Many have been asking for what i need to check to make sure SCCM is healthy. According to me if I were you these are things I would have checked :)

This might not be complete but had tried to include what ever I could think of.

Administrative Activities: 

Daily Administrative Task

Daily Site Monitoring Tasks

To best maintain your system, perform the following monitoring tasks on a daily basis. If there is any indication of a problem, isolate and repair the problem to ensure that the site remains healthy.

Daily site monitoring tasks include:

• Checking SCCM site database status.
• Checking site server status.
• Checking site systems status.
• Checking client status.
• Checking the operating system event log.
• Checking the SQL Server error log.
• Checking system performance.
• Checking SCCM system folders.

Check SCCM Site Database Status

Use the SQL Server DBCC command to check the health of the SCCM site database. Use any other tools available to test the health of the SCCM site database.

Check Site Server Status

View site status summary information in the SCCM Administrator console, or create reports that summarize the server activity and status (such as the Clients that Received a Specific Advertised Program report). If necessary, check status messages of individual components. For further details, in case status messages indicate that a problem exists, view the relevant log files. Isolate and fix conditions that generate errors or warnings. If appropriate, reconfigure the status system so that only relevant and helpful messages are recorded.

Check the status of items such as:

• Site components and services. Check if any site server component or service is experiencing any problems.
• Packages and advertisements. Check the status of packages and advertisements in your site. Check package and advertisement status messages to ensure that package source files reach distribution points, and that advertised programs reach clients. Check status messages that are returned from clients to see whether the clients run programs successfully or not.
• Site-to-Site Communication. Check communication between the site and its parent and child sites (if they exist). Check status messages and, if necessary, check log files of the Replication Manager, Scheduler, and Senders on the site to determine whether the site is having communication problems.

 Check Site Systems Status

Check the state of site systems throughout the SCCM hierarchy. Use the status system and, if necessary, use log files to determine if site systems are having problems, such as:

• Low level of available disk space.
• SCCM components that cannot connect with a site system.

Check Clients Status

Check the state of clients in the hierarchy. Run queries on status messages to detect any problems that clients might be having, such as:

• Client components are experiencing problems.
• Clients are failing to install.
• Clients are not reporting software inventory or hardware inventory.
• Clients that are not reporting heartbeat discovery data regularly (or for the past x days).
• Client count unexpectedly increasing or decreasing at a fast rate.

You can monitor a client's status only if it creates status messages, and these status messages reach the site server.To detect clients from which you are missing status messages, you need to run a query that returns all clients that have not reported a status message within the last <n> days. In this query, <n> is the length of time you would expect to receive a status message from that client (taking into account the frequency of hardware or software inventory and the regular time it takes for status messages to reach the site server.)

Check the Operating System Event Log

On key servers, check the application, system, and security system event logs. You can access those through the Event Viewer administrative tool. Look for messages that indicate error conditions or developing problems. Isolate and repair the conditions that generate error or warning messages.

When installing an SCCM site server, its default configuration is to write status messages to the event log. This helps you identify any developing problems with SCCM.

Note :When SCCM is configured to write status messages to Windows event logs, SCCM error status messages are written as Information events, not Error events.

Save instances of the most recent event log files for future comparison. When you can compare current log files with previous log files, it is easier to detect problems that are developing. After saving the log files, you can clear them from the event log so it is easier to detect new problems.

Check the SQL Server Error Log

Check the SQL Server error log in SQL Enterprise Manager. Look for messages that indicate error conditions. Isolate and repair the conditions that generate error or warning messages.

 Check System Performance

To check whether the site server and component servers have sufficient resources and that SCCM site services are running optimally, you must monitor site server and component server performance. Use performance-monitoring tools such as System Monitor in the Performance console. Check the status of critical components on the site server, on the computer running SQL Server, and other SCCM site systems.

SCCM installs many performance monitor counters, but you can add, remove and configure counters as needed. You can also use the SQL Server performance counters.

Save performance log files for future comparison. It is easier to detect performance trends, and to identify potential bottlenecks, when comparing current performance log file to previous performance log files.

Check Status Filter Rules

Check whether it is possible to reduce the amount of traffic generated by status messages being replicated throughout the hierarchy. If the site is currently healthy, it might be possible to add status filter rules to prevent replication of status messages, which are not necessary.

Check the Inboxes to Monitor

Listed here is a list of the ConfigMgr 2007 inboxes that should be checked on a regular basis to ensure that your site(s) function as expected.
Auth\Dataldr.Box : A backlog of files can indicate problems accessing the site database.
Auth\Dataldr.Box\Process :A backlog of files can indicate problems accessing the site database.

Auth\Ddm.box\Bad_DDRs :A backlog of files can indicate a network corruption problem or a problem with the DDM
Auth\Sinv.Box :A backlog of files can indicate that the Software Inventory Processor cannot connect to the site database or that too many files were received.
Auth\Sinv.Box\Orphans :A backlog of files can indicate problems with specific clients, with management points, or with the network that could cause data corruption.
Compsumm.Box : A backlog of files can indicate that the Component Status Summarizer cannot process the volume of messages.
Dataldr.Box :A backlog of files can indicate problems accessing the Systems Management Server (SCCM) database
Dataldr.Box\Badmifs :A backlog of files can indicate a bad custom MIF file or that a client computer cannot transfer the file correctly.
Ddm.Box :A backlog of files can indicate a bad DDR is preventing other DDR’s to process.
Ddm.Box\Bad_DDRs :A backlog of files can indicate a network corruption problem or a problem with the DDM
OfferSum.Box : A backlog of files can indicate a performance problem that is caused by a large number of messages.
Policypv.Box :A backlog of files in the policypv.box folder indicates that the policy provider component is not running.
Replmgr.Box\Ready:A backlog of files can indicate that the Scheduler is backlogged or is already processing files of the same priority
Schedule.Box:A backlog of files can indicate that the Sender cannot connect to or cannot transfer data to another site.
Schedule.Box\Outboxes :A backlog of .srq files indicates that the sender cannot process the number of jobs scheduled for that sender or that the sender cannot connect to or transfer data to another site.
Schedule.Box\Tosend  :A backlog of files can indicate that many send requests are not completed or that the Scheduler has not yet deleted the files.
Sinv.Box :A backlog of files can indicate that the Software Inventory Processor cannot connect to the site database or that too many files were received.
Sinv.Box\BadSinv :A backlog of files can indicate problems with specific clients, with management points, or with the network, causing data corruption.

SiteStat.Box :A backlog of files can indicate a performance problem. Examine status messages for the Site System Status Summarizer for possible problems.
Statmgr.Box\Futureq :A backlog of files can indicate that some site systems' clocks are not synchronized with the site server.
Statmgr.Box\Queue :A backlog of files can indicate a problem with the Status Manager or that the component is trying to process too many messages.
Statmgr.Box\Retry :A backlog of files can indicate problems with the connection to the computer that is running SQL Server.
Statmgr.Box\Statmsgs :A backlog of files can indicate a problem with the Status Manager or that the Status Manager is trying to process too many messages
Swmproc.Box :A backlog of .sum and .sur files can indicate that the Software Metering Processor component cannot connect to the SCCM database.

Check Daily Maintenance Task

Check and make sure that the daily Maintenance Task if any. We can use the smsdbmon.log for more details.

Weekly Administrative Task

Weekly Site Monitoring Tasks

To best maintain your system, perform the following monitoring tasks on a weekly basis. If there is any indication of a problem, isolate and repair the problem, to ensure that the site remains healthy.

Weekly site monitoring tasks include:

• Checking SCCM site database available space.
• Checking available disk space.

Check SCCM Site Database Available Space

To find the amount of space used by database devices, run the SQL Server stored procedure sp_spaceused against the SCCM site database. For more details about sp_spaceused, see the SQL Server Help. Check the tempdb device at peak usage, when several instances of the SCCM Administrator console are using the database and the site is actively processing objects.

 Check Available Disk Space

Check the amount of available disk space on the site server, the SCCM site database server, and other SCCM servers. Ensure that the amount of free disk space is sufficient for SCCM and SQL Server to perform properly during regular and increased activity load.

To use the Status System to view information about site system disk space

1. In the SCCM Administrator console, navigate to Site System Status.

Configuration Manager > Site Database > System Status> Site Status> <site name>> Site System Status

1. In the details pane, view status information of site systems such as free disk space.

Weekly Site Maintenance Tasks

To best maintain your system, perform the maintenance tasks in this section on a weekly basis. You can automate some tasks by scheduling predefined maintenance tasks or custom maintenance tasks, as appropriate, to run on a weekly basis.

Weekly site maintenance tasks are:

• Weekly automated tasks.
• Delete unnecessary files.
• Delete unnecessary SCCM objects.
• Produce and distribute end-user reports.
• Run disk defragmentation tools.
• Back up application, security, and system event logs.

 Weekly Automated Tasks

The following predefined maintenance tasks should be scheduled to run on a weekly basis. For more information about these tasks, see the "Predefined Site Maintenance Tasks" section earlier in this chapter.

• Rebuilding Indexes
• Monitor keys
• Delete aged inventory history
• Delete aged discovery data
• Delete aged collected files
• Delete aged software metering data
• Delete aged software metering summary data
• Summarize software metering data
• Summarize software metering periodic usage data

Delete Unnecessary Files

If Management Information Format (MIF) files or IDMIFs are used to extend hardware inventory in your site, then any MIF files that are not valid are placed in the SCCM\inboxes\dataldr.box\BADMIFS folder and SCCM never removes them. You must empty this folder manually. If a large number of MIFs are placed in the BADMIFS folder, it is likely that a MIF generating tool is producing the MIFs with an incorrect format. Investigate and repair the cause of the bad MIFs.

 Delete Unnecessary SCCM Objects

Delete objects such as collections, queries, and packages that are no longer needed at the site. Deleting unnecessary objects saves disk space, reduces intersite replications, and increases performance.

Caution :When deleting a collection, any advertisements to that collection are also deleted.

 Run Disk Defragmentation Tools

Over time, disk volumes on SCCM site systems become fragmented. Site operations such as distributing large software packages might significantly increase fragmentation on site servers and distribution points. As fragmentation increases, disk operations take longer, thus, the overall site performance decreases.

Run disk defragmentation tools on the SCCM site server and all other site systems to maintain the performance level of disk operations.

 Back Up Application, Security, and System Event Logs

Windows event logs can get full, and by default, new items will start to overwrite older items. To diagnose problems, and for other reasons, it might be necessary to refer to an older event log. It is recommended that you back up Windows event logs, and store the backups in a safe and accessible location. If necessary, increase default logs file size to accommodate larger amounts of data.

Periodic Administrative Task

Periodic Site Maintenance Tasks

To best maintain your system, perform the following tasks periodically. Use the predefined maintenance tasks when appropriate.

Periodic site maintenance tasks include:

• Backing up account data.
• Changing accounts and passwords.
• Checking network performance.
• Reviewing the security plan.
• Reviewing the maintenance plan.
• Performing recovery tests.

Back Up Account Data

To properly recover a site server, you must have information about the accounts that SCCM used before the site failed. Account data is stored in domain controllers.

Use Microsoft tools, such as the NTBackup.exe tool that comes with Windows Server, or third-party tools to back up account data as follows:

• If there are multiple domain controllers in your infrastructure that contain the SCCM account database, you need to periodically back up the account database. (If Active Directory® directory service is implemented in your organization, then such a task might be included in the Active Directory maintenance plan.)
• If the account database is stored on a single domain controller, then back up the account database frequently. Depending on the frequency of changes to account data, you might need to add this task to the site's daily or weekly maintenance tasks.
• If the account data is stored on member servers, then regularly back up the whole operating system that contains the account data, using software that backs up account lists and the account database.
• Whenever there is a change to the password of the Client Push Installation account or to the site system connection accounts, you should note that change. For security reasons, SCCM  encrypts the Client Push Installation account and the site system connection accounts. You need to be able to retrieve these accounts' passwords so that you can re-enter them during a site recovery operation.
• In between account database backups, document any changes to accounts. Write down and save any changes made to SCCM accounts and share rights so that you can apply those changes again after recovering the site.

Change Accounts and Passwords

To maintain the level of security in your hierarchy, you must periodically change the passwords and the accounts that SCCM sites use. Report any changes to the security staff so that security administrators know that these changes are planned and authorized.

To develop an effective security maintenance plan for your SCCM hierarchy, you must thoroughly understand how security is deployed in your hierarchy and make the following decisions:

• Which accounts need to be changed, and for which accounts is it sufficient to change only the password.
• How often to change passwords and accounts.
• How to change passwords and accounts (such as by running SCCM site reset).
• Which accounts cannot be configured by the administrator (either the account name cannot be changed, or the password cannot be manually modified).

 Check Network Performance

Check the available bandwidth and error rates on the networks used by the SCCM hierarchy. Use Network Monitor to capture and analyze network frames so you can diagnose network problems and look for optimization opportunities.

 Review the Security Plan

SCCM evolves with time. User roles change, and people might no longer need access to some or any of the SCCM functions. Although most changes in access permission should be implemented after role or staff changes, you should also periodically review the access for all users or groups to identify and delete unauthorized access permissions.

