Appendix E - MS Systems Management Server

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This appendix provides information about Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), which can be used to install and maintain Microsoft Windows 98 on networked computers.

For more information about Microsoft SMS, contact your Microsoft sales representative or see the documentation provided with SMS. For information online, connect to the Microsoft World Wide Web site at https://www.microsoft.com/smsmgmt and select BackOffice Information and White Papers.

MS Systems Management Server Overview

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In a corporate environment where you might have hundreds—or even thousands—of computers, the process of upgrading to Windows 98 can become complex, especially if you want to deploy Windows 98 on all computers at the same time. This appendix discusses how you can use Microsoft Systems Management Server to automate the large-scale deployment of Windows 98, making the upgrade process faster, easier, and less expensive for your organization. It also describes the services offered by SMS for centralized management of computers in an enterprise network, including inventory, software distribution and installation, management of shared applications, remote management and troubleshooting, and network protocol analysis.

SMS organizes computers into a hierarchy of sites. A site is a group of servers and client computers typically located in a single geographical area. A site can consist of one or more domains (that is, a set of servers and clients that are managed as a group) existing on the same local area network (LAN).

SMS uses the terms central, primary, and secondary to identify the capabilities of sites in the hierarchy. A central site is a primary site at the top of the hierarchy, from which all sites and computers in the hierarchy can be administered.

A primary site has its own Microsoft SQL Server database, which contains all of the hardware and software inventory information for the site and its subsites (sites attached below it in the hierarchy). The primary site can run the SMS Administrator tool for local administration of the site server and all subsites. A primary site must be running Windows NT Server.

A secondary site is a site that does not have a SQL Server database or the SMS Administrator tool. This site is administered from any site above it in the hierarchy and has no subsites. A secondary site must be running Windows NT Server.

A primary site can have either secondary sites or other primary sites beneath it in the hierarchy. A secondary site must have a primary site above it and can have no sites below it.

The following figure illustrates a sample SMS hierarchy. The hierarchical site structure is depicted on the administration console, so that you can easily identify a computer based on its location.

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Systems Management Server Requirements

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The following lists the basic requirements for using Microsoft Systems Management Server:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51 or later. 

  • Microsoft SQL Server version 4.21 or later. 

  • A 486/66 MHz or higher processor. 

  • 32 MB of memory (recommended). 

  • 100 MB of available hard disk space (on the system disk). 

  • A CD-ROM drive supported by Windows NT Server. 

  • A network adapter. 

  • Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device (a mouse is recommended). 

Microsoft SMS supports the following connection protocols and clients.

Supported protocols and clients

Connection protocols:
Asynchronous
IPX/SPX
ISDN
NetBEUI
Remote Access Service (RAS)
SNA
TCP/IP
X.25

Clients:
Apple Macintosh System 7
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Ultrix
DEC VMS
HP-UX
IBM AIX
IBM OS/2 version 1.x or 2.x
MS-DOS 5.0 or later
Sun Solaris
Windows 3.1 or later
Windows NT 3.1 or later
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 or later
Windows 95 and Windows 98

(Many of the above clients may find their support though third-party add-ons.)

There are a variety of networking architectures that are supported by SMS. The clients that are supported by SMS are dependent on the network architecture as well. For a detailed list and the integration/interoperability capabilities see Appendix B of the Microsoft Systems Management Server Getting Started Guide.

The following table lists the typical requirements for sites in an SMS hierarchy, based on an installation of up to 1000 computers. These requirements are grouped according to how each server is used. Notice that all of the servers must be Windows NT Servers running on a Windows NT file system (NTFS) partition.

Systems Management Server servers 

Server and processor type

RAM

Disk space

Recommendations

Central site server:

 

 

 

Intel 486/66
Intel Pentium
DEC Alpha

32 MB – 96 MB

1 GB

A high-performance computer is recommended due to the heavy load placed on the central site computer by Microsoft SMS and SQL Server.

