The Advanced Client is a newly developed SMS client, and is the preferred client type for all computers running Windows 2000 or later in your organization. The Advanced Client is especially recommended for mobile and remote computers because its architecture is optimized for enhanced support for those types of computers.

Advanced Clients use management points to send and receive data from the site server. To receive configuration and advertised program details, Advanced Clients use policies, which are sent from management points. The Advanced Client policies are unique to SMS and are not related to policies associated with Active Directory®.

Advanced Clients cannot be assigned to secondary sites. However, they can use proxy management points at secondary sites to upload data and to download Advanced Client policies.

The Advanced Client provides the following advantages:

• Better support for mobile computers.

• Better support for remote computers.

• Enhanced security. For more information about security, see Chapter 5, "Understanding SMS Security."

• Use of Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to transfer data such as package source files and inventory data. For more information, see the "How the Advanced Client Benefits from BITS-enabled Software Distribution" section later in this chapter.

• The Advanced Client can download the package source files to the local computer before running an advertised program.

• Access to SMS package source files on local distribution points at a site, which the Advanced Client is temporarily roaming to, without being assigned to that site. This includes access to distribution points at SMS 2.0 secondary sites, whose parent site is an SMS 2003 site.

• The site server sends to the Advanced Client data that contains only changes to such items as configurations, advertisements, or software metering rules. This reduces the amount of data that is transferred on the network.

• The Advanced Client is highly scriptable, which allows for the automation of Advanced Client configuration and operations.

• Extensive use of Windows® Management Instrumentation (WMI), which allows access to many Advanced Client internal details for troubleshooting purposes.

• The client agents, such as the Hardware Inventory Client Agent, are installed when the core SMS client components are installed. This ensures that the Advanced Client always has the client agents. This also eliminates the need for the extra bandwidth that would be necessary to download the client agents when enabling a feature.

• When downloading the Advanced Client software during installation, the Advanced Client installation programs continue to run even if the network connection occasionally becomes unavailable.

• When deploying Advanced Clients, you can complete the installation of the Advanced Client software without assigning the client to any site. This allows you to complete the installation of a large number of computers in a staging area, and then transport the installed computers to their destination in the production environment. Those computers can then be assigned to a site and become fully deployed SMS clients.

• The Advanced Client is installed from a Windows Installer package, which provides all the benefits of Windows Installer.

Advanced Client Support for Mobile Computers

The Advanced Client includes features that are specifically designed to support mobile computers, so that users of mobile computers can receive management services while roaming from location to location.

The Advanced Client is particularly effective for mobile computers because it:

• Can access package source files on distribution points in a site that the client is not assigned to.

• Uses BITS-enabled transfer of package source files, status messages, and inventory.

Advanced Client Support for Remote Computers

The Advanced Client includes features that are specifically designed to support remote computers. Because the Advanced Client provides BITS-enabled transfer of packages, transfer of inventory, and updates of client software distribution, SMS client software upgrades do not have an adverse effect on clients at remote locations.

If you use Advanced Clients at your remote offices and you also have a distribution point at the remote offices, then you can use protected distribution points to prevent access to the protected distribution points over slow or unreliable network links. For more information about protected distribution points, see Chapter 2, "Understanding SMS Sites."

How the Advanced Client Benefits from BITS-enabled Software Distribution

Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is a Windows component that performs background file transfers and queue management. SMS submits requests to BITS, and the requested files are transferred in a throttled manner so that the end user is not affected by bandwidth consumption. Requests remain active until the files are transferred, and then SMS is notified of the completion of the request.

BITS provides the following benefits:

• Package downloads from distribution points use checkpoint restarts, so that if the download process is interrupted, the download resumes without completely restarting the download. If the package is downloaded by using BITS, and the client resumes the download from the same distribution point, the download resumes at the beginning of the last network packet that was being transferred. Otherwise, the download is resumed at the beginning of the last file downloaded.

• If the user needs to use the network link for other purposes, such as reading e-mail, BITS makes the link available to the user. BITS uses the link when the user is not using it.

• BITS uses HTTP so that the Advanced Client can send and receive files in any situation in which an HTTP link can be established.

• BITS can send and receive information by using a virtual private network (VPN), with or without a firewall that does not do network address translation (NAT). Use of the Advanced Client with NAT is not supported.

• A download request is not completed if the version of the package changes. The download is restarted with the new version.

• If the Advanced Client changes locations during file download, it can continue the download by using a local server if a local server is available.

For More Information

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