The security plan implemented for the SCCM hierarchy in your organization needs to support the risk assessment of your organization. As your organization changes, policies can become ineffective.

Review security-related settings such as:

• Who has access to SQL Server and to the SCCM site database.
• Who can download from SCCM distribution points.
• Which accounts have permissions within SCCM security.
• Periodically, re-evaluate the risk assessment of your organization, and then review and update the security plan accordingly.

 Review the Maintenance Plan

Use the maintenance plan document to review the SCCM maintenance plan. SCCM evolves with time, and it might be necessary to adjust the maintenance plan to accommodate growth, development, and other changes in your organization.

If there were any changes in your organization's security strategy, backup and recovery strategy, or any other strategy that affects SCCM, then determine if the maintenance plan needs to be adjusted to reflect these changes.

Review maintenance tasks configuration. Check the amount of data in the site database and evaluate the usefulness of that data against the amount of space that it occupies in the database. If necessary, adjust the settings that determine the number of days that data is retained in the database.

Update the maintenance plan document to reflect any changes to the maintenance plan, and then distribute it to all SCCM administrators that are using it.

 Perform Recovery Tests in a Test Lab

 The best way to be fully prepared for a site recovery operation is to ensure that the recovery plan is adequate and that administrators are familiar with the recovery process. After you develop a recovery plan for your site, it is recommended that you perform periodic recovery tests in a test lab.

A recovery test should follow the recovery plan developed for the production environment. Plan to perform a recovery test of the central site, and of any other systems deployed in your hierarchy. A recovery test should test all phases of recovery, including:

• Backing up a site.
• Archiving the backup snapshot.
• Simulating a site failure, such as by turning a server off.
• Recovering the failed site.
• Verifying the success of the recovery operation.
• You might schedule periodic recovery tests. Company policy might require that new administrators always perform a recovery test. It is strongly recommended that you always include a recovery test when testing major changes to the hierarchy.
• For example, before upgrading site server operating systems, you should probably first test the upgrade in the test lab. After completing the upgrade in the test lab, you should perform a recovery test to identify any issues or adjustments to the recovery plan associated with the operating system upgrade. This ensures that if you upgrade the servers in the production environment, you will still be able to successfully recover a failed site.
• Include a recovery test in every major deployment test, such as:
• A major operating system upgrade (not service pack).
• A major change to the networking infrastructure.
• New equipment deployment or building relocation.
• An SCCM major version site upgrade.

Periodic Site Monitoring Tasks

To best maintain your system, perform the following monitoring tasks periodically. If there is any indication of a problem, isolate and repair the problem to ensure that the site remains healthy.

Periodic site monitoring tasks include:

• Checking hardware.
• Checking site's overall health.
• Checking the backup snapshot.

Check Hardware

Even high-quality hardware occasionally fails. Sometimes, it fails gradually, so there might be early signs. Replacing hardware before it completely fails is a key step in preventing site failure. Both Windows and SCCM provide performance counters, which you can use to monitor the performance and state of the hardware used in the site.

As soon as you notice any signs of hardware-related unreliable behavior of an SCCM server, replace the hardware. To properly replace server hardware, you must use the Recovery Expert. For more information about swapping the computer of SCCM servers, see the "Swapping the Computer of a Site Server" section later in this chapter.

 Check Site's Overall Health

It is recommended that you periodically perform a more thorough health check, as follows:

• Ensure that all SCCM services are running.
• Review the Status Message System for Critical status.
• Ensure that all the latest service packs are installed.
• Ensure that the latest critical security patches are installed.
• Examine the System and Application Event logs for errors.
• Note
  • When SCCM is configured to write status messages to the system's event log, SCCM error status messages are written as information events, not error events.
• Run a query to determine if discovery data is being updated correctly in the SCCM site database. The query should list all installed clients in which System Resource - Agent Time is not within the heartbeat interval. It is expected that some clients might be offline, but in other cases, it might indicate a problem.
• Run a query to determine if software inventory data is being updated correctly in the SCCM site database. The query should list all installed clients in which Last Software Scan - Last Inventory Collection is not within the software inventory interval. It is expected that some clients might be offline, but in other cases, it might indicate a problem.
• Run a query to determine if hardware inventory data is being updated correctly in the SCCM site database. The query should list all installed clients in which Workstation Status - Last Hardware Scan is not within the hardware inventory interval. It is expected that some clients might be offline, but in other cases, it might indicate a problem.

If any of these tests fail, you need to diagnose the problem and repair it.

 Check the Backup Snapshot

At the end of every site backup cycle you should check the validity of the backup snapshot. Periodically, you should perform a more thorough check to ensure that the site's backup snapshots can be successfully used for recovery.

Restore a recent backup snapshot to a disk and examine file continuity, file size, and other file properties to ensure that they do not seem corrupted. Check critical files by restoring these files to their respective applications to ensure that the application can use the restored file.

GUI Tool to Exchange Public Keys Between Sites

I had feedback from few of the customers and colleagues of mine that the  process of manually exchange  of keys as per this link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693690.aspx   
takes time  and confusing because of similar steps. So for the same I had made a GUI tool which does this works.

Once you extract the content to a same folder in central server or parent server and run the preinstUI.exe you will get a UI as shown below and you can select the Parent site and the child site.

Once you click on Exchange, the GUI vanishes and  you will be asked if you really want to proceed with the exchange and if pressed yes it does the exchange. After the exchange the GUI again pops up.

The steps are logged in the <InstallationLocation>\bin\i386\<languageCode>\preinst.log on the server from you are running and would like this.

 Note: Please read the readme.txt before using this tool. And as usual, Microsoft makes no warranties or guarantee's regarding the applicability of this utility  nor does Microsoft support the use of this tool in any way.This is just one of those 'use at your own risk' type of things that hopefully you'll find helpful

 if you have any feedback or questions on this you can write to me and depending up on the time avilabilty I will check if I could help you here.

 Download the exe and required files from the link below

Thanks

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy

 How to install SCUP and configure

This will show the steps on how to install SCUP and also configure a third party catalogue, (EH Adobe Flash player) and deploy the clients reporting to SCCM server.

You can download the SCUP from the following link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=0446cce9-94a4-4fb0-b335-e7516044063d&displaylang=en

On the SCCM server or on any other server you can install System Center Updates Publisher.

The perquisite is to have SQL server. You can use the express installation or use any other SQL server.

Updates Publisher is supported on the following operating systems:

• ·       The Microsoft Windows® XP Professional operating system with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• ·       The Microsoft Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition operating system
• ·       The 32-bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Server®°2003 operating systems with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• ·       The x64-based editions of the Microsoft Windows Server®°2003 operating systems
• ·       The 32-bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Server®°2003 R2 operating systems
• ·       The x64-based editions of the Microsoft Windows Server®°2003 R2 operating systems
• ·       The Windows Vista™ operating systems
• ·       The x64-based editions of the Windows Vista™ x64 Edition operating systems

Software Requirements

• ·       Updates Publisher has the following software requirements:
• ·       Microsoft Management Console 3.0 (MMC). MMC 3.0 must be installed prior to running the Updates Publisher Setup. You can download the MMC 3.0 from the Microsoft Download Center Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=21788).
• ·       For Updates Publisher 4.5, WSUS 3.0 SP2SP1 Administration Console. If WSUS 3.0 SP2 is not already installed on the local computer, the WSUS 3.0 SP2 Administration Console must be installed prior to running the Updates Publisher Setup. You can download the WSUS 3.0 SP2 Administration Console from the Windows Server Update Services Web site
• ·       Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 SP1 or later. A supported version of Internet Explorer must be installed prior to running the Updates Publisher Setup. You can download Internet Explorer 6 SP1 from the Microsoft Download Center Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=21788).
• ·       Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1. The Updates Publisher Setup installs Windows Installer 3.1, if required.
• ·       Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. The Updates Publisher Setup installs .NET Framework 2.0, if required.
• ·       Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP1 or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP2. The Updates Publisher Setup installs SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP2, if required.

How to install SCUP

Double click the SystemCenterUpdatesPublisher45.exe.

Click next and it will ask to select local database or install SQL express edition. DO the same

Once clicked next it will install the perquisite and then will proceed the installation

Select The folder 

 Installation will proceed and will complete the installation

Once done complete the installation click on finish. 

How to configure SCUP

Once the installation is over open the console of SCUP.

Click on import updates from the right side. You can download the adobe flash player catalogue from the following link http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/licensing/win/AdobeFlashPlayerCatalog_SCUP.cab

Click on Single Catalogue Import 

Point to the CAB file downloaded. 

IT will then start uploading  

 Click on Accept

 Once you have completed this you will find adobe flash player as shown below.

 Now the set the Publish flag. On the Adobe flash player select settings and then do the following configuration. Select the update server if locally installed the same one or you can select the remote in case you install SCUP.

First, you have to configure SCUP to sign patches with the WSSC.  To do that, select the settings option from the console screen

On the Update Server tab, select create to create the WSSC

Once complete, you should have a new WSSC as shown

This action creates the WSSC in the WSUS > Certificates note of the Certificates.msc as shown

So the certificate we need is now created, but we aren’t ready to go yet.  Next we have to make sure the WSSC cert is included in the Trusted Publishers > Certificates and the Trusted Root Certificate Authorities > Certificates store.Simple process to export the cert and import it to the other two stores.  To export the cert, just right click on it and select to export – take all the defaults and save the cert to a .cer file.  To import, just right click on the Trusted Publishers and Trusted Root Certificate Authorities nodes, respectively, and select to import and point to the file. 

One this is completed On the SCUP console please do the following. Click on Publish updates

Click on Accept

 Once successfully published run the Synchronization in the SCCM server

  Once the synchronization is completed the security update you would see the adobe flash layer

 Now on the SCCM server Download the update and then create a deployment

Select the DP

  Create a Deployment

 Now on the clients do the following settings

So now SCUP should be configured to sign updates with the WSSC and publish updates to the SCCM Software Update point and you can deploy them to clients.  But, the clients aren’t ready to receive them and will reject the update if it arrives.  To get the client ready to receive updates you need to transfer the WSSC to the clients certificate store as well.  You can do this manually or even through software distribution using the certutil command.

To deploy the certificate with software distribution, do the following.

1. Export the WSUS Publishers Self-signed certificate and public key to a directory on the local computer.
2. Copy the Certutil.exe and Certadm.dll files to the same directory as the exported files. Certutil.exe is a command-line program that is installed as part of Certificate Services in the Windows Server 2003 family and both files are installed in %windir%\system32, by default.
3. Create a software distribution package containing the files from step 1 and step 2. For more information, see How to Create a Package (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108444)
4. Add a software distribution program that runs the following command-line: certutil.exe -addstore TrustedPublisher wsus.cer, where TrustedPublisher is the name of the certificate store and wsus.cer is the name of the exported certificate. For more information about creating a software distribution program, see How to Create a Program (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108446). For more information about certutil.exe, see the Certutil Web site on TechNet (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108447)
5. Create an advertisement for distributing the package and program to the appropriate collection. For more information, see How to Create an Advertisement (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108449).

You may also have to include the WSSC in the Trusted Root Certificate Authorities node as well, which can be done with easy adjustments to the package if needed.  Be sure and test first to determine exactly what is needed for your environment.

Once you have the certificates deployed, now you just have to adjust local policy to allow signed cupdates from an intranet Microsoft update service location.  You can find that setting as shown below. 

To test that everything is working, deploy a SCUP patch to a test client and review the WUAHandler.log.  If all is configured properly, you should see the patch install if needed.  If there are problems you will notice errors similar to the following in the log.

In the server the updatepublisher.log in %temp% on the SCUP installed machine also help to check the error.

Hope this information would be useful

 Sudheesh Narayanaswamy

DRS Initialization In Configuration Manager 2012

When a site is first installed it establishes an initial synchronization with the sending site so that subsequent data changes are applied to an identical data set as that at the sending site.

By default the first replication group processed is the Replication Configuration group - this group effectively 'bootstraps' the receiving site with the remaining configuration for other replication groups.

The site initializes by sending an 'init' request to the sending site for the desired replication group.

When the sending site receives the 'init' request it uses the bcp application to extract all of the data from the tables that make up the replication group being initialized. At the same time a rowcount of the number of exported rows is also taken and stored in a .rowcount file. This allows the receiving site to ensure it has imported the same number of rows as the sending site exported for import.

The sending site sets the receiving site as a subscriber to the replication group and RCM begins sending any changes to tables in the replication group to the receiving site. The bcp files are replicated to the receiving site via the standard content sender.

Once the bcp files have arrived at the receiving site, RCM on the receiving site is notified of the files in its inbox and begins a cycle of actions for each table in the replication group:

1.   Any existing data in the destination table that overlaps with the received data from the sending site is deleted from the table.
2.  BCP is used to import the data from the sending site into the receiving site database.
3.  After the import has completed the rowcount from the bcp process is compared to the row count in the .rowcount file. Assuming the values match the next table is processed.