Primary or secondary site server:

 

 

 

Intel 486/66
Intel Pentium
DEC Alpha

24 MB

50 MB –
100 MB

28 MB of RAM is required if SQL Server is on the same computer as the primary site server.

SQL Server:

 

 

 

Intel 486/66
Intel Pentium
DEC Alpha

20 MB

Varies

28 MB of RAM is required if SQL Server is on the same computer as the primary site server. Storage requirements depend on the size of the installation.

Systems Management Server Services

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This section describes the services provided by SMS to make it easier to manage computers on the network.

Hardware and software inventory. SMS automatically retrieves detailed information about both the hardware and software for every computer within your enterprise, and stores the information in a standard SQL Server database. The inventory properties of the computer can include the microprocessor, the various drives, the network adapter, the memory, the interrupt request (IRQ) table, and a number of other hardware-related components.

Two types of software inventory information are available. The detailed identification inventory looks for a particular set of files (for example, EXE and DLL files) to verify that all of the required files are present and are valid versions. The comprehensive audit inventory checks the files on the computer's disk against a predefined list of applications. SMS can also collect copies of the computer's configuration files and add them to an archive. These inventory features are useful for tracking maintenance and planning upgrades.

Software distribution and installation. SMS makes it easy to automatically distribute commercial or internally developed applications, upgrades or fixes, or virus-checking software to selected personal computers on the local network and at remote sites. SMS distributes and installs software in package form. Packages can be used to install software on client computers. Packages can also install and share software on a network server, or identify existing software on target computers and collect specified files.

Management of shared applications. SMS can control access to shared applications to balance loads and provide fault tolerance and metering. When sharing applications, you can also automatically view a program group tailored to a specific user, no matter which computer the user uses to log on to the network. You determine which network users (or user groups) need access to specific server applications. The server applications database is replicated on all of the logon servers at a site.

Remote control and troubleshooting. SMS provides two remote management features: Help Desk and Diagnostics. Help Desk provides direct access to a client (including the ability to carry out commands, transfer files, and restart the computer), allowing you to troubleshoot and support individual remote computers. The Diagnostics utilities allow you to view the current hardware and software configuration of a workstation.

Network protocol analysis. The Network Monitor component of SMS is a diagnostic tool that allows you to look at the details of network packets, perform remote captures of packets anywhere on the network, and gather network statistics about a group of personal computers. It enables you to capture and analyze network traffic and detect connection problems or potential network bottlenecks.

The following publications may also provide more information about Systems Management Server:

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide 

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server Resource Kit 

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server Evaluation Guide 

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server Deployment Guide 

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server Getting Started Guide 

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server Resource Kit (for Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0) (ISBN 1-57231-343-9) 

  • Microsoft SQL Server Resource Kit 

Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 98

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Whether you are upgrading ten or ten thousand clients to Windows 98, SMS allows you to perform an automatic upgrade with no intervention from you or the user.

For an overall deployment plan, see the general and detailed discussions provided in Chapter 1, "Deployment Strategy," and Chapter 2, "Setting Up Windows 98." This section provides specific information about how SMS tools help you in planning for and automating the Windows 98 rollout to your company.

The first step in the upgrade process is to determine which of your computers are appropriate for upgrading to Windows 98. Using Systems Management Server, query the SQL Server database to locate all computers that match the upgrade specifications. A predefined query included in SMS examines the CPU, the operating system, the available hard disk space, the installed RAM, and so on. You can use this query as is or modify it to include additional criteria important to your installation.

After identifying the target computers, you are ready to roll out Windows 98 to target computers. The following is an overview of the steps involved in deploying Windows 98 with SMS.

  • Create and share a package source directory for the Windows 98 files. This directory can be on any server that can be shared with the network. 

  • Copy the appropriate files from the Windows 98 compact disc to the new package source directory.

    From the SMS 1.2 SP3 compact disc, copy the following files to the package source directory:

    • Win98.inf from Sms\Logon.Srv\Mstest 

    • Dos2w98.exe from Sms\Logon.Srv\Mstest (if you are setting up clients that run MS-DOS) 

  • Review the INF file for your configuration, and make appropriate changes (such as changing the time zone). 

  • Create a package containing the Windows 98 source directory. 

  • To install Windows 98 on one or more clients, create a mandatory job to distribute the package to the clients. 

  • Send the job to the target computers. 

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