I thought of blogging this information as it took a little bit of time to identify the root cause of the issue and I didn’t see it documented publicly anywhere.  Hopefully if you run into the same issue this will help you find a quick solution.

The Configuration Manager Support Team Blog : Troubleshooting patch installation issues on SMS 2003 ITMU with Exit Code 32788

You’ve probably seen the news in the last couple days, about how well Microsoft’s System Center brand is performing.  If you’ve not heard the news, read through Mary Jo Foley’s comments on it here:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3609

What doesn’t get mentioned is the history of the System Center brand and how this community helped nurture, support, and evangelize a series of small-time Microsoft management products since the very beginning.  Without all of you, there would not be a “System Center” brand and the products that make up the System Center group would either a) not exist, or b) have taken completely different directions. 

Through your comments, complaints, and perseverance over the years, you have enabled Microsoft to take the next steps to providing full-featured management products.  Are the products perfect now?  No.  There’s still a lot of work to do, and let’s hope that the deep history is not forgotten.

There was a time when “SMS” was considered the red-headed stepchild at Microsoft – garnering very little support and very little funding and resources.  There was a time when “MOM” was considered just another acquired product that may or may not make it due to poor sales.  But, these two products have now blossomed into an actual direction for Microsoft that is predicted to provide them a huge amount of revenue for the future.  How long ago was it that we were all taken aback that neither Bill Gates nor Steve Ballmer would ever mention “SMS” or “MOM” in speeches or keynotes?  What a short time ago it was that Bill Gates was supposed to speak at MMS and it was determined that we were less important than something else that was going on at the time.

Remember when 80 or so people gathered for the very first SMS conference?  Now, remember how we filled the Venetian in 2009 despite a horrible economy.  Remember the early years of myITforum.com, formerly the SMS section on Swynk.com?  Now, think about the 50,000 plus people that visit myITforum.com daily for information and community support for all System Center products.

There are a lot of “new dogs” at Microsoft who have entered over the years, and who don’t realize the history of their System Center product lines.  You may not get a direct pat on the back from the Microsoft folks, thanking you for your dedication, but that doesn’t mean that the “old dogs” in the product groups don’t remember you.  I’m sure if they could, they’d heap tons of accolades your way.

But, I remember.  And, I don’t forget.  System Center goes beyond just products.  System Center has brought together the finest community around.  System Center has produced tons of memories through the years and brought people together in ways unimaginable.  The System Center community sticks together.  And, I’m sure, as time goes by, as long as Microsoft doesn’t forget – the System Center products will be just as successful as this community.

So, congratulations!  And, thanks for being the best System Center community in the world.

 

What is Green Planet?

Adaptiva recently announced the public release of the Green Planet^TM extension for Adaptiva Companion. Companion is provides both PC power management and wake-on-LAN capabilities tightly integrated with SMS 2003 and ConfigMgr 2007. Green Planet builds upon Companion's capabilities to facilitate a collaborative approach to real world PC power management challenges.

 

Organizations struggle to identify where and when to conserve energy. They have difficulty in optimizing power policies based on actual PC usage. Green Planet addresses these challenges and helps to:

 

·         Identify PC energy conservation opportunities and harvest energy

 

·         Collaborate with end-users to establish optimal power policies as per actual PC usage

 

·         Adopt: Heighten end-user awareness, Increase visibility on end-user behavior

 

·         Save $25 – $75 per PC annually

 

·         Report on actual savings and positive environmental impact by unit and in aggregate

 

Integration and Deployment

 

Adaptiva Companion is a pre-requisite for Green Planet. Companion has 3 components:

 

·         Server

 

·         Client

 

·         User Interface integrated with the MMC

 

The installation process takes less than 3 minutes. There is no external dependency. To install Green Planet all you have to do is select a checkbox while installing Companion.

 

Product Features

 

Green Planet has

 

·         An administrative UI which is integrated with the MMC. Administrators can

 

o   Set and apply power policies.

 

o   Chose the level of control they want to give end-users

 

·         A client side UI in which an end-user can

 

o   Modify power policies within established bounds

 

o   See power usage details of his or her PC.

 

Administrative UI

 

Administrators can establish power policy and assign policies to different collections. If a PC is in 2 collections the policy with the higher priority will apply. Following are the available features:

 

Power Options

 

 

Figure 1 Power options editor

 

·         Option to opt-in and out of power savings during or after work hours

 

·         A slider that adjusts the values of the power profile. Values can be manually edited as well. These settings directly reflect in Windows power options

 

·         Different profiles for AC and Battery power

 

·         The ‘Annual Savings’ tab shows estimated savings based on configurable inputs

 

Work Schedule

 

Figure 2 Work and vacation schedule editor

·         Custom work schedule for each day can be set and applied to collections

·         National and corporate holidays can be entered

Advanced Settings

Figure 3 Advanced settings editor

·         Wake computer ‘X’ minutes prior to start of work schedule

·         Configure computer to turn off after ‘X’ minutes of work schedule ending

·         Keep computer on irrespective of schedule if required

·         The action to be taken on the pressing of the power button can be set. E.g. Put a PC into hibernate when the power button is pressed

·         An application exception list can be specified. The PC’s power state is not changed if a critical application is running. One can specify:

o   Minimum application CPU consumption

o   Minimum application memory consumption

for the application to be considered active.