Once all the tables have been processed the group status is changed to active and the site begins processing any messages in the queue.

We will also try re-initialization if we see any error on any specific group. When you run replication analyzer it will try auto remediate once and that particular group will be re-initialized.

We can also re-initialize putting a  .pub file in RCM.box . The file <replicationgroupname>.pub  works fine for Global Data. But for site-data where the CAS is the subscriber you have to add the sitecode to the file name, so it is like <replicationgroupname>-<sitecode>.pub, this is so the CAS knows which primary to re-init from.

Global data eg: configuration data.pub      => Drop these on Primary server  RCM.BOX

Site Data eg: hardware_inventory_8-PR1.pub  => Drop these on CAS server  RCM.BOX

 This is all theory, Now what it if it is failing to re-initialize.  The question we all have is,  where to look and how to track. The remaining part of this document will go through that.

 Always exec spdiagdrs is always a way to know if the replication is active. I will not be going to the details of the output here but will take you through the flow of re-initialization of a particular group.

 Once we find that a particular group is having error in the output of spdiagdrs you will find that the following in the hierarchy information as well

This means that there is a Site data replication issue. Also under monitoring you will find the same information with a Link error for site data with Link error

 So now to solve this we will re-initialize the group and track the flow. In this I am taking hardware_inventory_8 as an example. To re-initiate a specific group there are various method the safe method according to me is to put <Groupname>-<SITECODE>.pub in our case eg : hardware_inventory_8-PR1.pub 

 I enable enhanced logging to get more information so that it will be helpful to understand what happened when we see error again and again

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Components\SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR  ==>Verbose Logging : 2

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Tracing ==>Sqlenabled : 1

We have two kind of logging in ConfigMgr 2012. For DRS initialization we can use the rcmctrl.log and inside the database vlogs view. For the database I used the following query to get the data out of it while I was performing this action.

 Select * from vLogs where LogTime >GETDATE()-1 and ProcedureName <> 'spDRSSendChangesForGroup' ORDER BY LogTime DESC

 To re-initialize the group put the file in  \Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box .In some time we will see that vanishing from the box and the RCM will take control.Once the same happens you will see the following in the rcmctrl.log  in CAS

Processing replication group Hardware_Inventory_8.                     SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:02:24                       1820 (0x071C)

Current status is Active.                 SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:02:24                       1820 (0x071C)

Requesting initialization for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8. SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR               20-10-2012 02:02:24                       1820 (0x071C)

Checking if initialization request is needed for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8 from site PR1.                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR                        20-10-2012 02:02:27                       1820 (0x071C)

Now on the primary server on the rcmctrl.log you will  see

Processing replication role: DrsReplicationSite, child                     SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:03                       3364 (0x0D24)

Processing replication group Hardware_Inventory_8.                     SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:03                       3364 (0x0D24)

Current status is PendingCreation.                SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:03                       3364 (0x0D24)

Checking if we need to create an initialization package for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8 for site CAS. SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR                        20-10-2012 02:03:04                       3364 (0x0D24)

STATMSG: ID=7802 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR" SYS=CMLABPRI.CMLAB.COM SITE=PR1 PID=5060 TID=3364 GMTDATE=Sat Oct 20 09:03:04.342 2012 ISTR0="CAS" ISTR1="Hardware_Inventory_8" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0                    SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:04                       3364 (0x0D24)

Flushing DRS queue messages coming from CAS for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8.                       SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:04      3364 (0x0D24)

Changed the status of ConfigMgrDRSSiteQueue to OFF if it exists.                 SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:04                       3364 (0x0D24)

Changed the status of ConfigMgrDRSSiteQueue to ON if it exists.                   SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

Files will be copied to directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194.                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

Cab File to be sent will be copied to directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\CabFiles.                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

XML CreateTime: 20-10-2012 09:02:31 LastModifyTime: 20-10-2012 09:02:31           SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                        3364 (0x0D24)

Creating version file C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\781708.version                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

Creating trackingGuid file C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\d74dc244-a526-4387-86b0-efacf67df680.trackingGuid                     SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

Creating pubName file C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\Hardware_Inventory_8-PR1.pubName               SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

………………………..

……………………….

 Calling BCP out with SELECT BINFILEVERSION00, BINPRODUCTVERSION00, DESCRIPTION00, FILENAME00, FILEPROPERTIESHASH00, FILEPROPERTIESHASHEX00, FILEVERSION00, LOCATION00, PRODUCT00, PRODUCTVERSION00, PUBLISHER00, STARTUPTYPE00, STARTUPVALUE00, MACHINEID, INSTANCEKEY, TIMEKEY, REVISIONID, AGENTID, ROWVERSION~FROM AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_HIST where  (MachineID between 16777216 and 33554431) , C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_HIST.bcp, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\bcpErrors.errors.            SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07   3364 (0x0D24)

………………………………..

………………………………. 

Successfully created BCP file [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_DATA.bcp] with rows [6] based on SQL query [SELECT BINFILEVERSION00, BINPRODUCTVERSION00, DESCRIPTION00, FILENAME00, FILEPROPERTIESHASH00, FILEPROPERTIESHASHEX00, FILEVERSION00, LOCATION00, PRODUCT00, PRODUCTVERSION00, PUBLISHER00, STARTUPTYPE00, STARTUPVALUE00, MACHINEID, INSTANCEKEY, TIMEKEY, REVISIONID, AGENTID, ROWVERSION~FROM AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_DATA where  (MachineID between 16777216 and 33554431) ]      SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

BCP out result is 0.    SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

Table XML: <TABLE NAME="AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_HIST"><COLUMN COLUMN_ID="1" NAME="BINFILEVERSION00" TYPENAME="nvarchar" TYPEID="231" MAX_LENGTH="510" IS_NULLABLE="1" HAS_DEFAULTVALUE="0" /><

………………………..

…………………………

                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:07                       3364 (0x0D24)

This shows the BCP out commands being fired and also you will see the files like shown in the figure below. The Version file ,trackinguid file, Errors file ,pubnamefile  and then for each table in the group .bcp file and .row count file.

.

In the database on the primary you will see the following .

Once the BCP out is completed the compression will happen and file will be stored in the CABFiles folder  as shown below

The rcmctrl.log will have the following

Calling drs_init_send method now with parameters C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194 and CAS.               SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

Starting to compress files under folder [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194\] to [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\CabFiles\CAS_4C7EB459-2631-455B-93C1-8C08926BAD07.cab] ...                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

Deleting all files under folder [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\a4ba357d-1cb4-408c-9e89-681686974194].                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

Created minijob to send compressed copy of DRS INIT BCP Package to site CAS. Tranfer root = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\CabFiles\CAS_4C7EB459-2631-455B-93C1-8C08926BAD07.cab.        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08   3364 (0x0D24)

drs_init_send returned 0.            SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

STATMSG: ID=7803 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR" SYS=CMLABPRI.CMLAB.COM SITE=PR1 PID=5060 TID=3364 GMTDATE=Sat Oct 20 09:03:08.373 2012 ISTR0="Hardware_Inventory_8" ISTR1="CAS" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0                    SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

Current status is PackageCreated.                  SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

Found 1 replication roles.            SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:08                       3364 (0x0D24)

Now once this is done the sender will send the files to the CAS server.

Sender.log

=======

Passed the xmit file test, use the existing connection                    SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Package file = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\CabFiles\CAS_4C7EB459-2631-455B-93C1-8C08926BAD07.cab                        SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Instruction file = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\schedule.box\tosend\00000085.I59 SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                        5012 (0x1394)

Checking for remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.PCK               SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Checking for remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.SNI                 SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Checking for remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP              SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Attempt to create/open the remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.PCK  SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Created/opened the remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.PCK                    SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Attempt to create/open the remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.PCK  SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Created/opened the remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.PCK                    SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Sending Started [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\CabFiles\CAS_4C7EB459-2631-455B-93C1-8C08926BAD07.cab]                        SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Attempt to write 1024 bytes to \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.PCK at position 0               SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

……………………….

……………………….

S.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP   SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Created/opened the remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP                   SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Sending Started [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\schedule.box\tosend\00000085.I59]                        SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33   5012 (0x1394)

Attempt to write 650 bytes to \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP at position 0                 SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Wrote 650 bytes to \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP at position 0                  SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Sending completed [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\schedule.box\tosend\00000085.I59]                SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33   5012 (0x1394)

Renaming remote file \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP to \\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.SNI               SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33      5012 (0x1394)

Rename completed [\\CMLABCAS.CMLAB.COM\SMS_SITE\1003PPR1.TMP]                      SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

Sending completed successfully                      SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

COutbox::TakeNextToSend(pszSiteCode)    SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:33                       5012 (0x1394)

We have 0 active connections  SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:38                       4784 (0x12B0)

Checking for sending capacity.  Used 0 out of 5.         SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:38                       4784 (0x12B0)

Connecting to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\schedule.box\outboxes\LAN.                        SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:38                        4784 (0x12B0)

COutbox::TakeNextToSend(pszSiteCode)    SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:38                       4784 (0x12B0)

No (more) send requests found to process.                     SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:38                       4784 (0x12B0)

Waiting for new/rescheduled send requests, Maximum Sleep Time = 60 minutes    SMS_LAN_SENDER      20-10-2012 02:03:38                       4784 (0x12B0)

One the database logs you will find the following

Now once the CAS receives the files the despooler will start pressing the files inside RCM.box\<GUID> just like it created in Primary. The despooler.log will show you the same

Despoolr.log

=========

Waiting for ready instruction file....              SMS_DESPOOLER         20-10-2012 02:03:38                       3972 (0x0F84)

Decompressed C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\despoolr.box\receive\ds_fl24a.pkg to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\DBAF3A0C-9FE0-4A93-B771-E2DD3784E755\  SMS_DESPOOLER         20-10-2012 02:03:38                       3376 (0x0D30)

Despooler successfully executed one instruction.     SMS_DESPOOLER         20-10-2012 02:03:38                       3376 (0x0D30)

Once it is decompressed the RCM will start processing . It will compare and see the tracking GUID and if publication matches and then will delete the old data BCP in (Bulk copy)the values after verifying with the rowcount files .

RCMctrl.log

===========

Processing replication group Hardware_Inventory_8.                     SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Current status is PackageCreated.                  SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Checking if initialization request is needed for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8 from site PR1.                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR                        20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Checking if there are bcp file to apply for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8 from site PR1.            SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41      1820 (0x071C)

found a tracking guid, searching through .init files.   SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Checking bcpDirectory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\DBAF3A0C-9FE0-4A93-B771-E2DD3784E755                        SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Found files for publication Hardware_Inventory_8-PR1.               SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Publication names match. Checking vesrion.                 SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Found our tracking guid                 SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Setting deadlock priority level to high.      SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Initializing to version number 781708.      SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Publication Hardware_Inventory_8 has ID 30.              SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41                       1820 (0x071C)

Flushing DRS queue messages coming from PR1 for replication group Hardware_Inventory_8.                       SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:41      1820 (0x071C)

Executing pre-snapshot stored procedures for group Hardware_Inventory_8.              SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:42                        1820 (0x071C)

Pre-snapshot stored procedures for group Hardware_Inventory_8 finished. Applying bcp files.                      SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:42      1820 (0x071C)

Removing old data for site table ... [EXEC spSMSTruncatePartitionTable 'AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_DATA', 1;]                   SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR                        20-10-2012 02:03:42                       1820 (0x071C)

Rowcount from file [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\DBAF3A0C-9FE0-4A93-B771-E2DD3784E755\AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_DATA.bcp.rowcount] is [6].            SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:42                       1820 (0x071C)

Successfully bulk copied file [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\DBAF3A0C-9FE0-4A93-B771-E2DD3784E755\AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_DATA.bcp] into table [AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_DATA] with rows [6].               SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR                        20-10-2012 02:03:43                       1820 (0x071C)

Removing old data for site table ... [EXEC spSMSTruncatePartitionTable 'AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_HIST', 1;]                     SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR                        20-10-2012 02:03:43                       1820 (0x071C)

Rowcount from file [C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\inboxes\rcm.box\DBAF3A0C-9FE0-4A93-B771-E2DD3784E755\AUTOSTART_SOFTWARE_HIST.bcp.rowcount] is [0].              SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:43                       1820 (0x071C)

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’

Setting deadlock priority level to normal.                       SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:45                       1820 (0x071C)

Current status is Active.                 SMS_REPLICATION_CONFIGURATION_MONITOR            20-10-2012 02:03:45                       1820 (0x071C)

--------------

In the database logs also you will find this

Once the same is completed then on the primary server you will find the replication is finished.

Once the same happens you will see the link moving from initialization to active in the monitoring phase.

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy

Support Escalation Engineer

 Microsoft System Center Support

 SEDO(Serialized Editing of Distributed Objects)

As global data is replicated everywhere, a user on a primary site could change an object at the same time as a user on the CAS or other primary servers. This is an unavoidable consequence of replicated data. SEDO provides a way to enforce that only a single user can edit an object at any point in time. SEDO does it by using a lock request and release mechanism.

The process goes like the below in a nutshell…..

