Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Supported Configurations for Service Pack 1

Published : February 1, 2005

Author: Terri Kalloway

Program Manager: Andrew Meikle

Applies To: Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 1

Document Version: Release 2.0

Acknowledgments

Primary Reviewers: Steven Kaczmarek, Andrew Meikle, Cathy Moya

Technical Reviewers: Luke Packard, Stan White, Lamar Damata

Content Contributors: Bill Anderson, Carol Halstead

Developmental Editor: Richard Carey

Contributor: Jeffrey Stewart, John Ellis, Sean Chitwood, Bryan Keller, Carol Bailey

On This Page

Introduction
Site Server System Requirements
Client System Requirements
Unsupported Operating Systems and Features
Additional Information

Introduction

This document specifies the hardware and software requirements necessary to implement and maintain Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) in your environment. When appropriate, this document links you to additional information about a topic.

  Tip
You can find content specific to the changes in SP1 by searching this document for the text string *SP.

In This Document

• Site Server System Requirements

• Client System Requirements

• Unsupported Operating Systems and Features

• Additional Information

If you have feedback related to this product document or to any of the SMS product documentation, please contact the SMS Documentation Team at smsdocs@microsoft.com.

Site Server System Requirements

Server Hardware Requirements

Table 1 shows the minimum hardware requirements for servers running SMS 2003 SP1.

Table 1   Requirements for Site Server Hardware Components

Server Platform Requirements

This section provides tables and discussions about supported platforms for site system roles and requirements for site servers and the SMS Administrator console.

To install SMS, you need at least one computer set up as a primary site server. The requirements for your site server vary according to the size and configuration of your site. You can assign other site system roles later, as required. In SMS, a site system is a server or a share that provides functionality to the SMS site.

Supported Platforms

The SMS site server and site system roles must be installed on computers running one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server

• Windows 2000 Advanced Server

• Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

• Windows Server™ 2003, Standard Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

Microsoft’s SMS 2003 support for server operating systems requires that the most current server operating system or the immediately preceding operating system service pack is installed.

Microsoft will provide 12 months of support for a service pack after the successor service pack is released. Support may be extended to 24 months for those service packs where Microsoft believes customers will need additional time for testing and deployment.

To verify the service pack support dates, visit the Lifecycle Supported Service Packs Web site. For additional information about Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ Web site.

Server Software Requirements  

• Internet Information Services (IIS) must be installed and enabled as part of the Windows Server installation for certain SMS site system roles. See Table 2 for descriptions of site system role prerequisites.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later.

• Microsoft SQL Server™ 7.0 with Service Pack 3 or later or SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 3a or later is required for the SMS site database system role.

Prerequisites for Site System Roles

Table 2 lists the prerequisites for setting up client access points, distribution points, management points, reporting points, and server locator points.

Table 2   Prerequisites for Site Systems

Requirements for Site Systems and the SMS Administrator Console

Table 3 lists the minimum operating system requirements for an SMS site server.

Table 3   SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 Site Server Operating System Requirements

  Note
SMS server roles are not supported on 64-bit operating systems.

*SP Virtual Server 2005 Support

SMS offers unrestricted support for computers acting as a host operating system. The host computer running Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 can fill any SMS server role, but SMS server roles are not supported on the guest operating system.

Virtual Server requires a Windows Server 2003 operating system. Therefore, Virtual Server can host operating systems that support the Advanced Client. The host operating system can also support the following SMS server roles:

• SMS site server

• SMS site database, stored in Microsoft SQL Server

• Management point

• Client Access Point (CAP)

• Distribution points, with or without Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)

• Reporting point

• Server locator point

Virtual Server 2005 and Virtual PC 2004 Support Limitations

• No direct support for virtual computer images.

• SMS will not distinguish a read-only from a write-enabled virtual machine. SP*

Configuration Specifics

• SMS 2003 has been extensively tested with the supported operating system versions listed in the Supported Platforms section above. Although SMS 2003 is supported on all of the platforms listed, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to the latest operating system service pack at your earliest opportunity so that you can take advantage of the included security fixes. If an issue that is exhibited only on an earlier operating system revision is reported to Microsoft and if the root cause of the issue is determined to be an operating system component, the recommended solution to that issue may be to upgrade to a more recent operating system service pack.

• All server computers with SMS site server roles should have only NTFS partitions. SMS server-side roles require NTFS file system formatted partitions so that directory and file permissions can be set. SMS site systems running on separate computers cannot share a logical partition on any storage device, but each site system uses a separate logical partition on a physical partition of a shared storage device.

• Configurations with overlapping site boundaries are not supported in SMS 2003.  If the same IP address appears in two different SMS sites, SMS is unable to determine to which site a client is connected. See the Configuration and Operation of Advanced Client Roaming white paper for additional information.