 

 

 

Establishing policy control options

Green Planet has the unique ability to allow an administrator to not only set a power policy but also delegate granular control to the end-user so that end-user can customize power policies to his or her needs, within corporate norms established by the administrator.

Shown above are the various control delegation options.

·         Administrators can chose to have a blanket shutdown and no end-user experience or they can let end-users edit certain policy metrics.

·         E.g.

o   End-users can be allowed to edit work schedules only for Friday

o   End-users could allowed to change power option values within ranges

o   End-users could be allowed to add their own personal holidays

o   End-user could be allowed to have their machines woken up minutes before arrival

Policy changes made by the administrator instantly update on the targeted machine or collection.

End-user Interface

The end-user interface is launched by clicking the Green Planet Icon in the system tray.

End-users can modify their profiles as per the boundaries established by the administrator.

The power options, work schedule and advanced option consoles on the end-users end are similar to those on the administrative end (shown above). The client interface has useful reporting metrics that make end-users aware of their PC’s power usage performance.

Figure 4 Client end power usage visibility

One can view daily power usage and wastage statistics along with savings potential.

Power wasted is the ‘idle’ time, which is defined as a computer being left on without any keyboard and mouse activity, RDP and terminal sessions, file share access, ConfigMgr activity and critical applications executing.

Reporting

 

 

 

The Green Planet client records daily and hourly system uptime and power state changes in WMI. The  SMS_DEF.MOF file is automatically extended to inventory these new WMI classes. The power usage and power event reports are shown in ConfigMgr reporting.

Key reporting features:

·         Extendable, schema published

 

·         Power saving opportunities across groups and locations, usage baseline

 

·         Actual energy usage, CO2 and kWh reduction and cost savings per machine, group or location

 

·         Comparison across machines, groups and locations

 

·         Applications causing insomnia

 

Conclusion

 

Green Planet will help drive PC power adoption by addressing some of the key challenges that exist in power management implementation today. The most impressive features for me were:

·         The level of integration with ConfigMgr and SMS.

·         Ease of installation and manageability

·         Extent of the power management features available to the administrator

·         Collaboration through the granular control that the administrator can cede to the end-user

The above points coupled with the economical price make Green Planet a good choice for PC power management in ConfigMgr or SMS environments.

Try the 30-day Green Planet Evaluation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) subsystem has evolved over time to become a key dependency for many applications, Configuration Manager being one of them.   We've been intertwined since the .698 build of WMI shipped with Systems Management Server 2.0 (there was even a WBEM Inventory component in SMS 1.2).  

Given this history and relationship it's important to know what to do when something goes wrong. 

I've spent many years investigating / troubleshooting WMI related issues – especially as they relate to SMS / Configuration Manager.  Based on that experience I've compiled a few tips and general observations for the community.  This list is by no means comprehensive.

System Center Configuration Manager Team Blog : WMI Troubleshooting Tips

We’ve created a couple new Twibes for those Tweeters wanting to get the most out of MMS 2009 through up-to-the-minute news and information.

First, there’s the System Center Twibe:  http://www.twibes.com/group/systemcenter

And, of course, the best one, the myITforum.com Twibe:  http://www.twibes.com/group/myITforum

SCCM Client Center has been updated to v2.0.1.0.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=157573&release_id=677985&package_id=307270
Changes .

• Countdown timer has gone, just need to press OK instead 🙂
• AppV info / Offer Remote Assistance Addons
• Download User policy and Apply
• Logged on user name (adhoc inventory option)
• for Add/Remove Programs & Security state you can copy contents to clipboard (advise pasting to excel)
• Service Windows (show, add, delete)

SCCM Collection Commander updated to 1.3.2
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=160448&package_id=180490&release_id=677316
Changes:

• WOL feature fixed 
• FreeDiskSpace and CheckAdvertisement feature added 
• Check WSUS reboot state feature added 
• Disable editing during ping process. 
• RowHeader double click does switch between Rom and Cell select 
• CCMSetup parameters now stored in smscollctr.config

SMS 2003 Object Backup – Beta V0.7.0.7 released
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=164711&package_id=186577&release_id=677965
Changes: 
– Remove Direct Membership Issue fixed (Collection) 
– Assign Collection to Root Issue fixed 
– …

 

After a recent upgrade of SMS 2003 clients to SCCM, we had some difficulty with remote tools not being able to connect.

Fix for SCCM Remote Tools « t3chn1ck

RegKeyToMOF

mcochrane

SMS 2003, System Center Configuration Manager

4/13/2009

7 kb

A simple tool that shows what MOF syntax should be used to collect information from registry keys.

 

This download includes a Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 package definition (.sms) for various versions and components of the 2007 Office release. A package definition file is a template that contains the SMS components necessary to create and distribute software. SMS 2003 uses SMS packages to distribute software such as the 2007 Office system.

The Deploying the 2007 Office release with Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 R2 white paper provides detailed information for deploying the 2007 Office system with SMS.

Office 2007 SMS package definition file (.sms) – myITforum.com

Sys Mgmt Svr Ent Ed 2003 EN
915198 – You may receive inaccurate reports when you run SMS hardware inventory reports on the parent site server
Published – Updated