SEDO Lock Acquisition \release Process

1. Administrator attempts to edit object in Admin Console
2. Admin Console attempts to open object from Provider for editing
3. Local site sends SEDO lock request to CAS using SQL Service Broker (SSB) SEDO queue
4. CAS forwards the SEDO lock request on to the owning site if it does not know who had the lock before. If it knows already, then it will forward SEDO to that site which had the previous lock request.
5. Owning site\Site which had the previous lock request assigned will issue a SEDO Lock and records it in the SEDO_LockableObjects table.
6. DRS replicates the change to the SEDO_LockableObjects
7. Provider reads the obtained lock and allows administrator to edit the object.
8. Now when finished editing, the site which has the lock releases the lock.

You can get the information of the objects in lockstate from this view vSEDO_LockState. If you are concerned about a particular object this is how you can get the information
For instance, we take a Task Sequence (TS) with ID as ‘PR100001’.

select Lockstate,Assignedsite,Assigneduser  from dbo.vSEDO_LockState where lockid in (
select lockid From dbo.SEDO_LockableObjects where objectid in(
select objectid from dbo.SEDO_LockableObjectCOmponents where componentid
 in( select SEDOcomponentID from SMSpackages where PKGID = 'PR100001')))
 
Or say if it is a CI item  like an application with Ci_uniqueid  'ScopeId_C83F5B89-111D-4EA7-A4E4-70539294E4D7/Application_7d2683d2-5c0b-4989-b834-d88e581fb9f6/2'

select Lockstate from dbo.vSEDO_LockState where lockid in (
select lockid From dbo.SEDO_LockableObjects where objectid in(
select objectid from dbo.SEDO_LockableObjectCOmponents where componentid
in( select SEDOcomponentID from CI_configurationitems where CI_uniqueid ='ScopeId_C83F5B89-111D-4EA7-A4E4-70539294E4D7/Application_7d2683d2-5c0b-4989-b834-d88e581fb9f6/2')))

Now let us go into details of how we can track the SEDO flow when the object ‘PR100001’ whose owner site is PR1 on the hierarchy (shown below) is opened for editing :-

We can use this query to track the flow from the Vlogs table. Some information will be also available in the SMSProv.log.

select * from vlogs where procedurename <> 'spDRSSendChangesForGroup' and logtime >= getdate()-1 order by logtime desc

Scenario 1:
Opened object PR100001 from PR1 server.You could see that PR1 server forwarding the request to Parent Site CAS, carried by SSB to CAS and CAS assigns the lock and information received back again using SSB.

Once we close the object in PR1, it will release the lock promptly as shown below.

 
Scenario 2:
Object opened in PR2 whereas the owner was PR1.

PR2 request CAS on lock request, goes to the CAS as SSB message, CAS receives and forwards the same to PR1 as it is not the owner of the object, again through SSB message. PR1 receives the request lock the object and send the information to CAS and CAS to the PR1 again through SSB messaging.

Scenario 3:

PR1 owned object opened by CAS with no lock obtained so far by any site.

In this flow if the last assigned site was PR2 and when CAS is trying to open, then SEDO request goes to PR2 and not PR1.

Scenario 4:

PR1 owned object opened by CAS which was already opened for editing in PR2

Since this was already opened for editing By PR2 you will find the following information in CAS

select Lockstate,Assignedsite,Assigneduser  from dbo.vSEDO_LockState where lockid in (

select lockid From dbo.SEDO_LockableObjects where objectid in(

select objectid from dbo.SEDO_LockableObjectCOmponents where componentid

 in( select SEDOcomponentID from SMSpackages where PKGID = 'PR100001')))

Now as CAS knows it was last assigned to PR2, it sends a request to PR2 to see if lock was released and then the PR2 will revert back telling the lock is not released and deny the request which make the CAS to open the object in read only mode.

Hope this helps in troubleshooting SEDO issues.

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy
Support Escalation Engineer
Microsoft System Center Support

We have lot instances where the issues like CPU spike , memory usage and even some activities are caused by SMS services. In many of these cases  the process in question would be wmiprvse not SMS agent or SMS services  directly.

Wmiprvse it is not something only which SMS agent host or other services  uses it can be launched by any application who wants to have some operation on WMI

Now how can we identify which Wmiprvse is used by which process. 

• Go to Start -Run – Wbemtest
• connect to root\cimv2 namespace and launch the following Query 
• select * from msft_providers where HostingGroup = "SMS" or HostingGroup = "CCM" 
• Got two entries and HostProcessIdentifier and note them down

 
   
Now open task manager or run tasklist and try to get the PID of wmiprvse and check if the HostProcessIdentifier we found is the one creating issue.

This is the best way to identify of the SMS agent host or other service  is the one creating issue or any other application

 
 You can also run  

select * from msft_providers where HostProcessIdentifier =  <PID of wmiprvse>

 if you know the PID and back track to namespace and find the application as well

Hope this will be helpful

We have situations where we need to reset the policy and the  policy spy which we use does not work or would not prefer to copy the tool.

This is a vbscript which we can use. Found it helpful when you want to request a full policy compared to delta policy which usually is
triggered always (except for the first). 

'===============================================================================

'Save this as .VBS file and use Run as Administrator

'Set oParams.uFlags = 0 for making the next policy request will be for a full policy instead of the change in policy since the last policy request.

'Set oParams.uFlags = 1 The existing policy will be purged completely.

'Author: Sudheeesh N

'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

set oCCMNamespace = GetObject("winmgmts:root\ccm")

Set oInstance = oCCMNamespace.Get("SMS_Client")

set oParams =
oInstance.Methods_("ResetPolicy").inParameters.SpawnInstance_()

oParams.uFlags = 0

oCCMNamespace.ExecMethod "SMS_Client",
"ResetPolicy", oParams

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This posting /Script  is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.

 Part I : PXE boot

Many have been asking to write a blog on how to tracks the logs for OSD so here it is . It is in two parts.  Part I is PXE boot and Part II is After the Pxe Boot to Full blown OS. Since we are already in 2012 and 2007 has become obsolete, I will be taking 2012 logs to explain

Before we start troubleshooting OSD with Configuration Manager I would always say it saves a lot of time many times if the pre-requisites are to be checked, Especially if you find client is not PXE booting or if it fails after PXE boots immediately .  

If the client is not PXE booting checking the SMSPXE.log on the server where you have the WDS and confirm if the WDS is initialized. You could start the WDS service and check the log flow.

 This is how it should be

• You would see Provider loading
• It will show you the boot images in the WDS which will be opened ,files extracted and copied to boot folders which constitute the boot files for the WDS
• Then you will find PXE provider finished loading

 ================= PXE Provider loaded. =====================            SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Machine is running Windows Longhorn. (NTVersion=0X602, ServicePack=0)      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Cannot read the registry value of MACIgnoreListFile (00000000)        SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

MAC Ignore List Filename in registry is empty  SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Begin validation of Certificate [Thumbprint D04F5BDFFB9390BFEF89053A315F9D700462DAF5] issued to '02d1e460-a438-493c-b6c7-583601b1e087' SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Completed validation of Certificate [Thumbprint D04F5BDFFB9390BFEF89053A315F9D700462DAF5] issued to '02d1e460-a438-493c-b6c7-583601b1e087'           SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

PXEClientKey certificate valid.        SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Initializing PXEPerfObject.               SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Failed to get logging settings for 'ccmperf' from Registry (80070002)                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Could not load logging configuration for component ccmperf. Using default values.              SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Client is set to use HTTPS when available. The current state is 224.     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send: URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  GET /SMS_MP/.sms_aut?MPKEYINFORMATIONEX                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send: URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  CCM_POST /ccm_system/request     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00              7068 (0x1B9C)

Client lookup reply: <ClientIDReply><Identification Unknown="0" ItemKey="0" ServerName="" ServerRemoteName=""><Machine><ClientID/><NetbiosName/></Machine></Identification></ClientIDReply>

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

PXE::CBootImageInfo::CBootImageInfo: key=   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

PXE::CBootImageInfo::CBootImageInfo: key=   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding LAB00004.5     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:00  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding LAB00005.3     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:24  7068 (0x1B9C)

Found new image LAB00004          SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:45  7068 (0x1B9C)

Opening image file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSImages\LAB00004\boot.LAB00004.wim                   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:45  7068 (0x1B9C)

Found Image file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSImages\LAB00004\boot.LAB00004.wim

 PackageID: LAB00004

 ProductName: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

 Architecture: 0

 Description: Microsoft Windows PE (x86)

 Version: 

 Creator:

 SystemDir: WINDOWS

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:45  7068 (0x1B9C)

Closing image file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSImages\LAB00004\boot.LAB00004.wim  SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:45  7068 (0x1B9C)

Creating BCD store: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.20.23.43.45.01.{C48BA2BD-1E88-443D-9A6C-B06835F1BABF}.boot.bcd                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:43:46  7068 (0x1B9C)

StoreFilePath: \??\C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.20.23.43.45.01.{C48BA2BD-1E88-443D-9A6C-B06835F1BABF}.boot.bcd                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:02  7068 (0x1B9C)

Skipping creation of variables file for image LAB00004     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\pxeboot.com to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\pxeboot.n12 to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\bootmgr.exe to install queue      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\bootmgr.exe has version info: 6.2.9200.16384        SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSBoot\x86\bootmgr.exe has version info: 6.2.9200.16384               SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsnbp.com to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\abortpxe.com to install queue   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\abortpxe.com to install queue   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsmgfw.efi to install queue      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384        SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSBoot\x86\wdsmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384               SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi to install queue      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384        SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSBoot\x86\bootmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384              SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf to install queue             SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoe_slboot.ttf to install queue                SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoe_slboot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\segoe_slboot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoen_slboot.ttf to install queue              SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoen_slboot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\segoen_slboot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf to install queue SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09              7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00004\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Found new image LAB00005          SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Opening image file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSImages\LAB00005\boot.LAB00005.wim                   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Found Image file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSImages\LAB00005\boot.LAB00005.wim

 PackageID: LAB00005

 ProductName: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

 Architecture: 9

 Description: Microsoft Windows PE (x64)

 Version: 

 Creator:

 SystemDir: WINDOWS

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Closing image file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSImages\LAB00005\boot.LAB00005.wim  SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

Creating BCD store: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.20.23.44.09.02.{B509443D-7FF2-42BD-A182-600F7D65F4BC}.boot.bcd                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:09  7068 (0x1B9C)

StoreFilePath: \??\C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.20.23.44.09.02.{B509443D-7FF2-42BD-A182-600F7D65F4BC}.boot.bcd                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:26  7068 (0x1B9C)

Skipping creation of variables file for image LAB00005     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsnbp.com to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\abortpxe.com to install queue   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\pxeboot.com to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\pxeboot.n12 to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\bootmgr.exe to install queue      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\bootmgr.exe has version info: 6.2.9200.16384        SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSBoot\x64\bootmgr.exe has version info: 6.2.9200.16384               SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsnbp.com to install queue     SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\abortpxe.com to install queue   SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsmgfw.efi to install queue      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\PXE\wdsmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384        SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSBoot\x64\wdsmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384               SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi to install queue      SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384        SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

File C:\RemoteInstall\SMSBoot\x64\bootmgfw.efi has version info: 6.2.9200.16384              SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf to install queue             SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\segmono_boot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoe_slboot.ttf to install queue                SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoe_slboot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\segoe_slboot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoen_slboot.ttf to install queue              SMSPXE                    20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\segoen_slboot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\segoen_slboot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Adding file: C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf to install queue SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31              7068 (0x1B9C)

Copying font file C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTempBootFiles\LAB00005\WINDOWS\Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf->C:\RemoteInstall\Boot\Fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf.

                    SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Begin validation of Certificate [Thumbprint D04F5BDFFB9390BFEF89053A315F9D700462DAF5] issued to '02d1e460-a438-493c-b6c7-583601b1e087' SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

Completed validation of Certificate [Thumbprint D04F5BDFFB9390BFEF89053A315F9D700462DAF5] issued to '02d1e460-a438-493c-b6c7-583601b1e087'           SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

PXEClientKey certificate valid.        SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

PXE Provider finished loading.       SMSPXE      20-09-2013 23:44:31  7068 (0x1B9C)

If you see errors please act accordingly and make sure that the PXE provider finished loading

Few pointers

• Make sure that Boot images are send to PXE point or DP which has PXE
• Check for  event viewer and make sure there are no errors or warning related to WDS
• This is a wonderful article written by Frank Rojas which can help
  you with PXE problems. http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2011/01/05/troubleshooting-the-pxe-service-point-and-wds-in-configuration-manager-2007.aspx

 Once this part is done confirm the following

1. You have created a Tasksequence and that it has a deployment \ Advertisemnt
2. Deployment is for the PXE (it can be Madatory (Required) or Available)
3. Referenced Packages are distributed including the boot images
4. Network Access account is specified  

Now that we confirmed that the PXE is loaded successfully. Let us now look at the SMSPXE when the client boots. In 2012 PXE message are pretty good , You could see the DHCP packet information.

