Managing SMS Accounts

Your account management for Systems Management Server (SMS) will vary depending on whether you are using advanced security or standard security, and whether you are using the Advanced Client or the Legacy Client. From a security standpoint, using the Legacy Client is not desirable. Make every effort to remove the Legacy Client from your environment as soon as possible.

This section details best practices for managing SMS accounts. For a comprehensive list of all SMS accounts, including the ones created and maintained automatically by SMS, see Appendix C: SMS Accounts, Groups, and Passwords. For tasks relating to SMS account management, see SMS Accounts Management in Appendix E: “Appendix E: SMS Security Procedures.”

This section begins by discussing general account management that applies to both standard and advanced security. When you use advanced security, most of the account complexity is reduced, but more manual steps can be required by the administrator during the initial configuration. If you run standard security, there are additional best practices for security. If you are forced to run the Legacy Client, see Appendix D: Appendix D: Legacy Client Security Environment for information about Legacy Client security.