SMS 2003 SP3 Supported Configurations

  • Article

Applies To: Systems Management Server 2003

This document specifies the hardware and software requirements necessary to implement and maintain Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 SP3 in your environment.

Hardware Requirements

Client Hardware Requirements

The following table shows the minimum hardware requirements for SMS 2003 SP3 clients.

Hardware Component Requirement

Processor

300 MHz or faster recommended, 133 MHz minimum; Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or compatible processor recommended

RAM

128 MB of RAM (64 MB supported, but can limit performance and some features

Free Disk Space

80 MB of available hard disk space

Site System Hardware Requirements

The following table shows the minimum hardware requirements for SMS 2003 SP3 site systems.

Hardware Component Requirement

Processor

550 MHz or faster; Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or compatible processor recommended (up to 8 CPUs per server)

RAM

256 MB

Free Disk Space

2 GB of available hard disk space on an NTFS file system partition

Operating System Requirements

Note

Microsoft provides support for the current service pack and, in some cases, the immediately preceding service pack. To find the support timelines for your product, visit the Lifecycle Supported Service Packs Web site at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=31975. For additional information about Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ Web site at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=31976.

Client Operating System Requirements

Operating System Edition Service Pack System Architecture

Windows 2000

Professional, Server, Advanced Server, or Datacenter Edition

SP4

x86

Windows XP

Professional Edition

SP2 or SP3

x86

Windows XP for 64-bit Systems

SP2 or SP3

x642

Windows XP Embedded SP2

x86

Windows Vista

Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition

no service pack, SP1 or SP2

x86 or x642

Windows 74

Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition

no service pack

x86 or x642

Windows Server 2003

Web Edition

SP1 or SP2

x86

Windows Server 2003

Standard Edition

SP1 or SP2

x86 or x642

Windows Server 2003

Enterprise or Datacenter1

SP1 or SP2

x86, x642, or IA642

Windows Server 2003 R2

Standard Edition

x86 or x642

Windows Server 2003 R2

Enterprise or Datacenter1 Edition

x86, x642, or IA642

Windows Server 20083

Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter1 Edition

SP1 or SP2

x86 or x642

Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems3

SP1 or SP2

IA64

Windows Server 2008 R24

Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter1 Edition

no service pack

x64

1Datacenter releases are supported but not certified for SMS 2003 SP3. Hotfix support is not offered for issues specific to Windows Datacenter Server edition.

2SMS 2003 SP3 Advanced Clients are supported when running in 32-bit mode on 64-bit operating systems. The Legacy Client installation is not supported for 64-bit operating systems.

3SMS 2003 SP3 client installation is not supported on Windows Server 2008 Core Installation option installations.

4SMS 2003 SP3 client installation is supported for Windows 7 with no service pack, and Windows Server 2008 R2 with no service pack, with the hotfix described in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 974014 applied. More information about Microsoft Knowledge Base article 974014 is available at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=180964.

Site System Operating System Requirements

This section provides information 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.

Note

In SMS 2003, a site system is a server or a server share that provides functionality to the SMS site.

The following table lists the operating system requirements for SMS 2003 SP3 site system role installation.

Key:

√ = Supported

Ø = Unsupported
Operating System Primary Site Server Secondary Site Server Administrator Console All Other Site System Roles

Windows 2000 Professional (SP4)

Ø

Ø

√

Ø

Windows XP Professional (SP2 or SP3)

Ø

Ø

√

Ø

Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition (with no service pack, SP1, or SP2)

Ø

Ø

√

Ø

Windows 2000 Standard Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server (SP4)

√

√

√

√

Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Edition (SP1 or SP2)

√

√

√

√

Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Edition

√

√

√

√

Note

SMS 2003 site system installation is not supported on 64-bit platforms.

Site System Software Requirements

Prerequisites for Site System Roles

In addition to the operating system, site system roles might have other installation prerequisites. The following table lists the installation prerequisites for client access points, distribution points, management points, reporting points, and server locator points.

Site system Prerequisite

Client access point

At least one NTFS partition must be available. SMS 2003 does not support client access point installation on non-NTFS partitions.

Distribution point

If the distribution point will be BITS-enabled, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) must be installed and enabled on the distribution point computer. Additionally, the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) Server and WebDAV IIS extensions must also be installed and enabled.

Note

IIS is not required if the distribution point will not be BITS-enabled.

Management point

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) must be installed and enabled on the management point computer. Additionally, BITS Server IIS extensions must also be installed and enabled.

The Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) and the Task Scheduler services are required and must be enabled.

If deploying a management point as part of a Network Load Balanced (NLB) environment, you must manually add a static record to WINS if you have not extended the Active Directory schema or if you have Legacy Clients. For more information, see Appendix G in the Scenarios & Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=29105.

Reporting point

The site system must have IIS installed and enabled.

Active Server Pages be installed and enabled.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 SP2 or later must be installed on any server or client that uses Report Viewer.

To use graphs in reports, Office Web Components (Microsoft Office 2000 SP2, Microsoft Office XP, or Microsoft Office 2003) must be installed.

Server locator point

The site system must have IIS installed and enabled.

If you have Advanced Clients without Active Directory SMS schema extensions or if your SMS site hierarchy spans multiple Active Directory forests, you must manually add a static record to WINS for the server locator point. This is also true if you are deploying server locator points in a Network Load Balanced (NLB) environment. For more information, see Appendix G in the Scenarios & Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=29105.

