genesis Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 Hi I am planning to migrate all my 300 Windows XP to Windows 7 in my school. My predecessors had used some free version of Ghost software . I was looking at various product like MDT and SCCM 2012. Has any one installed and used SCCM and I heard it is difficult to setup. Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks.
Roberto Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 There's lots on SCCM on this site. It's... well... not difficult to set up, but perhaps the post install configuration might turn out to be quite a job of work depending on what you want to do with it. I'd suggest that *just* doing OS deployment and nothing else via SCCM is a bit of a waste. We use it for app deployment (on Macs as well as PCs), as well as antivirus and manage a surprising amount of settings via SCCM. It's a very powerful package; it might be a lot of work to configure it but the results are, in my opinion, worth it.
FN-GM Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 First suggestion use SCCM 2012 R2. There is a good install guide here - How can I install System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager ? - Configuration Manager 2012 - www.windows-noob.com I would install it on Server 2012 or 2012 R2. That way you can PXE boot UEFI devices. If you have EEES, you can use the free Antivirus product managed by SCCM.
synaesthesia Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 If you're a secondary/larger school with a lot of devices then SCCM all the way. If you're a primary or only have a hundred or so machines, MDT may be more than sufficient. The windows-noob guides are awesome. You won't need anything more than a single server so you can disregard the bits about multiple servers/heirarchies. If you have a lot of machines, multiple buildings/campuses then you may consider using a second distribution point but that also depends how much software you have. It's handy for failover, no need to build a server specifically for that purpose though. If you're doing it all on a single machine be wary of just how much juice SQL needs. Initially I had built a server which ran SCCM as well as the first main file server however felt it necessary to separate the two later on.
Quackers Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 Just a little Gotcha, do you have any P4 machines still in use? We had a handful and when we went to SCCM 2012 SP1 (from no SP1 2012) we had to say good bye to them as the network boot image SP1 uses is Windows 8 based WindowsPE which just does not like P4's , where is not the No SP1 was Windows 7 based WindowsPE which worked fine and I'm guessing 2012 R2 will have the same issue. You might not have any but I'm sure some schools will have a few P4s lying around.
Roberto Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 You might not have any but I'm sure some schools will have a few P4s lying around. Good excuse to get rid of them - "Sorry $headteacher they won't work with the new network management software." The only place that P4s should still really be in use is where the caretaker has a few stockpiled because one can heat a cold classroom faster than any other brand of electric bar heater.
free780 Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 You can use a older winpe image as long as you have have the right culmative update if you really need to deploy to antiques.
genesis Posted February 16, 2014 Author Posted February 16, 2014 (edited) We have 300 PCs including the workstations and the Laptops. I have already installed WSUS on the windows server 2012 -client management. Will it cause any problems installing SCCM on this sever. Edited February 16, 2014 by genesis
FN-GM Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 We have 300 PCs including the workstations and the Laptops. I have already installed WSUS on the windows server 2012 -client management. Will it cause any problems installing SCCM on this sever. We have WSUS on the same server, no issues at all.
synaesthesia Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 SCCM also includes WSUS, it may be worth bringing it under the same umbrella and saving yourself a server/service. It'll still play nice if you don't.
mikeyd101 Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 We are looking at possibly using sccm Too, We Use wsus And wds/mdt. Will it cover both of those?
synaesthesia Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 Yes. wsus is built in, MDT's abilities are built in and you can expand SCCM's imaging/task sequencing with an MDT addon too. 1
free780 Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 We moved to sccm in Jan. Pretty good. Though it is quite reliant on wmi which can go a it funny from time to time.
gjefferies Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 My Advice would be to watch the cbt nuggets and build a test lab or use the Microsoft Virtual Labs first. As SCCM does a lot and can take a while to get your head around how it works. Cheers Gareth
Gatt Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Another bit of advise - read through the pre-reqs and make sure they are all in place before installation Two biggies off the top of my head : SQL Server Collations - Get it right or it wont install! PKI Infrastructure - get all your certs created and deploying via GPO where necessary (see: Step-by-Step Example Deployment of the PKI Certificates for Configuration Manager: Windows Server 2008 Certification Authority)
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