DHCP message:

 Operation:
BootRequest (1)

 Hardware Address type: 1

 Hardware Address Length: 6

 Hop Count: 0

 Transaction ID: 05078C5E

 Seconds Since Boot: 4

 Client IP Address: 192.168.001.023

 Your IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Server IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Relay Agent IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Hardware Address: 00:15:5d:8c:07:05:

 Magic Cookie: 63538263

 Options:

    Type = 53 DHCP Message Type: 3=DHCPRequest

    Type = 55 Paramerter Request List:
01020305060b0c0d0f1011122b363c438081828384858687

    Type = 57 Max DHCP Message Size: 04ec

    Type = 97 UUID:
00562a3213a8399044918b6846be50c648

    Type = 93 Client system Arch: IA x86 PC

    Type = 94 UNDI: 010201

    Type = 60 ClassIdentifier:
PXEClient:Arch:00000:UNDI:002001       SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17  1612 (0x064C)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:
URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  GET
/SMS_MP/.sms_aut?MPKEYINFORMATIONEX                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17  6148 (0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:
URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  CCM_POST
/ccm_system/request     SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17              6148 (0x1804)

Client lookup reply:
<ClientIDReply><Identification Unknown="0"
ItemKey="0" ServerName=""
ServerRemoteName=""><Machine><ClientID/><NetbiosName/></Machine></Identification></ClientIDReply>

                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17  6148 (0x1804)

00:15:5D:8C:07:05, 13322A56-39A8-4490-918B-6846BE50C648: device is not in the database.            SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17              6148 (0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:
URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  GET
/SMS_MP/.sms_aut?MPKEYINFORMATIONEX                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17  6148 (0x1804)

Sending StatusMessage                   SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17  6148
(0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:
URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  CCM_POST
/ccm_system/request     SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:17              6148 (0x1804)

DHCP message:

 Operation:
BootReply (2)

 Hardware Address type: 1

 Hardware Address Length: 6

 Hop Count: 0

 Transaction ID: 05078C5E

 Seconds Since Boot: 4

 Client IP Address: 192.168.001.023

 Your IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Server IP Address: 192.168.001.002

 Relay Agent IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Hardware Address: 00:15:5d:8c:07:05:

 BootFileName: smsboot\x86\wdsnbp.com

 Magic Cookie: 63538263

 Options:

    Type = 53 DHCP Message Type: 5=DHCPAck

    Type = 54 Server idenitifier:
192.168.001.002

    Type = 97 UUID:
00562a3213a8399044918b6846be50c648

    Type = 60 ClassIdentifier: PXEClient

    Type = 250
02010105040000000203020014040200ba0626506c6561736520776169742e20534d53206973206c6f6f6b696e6720666f7220706f6c6963790b0101                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

DHCP message:

 Operation:
BootRequest (1)

 Hardware Address type: 1

 Hardware Address Length: 6

 Hop Count: 0

 Transaction ID: 05078C5E

 Seconds Since Boot: 0

 Client IP Address: 192.168.001.023

 Your IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Server IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Relay Agent IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Hardware Address: 00:15:5d:8c:07:05:

 Magic Cookie: 63538263

 Options:

    Type = 53 DHCP Message Type: 3=DHCPRequest

    Type = 60 ClassIdentifier: PXEClient

    Type = 97 UUID:
00562a3213a8399044918b6846be50c648

    Type = 93 Client system Arch: IA x86 PC

    Type = 250
0d0208000e010101020006050400000002ff

    Type = 55 Paramerter Request List: 03013c8081828384858687   SMSPXE      21-09-2013
00:09:18  1612 (0x064C)

Getting boot action for unknown machine: item key:  2046820353    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send: URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  GET /SMS_MP/.sms_aut?MPKEYINFORMATIONEX                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  CCM_POST /ccm_system/request     SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18              6148 (0x1804)

Client boot action reply:<ClientIDReply><Identification Unknown="0"ItemKey="2046820353" ServerName=""
ServerRemoteName=""><Machine><ClientID>0496841d-c8ba-4215-bc34-94da8ad4cd12</ClientID><NetbiosName/></Machine></Identification><PXEBootAction
LastPXEAdvertisementID="" LastPXEAdvertisementTime=""
OfferID="LAB20002" OfferIDTime="20-09-2013 10:07:00"
PkgID="LAB0000B" PackageVersion="" PackagePath="http://CM2012SP1.sudilab.com/SMS_DP_SMSPKG$/LAB00004"
BootImageID="LAB00004" Mandatory="0"/></ClientIDReply>

                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013
00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

00:15:5D:8C:07:05,
13322A56-39A8-4490-918B-6846BE50C648: found optional advertisement LAB20002            SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18              6148
(0x1804)

Looking for bootImage LAB00004 SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148
(0x1804)

BootImage LAB00004 needs
to be updated (new packageID=LAB00004) VersionUpdate=true                  SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18    6148
(0x1804)

PXE::CBootImageInfo::CBootImageInfo:
key=LAB00004     SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

Removing Previous Image
from cache: LAB00004              SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

Creating BCD store:
C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.21.00.09.18.03.{8E1D5018-7318-4741-B92A-E5B7005E2039}.boot.bcd                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:18  6148 (0x1804)

StoreFilePath:
\??\C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.21.00.09.18.03.{8E1D5018-7318-4741-B92A-E5B7005E2039}.boot.bcd                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:29  6148 (0x1804)

Saving Media Variables to
"C:\RemoteInstall\SMSTemp\2013.09.21.00.09.34.0001.{8E1D5018-7318-4741-B92A-E5B7005E2039}.boot.var"              SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:34  6148
(0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:
URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  GET
/SMS_MP/.sms_aut?MPKEYINFORMATIONEX                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:34  6148 (0x1804)

Sending StatusMessage                   SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:34  6148
(0x1804)

CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send:
URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  CCM_POST
/ccm_system/request     SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:34              6148 (0x1804)

DHCP message:

 Operation:
BootReply (2)

 Hardware Address
type: 1

 Hardware Address Length: 6

 Hop Count: 0

 Transaction ID: 05078C5E

 Seconds Since Boot: 0

 Client IP Address: 192.168.001.023

 Your IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Server IP Address: 192.168.001.002

 Relay Agent IP Address: 000.000.000.000

 Hardware Address: 00:15:5d:8c:07:05:

 BootFileName:
smsboot\x64\pxeboot.com

 Magic Cookie: 63538263

 Options:

    Type = 53 DHCP Message Type: 5=DHCPAck

    Type = 54 Server idenitifier:
192.168.001.002

    Type = 97 UUID:
00562a3213a8399044918b6846be50c648

    Type = 60 ClassIdentifier: PXEClient

    Type = 243
024530140000000a000000100000000e66000000000000bc093c433d7f061c5fc88a1e181d6b8d0000000000000000000000005bee9d8efa37c0b84fd289dea97339f4833b1cff01515c534d5354656d705c323031332e30392e32312e30302e30392e33342e303030312e7b38453144353031382d37333172

    Type = 252
5c534d5354656d705c323031332e30392e32312e30302e30392e31382e30332e7b38453144353031382d373331382d343734312d423932412d4535423730303545323033397d2e626f6f742e62636400                    SMSPXE      21-09-2013 00:09:34  6148 (0x1804)

First you would find the PXE client broadcasting. You will find the DHCP request (1). This contains the MAC ID and SMBIOS GUID. Now once this is got the device is checked for its presence in the database so that it knows if it is known client or not. DHCP reply would go with the boot file wdsnbp.com which will be downloaded and architecture detection happens once the same is done then the pxe client will again request to the boot action.  If we have a Mandatory advertisement then it will download PXEBootn12.com else
if there is no Mandatory then it will download PXEBoot.com

This checking is done by looking at against the configuration manager DB. In older version SMSPXE used to connect to DB and now it uses Management point to connect to DB and collect this information.

 With Mandatory advertisement \ Deployment which is required

Without Mandatory advertisement \ Deployment which is available

 This is the usual boot process

1)      A client is directed (by using DHCP Options or the PXE Server response) to download Wdsnbp.com

2)      Wdsnbp.com validates the DHCP/PXE response packet and proceeds to download PXEBoot.com or PXEBootn12.com.PXEBoot.com requires the client to press the F12 key to initiate PXE boot.

3)      PXEBoot.com or PXEBootn12.com  downloads Bootmgr.exe and the BCD store. The BCD store must reside in a \Boot directory in the TFTP root folder. Additionally, the BCD store must be called BCD.

4)      Bootmgr.exe  reads the BCD operating system entries and downloads Boot.sdi and the Windows PE image (Winpe.wim).

5)      Bootmgr.exe begins booting Windows PE by calling into Winload.exe within the Windows PEimage.

Once this is done you will find   the Configuration Manager screen as shown below

This is the completion of the PXE boot and once done from here on we get rest of information from smsts.log which first gets created in X:\Windows\Temp\SMSTSLog\smsts.log 

 Hope this will be helpful.

Part II will cover from WinPE to full blown OS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sudheesh N

Part II : From windows PE to Full Blown OS

Once the client boots to PXE  (which we have explained in Part I ) the clients goes to the management point and get the list of policy.

If any Mandatory (required) deployment then it will go ahead with that else if it is available deployment it will show you the List of advertisement.

 From the WindowsPE and  before HDD format the sequence of events is logged in SMSTS.log in the location   x:\windows\temp\smstslog\smsts.log

 The snippet below shows which policy are retrieved which policy is downloaded and from where.  SMSTS.log are usually pretty big.

I will be pointing only the required lines rest I will attach in a ZIP file which you can look in detail.

Preparing Policy Assignment Request. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Setting transport. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Setting site code = LAB. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Setting client ID = 0496841d-c8ba-4215-bc34-94da8ad4cd12. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
   Setting site signing Certificate. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Setting SiteSigningCertificateContext TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Executing Policy Assignment Request. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Sending RequestAssignments TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Setting message signatures. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Setting the authenticator. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send: URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  CCM_POST /ccm_system/request TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Request was succesful. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
::DecompressBuffer(65536) TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Decompression (zlib) succeeded: original size 25716, uncompressed size 120828. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Request client ID: 0496841d-c8ba-4215-bc34-94da8ad4cd12 TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Response client ID: 0496841d-c8ba-4215-bc34-94da8ad4cd12 TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Retrieving Policy Assignments: TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment {42a5d36c-1a04-4171-a34a-7d1ba6896d49}. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment {6d4fd9bd-f9a8-4225-bd76-84e25e99ea39}. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment {4bf211e4-461e-495c-aae1-cf47a73b95b2}. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
   
     ...........................

     ..............................    

    Processing Policy Assignment {adcfd522-f142-4aad-becc-a591eea01bd1}. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment LAB20000-LAB00003-3B5BFFE2. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment SRC10000. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment DEP-LAB20002-LAB00002-6F6BCC28. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment DEP-LAB20002-LAB00004-6F6BCC28. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Processing Policy Assignment DEP-LAB20002-LAB0000A-6F6BCC28. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Successfully read 43 policy assignments. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Downloading policy body LAB20002-LAB0000B-6F6BCC28. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Preparing Policy Body Request. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Setting transport. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
    Setting policy location = http://<mp>/SMS_MP/.sms_pol?LAB20002-LAB0000B-6F6BCC28.1_00. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Executing Policy Body Request. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
CLibSMSMessageWinHttpTransport::Send: URL: CM2012SP1.sudilab.com:80  GET /SMS_MP/.sms_pol?LAB20002-LAB0000B-6F6BCC28.1_00 TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)
Request was succesful. TSPxe 20-09-2013 18:53:22 1244 (0x04DC)

 You would also see the Network account policy which will be used to contact DP also being downloaded and evaluated

Reading Policy Body. TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Parsing Policy Body. TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Found NetworkAccessUsername/NetworkAccessPassword from NAAConfig CCM_NetworkAccessAccount TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Network Access Account has a non-empty value TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Getting local network information. TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)

It will then check for all the content location for reference package you would find multiple occurrence of location request as below related to content reply .

If any issues with content lookup the TS would fail here and in such situations you would need to check the packages\application\boot images\OS image etc is distributed the DP which the client is assigned to.

 Request was succesful. TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
::DecompressBuffer(65536) TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Decompression (zlib) succeeded: original size 547, uncompressed size 1690. TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Location Reply: <ContentLocationReply SchemaVersion="1.00"><ContentInfo PackageFlags="1024"><ContentHashValues/></ContentInfo><Sites><Site><MPSite SiteCode="LAB" MasterSiteCode="LAB" SiteLocality="LOCAL" IISPreferedPort="80" IISSSLPreferedPort="443"/><LocationRecords><LocationRecord><URL Name="http://CM2012SP1.sudilab.com/SMS_DP_SMSPKG$/LAB00004" Signature="http://CM2012SP1.sudilab.com/SMS_DP_SMSSIG$/LAB00004"/><ADSite Name="Default-First-Site-Name"/><IPSubnets><IPSubnet Address="192.168.1.0"/><IPSubnet Address=""/></IPSubnets><Metric Value=""/><Version>7804</Version><Capabilities SchemaVersion="1.0"><Property Name="SSLState" Value="0"/></Capabilities><ServerRemoteName>CM2012SP1.sudilab.com</ServerRemoteName><DPType>SERVER</DPType><Windows Trust="0"/><Locality>LOCAL</Locality></LocationRecord></LocationRecords></Site></Sites></ContentLocationReply> TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
MCS server:  TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)
Found location: http://CM2012SP1.sudilab.com/SMS_DP_SMSPKG$/LAB00004 TSPxe 20-09-2013 19:01:48 1336 (0x0538)

Till this time TSPxe will be component in questions and once this is completed the Tasksequence is then read and parsed.

