TechNet Magazine: System Center

All TechNet Magazine Topics

• System Center: Windows PowerShell in System Center Operations Manager
  Marco Shaw - August 2008
  Windows PowerShell has been integrated into System Center Operations Manager 2007, offering a powerful way to perform and automate common administrative tasks. Get an overview of how you can use Windows PowerShell in OpsMgr to perform routine maintenance, manage agents, and more.

• Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Deploying Windows Server 2008 with System Center
  Tim Mintner - March 2008
  It used to be that server administrators would install Windows Server manually using the CD or DVD and then spend several hours configuring the server. With the release of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, server administrators can now use the same tools that desktop administrators have been using for years to automate deployments.

• Utility Spotlight: SMS Cmdlets for Windows PowerShell
  Don Brown - November 2007
  Find out how you can start using Windows PowerShell cmdlets to manage SMS 2003 clients from the command line.

• System Center: New Software Update Management Tools
  Steve Rachui - October 2007
  With System Center Configuration Manager 2007, you'll find a completely new mechanism for dealing with update management that ensures better compliance and enforcement on each client. Learn how this improved approach can help you get all of your machines up-to-date.

• System Center: New Software Update Management Tools
  Steve Rachui - October 2007
  With System Center Configuration Manager 2007, you'll find a completely new mechanism for dealing with update management that ensures better compliance and enforcement on each client. Learn how this improved approach can help you get all of your machines up-to-date.

• System Center: SMS Evolved: A Powerful New Solution to Manage Your Systems
  John Orefice - August 2007
  Systems management is about to get a lot easier. Take a guided tour of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and see how it can simplify key tasks, such as deploying software updates, managing mobile devices, and maintaining system configurations.

• System Center: Deploy Apps and Updates to Your Branch Offices
  Steve Rachui - August 2007
  Branch distribution points, one of the new features in Configuration Manager 2007, might appear at first to be a fairly minor addition. But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that it offers new, indispensible capabilities for managing software distribution to branch offices.

• System Center: Deploy Apps and Updates to Your Branch Offices
  Steve Rachui - August 2007
  Branch distribution points, one of the new features in Configuration Manager 2007, might appear at first to be a fairly minor addition. But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that it offers new, indispensible capabilities for managing software distribution to branch offices.

• System Center: Keep an Eye on Your Servers with Operations Manager 2007
  Pete Zerger - August 2007
  Operations Manager 2007, the newest incarnation of MOM, introduces some major improvements, including new management interfaces, better reporting, support for line-of-business applications, new security options, and more.

• System Center: Migrating from MOM to Operations Manager 2007
  Andy Dominey - August 2007
  Ready to make the switch to Operations Manager 2007? Due to architectural changes, there’s no simple in-place upgrade path from a previous version of MOM. Instead, follow one of the migration plans presented here.

• Utility Spotlight: SMSMap
  Jeff Tondt - July 2007
  Seeing the whole SMS hierarchy as a picture can help you quickly understand how your infrastructure is laid out. This handy tool automates creation of your infrastructure diagram in Visio via COM.

• Management: Advanced Client Inventories with SMS
  Wes Dobry - April 2007
  Out of the box, Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 collects a lot of information, but it doesn’t collect nearly as much as you may need. Find out how the right combination of scripting, WMI, and SMS knowledge can help you expand SMS inventories to collect and report almost any morsel of information.

• Management: Deploying Custom Software Updates with SMS 2003 R2
  Steve Rachui - April 2007
  Systems Management Server 2003 R2 lets you use managedupdate features to deploy custom updates. Explore two new tools—the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and the Custom Updates Publishing Tool—and see how they can help you deploy your own updates as well as updates from thirdparty developers.

• Management: Deploying Custom Software Updates with SMS 2003 R2
  Steve Rachui - April 2007
  Systems Management Server 2003 R2 lets you use managedupdate features to deploy custom updates. Explore two new tools—the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and the Custom Updates Publishing Tool—and see how they can help you deploy your own updates as well as updates from thirdparty developers.

