Using Network Monitor The key administration tasks which you can perform using Network Monitor are summarized below: You can capture frames directly from the network which you are monitoring. You can configure capture filters to specify the type of information which should be captured by Network Monitor. You can view captured frames immediately once the capture is complete, or at some later stage. You can filter captured frames by creating display filters. This allows you to find specific information in a capture. You can create triggers if you want certain Read More

Monitoring SMS Activity You can use Performance Monitor utility to track various processes on a Windows system in real time. The utility uses a graphical display that you can use to view current data, or log data. You can specify specific elements or components that should be tracked. You can determine resource usage by monitoring trends. With Performance Monitor, objects, counters and instances are used to monitor the system. An object is a collection of counters which are associated with a system resource or service. As the object executes a Read More

In large organizations, having one SMS site for the management of all your network resources is not really the ideal solution. Here, implementing a site hierarchy that has multiple SMS sites is the better solution. A SMS site consists of the following SMS components: SMS site server SMS site systems SMS clients and resources The SMS hierarchy is the structure that links multiple sites together. The SMS hierarchy is created by linking sites together so that parent-child relationships can be formed: Parent site: This is a SMS site that contains Read More

Configuring Software Metering The components involved in the software metering process: Site server: This is the place where you configure the components that support software metering, and specify which applications are included or excluded from the software metering process. The site server is also where you specify how many licenses are available, and the balancing of license information. Software metering server: The software metering server performs the following functions: Obtains configuration information from the site server. Obtains license information from the site server. Maintains and stores software usage information received Read More

SMS Remote Control Tools Overview SMS Remote tools enable administrators to control remote client computers. The Remote Tools set provides the following features: Remote control Remote reboot Remote chat Remote execute File transfer Windows diagnostics DOS diagnostics Ping test Remote Tools are categorized as follows: Remote Diagnostics: Provides the capabilities listed here: Control a client computer's mouse and keyboard Execute a program Copy files Reboot View the configuration settings of client computers. Remote Functions: Indicates whether the SMS administrator or the local user manages the level of access of the Read More

Primary Site Server Installation Overview A SMS site server is the Windows server on which SMS 2.0 is installed and running. The SMS site server is the main access point between the SMS database and administrators. The SMS server manages the SMS site and component attributes. The SMS site server must be installed on a domain controller or on a member server. It cannot be installed on a stand-alone server. Before installing the primary site server, you should consider the factors listed here on server resource requirements: Installing Windows, SMS Read More

Systems Management Server (SMS) Review SMS 2.0 is a systems management tool that administrators can utilize to centrally control a variety of network environments. Before you can plan your SMS deployment and implement SMS, you need to understand the main functions of SMS, as well as the different SMS components. The main functions of SMS are listed here: Resource discovery: Before you can use the SMS Administrator console to manage network resources, SMS has to first discover the network resource that you want to manage. Network resources that SMS can Read More

Troubleshooting SMS Site Server Installation Issues When SMS Setup fails to install the SMS site server, you can use the information in the Smssetup.log file to determine where the SMS Setup failed. A SMS installation failure usually fails in one of these categories: Disk issue Security issue SQL Server issue A few common SMS site server installation issues are listed here, together with the recommended strategy for solving the issue: When SMS Setup fails because of a disk space issue; ensure that the NTFS partition you are using has sufficient Read More

SMS Database Maintenance Tasks The main SMS database maintenance task that you need to perform is to implement a backup strategy for the SMS site server and SMS database server. A backup is the process of archiving data and system files on a computer to a different location on a hard disk, or other media type. A backup plan or strategy should detail the data that has to be backed up, the manner in which the data should be backed up, the frequency at which the backups should occur, and Read More

Configuring Software Distribution The process for distributing packages can be broken into a number of steps: Specify the CAPs for the package. Specify the distribution points for the package. Create the necessary collections. Collect the necessary source files, installation scripts etc. Create the SMS package. Define one program for the package. This is the minimum requirement. You can define multiple programs for a package. Advertise the programs to one or multiple collections. Distribute the package to the specified distribution points. Run the program being advertised on the client. With SMS Read More