Systems Management Server 2.0 Client Features

Microsoft designed Systems Management Server (SMS) to be a panacea for the problems involved in managing distributed microcomputers. SMS 1.2 was a step in the right direction but not a total solution. (For information about SMS 1.2, see Tim Daniels, "SMS 1.2," May 1997.) Many third-party systems-management products tried to address SMS 1.2's shortcomings. Standalone programs (e.g., high-performance remote-control programs) and packages with built-in software metering became popular. In an effort to offer a full-featured suite of systems-management applications, Microsoft developed SMS 2.0. In this article, I discuss the client features in the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of SMS 2.0.

Resource Discovery
SMS 2.0 stores manageable network devices (e.g., networked computers, routers, bridges, hubs, printers) as resources in its database. Because systems management extends beyond network devices, SMS also collects user accounts and global groups from Windows 2000 (Win2K) Server and Windows NT Server domain controllers. This collection occurs through a process called discovery. Six categories of discovery exist: NT or Novell NetWare logon, user account, user group, network, heartbeat, and SMS server.

Logon discovery. Computers are the primary resource in SMS, and the software uses three types of logon discovery methods to detect computers. Under the SMS Administrator console, these discovery methods are Windows Networking Logon Discovery (logon to an NT Server domain controller), NetWare Bindery Logon Discovery (logon to a NetWare bindery server), and NetWare NDS Logon Discovery (logon to NetWare Directory Services—NDS).

User account discovery. User account discovery doesn't require a client computer logon. This discovery method enumerates domain user accounts in the SAM database on Win2K Server and NT Server domain controllers. It doesn't discover user accounts on Win2K Server and NT Server non-domain controllers, other domain controllers such as LAN Server or LAN Manager servers, or NetWare servers.

User group discovery. Like user account discovery, user group discovery doesn't require a client computer logon. User group discovery finds global (but not local) groups in the domains you specify in the SMS Administrator console. As in user account discovery, this method discovers groups only on Win2K Server and NT Server domain controllers.

Network discovery. Network discovery finds networks (e.g., TCP/IP subnets, IPX networks), SNMP-enabled devices, computers reporting to DHCP servers, computers broadcasting their presence through NT's Browser service, and computers broadcasting shares (running the server service) on the network. Network discovery doesn't require network logon to discover computer resources or domain membership. You can configure this discovery method to collect all information or just a subset. For example, if you're also using logon discovery, you might not need to configure network discovery to find computer resources.

Heartbeat discovery. Heartbeat discovery updates data you've previously collected about network computer resources. After you make a computer a client (which I discuss later), heartbeat discovery communicates with inventory client agents on the computer to update the SMS resource database. This discovery method is most useful for computers that rarely log on to the network, such as email servers or print servers. If you don't enable heartbeat discovery, automated database maintenance routines will remove discovered computer resources that don't log on to the network regularly. Therefore, you need to enable this discovery method if you're running computers that log on infrequently.

SMS server discovery. SMS server discovery finds computers that are functioning as SMS site systems. (A site system is a Win2K, NT, or NetWare server that provides services to SMS.) SMS uses three methods of SMS server discovery to find Win2K, NT, and NetWare server site systems: NT SMS server discovery finds Win2K and NT site systems, NetWare Bindery SMS server discovery finds NetWare bindery site systems, and NetWare NDS SMS server discovery finds NetWare NDS site systems. You can't configure this discovery method.