• There is limited support for Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS) in SMS 2003. Distribution points can be targets of a DFS root, but packages must be deployed to the shared folder on the distribution point, not to the DFS link name. Advanced Clients can use programs that point to <DFS root>\<DFS link>\<executable>. Legacy Clients can use only programs that point to shared folders on distribution points, not to DFS links.

• Management points and server locator points can be configured to be part of a Network Load Balancing (NLB) cluster. SMS 2003 site server roles are not supported in a Windows or SQL cluster service configuration.

• The SMS 2.0 Administration Feature Pack must be uninstalled before upgrading to SMS 2003.

• SMS site servers must be domain members.

• Configuration of SMS Administrator console:

  • A remote SMS administrator console requires a computer with an x86-based or later processor and 150 MB of hard disk space.

  • The SMS Administrator console is not supported in a Windows cluster service configuration.

  • An SMS Administrator console can run on a server running Terminal Server or through a Terminal Server session.

  • Until you add the program unsecapp.exe and the port TCP 135 to the list of programs and services on the Exceptions tab of Windows Firewall, the SMS Administrator console cannot display all of the items in the console tree on computers running Windows XP SP2 if Windows Firewall is set to On (recommended). For more information about how to configure SMS and Windows Firewall on Windows XP SP2, see the SMS 2003 Technical Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), in the Site Systems/SMS Administrator Console section, and search the Help and Support Center for “Windows Firewall”.

• *SP An SMS 2003 SP1 site configured for advanced security and in a single Active Directory forest with the schema extended for SMS does not require Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), although NetBIOS must still be enabled on all SMS clients and site servers. You can use DNS name resolution as an alternative to WINS, although SMS only uses the short computer name rather than fully qualified domain names (FQDNs).  This means that in multiple domain environments SMS clients must be configured with a DNS search suffix if they need to resolve SMS server names outside their local domain.  .

    Note
  Computers in a workgroup require WINS because they cannot query Active Directory for SMS services (server locator point and management point).  While the management point is automatically added in WINS, the server locator point is not, so this record must be manually entered by a WINS Administrator.  For information on how to add this record, see Appendix G in the Scenarios & Procedures for Microsoft Systems Management: Planning and Deployment.

   Important
  Active Directory® SMS schema extension is required when WINS is not being used. See the Active Directory Schema Modification and Publication whitepaper for more detailed information. SP*

• SMS supports specialized technologies such as Network Attached Storage, Storage Area Networks, and System Area Networks. SMS works with the hardware that is certified on the Windows hardware compatibility list for the supported version of the operating system on which the SMS component is installed. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 307813.

Client System Requirements

Client Hardware Requirements

Table 4 shows the minimum hardware requirements for clients running SMS 2003 SP1.

Table 4   Requirements for Client Hardware Components

Client Platform Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

Table 5 shows the operating systems that are required for clients running each of the supported SMS client types.

  WARNING
Microsoft plans to discontinue the SMS Legacy Client in a future release of SMS.

Table 5   Operating System Requirements for SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 Clients

Table 6 shows support for SMS 2003 SP1 advanced clients running in 32-bit mode on x64-based operating systems. The legacy client does not support 64-bit operating systems.

Table 6   64-Bit Platform Support for SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 Advanced Clients

  Note
SMS software update is not supported for 64-bit operating systems.

SMS 2.0 Legacy Clients running on Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 will not upgrade to SMS 2003 SP1.

Windows 2000 SP2 is the earliest supported version of a Windows operating system for Advanced Clients.

SMS 2003 Advanced Clients do not automatically upgrade to the SMS 2003 SP1 Advanced Client. If you are upgrading from SMS 2003 to SMS 2003 SP1, you can upgrade or replace all clients that have supported operating systems to the SMS 2003 SP1 Advanced Client before you upgrade the site by ensuring that a management point is available and then using software distribution to deploy SMS 2003 SP1 Advanced Client software to the clients.

Microsoft’s SMS 2003 support for client operating systems requires that one of the three most current operating system versions, including service pack, is installed. To verify service pack support dates, visit the Lifecycle Supported Service Packs Web site. For additional information about Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy, visit the Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ Web site.

*SPVirtual PC 2004 Support

SMS 2003 SP1 includes client support for managing host operating systems and guest operating systems on computers running Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.

Managing Host Operating Systems

SMS 2003 SP1 supports the Advanced Client running on the host operating system. SMS offers unrestricted support for computers acting as a host operating system. Computers running Virtual PC 2004 can fill any SMS client role.

Virtual PC requires Windows 2000 Professional or Window XP. Therefore, the host operating system supports the Advanced Client. The host operating system can support the SMS 2003 Administrator Console.

No interaction occurs between the Virtual PC host operating system and other applications running on the same computer.