Then the Tasksequence starts performing one by one. Here on TSMager component will come in to action. This is the TS I have used which is a very basic one

Parsing group node: Install Operating System TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)
Parsing step node: Restart in Windows PE TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)
Parsing step node: Partition Disk 0 - BIOS TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)
Parsing step node: Partition Disk 0 - UEFI TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)
Parsing step node: Pre-provision BitLocker TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)
Parsing step node: Apply Operating System TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)
Parsing step node: Apply Windows Settings TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:48 732 (0x02DC)

 Then you see the Tasksequence steps being executed

Start executing the command line: osddiskpart.exe TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:49 732 (0x02DC)
!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------! TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:49 732 (0x02DC)
Expand a string: WinPE TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:49 732 (0x02DC)
Executing command line: osddiskpart.exe TSManager 20-09-2013 19:01:49 732 (0x02DC)
==============================[ OSDDiskPart.exe ]============================== OSDDiskPart 20-09-2013 19:01:49 852 (0x0354)
Command line: "osddiskpart.exe" OSDDiskPart 20-09-2013 19:01:49 852 (0x0354)
Succeeded loading resource DLL 'X:\sms\bin\i386\1033\TSRES.DLL' OSDDiskPart 20-09-2013 19:01:49 852 (0x0354)
Reading partition size info for partition 0 OSDDiskPart 20-09-2013 19:01:49 852 (0x0354)
Remaining size before partition: 136358691840 OSDDiskPart 20-09-2013 19:01:49 852 (0x0354)
.............

............

OSDDiskPart.exe completed successfully OSDDiskPart 20-09-2013 19:02:04 852 (0x0354)
Process completed with exit code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:02:04 732 (0x02DC)
!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------! TSManager 20-09-2013 19:02:04 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Partition Disk 0 - BIOS) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:02:04 732 (0x02DC)

 If you filter with Successfully completed the action you can get which all completed and if any steps fails you could check the error accordingly and then troubleshoot.

Each step does different things to know in detail please check the article http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846237.aspx

Successfully completed the action (Partition Disk 0 - BIOS) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:02:04 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Pre-provision BitLocker) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:02:05 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Apply Operating System) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:15:45 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Apply Windows Settings) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:15:46 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Apply Network Settings) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:15:46 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Apply Device Drivers) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:18:15 732 (0x02DC)
Successfully completed the action (Setup Windows and Configuration Manager) with the exit win32 code 0 TSManager 20-09-2013 19:20:36 732 (0x02DC)

 Once these steps are completed the windows PE phase get finished and it will boot to OS which we had applied

Save the current environment block TSManager 20-09-2013 19:20:41 732 (0x02DC)
Expand a string: %_SMSTSMDataPath%\Logs TSManager 20-09-2013 19:20:41 732 (0x02DC)
Current operating system is Windows PE. Computer will automatically rebooted when the process exits. TSManager 20-09-2013 19:21:11 732 (0x02DC)
The action (Setup Windows and Configuration Manager) initiated a reboot request TSManager 20-09-2013 19:21:11 732 (0x02DC)

You will also find the information from windows PE load to format of the disk in the SMSTS.log located at x:\smstslog\smsts.log.

Now since we have drive created and OS applied c:\_SMSTaskSequence\ which will be used as a working directory for the Tasksequence and once it is completed this will be deleted. Presence of this folder after the Tasksequence itself is a indication that TS did not complete fine.

In the windowsPE phase what ever you have in X:\  drive smsts.log will also be there in c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log.

Once the system boot to complete OS the X:\ data will no longer be available so you would need to grab logs before the reboot.

You can use this http://blogs.technet.com/b/sudheesn/archive/2010/03/09/how-to-get-the-related-logs-for-troubleshooting-operating-system-deployment.aspx For 2012 only the change is the location in boot image properties rest everything is the same.

Now once the system boots to full OS it will configure the OS, drivers and then install the client. In winpe only download happens till the client is installed you will find the logs in c:\_SMSTaskSequence\Logs\Smstslog\smsts.log and then it will continue through the Tasksequence if any further steps are there.

Once the client is installed then you will find the logs in the :\windows\ccm\logs\smsts.log in 2012 and in 2007 :\windows\system32\ccm\logs\smsts.log  :\windows\sysWOW64\ccm\logs\smsts.log

As you can make TS of your choice and the failure can happen any where in this it is difficult to explain all possible issues. But if you can read the smsts.log most of the issue can be sorted out as failure of any step is given in detail in the logs. What is important is that you need to find the first step failed as in many cases I had seen people looking at the last error and get misled.

For OSD issues observation , probing and finding the first major failure is the key. Just what we need to understand that when these basic steps are in place then it is just how the Tasksequence was created can make issues. In various to isolate the issue different trial and error method like disabling few steps or deleting few will make a lot of sense.

If you think TS as a step by step command thrower and approach the issues things will be simpler. If you have failure when OS is being applied , driver injection etc the other OS logs will be of help.

This link has a good collection http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744583(v=ws.10).aspx

I am also attaching a ZIP file with the logs which was collected while preparing this doc. For more details you can refer this.

Hope this helps

-----------------------------------

Sudheesh N

Content Lookup in configuration Manager

Whether it is Software distribution , Software updates deployment or application deployment in 2012 the Majority of the issues comes is w.r.t to the clients not getting the Contents.

This Blogs is on how we can check and find out the reason why the client is not able to get the contents.

Whenever Client needs a content it will ask its local management point for the content and management point check against the site database and return back the list of distribution point which is used by the client.

This is a script to delete a WMI instance from the WMI repository.   This was used when the deployment status were failing infroming there was another deployment in progress where as it was not there. This was because of the issue with the entry present in the WMI.

In this example we are deleting the instance Root\CCM\SoftwareUpdates\DeploymentAgent\CCM_DeploymentTaskEx1.nkey=1
You can change the path and delete any instance accordingly

 SCRIPT

=======

'============================================================================================
'Script Written by Sudheesh Narayanaswamy
'This script will delete the instance Root\CCM\SoftwareUpdates\DeploymentAgent\CCM_DeploymentTaskEx1.nkey=1
'For the UAC enabled systems please run the script from run as command prompt and use csript

'==============Start of Script======================================

strComputer = "."
strNamespace = "\Root\CCM\SoftwareUpdates\DeploymentAgent"
strInstance = "CCM_DeploymentTaskEx1.nkey=1"

Set objSWbemServices = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & strNamespace)
objSWbemServices.Delete strInstance

'==============End of script============================================

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy | Support Engineer | Microsoft

How to check if a certificate is going to Expire and Create a Event in Event Viewer

This script will check for the certificates and then will create a event if the certificates is going to expire within 10 days period. Please note that this requires  capicom.dll  so please register this using command regsvr32 capicom.dll. You can furtehr integrate this with SCOM and generate alert\event for the event which you create.

'*****************************************************************************************************************************************************
'* Copy this file and save it as CertCheck.vbs
'* Enumerate certificates with day left for expiry From local store and create event 351 in case any certificate is going to expiry within 10 days.
'Creates event 351 warning on application event viewer with Certificate deatils
'*******************************************************************************************************************************************************

 Dim Store, Certificates, Certificate
Const CAPICOM_LOCAL_MACHINE_STORE = 1
Const CAPICOM_CERTIFICATE_FIND_TIME_VALID = 9       
Const CAPICOM_STORE_OPEN_READ_ONLY = 0
Dim value
Set Store = CreateObject("CAPICOM.Store")
Store.Open CAPICOM_LOCAL_MACHINE_STORE, "MY" ,CAPICOM_STORE_OPEN_READ_ONLY
Set Certificates = Store.Certificates.Find(CAPICOM_CERTIFICATE_FIND_TIME_VALID,0)
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
If Certificates.Count >0 Then
   For Each Certificate in Certificates
 value=DateDiff("d",now(),Certificate.ValidToDate)
Dis=""
   
if value < 10 Then
Dis = Dis + "Serial Number : " & Certificate.SerialNumber & vbcrlf
Dis=Dis + "Subject Name : " & Certificate.SubjectName & vbcrlf
Dis=Dis +"Issued by : " & Certificate.IssuerName & vbcrlf
Dis=Dis +"Valid from " & Certificate.ValidFromDate & "  to  " & Certificate.ValidToDate

    strCommand = "eventcreate /T Warning /ID 351 /L Application /SO Certinfo /D " & _
    Chr(34) & Dis & Chr(34)
 WshShell.Run strcommand

    End If
   Next
End If
Set Certificates = Nothing
Set Store = Nothing

=====================================================================================

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy | Support Engineer | Microsoft
 

Operation Manger Database

How Operations manager grooming works and how to check

The grooming settings are stored inthe databasein the PartitionandGroomingSettings table. Each table uses a different stored procedure to groom. You can run the following command which can give you the jobs and the groomingruntime  to check when it was last run.

select  ObjectName,GroomingSproc, DaysToKeep,GroomingRunTime from dbo.PartitionAndGroomingSettings

You can run the following query select*from dbo.InternalJobHistory

Which can let you know when the groom job has been executed and on failure the Status Code = 0 and for success Status Code = 1. The comments can also give use the clue why the same failed.

Operation Manger Database DW

How Operations manager DW grooming works and how to check

In the data warehouse the dataset maintenance task for each dataset (Event ,alert, performance, state). This is run every minute as a part of this the stage data is processed and then you can see that the groom job will be triggered.  To find the GUID you can run the following command. select*from StandardDataset once you get the GUID how the processing is done is the stored proc StandardDatasetMaintenance. (exec StandardDatasetMaintenance @DatasetId=' 6AF799BD-2CCC-41CF-97FD-058E2CBF9248'. This GUID was available for the alert data when we ran the query select * from StandardDataset).

Now how to check if grooming is working or not. First run the query to check the retention dates.

select ds.datasetDefaultName AS'Dataset Name', sda.AggregationTypeId AS'Agg Type 0=raw, 20=Hourly, 30=Daily', sda.MaxDataAgeDays AS'Retention Time in Days'

from dataset ds, StandardDatasetAggregation sda

WHERE ds.datasetid = sda.datasetid ORDERby ds.datasetDefaultName

Now to check how much data for each data is there you can use this query

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DWCreatedDateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROM Alert.vAlert

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROMEvent.vEvent

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROM Perf.vPerfRaw

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROM Perf.vPerfHourly

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROM Perf.vPerfDaily

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROMState.vStateRaw

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROMState.vStateHourly

SELECTDATEDIFF(d,MIN(DateTime),GETDATE())AS [Current] FROMState.vStateDaily

Once you are able to find that a particular dataset has number data that what you have configured. You need to troubleshoot like this.

The first thing you should do if you suspect the grooming jobs are not running properly is check the event logs on the RMS.
If you don't see any errors, you can increase the logging debuglevel for the grooming jobs by running the following query:

Update StandardDataSet

Set DebugLevel = 3

Where DebugLevel != 3

Note: The available levels for grooming are 0,1,2,3 with each level increasing the verbosity of information logged. The default value is 0 for all datasets. Once debuglevel is increased to 3 all grooming and aggregation jobs for the specified dataset will be logged to the DebugMessage table. And for the same you can run this

select*from DebugMessage

The last column in this table, OperationDurationms is the duration it took for the grooming job to complete. Look for any really high duration, it could mean the grooming job is timing out. Please check if there are continuous NULL values as that also means timeouts.

Many a times the failure can arise when the standarddatabase maintenance dataset is not running correctly. This can happen when lot of data is there on staging tables and you can use this link for more details http://blogs.technet.com/b/sudheesn/archive/2009/07/28/getting-31552-exception-sqlexception-timeout-expired-very-frequently-in-scom-server.aspx

Operation Manger Audit collection Database

How Operations manager Audit collection grooming works and how to check

Every 198 seconds, a “Checkpoint” is initiated on the database. At this point, we also check if any partitions in a status of “2” are older than Number of Partitions * 86400 (both configurable). If they are, dbdeletepartition.sql is initiated against the partition GUID.

To check this you can run command SELECT*FROM dtconfig.

The "Partition Close Time" field in the dtpartition table to determine if a partition is elegable for grooming. selectmin(Partitionclosetime)from dtPartitionAnd this should be not graeter than 17 days if you had set 15 days data period.

 ==============================================================================================

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy | Support Engineer | Microsoft

This script will show which all IP address are in use for a range of IP and also check whihc all are online and whihc all are offline.

