SMS Sites

  • Article

When you first install SMS, you install a single SMS site. This is the fundamental administrative unit in SMS. It defines the computers, users, groups, and other resources that are managed by SMS.

An SMS site is bounded by a group of subnets that are defined by the SMS administrator using IP subnets and/or Active Directory® site names. This means that you arrange SMS sites based on subnet addresses of computers or Active Directory site membership. An SMS site is identified by a three-character code that is assigned by the SMS administrator when the site is installed. Site codes cannot be changed after installation and must be unique across an SMS hierarchy. The configuration of a site is stored in an ASCII text file (Sitectrl.ct0) called the site control file.

The SMS product is installed on the SMS site server, which manages the SMS site and all of its components and services. The SMS site server is the primary point of access between you and the SMS site database, which is a Microsoft SQL Server(tm) database that stores information such as client data that is discovered and inventoried by SMS and configuration and status information.

An SMS site system is a server that provides SMS functionality to the site. The functionality contributed by a site system is indicated by its assigned site system roles, which are tasks that a site system performs in an SMS site.

The relationship of all SMS sites in your organization is an SMS hierarchy, as described later in this chapter.

To understand how SMS sites are created and attached to form a hierarchy, you should be familiar with the information in the following sections:

  • Site Types

  • Parent-Child Site Relationships and the SMS Hierarchy

  • Site Elements

  • Site Boundaries

  • Roaming and Roaming Boundaries

For More Information

Did you find this information useful? Please send your suggestions and comments about the documentation to smsdocs@microsoft.com.