Managing Guest Operating Systems

SMS 2003 SP1 supports the Legacy Client or Advanced Client running on the guest operating system, provided that the guest operating system meets the operating system and dependency requirements for the particular SMS client. SMS supports the following client operating systems as guest operating systems on both Virtual PC and Virtual Server:

Legacy Client

• Windows 98

• Windows NT 4.0 SP6a

Advanced Client

• Windows 2000 Professional with SP2, SP3, or SP4

• Windows 2000 Server with SP2, SP3, or SP4

• Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP2, SP3, or SP4

• Windows 2000 Enterprise Server with SP2, SP3, or SP4

• Windows XP Professional with no service pack or SP1

• Windows XP Tablet Edition with no service pack or SP1

• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

Virtual PC 2004 and Virtual Server 2005 Support Limitations

• No direct support for virtual computer images

• No support for Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac

• SMS will not distinguish a read-only from a write-enabled virtual machine.

• SMS 2003 SP1 does not support clients that have been upgraded from an unsupported earlier versions running on virtual machines. For example, upgrading a client from SMS 2.0 or SMS 2003 without a service pack is not supported.

For more information on Virtual PC and Virtual Server usage and configuration, please see Scenarios and Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment. SP*

*SPComputers in a Workgroup

SMS 2003 SP1 provides limited support for computers in a workgroup, with the following conditions and exceptions:

• Workgroup site servers are not supported.

• Workgroup support is for Advanced Clients only.

• Clients must use WINS to locate SMS services.

• Administrative user rights on the computer are required for installing the SMS client software.

• Active Directory discovery and user targeting is not supported.

• Advertisements targeted to Active Directory objects, users, or user groups are not supported.

• Global roaming is not supported. SP*

Windows XP Embedded Support

SMS client support for the Windows XP Embedded platform requires the SMS 2003 Advanced Client for Windows XP Embedded. Installing the Legacy Client or the MSI form of the Advanced Client on a computer running Windows XP Embedded is not supported.

For this platform, a specific Windows XP Embedded image must be built with XP Embedded Target Designer, in which the XP Embedded form of the Advanced Client is included. This method helps to ensure that all operating system components that are necessary for a valid SMS 2003 Advanced Client installation are included. The SMS 2003 Advance Client for Windows XP Embedded is available for download.

*SP Windows  XP SP2 Support with Limited Functionality

By default, security changes introduced in Windows XP SP2 limit the functionality of SMS 2003 SP1. SP*

For more information about the SMS Features potentially affected by Windows XP SP2, see the SMS 2003 Technical FAQs Web page.

Client Software Requirements

• Internet Explorer 5.0 or later

Unsupported Operating Systems and Features

Table 7 provides a summary list and might not include last minute changes to the product. For more information, see the release notes, which contain the most current information about SMS.

Table 7   SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 Unsupported Operating Systems and Features

  Note
SMS 2003 does not support managing more than one operating system on a single computer. If there is more than one operating system on a computer, configure the discovery and installation methods that are used, to ensure that the SMS client is installed only on the operating system that must be managed.

Additional Information

Support Lifecycle

Microsoft’s SMS 2003 support for server operating systems requires that the most current server operating system or the immediately preceding operating system service pack is installed. Support for client operating systems requires that one of the three most current operating system versions, including service pack, is installed.

Microsoft will provide 12 months of support for a service pack after the successor service pack is released. Support may be extended to 24 months for those service packs where Microsoft believes customers will need additional time for testing and deployment.

To verify the service pack support dates, visit the Lifecycle Supported Service Packs Web site. For additional information about Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ Web site.

Site Licensing and SQL Server Licensing

For information about the SMS and SQL Server licensing requirements, see the SMS Microsoft Software License Terms that accompanies your server running SMS.

You can also find this information in the Systems Management Server Web site at How to Buy Information for SMS 2003.

Product Documentation

There are several forms of product documentation available for SMS 2003 SP1:

• SMS Administrator Help, which provides information about how to use the SMS Administrator console to manage your sites. To access Administrator Help in the SMS Administrator console, press F1 or right-click any item and click Help.

• Release notes, which contain critical information about SMS.

• The SMS Online Library, which provides references to product documentation available on the product CD and on the Web.

• Links on the SMS Web site at SMS 2003 Product Documentation. On this site, you can find the most up-to-date SMS-related information, such as technical papers, product news, and software updates. The SMS Web site also provides specific information about how to use SMS with other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office XP.

Specific documentation titles related to installing and updating SMS 2003:

• Scenarios and Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment

• SMS 003 Capacity Planner Tool and Guide

• Active Directory® Schema Modification and Publication

• Deployment Readiness Wizard Procedures for Resolving Test Failures

• SMS 2003 Technical FAQs

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Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Supported Configurations for Service Pack 1