the issue with performing an Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle on both clients and Collections

For more information and download go here

Expiring Stand-Alone Media in Configuration Manager

Brad Tucker posted a great article on how to expire stand-alone media over at The Deployment Guys, this is really helpful if you want to add some control over the stand-alone media.

I also want to point out Michael Petersen blog on how to set up the Custom Media Hook, this posting explains the use of Custom Media Hook in detail so you can use it in other scenarios also.

Extending OSD progress UI Info in SCCM

Michael Petersen posted  some great examples on how to extend the information displayed in the UI during OSD the other day, check it out here

Configuration Manager Port Information and Spreadsheet

Chris Nackers recently posted an excellent post on Configuration Manager ports, as we all know one of the “fun” tasks when working with clients is when we need to open the various ports on a client’s network for Configuration Manager to work properly.

Chris has developed an excel spreadsheet that contains all the ports used. On the 2nd sheet, you can put in the names of the servers for the various ConfigMgr roles. Once you do that, the 1st sheet will auto populate with those names. Once this is completed you will have a nice sheet you can show the client, or your network team that shows what ports needed to be open and from where to where.

The information is based upon the TechNet information listed here.

Here is a sample screenshot of the excel sheet.

Here is a screenshot of the configuration page.

Download the spreadsheet here.

Source: Chris Nackers