• Windows Administration: Monitoring Active Directory with MOM
  John Hann - February 2007
  Management packs for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 allow you to more effectively monitor your IT infrastructure. See how these five management packs can help you keep an eye on the health, security, and reliability of your Active Directory environment.

• System Management: Unlocking the Mystery of WMI Events in MOM
  Brian Wren - September 2006
  Virtually every noteworthy Windows event generates a WMI event. Find out how you can monitor WMI events with MOM to provide an even more powerful solution for systems management.

• System Management: Zero Touch Installation: Automating Operating Systems Migrations
  Jason Cross - September 2006
  Get an overview of how SMS 2003 and some powerful new tools can make your next desktop OS deployment a no-touch operation. We’ll take a detailed look at the process involved for three common migration scenarios.

• System Management: Monitoring Security Events with MOM
  John Orefice - September 2006
  Looking for ways to maintain regulatory compliance? Learn how you can use MOM Management Packs to monitor security events and report data as required by HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley.

• System Management: Essential Tools for MOM Administration
  Dave Cristini, Matt Goedtel, and Eric Kamor - September 2006
  The MOM 2005 Resource Kit was recently refreshed and some handy new tools were added. Here’s a quick overview of some of the best utilities that will help you get a lot more out of MOM.

• System Management: Integrating MOM into Your Existing Infrastructure
  Andrzej Lipka - September 2006
  A solid monitoring solution must be highly available and it must integrate with existing systems. From fault tolerance to connectors, here’s what you need to know for planning a MOM deployment that meets both of these requirements.

• System Management: Customize SMS Using Local Policies
  Jeff Tondt - September 2006
  Do you need to override SMS site settings for just a few machines or configure specific settings for only some clients? Find out how SMS 2003 local policies let you configure custom policy on a per-client basis.

• System Management: Set High Standards: Powerful Tools for Configuration Management
  Jeremy Chapman - September 2006
  Problems with system configuration can be disastrous. These tools and best practices can help you keep a handle on system configurations throughout your enterprise computing environment.

• Beta Box: System Center Operations Manager 2007
  Stewart Cawthray - September 2006

• How IT Works: Roaming in SMS 2003
  Steve Rachui - August 2006

• How IT Works: SMS Client-Side Software Installation
  Steve Rachui - July 2006
  When configuring a software package for distribution in Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003, the administrator must choose the user context under which the software will be installed—either the logged-on user or the administrative context.

• Desktop Deployment: Zero Touch Windows Deployment With SMS
  Adam Gordon - March • April 2006

• System Management: No Desktop Left Behind: SMS Troubleshooting Basics
  John Baker - March • April 2006

• System Management: Measure Twice, Roll Out Once With The SMS Capacity Planner
  Craig Morris - March • April 2006

• System Management: Five Solution Accelerators to Lend MOM a Helping Hand
  Steve Rachui - March • April 2006

• System Management: Cut Through The Noise: Better Reporting with MOM and SMS
  Richard Threlkeld - March • April 2006

• System Management: Cut Through The Noise: Better Reporting with MOM and SMS
  Richard Threlkeld - March • April 2006

• Patch Management: Next-Generation Patch Management: Introducing Windows Server Update Services
  Jason Leznek - November • December 2005
  Vulnerability assessment and remediation can be a time-consuming task. However, it’s an important one that every company, big and small, needs to focus attention on. As the

• Patch Management: A Hands-On Guide to Hands-Off Updates with WSUS
  Jeremy Moskowitz - November • December 2005
  An essential, though sometimes time-consuming, task for protecting your computing environment is to keep systems current with the latest software updates and patches. To help streamline this process, Microsoft recently released

• Patch Management: Maximize the Power of SMS with New Tools for Managing Updates
  Bob Lawler - November • December 2005

• Patch Management: Maximize the Power of SMS with New Tools for Managing Updates
  Bob Lawler - November • December 2005

• Utility Spotlight: RunUpdates.cmd
  Joshua Hoffman - November • December 2005
  A great deal of time is often invested in determining the best ways to keep an infrastructure current, and rightfully so. In this month’s Utility Spotlight I take a look at a great way to make sure that desktops are as current as possible from the day they are deployed.