Developing

Figure 3 illustrates the primary tasks completed during the Developing Phase. These activities consist primarily of creating the CI files and the necessary SMS objects used to distribute and collect compliance data from monitored systems.

Figure 3. Developing Phase activities

Figure 3. Developing Phase activities

On This Page

Roles and Responsibilities Roles and Responsibilities
Installing Server Components Installing Server Components
Installing Client Components Installing Client Components
Creating Configuration Items Creating Configuration Items
Milestone: Configuration Item Files Created Milestone: Configuration Item Files Created

Roles and Responsibilities

Table 11 defines the focus areas for the different role clusters during the Developing Phase.

Table 11. Roles and Responsibilities During the Developing Phase

Role

Focus

Product Management

  • Managing customer expectations

Program Management

  • Managing the functional specification

  • Project management

  • Updating plans

Development

  • Code creation

  • Infrastructure development

  • Documentation

  • CI file creation

Test

  • Functional testing

  • Issues identification

  • Documentation review

User Experience

  • Training

  • Usability testing

Release Management

  • Deployment checklists

  • Updated pilot plans

  • Site preparation checklists

  • Operations plans

Installing Server Components

Figure 4 provides an overview of the DCM solution. The DCM solution consists of server and client components. The server components are:

  • SMS 2003. SMS is used to distribute the CI files to the different systems that DCM will monitor and to collect compliance information from these systems.

  • SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services. The SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services are used to store compliance information and allow users to access in-compliance and out-of-compliance reports.

    Figure 4. DCM architecture overview

    Figure 4. DCM architecture overview

The SMS server that DCM uses can be the same server used to distribute BDD 2007 images through the Operating System Deployment feature in SMS.

For more information on how to install DCM server components, see the “Installing the Solution” section in the Desired Configuration Monitoring Planning and Installation Guide.

Installing Client Components

The following components are used on a client computer during the developing phase:

  • DCM Authoring Tool. The DCM Authoring Tool is a Microsoft .NET application used to create CI files. Developers use this tool to create the CI files necessary to monitor server and client systems.

  • DCM Engine. The DCM Engine is used to compare the settings of a given system against the rules created in a CI file. Developers use the DCM engine to execute unit tests on the CI files created.

For more information on how to use the DCM Engine to test CI files, see “Appendix C: Command-line Syntax” in the Desired Configuration Monitoring Planning and Installation Guide.

Creating Configuration Items

During the Planning Phase, a list of server and client computer settings was created, specifying what to monitor for each BDD 2007 server and deployed client computer. The main goal of the Developing Phase is to create the CI files that will be used to monitor such settings.

CI files can monitor data retrieve through different data sources. The available data sources in the current version of DCM are:

  • WMI.

  • Registry.

  • File system.

  • Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase.

  • Active Directory.

  • SQL Server databases.

The main problem developers face while creating CI files is to find out where the necessary settings are stored and how to read their values. The best way to solve this problem is to use monitoring tools that show changes made to different data sources while the developer changes settings on a lab system. The following tools can be used to determine where settings are stored:

  • Scriptomatic. Used to view WMI data

  • Regmon. Used to monitor changes to the registry

  • Filemon. Used to monitor changes to files in the file system

  • IIS Metabase Explorer. Used to monitor changes to the IIS metabase

  • Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI). Used to navigate through Active Directory

  • SQL Profiler. Used to monitor queries sent to a SQL Server computer

For more information on how to create CI files, see “Building Configuration Items” in the Desired Configuration Monitoring Planning and Installation Guide.

Milestone: Configuration Item Files Created

Milestones are synchronization points for the overall solution. For more information, see the Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide.

At this milestone, shown in Table 12, the Desired Configuration Monitoring feature team has created a full set of CI files for server and client systems. The team can now use the distribution server to test the monitoring features of DCM.

Table 12. Deliverables

Deliverable ID

Description

Configuration item files

Developers have created the CI files necessary to monitor the BDD 2007 servers and client computers to be deployed.

In the Developing Phase, the developers have created CI files to monitor BDD 2007 servers and future deployed client computers according to the requirements set forth in the functional specification.

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