SCRIPT
=======

============================================================================================
'Script Written by Sudheesh Narayanaswamy
'This can be used to check the IP address which are in use currentely. It will tell you which all IP are online and which all are offline
'SET teh Minnum Rnage and Maximum range'Name the service which you want to check in the Varable sService (Name of service in uppercase)
'Usuage cscript <FILENAME.VBS> will output to dos and in case you want to save this cscript <FILENAME.VBS> output.log
'==============================================================================================

 'Set the values to test
RangeMin = " 10.171.88.136"
RangeMax = " 10.171.88.156"

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

MinAry = Split(RangeMin, ".", -1, 1)
MaxAry = Split(RangeMax, ".", -1, 1)

times =  MaxAry(3)- MinAry(3)

For i=1 To times
IPAry = Join(MinAry, ".")

PINGFlag = Not CBool(WshShell.run("ping -n 1" & IPAry ,0,True))
If PINGFlag = True Then        
WScript.Echo "Online"  & IPAry
Else
WScript.Echo "Ofline"  & IPAry 
End If
MinAry(3)=MinAry(3)+1
Next

=============================================================================

Hope this will be helpful

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy | Support Engineer

This script will help to check if the srevice is avilable or not in a group of system 

'============================================================================================
'Script Written by Sudheesh Narayanaswamy
'This can be used to check if the srevice is avilable or not in a group of system
'Create a file called input.txt (location speiced in strFile) with computer name of the system each line having one server name
'Name the service which you want to check in the Varable sService (Disaply Name of service)
'The out file will be the loaction specified in the strReport variable
'==============================================================================================
Option Explicit
On Error Resume Next
const strReport = "c:\TEST\OUTPUT.txt"
const sFile = "C:\TEST\INPUT.txt"
const sService = "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
Dim objWMIService, objItem, colItems
Dim colListOfServices,strServiceList,objService
Dim strDriveType, strDiskSize, txt
Dim oFSO, oFile, sText,strComputer
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim objFSO,objTextFile
Set objFSO = createobject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objTextFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strReport)
strServiceList="Service Not installed"
If oFSO.FileExists(sFile) Then
  Set oFile = oFSO.OpenTextFile(sFile, 1)

txt =  "Computer Name" & vbtab  & vbtab &"Service Name" & vbtab & vbtab  &  "Service Status" & vbcrlf
             objTextFile.Write(txt)
txt =  "==============" & vbtab & vbtab & "==============" & vbtab & vbTab & "================" & vbcrlf
             objTextFile.Write(txt)

Do While Not oFile.AtEndOfStream
    sText = oFile.ReadLine
      If Trim(sText) <> "" Then
            strComputer=sText
       txt=" "
   

       Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
   & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _
   & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

   Set colListOfServices = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
   ("Select * from Win32_Service ")
 If Err = 0 Then
 ' WMI and VBScript loop
   For Each objService in colListOfServices
   If objService.DisplayName=sService1 then
      txt=""
      strServiceList = objService.DisplayName  & VbTab & objService.State
      txt =  strComputer & vbtab  & vbtab  & strServiceList & vbcrlf
      objTextFile.Write(txt)
  End If

   Next
 else
      strServiceList="System Not Reacheable"
      Err.Clear
   End If                

End IF
Loop
objTextFile.Close
oFile.Close
Else
WScript.Echo "Create a input file was not there."
End If
 
Hope this helps

I had few quries on how to re-name of the VHD same as VM name. This is a PowerShell script which you can ask as an alternative on getting this thing done.

This power shell uses the Hyper-v Module. Please download the module from http://pshyperv.codeplex.com/releases/view/38769 . This has the download and a PDF file which explain on how and what all commands are included in the module and how to use them.

Ø  Now download the zip file and then download it to the host machine. Unzip and save it in a folder (Eg: C:\PS\Hyperv_install).

Ø  Now to create a PowerShell prompt which will open up with importing the Hyper-v module.

Ø  For the same please do the following

o    Copy shortcut to Windows PowerShell from Start Menu/Accessories/Windows PowerShell to the desktop.

o    Now right click this shortcut and click on properties. In the box Target add parameter to the PowerShell.exe, you will need complete command line like this:

    %SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noexit -command "import-module : C:\PS\Hyperv_install\HyperV.psd1 | out-null"

Ø  These are the PowerShell which you can use for renaming

 =====================================================================

#Written By Sudheesh N. This will take a input as the VM name and change the VHD name to the VMName.VHD
#Copy this code and create a file name RenameVHD.ps1

param ($VMname)
#Checking Root MS parameter
     if ($VMname -eq $null) {
                Write-Host "Virtual Disk name Not specified";
                Write-Host "Syntax:";
                Write-Host " RenameVHD.ps1 -VMname: <Name of the VM >";
        exit;
     }
[string]$VMname1 =$VMname
#Get the Disk path of the VM
$e = Get-VMDisk $VMName1| foreach {$_.DiskPath}
#Only Select the Disk IDE 0
[string]$m =%{$e[0]}
[string]$P=$m
$d = $m.ToCharArray()
for ($i=0 ; $i -le $m.length-1; $i++){if ($d[$i] -eq "\")
{$l=$i}}
[string]$x=""
for ($i=0 ; $i -le $l; $i++){$x=$x+$d[$i]}
$NewName=$VMName1 + ".vhd"
$P=($P.trim()).trimend("")
#Rename the VHD
Rename-Item -path  $P -newname $NewName
$x=$x+$Newname
#Change the VM properties for the hard drive at IDE0 Channel 0
Set-VMDisk $VMName  0 0 $x
exit
======================================================================

Ø  In case you have lot of machines deployed to the host then you can automate this by using this script

=========================================================================

#Written By Sudheesh N. This will check which are machines are in stopped mode and then will rename the VHD of
#those to VM name by calling the previous script. Save this in the same folder of the previous script and name it as
#Name it as RenameVHDHost.ps1

#get the list of VM in host
$c=Get-VMSummary | foreach {$_.VMElementName}
#Check which of these are in stopped and then call the renamevm.ps1 for each VM which is in stopped state
foreach ($i in $c)
{
$s=Get-VMState $i | foreach {$_.Enabledstate}
if ($s -eq "Stopped")
{
.\ RenameVHD.ps1  -VMName:$i
}
}

========================================================================

 Note: Please test these scripts before putting to some production.

Hope this is helpful

Sudheesh Narayanaswamy | Support Engineer | Microsoft

Move the site database in SCCM 2007 R2

Usually the process of moving the site database is well documented in the link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680707.aspx

What it might be missing is in case you have integrated with SQL reporting services how do we make sure that the configuration manager also uses same servers reporting services.

In such a case you need to make sure that the Sql reporting services also moved you can use the following links for the same

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143724.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842425

Once you have moved and configured the same make sure that the reporting services point installation properties are set to point to the new server

·         Go to Reporting Services using ConfigMgr Console and click in properties as shown below:

·         Click on “Data Source Settings” and make sure you have specified Server name and database name of your ConfigMgr server as shown below:

·          Under “Database Source Authentication”, make sure “Windows integrated security” is checked. Once completed then refresh the ConfigMgr console and try running the reports again.

Few other things you need to make sure before you move the database.

1)      Once you take the backup of the database to be resorted in the new server make sure that the SMS_EXECUTIVE and SMS_COMPONENT_ MANAGER is stopped. The same will automatically get started once the site reset has been performed.

2)      Make sure that the site reset is completed successfully. You can check the site comp.log

3)      Ensure that the database access permissions are the same on the new site database as they are on the original site database. You can add the computer account (or service account) of the SCCM provider server in the Administrators group which will make sure that the necessary permission are there.

4)      Make sure that the SSRS is move successfully to the other machines

Hope that this information is helpful

Software Updates

Providing updates to software and maintaining managed resources is a reality of networked, distributed computing. An effective software update management process is necessary to maintain operational efficiency, overcome security issues, and maintain the stability of the network infrastructure. However, because of the changing nature of technology and the continual appearance of new security threats, the task of effective software update management can be challenging.

The Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 software updates feature provides a set of tools and resources that can help manage the complex task of tracking and applying software updates to client computers in the enterprise. Click any link in the following section for overview information about software updates.

For more details on how to do software updates using configuration manager please check this link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680701.aspx

Troubleshooting

Server side

The component which takes care of software update is software update point (SUP). So first we need to check if the software update point is installed correctly. If installed correctly you will have the entries in the log SUPSetup.log as shown below

SUPSetup.log

===========

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> ====================================================================

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> SMSWSUS Setup Started....

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> Parameters: C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\bin\i386\ROLESE~1.EXE /install /siteserver:SCCM SMSWSUS

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> Installing Pre Reqs for SMSWSUS

<04-27-2010 23:51:04>         ======== Installing Pre Reqs for Role SMSWSUS ========

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> Found 0 Pre Reqs for Role SMSWSUS

<04-27-2010 23:51:04>         ======== Completed Installion of Pre Reqs for Role SMSWSUS ========

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> Installing the SMSWSUS

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> Correct and supported WSUS Server version is installed.

<04-27-2010 23:51:04> Invoking process "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\RegAsm.exe" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\bin\i386\wsusmsp.dll"

<04-27-2010 23:51:30> Registered DLL C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\bin\i386\wsusmsp.dll

<04-27-2010 23:51:30> Installation was successful.

Once installed you need to make sure that it is configured the logs which can be of help are WCM.log and WSUSctrl.log. If you find errors then make sure that the WSUS is working well.  For the same you can check the following link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939799(WS.10).aspx

The logs if configured correctly should look like this.

WSUSctrl.log

=============

SMS_EXECUTIVE started SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER as thread ID 3432 (0xD68).                SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3216 (0x0C90)

This is a WSUS Role as WSUS registry key exists.                        SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=3.0.6000.273, Major Version = 0x30000, Minor Version = 0x17700111                        SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=3.1.6001.1, Major Version = 0x30001, Minor Version = 0x17710001                        SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=2.0.0.0, Major Version = 0x20000, Minor Version = 0x0                        SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

The installed WSUS build has the valid and supported WSUS Administration DLL assembly version (3.1.7600.226)                SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Successfully connected to local WSUS server        SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:33 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Local WSUS Server Proxy settings are correctly configured as Proxy Name  and Proxy Port 80       SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:35 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Waiting for changes for 0 minutes     SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:35 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Timed Out...                       SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:35 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

…………………..

…………………..

…………………..

                        SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:35 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

There are no unhealthy WSUS Server components on WSUS Server SCCM                    SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:35 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

Successfully checked database connection on WSUS server SCCM              SMS_WSUS_CONTROL_MANAGER  4/27/2010 11:51:38 PM                        3432 (0x0D68)

WCM.log

=========

This SCCM system is the Top Site where WSUS Server is configured to Sync from Microsoft Update (WU/MU) OR do not Sync.              SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER                        4/27/2010 11:50:36 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=3.0.6000.273, Major Version = 0x30000, Minor Version = 0x17700111                        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:50:37 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=3.1.6001.1, Major Version = 0x30001, Minor Version = 0x17710001                        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:50:37 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=2.0.0.0, Major Version = 0x20000, Minor Version = 0x0                        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:50:37 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

The installed WSUS build has the valid and supported WSUS Administration DLL assembly version (3.1.7600.226)                SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:50:37 PM                      5992 (0x1768)

Successfully connected to server: SCCM.MYLAB.IN, port: 80, useSSL: False                   SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:51:23 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Verify Upstream Server settings on the Active WSUS Server                        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:51:23 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Successfully configured WSUS Server settings and Upstream Server to Microsoft Update               SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:51:34 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Successfully connected to server: SCCM.MYLAB.IN, port: 80, useSSL: False                   SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:51:39 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

……………………….

……………………….

STATMSG: ID=6617 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER" SYS=SCCM SITE=LAB PID=3040 TID=5992 GMTDATE=Tue Apr 27 18:23:49.259 2010 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0       SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER                        4/27/2010 11:53:49 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

completed unpublishing previous clients                 SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:53:49 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

completed checking for client deployment             SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:53:49 PM                        5992 (0x1768)

Successfully inserted the WSUS Enterprise Update Source object {A36F27F1-F657-437E-9EBF-8531FE189A6B}                     SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER          4/27/2010 11:54:03 PM                      5992 (0x1768)

Once you confirm that the WSUS configuration is over then you need to make sure that the SUP is able to synchronize with the Microsoft update catalogue site and the same can be checked in this log.

WSUSsyncmgr.log

===============

Performing sync on local request       SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/27/2010 11:59:54 PM                        6112 (0x17E0)

STATMSG: ID=6701 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=SCCM SITE=LAB PID=3040 TID=6112 GMTDATE=Tue Apr 27 18:29:54.530 2010 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0                      SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/27/2010 11:59:54 PM                        6112 (0x17E0)

STATMSG: ID=6704 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=SCCM SITE=LAB PID=3040 TID=6112 GMTDATE=Tue Apr 27 18:30:18.547 2010 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0                      SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/28/2010 12:00:18 AM                        6112 (0x17E0)

Synchronizing WSUS server SCCM   SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/28/2010 12:00:18 AM                       6112 (0x17E0)

Synchronizing WSUS server sccm.mylab.in ...     SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/28/2010 12:02:16 AM                       5220 (0x1464)

sync: Starting WSUS synchronization                       SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/28/2010 12:02:16 AM                       5220 (0x1464)

sync: WSUS synchronizing categories                      SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           4/28/2010 12:02:44 AM                       5220 (0x1464)

……………..

