Security and Patch management extended to third party updates! Most of the SMS 2003 SP1 environments use the Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) for patch management. The R2 release of SMS 2003 will introduce the possibility to manage and deploy updates and patches from other vendors or in-house LOB applications through Inventory Tool for Custom Updates (ITCU). During a demonstration at MMS, an ITCU patch library was shown with updates from Citrix, 1E and Adobe.

Increased scope of management is another step towards a more complete enterprise management system. SMSv4 clients can now be managed ‘on the Internet’ without VPN connection. Also the coverage of device management has been broadened to Smartphones and wireless devices. To improve internal network security, Network Access Protection (NAP) will challenge SMS clients who want intranet access for validation and patch compliancy. SMS clients who do not meet patch compliancy will have restricted access, only to download the missing patches from a distribution point.

Microsofts SCCM 2007 (formerly known as SMS V4) will be able to deploy Softgrid virtual applications as a package. Softricity (www.softricity.com) and Microsoft partnered on the ability  to “deploy” and stream virtual applications through SMS. Softricity’s approach on virtualisation makes it possible to run applications in an isolated environment “on the desktop” or can stream an application from the Softgrid server. If you like to learn more, check www.softricity.com/products/virtualisation.asp

Would you like to get ‘hands-on’, then there is a Tour scheduled in the USA and Europe. Check www.softricity.com/news/event-sms-tour.asp for dates and locations.

With SCCM 2007 comes the introduction of a new serverrole: User State Migration Server. With OSDFP it was possible to transfer User State during an upgrade or redeployment of a workstation. Transfer of User State to a new workstation was not possible for the lack of a secure repository for User State to reside. With the introduction of USMS, this has been resolved.

SCCM wil be able to deploy Vista and “Longhorn”-based (32/64) server images, but only to “C:\”-drive. The current Operating System Deployment Feature Pack (OSDFP) for SMS 2003 supports the distribution of workstation images only and uses a “pre-Vista” version of the Windows Image (*.WIM) format. Through delay and redesign of the Vista platform, the WIM format of the OSDFP differs from the one that is used for Vista. It’s not clear if deployment of the “old” WIM format wil be supported in SCCM.

Wake on Lan and P2P workstation distribution for branch offices. The possibility to power-up workstations was probably one of the most wanted features since SMS 2.0. WOL wil be able to work with a Subnet directed broadcast and Unicast (IPv6). The P2P “workstation as a distribution point” approach is not new. SMS Alliance Partner 1E (www.1E.com) had this working in it’s SMSBranch Nomad product, which checks availability (on-line, disc space, useractivity etc.) of all branch office PC’s and picks the best one available.

In contrary to BranchNomad, the SMS eh, SCCM P2P version will use a static workstation system as a mini DP. If the box is offline, you’ll need to reconfigure SCCM to another PC manually.

Finally: SQL cluster support. During MSS 2006 i was told that SCCM wil be cluster aware for its SQL database. SMS was one of the last applications that did not support running it’s database on a cluster. One of the feared SPOF elements in SMS can be made redundant.