Today I’ve installed the new version of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, named vNext! What a fantastic product! The installation is almost simular to the SCCM 2007 SP2 installation. I’ve made the following steps.

1.) Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 x64
2.) .NET Framework 4.0
3.) Microsoft SQL 2008 Server Service Pack 1
 4.) Database Engine Services
 5.) Reporting Services
 6.) Management Tools Complete
7.) Microsoft SQL 2008 Server Service Pack 1 CU8 CU8 (10.0.2775.0)
8.) Install the schema extension (extadsch.exe)
9.) Install BITS and Remote Differential Compression (RDC)
10.) Install Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) optionally
11.) Install Windows Deployment Services
12.) Give the vNext computerobject “full control” rights within your active directory on the organizational unit “System” (this object and all child objects).
13.) Install the PXE Service Point service role within SCCM vNext. This step is optionally when you’re going to use OSD.

Yesterday Microsoft has released System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3! The following features are new in R3.

Centralized Power Management
Mobile Device Management
Enhanced Scalability and Performance

Configuration Manager R3 lets IT organizations centrally manage the power settings of Windows 7, Vista and XP computers, helping reduce energy consumption and costs. You can plan and apply a power management policy for high and low PC usage periods, monitor user activity to avoid any productivity interruptions and correct non-compliance. Detailed reports of trends and settings help you make smart power management choices, and also validate Green IT projects with summaries of power, money and CO2 savings.

Configuration Manager R3 includes licenses for the popular System Center Mobile Device Manager, so you can run comprehensive asset inventories, deploy software, manage settings and enforce password policies for Widows phones.

Configuration Manager R3 is more scalable than ever, increasing the number of supported clients to 300,000 per site. R3 is also more efficient in the way it communicates with Active Directory, helping you discover user or machine changes more quickly and allowing custom queries to define user, system or group attributes.

Default in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM 2007) there’s no collection for the Microsoft Windows 7 clients. So i’ve created a new query based collection in my environment to show all the Microsoft Windows 7 clients. The collection has the following configuration:

1.) Create a new collection and give it a name
2.) Create a new query and give it a name
3.) Configure the following criteria
     – Criterion Type: Simple value
     - Where: System Resource – Operating System Name and Version
     – Operator: is like
     – Value: Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 6.1
4.) Configure the update schedule
5.) Right-click on your collection and select “Update Collection Membership”
6.) Right-click on your collection and select “Refresh”
7.) Your collection is now ready to use