,……………………

Synchronizing update e6d5e961-e5c4-4816-b414-648feba450b7                SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           28/04/2010 5:53:10 PM                        4380 (0x111C)

Synchronizing update 35a0b603-61ce-4f1e-b2dd-3cc36cdf8b31                  SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           28/04/2010 5:53:11 PM                        4380 (0x111C)

Synchronizing update 333bf753-7abb-4fce-a15f-a1862ecf838b                   SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           28/04/2010 5:53:11 PM                        4380 (0x111C)

Synchronizing update 136df562-d188-4e79-8879-8d8082c97614:  Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.81.438.0)      SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER                        28/04/2010 5:53:12 PM                        4380 (0x111C)

Done synchronizing SMS with WSUS Server sccmcen.scs.in  SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           28/04/2010 5:53:13 PM                        4380 (0x111C)

STATMSG: ID=6702 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMCEN SITE=CEN PID=1880 TID=3256 GMTDATE=Wed Apr 28 12:23:13.745 2010 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0           SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           28/04/2010 5:53:13 PM                        3256 (0x0CB8)

Updated 3072 items in SMS database, new update source content version is 2              SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER           28/04/2010 5:53:13 PM                        3256 (0x0CB8)

Once the synchronization is successfully done, updates will be available in the update repository. You can then go ahead and create the deployment template and schedule for installation. On more details on how to please check the following link.

http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/archive/2009/08/17/guide-to-software-updates-deployment-in-configuration-manager-2007.aspx

Once done if you check the status messages for your created update packages you will find the following status messages.

Severity       Type              Site code      Date / Time                         System         ComponentMessage ID                        Description

Information                        Milestone    CEN                28/04/2010 4:21:28 PM                        SCCMCEN    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER       2301              SMS Distribution Manager successfully processed package "TEST" (package ID = CEN00003).

Information                        Milestone    CEN                28/04/2010 4:21:27 PM                        SCCMCEN    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER       2300              SMS Distribution Manager is beginning to process package "TEST" (package ID = CEN00003).

Information                        Milestone    CEN                28/04/2010 4:21:21 PM                        SCCMCEN    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER       2330              SMS Distribution Manager successfully distributed package "CEN00003" to distribution point "["Display=\\SCCMCEN\"]MSWNET:["SMS_SITE=CEN"]\\SCCMCEN\".

Info

 Distribution Manager is beginning to process package "TEST" (package ID = CEN00003).

Information                        Audit              CEN                28/04/2010 4:20:59 PM                        SCCMCEN    Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.dll               30068            User "SCS\Administrator" updated a package named " TEST  " (CEN00003) to the site distribution points.

Information                        Milestone    CEN                28/04/2010 4:12:14 PM                        SCCMCEN    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER       2300              SMS Distribution Manager is beginning to process package "TEST" (package ID = CEN00003).

Information                        Milestone    CEN                28/04/2010 4:12:08 PM                        SCCMCEN    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER       2301              SMS Distribution Manager successfully processed package "TEST" (package ID = CEN00003).

Information                        Milestone    CEN                28/04/2010 4:12:06 PM                        SCCMCEN    SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER       2330              SMS Distribution Manager successfully distributed package "CEN00003" to distribution point

Distribution Manager is beginning to process package "TEST" (package ID = CEN00003).

Information                        Audit              CEN                28/04/2010 4:11:21 PM                        SCCMCEN    Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.dll               30125            User "SCS\Administrator" added new distribution points to a package named " TEST  " (CEN00003).

Information                        Audit              CEN                28/04/2010 4:11:20 PM                        SCCMCEN    Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.dll               30000            User "SCS\Administrator" created a package named " TEST  " (CEN00003).

Once these steps are done then the rest of the things happens in the client.

Client Side

In the client side first thing we need to check is the locationservices.log to make sure that the correct SUP point is detected by the client, else make sure that the client is correctly reporting to the SCCM server and that the software update is enabled. Make sure that the server name and the port is specified correctly.

Locationservices.log

================

Calling back with the following WSUS locations LocationServices              4/29/2010 10:39:40 AM  2844 (0x0B1C)

WSUS Path='https://SCCMCEN.SCS.IN:443', Server='SCCMCEN', Version='2'         LocationServices              4/29/2010 10:39:40 AM         2844 (0x0B1C)

Calling back with locations for WSUS request {10066528-1C1B-4A0C-958B-F29ACBEDBBDF}          LocationServices                4/29/2010 10:41:31 AM  2844 (0x0B1C)

Calling back with the following distribution points          LocationServices              4/29/2010 11:27:23 AM  2552 (0x09F8)

Distribution Point='\\SCCMCEN.SCS.IN\SMSPKGC$\CEN00003\4ea80bd5-c8ac-4f98-be8a-1c18f24a34e4', Locality='LOCAL', DPType='SERVER', Version='6487', Capabilities='<Capabilities SchemaVersion="1.0"><Property Name="SSL" Version="1"/></Capabilities>', Signature=''         LocationServices              4/29/2010 11:27:23 AM  2552 (0x09F8)

Now once the policy agent triggers the scan cycle the windows update agent in the client will contact the WSUS server which in our case is also the SUP point. Once the scan is successfully completed this information is send as state message to the SCCM server. This can be checked in windowsupadte.log or you can check WUAhandler.log under SCCM client log.

WUAHandler.log

==============

Async searching of updates using WUAgent started.       WUAHandler     4/29/2010 10:42:20 AM  3488 (0x0DA0)

Async searching completed.       WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:24:21 AM  1496 (0x05D8)

Successfully completed scan.    WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:24:25 AM  2752 (0x0AC0)

Its a WSUS Update Source type ({D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A}), adding it.              WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:25:24 AM       2752 (0x0AC0)

Existing WUA Managed server was already set (https://SCCMCEN.SCS.IN:443), skipping Group Policy registration.                WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:25:25 AM  2752 (0x0AC0)

Added Update Source ({D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A}) of content type: 2                WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:25:25 AM       2752 (0x0AC0)

Async searching of updates using WUAgent started.       WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:25:25 AM  2752 (0x0AC0)

Async searching completed.       WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:26:28 AM  2396 (0x095C)

Successfully completed scan.    WUAHandler     4/29/2010 11:26:32 AM  3756 (0x0EAC)

Completion of scan is important and if the same is not successfully done you can take the help of the following link to troubleshoot the issues. This link is of WSUS troubleshooting but you can get hints to troubleshoot the error code.

http://blogs.technet.com/sus/archive/2009/11/17/tips-for-troubleshooting-wsus-agents-that-are-not-reporting-to-the-wsus-server.aspx 

Now when the policy agent triggers the software update deployment cycle the scan result is compared with the catalogue and then it downloads only the required updates and install on schedule. You can check the updatestore.log, updatedeploymemt.log for more details. You can also check windowsupdate.log for more details.

Updatedeployment.log

==================

Service startup system task                 UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/28/2010 7:49:39 PM  3468 (0x0D8C)

Software Updates client configuration policy has not been received.          UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/28/2010 7:49:39 PM  3468 (0x0D8C)

Software updates functionality will not be enabled until the configuration policy has been received. If this issue persists please check client/server policy communication.                        UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/28/2010 7:49:39 PM  3468 (0x0D8C)

Software Updates feature is disabled                       UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/28/2010 7:49:39 PM  3468 (0x0D8C)

Software Updates client configuration policy has not been received.          UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/28/2010 7:49:39 PM  3468 (0x0D8C)

Software updates functionality will not be enabled until the configuration policy has been received. If this issue persists please check client/server policy

communication.                UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/28/2010 7:49:39 PM  3468 (0x0D8C)

………………….

…………………

Evaluation initiated for (1) assignments.                 UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 10:39:20 AM                       336 (0x0150)

Deadline received for assignment ({3B1C5820-953D-4EFB-BDB7-3ABEE4C9788D})      UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 10:39:20 AM                       3344 (0x0D10)

Enforcement trigger will be effective when the current action completesUpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 10:39:20 AM                       3344 (0x0D10)

Message received: '<?xml version='1.0' ?><SoftwareUpdatesMessage MessageType='EvaluateAssignments'><UseCachedResults>True</UseCachedResults></SoftwareUpdatesMessage>'       UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 10:39:30 AM                        3940 (0x0F64)

Evaluation initiated for (0) assignments.                 UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:01:55 AM                       4064 (0x0FE0)

……………………………….

DetectJob completion received for assignment ({3B1C5820-953D-4EFB-BDB7-3ABEE4C9788D})     UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:26:59 AM                       3856 (0x0F10)

……………………..

Added update (Site_D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A/SUM_9fb3050e-26f2-4ccc-b9b0-b453ff58aaa9) to the targeted listUpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:26:59 AM                      3856 (0x0F10)

Added update (Site_D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A/SUM_de919dec-2021-474a-8a7f-d632c2068146) to the targeted list                      UpdatesDeploymentAgent                        4/29/2010 11:26:59 AM                       3856 (0x0F10)

Added update (Site_D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A/SUM_d2e84b36-f0fd-4434-825d-a753a338b0bd) to the targeted list                      UpdatesDeploymentAgent                        4/29/2010 11:26:59 AM                       3856 (0x0F10)

…………………..

……………………

Update (Site_D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A/SUM_de919dec-2021-474a-8a7f-d632c2068146) Progress: Status = ciStateDownloading, PercentComplete = 83, Result = 0x0                        UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:27:36 AM                       1068 (0x042C)

Progress received for assignment ({3B1C5820-953D-4EFB-BDB7-3ABEE4C9788D})      UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:27:38 AM                       12 (0x000C)

DownloadJob completion received for assignment ({3B1C5820-953D-4EFB-BDB7-3ABEE4C9788D})                      UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:27:38 AM                       12 (0x000C)

EnumerateUpdates for action (UpdateActionInstall) - Total visible updates = 3               UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:27:38 AM                       2960 (0x0B90)

Starting install for assignment ({3B1C5820-953D-4EFB-BDB7-3ABEE4C9788D})              UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:27:38 AM                       12 (0x000C)

………………….

Update (Site_D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A/SUM_de919dec-2021-474a-8a7f-d632c2068146) Progress: Status = ciStateInstalling, PercentComplete = 100, DownloadSize = 0, Result = 0x0                         UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:26 AM                       440 (0x01B8)

Update (Site_D4F72DDB-F6C4-4B05-835F-A8C23098857A/SUM_de919dec-2021-474a-8a7f-d632c2068146) Progress: Status = ciStatePendingSoftReboot, PercentComplete = 0, DownloadSize = 0, Result = 0x0           UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:31 AM                       3568 (0x0DF0)

CTargetedUpdatesManager - Job completion received.           UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:32 AM                       496 (0x01F0)

Job Id = {A807D023-9E41-4FE5-A528-6120C46C1134}              UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:32 AM                       496 (0x01F0)

No pending install assignment             UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:33 AM                       440 (0x01B8)

EnumerateUpdates for action (UpdateActionInstall) - Total visible updates = 3               UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:33 AM                       2236 (0x08BC)

No installations in pipeline, notify reboot.               UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:33 AM                       440 (0x01B8)

Notify reboot with deadline = Thursday, Apr 29, 2010. - 11:31:33, Ignore reboot Window = False                        UpdatesDeploymentAgent                   4/29/2010 11:31:33 AM                       440 (0x01B8)

The execution manager will have the following entries

Execmgr.log

==========

Mandatory execution requested for program Software Updates Program and advertisement {3D49D216-341B-4456-B52C-A0A480C06BEC}           execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:50 AM                        2188 (0x088C)

Creating mandatory request for advert {3D49D216-341B-4456-B52C-A0A480C06BEC}, program Software Updates Program, package {3D49D216-341B-4456-B52C-A0A480C06BEC}                        execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:50 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

CExecutionRequest::Overriding Service Windows as per policy.                   execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:50 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

Execution Manager timer has been fired.              execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:50 AM                       3256 (0x0CB8)

Executing program  in Admin context                       execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:50 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

Execution Request for package {3D49D216-341B-4456-B52C-A0A480C06BEC} program Software Updates Program state change from NotExist to NotifyExecution                 execmgr                        4/29/2010 11:27:50 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

Executing program as an update.      execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:51 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

Executing Update Program                   execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:51 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

Updates Installation started for the passed command line       execmgr       4/29/2010 11:27:51 AM                       2188 (0x088C)

Looking for MIF file to get program status             execmgr       4/29/2010 11:31:31 AM                       440 (0x01B8)

Script for  Package:{3D49D216-341B-4456-B52C-A0A480C06BEC}, Program: Software Updates Program succeeded with exit code 0   execmgr       4/29/2010 11:31:31 AM                       440 (0x01B8)