Monday, March 14, 2011

Daily SCCM Administrative Activities: ConfigMgr'07 Inboxes to Monitor

   Listed here is a list of the ConfigMgr 2007 inboxes that should be checked on a regular basis to ensure that your site(s) function as expected.

Auth\Dataldr.Box
A backlog of files can indicate problems accessing the site database.

Auth\Dataldr.Box\Process
A backlog of files can indicate problems accessing the site database.

Auth\Ddm.box\Bad_DDRs
A backlog of files can indicate a network corruption problem or a problem with the DDM

Auth\Sinv.Box
A backlog of files can indicate that the Software Inventory Processor cannot connect to the site database or that too many files were received.

Auth\Sinv.Box\Orphans
A backlog of files can indicate problems with specific clients, with management points, or with the network that could cause data corruption.

Compsumm.Box
A backlog of files can indicate that the Component Status Summarizer cannot process the volume of messages.

Dataldr.Box
A backlog of files can indicate problems accessing the Systems Management Server (SMS) database

Dataldr.Box\Badmifs
A backlog of files can indicate a bad custom MIF file or that a client computer cannot transfer the file correctly.

Ddm.Box
A backlog of files can indicate a bad DDR is preventing other DDR’s to process.

Ddm.Box\Bad_DDRs
A backlog of files can indicate a network corruption problem or a problem with the DDM

OfferSum.Box
A backlog of files can indicate a performance problem that is caused by a large number of messages.

Policypv.Box
A backlog of files in the policypv.box folder indicates that the policy provider component is not running.

Replmgr.Box\Ready
A backlog of files can indicate that the Scheduler is backlogged or is already processing files of the same priority

Schedule.Box
A backlog of files can indicate that the Sender cannot connect to or cannot transfer data to another site.

Schedule.Box\Outboxes
A backlog of .srq files indicates that the sender cannot process the number of jobs scheduled for that sender or that the sender cannot connect to or transfer data to another site.

Schedule.Box\Tosend
A backlog of files can indicate that many send requests are not completed or that the Scheduler has not yet deleted the files.

Sinv.Box
A backlog of files can indicate that the Software Inventory Processor cannot connect to the site database or that too many files were received.

Sinv.Box\BadSinv
A backlog of files can indicate problems with specific clients, with management points, or with the network, causing data corruption.

SiteStat.Box
A backlog of files can indicate a performance problem. Examine status messages for the Site System Status Summarizer for possible problems.

Statmgr.Box\Futureq
A backlog of files can indicate that some site systems' clocks are not synchronized with the site server.

Statmgr.Box\Queue
A backlog of files can indicate a problem with the Status Manager or that the component is trying to process too many messages.

Statmgr.Box\Retry
A backlog of files can indicate problems with the connection to the computer that is running SQL Server.

Statmgr.Box\Statmsgs
A backlog of files can indicate a problem with the Status Manager or that the Status Manager is trying to process too many messages

Swmproc.Box
A backlog of .sum and .sur files can indicate that the Software Metering Processor component cannot connect to the SMS database.

SCCM and SQL Reporting Services

   With the R2 release, SCCM now supports the use of SQL Reporting Services as a reporting solution.  This will be the direction for reporting going forward and offers a good number of exciting possibilities for building impactful custom reports.  In the January edition of Technet magazine Steve Rachui published an article discussing this feature and showing a sample method for building custom reports.

Create a Robust, Integrated Reporting Solution - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee914611.aspx

Difference between WQL and SQL in SCCM

Below are few points which make difference between WQL and SQL :
  1. WMI provides its own query language that allows you to query managed objects as data providers
  2. WMI Query Language (WQL) is essentially a subset of SQL (Structured Query Language) with minor semantic changes.
  3. Unlike SQL, WQL does not provide statements for inserting, deleting, or updating data and does not support stored procedures.
  4. WQL does have extensions that support WMI events and other features specific to WMI. WQL is the basis for Configuration Manager queries, whereas SQL is used for ConfigMgr reports.
  5. One important advantage of WQL is that a WQL query can return WMI objects as well as specific properties.
  6. Because management applications such as the Configuration Manager console interact with WMI objects, WQL queries can return result sets that you can use within the ConfigMgr infrastructure.
Eg: Configuration Manager collections are based on WQL queries.

Ref: http://systemcentersupport.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-is-wmi-query-langauge-or-wql.html

ConfigMgr Patch Installer Tool/Script

   The ConfigMgr Patch Installer is a tool (vbscript) which can be used for installing updates which are advertised from SCCM. If the updates are advertised without a deadline. Especially it is useful for Windows Server 2008 Core edition as they do not have a GUI and so the updates can't be installed. This tool will query SCCM for each Update which is advertised to the System and will install it. The result can be displayed in a output logfile.

The Tool can be downloaded at:
  • systemcentercentral.com - http://www.systemcentercentral.com/tabid/144/indexId/64192/Default.aspx
  • winoneclick.com - http://www.winoneclick.com/

Ref: http://pleasepressanykey.blogspot.com/2010/08/configmgr-patch-installer.html