Servers can now be Excluded from Automatic Client Upgrade

What’s New for Client Deployment in SCCM 2012?

With the release of SCCM 2012, Microsoft has introduced many new features and made many changes in regards to Client Deployment. In this article, we look at What’s New for Client Deployment in SCCM 2012:

• New Fallback Site is a “catch all” for all Clients – In SCCM 2007 if a Client didn’t belong to a configured Boundary, then it would not be assigned to that Site potentially leaving the machine unmanageable. New in SCCM 2012 is the (optional) Fallback Site which basically acts as a “catch all” for all Clients in network locations that have not been added to a Boundary Group configured for Site Assignment. If a Client cannot be assigned to any other Site it will automatically assign itself to the Fallback Site. Configuring a Fallback Site is not mandatory but highly recommended and remember that you only configure one Fallback Site for your hierarchy.
• “/native: [“<native mode option>“] Client Installation Property deprecated – As Site Modes are no longer user in SCCM 2012 the “/native: [“<native mode option>“] Client Installation Property is no longer used.
• New “/UsePKICert” Client Installation Property – In SCCM 2012 you’ll now need to use the /UsePKICert Client Installation Property to get the Client to use a PKI certificate with Client Authentication capability, assuming one is available (and if it’s not then the Client will fall back to using an HTTP connection). If you don’t specify this the Client will only ever use HTTP even if a PKI certificate is available.
• New “/NoCRLCheck” Client Installation Property to bypass checking Certificate Revocation List – SCCM 2012 now includes a new /NoCRLCheck Client Installation Property that can be used to tell the Client to ignore checking the Certificate Revocation List (CRL), before establishing a HTTPS connection.
• “SMSSIGNCERT” Client.msi property now requires Exported Self-Signed Certificate of Site Server – In SCCM 2012 the SMSSIGNCERT Client.msi property now requires the exported self-signed certificate of the Site Server (which is stored in the SMS certificate store with the Subject name Site Server and friendly name Site Server Signing Certificate).

What’s New for Client Deployment in SCCM 2012 SP1?

With the release of SCCM 2012 SP1, Microsoft has introduced many new features and made many changes in regards to Client Deployment. In this article, we look at What’s New for Client Deployment in SCCM 2012 SP1:

• Automatic Upgrade of SCCM 2007/ 2012 RTM Clients to SP1 – SCCM 2012 SP1 Sites can be configured to automatically upgrade SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012 Released to Manufacturing (RTM), Clients assigned to them to SP1.
• New Client for Apple Macintosh OS X – SCCM 2012 SP1 includes a new Client for computers running Apple’s OS X Operating System. Once the SCCM Client has been installed, it can be managed by Compliance Settings, and you can collect Hardware Inventory from the machine and deploy software to it.
• New Client for Linux and UNIX Servers – SCCM 2012 SP1 includes a new Client for Linux and UNIX Servers. Once the SCCM Client has been installed it can be managed by Compliance Settings, and you can collect Hardware Inventory from the machine and deploy software to it.
• New “Disable deadline randomization” Computer Agent Client Setting – SCCM 2012 SP1 includes the new Disable deadline randomization Client Agent setting for the Computer Agent. If configured to Yes (the default), it disables the installation randomisation delay for required Software Updates and required Application Deployments.
• New Installation Properties for CCMSetup during Client Push – SCCM 2012 SP1 includes the following new installation properties for CCMSetup.exe properties which can be used by Client Push:
  • /forcereboot
  • /skipprereq
  • /logon
  • /BITSPriority
  • /downloadtimeout
  • /forceinstall