SQL Server Site Database Configurations

When installing SMS 2003 SP3, the site database can be installed only on the default instance of a supported SQL Server version installation. It is not supported to install the SMS 2003 SP3 site database on a SQL Server named instance or to configure the instance hosting the site database as a SQL Server failover cluster.

The following table describes the versions of SQL Server supported to host the SMS 2003 SP3 site database.

SQL Server Version Edition Service Pack System Architecture

SQL Server 7

Standard or Enterprise Edition

SP4

x86

SQL Server 2000

Standard or Enterprise Edition

SP3a or SP4

x86

SQL Server 2005

Standard or Enterprise Edition

No service pack, SP2, or SP3

x86

Note

Installing the SMS 2003 SP3 site database on 64-Bit x64 or Itanium-based platforms is not supported.

Advanced security requires SQL Server 2000 SP3a or later.

Unsupported Operating Systems and Features

The following sections provide information about unsupported operating system platforms and feature requirements for SMS 2003 SP3.

Unsupported Operating Systems

SMS 2003 SP3 client installation is not supported on any operating system prior to Windows 2000 SP4. Installing the SMS 2003 SP3 client is explicitly not supported on the following operating system versions:

Note

Additional operating systems can be past the service pack support dates. To find the support timelines for your product, visit the Lifecycle Supported Service Packs Web site at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=31975. For additional information about Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ Web site at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=31976.

  • Operating system versions released prior to Windows 2000 SP4

  • WinPE (Windows Preinstall)

  • Macintosh operating systems

  • Novell NetWare

  • Windows XP Home Edition

  • Windows Vista Home Editions

  • Windows Server 2008 as a site system

  • Windows Server 2008 Core installation option installations (for either client or site system installation)

Unsupported Features and Other Requirements

While it is supported to host the SMS 2003 SP3 site database on a SQL Server 7 SP4 installation, the SMS 2003 SP3 Asset Intelligence Knowledge Base is not supported on SQL Server 7.0 SP4.

Report Viewer and some of the supported SMS client operating systems require components of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 SP2 or later. The Netscape browser is supported for Internet use and can be configured as the default browser. When you are using the Netscape browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer should not be uninstalled.

The SMS 2003 SP3 Remote Tools client agent is not supported on Windows Vista operating system installations. Additionally, the SMS 2003 SP3 Remote Tools client agent is not supported on any 64-bit operating system.Remote Tools will be disabled on computers running Windows Vista or any 64-bit operating system even if you enable Remote Tools in the SMS site configuration. You can use Windows Remote Desktop or Windows Remote Assistance in place of SMS Remote Tools for these computers.

SMS 2003 does not support the SNMP Event to Trap Translator.

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, to ensure that the SMS client is installed only on the operating system that must be managed, configure the discovery and installation methods that are used.

The following list of items contains additional unsupported features:

  • Windows Management Instrumentation version 1.10.698

  • IP version 6

  • Networks with NetBIOS disabled

  • Windows XP Professional Fast User Switching

  • Windows Vista Fast User Switching

  • Windows cluster service

  • Netscape browser

Configuration Specifics

This section describes additional support configuration information for SMS 2003 SP3.

Active Directory Schema Extensions

An SMS 2003 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 systems. 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.

Advanced Clients can identify management points and distribution points by using fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) in addition to NetBIOS-based computer names. Also supported is the use of an FQDN for site sender addresses in addition to NetBIOS computer names.The use of FQDNs requires an update to the Active Directory schema. This feature is therefore available only for SMS 2003 SP2 or later environments that are Active Directory-enabled, have extended the Active Directory schema for SMS 2003 SP2 or SP3, and are publishing SMS data to Active Directory.Active Directory SMS schema extension is required when WINS is not being used. For more detailed information, see the Active Directory Schema Modification and Publishing for Systems Management Server 2003 white paper at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=24970.

Computers in Workgroups

SMS 2003 SP2 and SP3 provide 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.

  • 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.

  • Clients must use WINS to locate SMS services.

Note

Client 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 about how to add this record, see Appendix G in the Scenarios & Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=29105.

Supported Virtualization Environments

SMS 2003 SP3 supports unrestricted support for computers acting as a host operating system. Computers running Virtual PC 2004 or Virtual PC 2007 can fill any SMS client role.Virtual PC requires at least the Windows 2000 Professional operating system. Therefore, the host operating system supports the Advanced Client.

Virtual PC 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 SP3 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 about Virtual PC and Virtual Server usage and configuration, see Scenarios and Procedures for SMS 2003: Planning and Deployment at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=29105.

Site System Virtualization Support

SMS 2003 SP3 supports all site system roles running as virtual machines on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.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

Upgrade Considerations

Site upgrade considerations

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

Upgrading clients

  • SMS 2.0 Legacy Clients running on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 will not upgrade to SMS 2003 SP3.

  • Windows 2000 SP4 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 SP2 or SP3 Advanced Client. If you are upgrading to SP3, you can upgrade or replace all clients that have supported operating systems to the SP3 Advanced Client before you upgrade the site by using software distribution to deploy SMS 2003 SP3 Advanced Client software to client computers.

Additional Information

There are several choices of product documentation available for SMS 2003 SP3:

  • 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 Systems Management Server 2003 Product Documentation Web site at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sms/bb676794.aspx. 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 Windows XP and Microsoft Office XP.

Additional information about installing and updating SMS 2003 can be found at the following locations: