SCCM - Application deployment/Client Operations not completing

[randle]

Hi,

 

I'm new to this software but have installed v1606 on SQL Server 2014 and configured all relevant features for basic use.

 

I've pushed out the client from the console to my machines and this has completed successfully so going by this my DP and Boundaries are configured correctly otherwise the client install process wouldn't complete in the first place.

 

The application also successfully distributed to the DP so it's available.

 

I tried deploying an application to a test collection I setup with one test machine as a member but the deployment just sits on the Install action with a compliance of 0%. I've also noticed that and Client Operations I initiate sit there with an active status and never complete.

 

Everything has gone smooth up to this point but feel like I've missed something obvious?

[clareq]

Is the deployment available or required?

[randle]

Available. I'm taking it this should be 'required' in order to kick it off on-demand?

[clareq]

yes, available puts it in the Software centre, ready to be pulled down to the machine, required forces it to install.

[randle]

Ok thanks for that. It's now in the In Progress tab but again, been stuck there for longer than it should. I dare say this and the Client Operations stall are caused by the same thing......?

[randle]

Looks like this has gone though now thanks.

 

While on this subject, I'm used to controlling deployment of applications through security filtering on a GPO. I take it with SCCM I substitute security groups for device collections and deploy the application to these instead?

[clareq]

Yes, but you can use WMI rules to determine membership of a device collection, so it can be based on OU or, for example, membership of a security group. This is helpful: https://blog.thesysadmins.co.uk/sccm-2012-creating-device-collections.html

[randle]

Ok that's great thanks. I just need to think of the device collection as the GPO and let the membership query dynamically update this!?

[ReadTheNetwork]

Hey randle, think of the device collection as just a collection of computers/users. Then you can target applications/settings etc to your collection as required. Here's a rough sketch

AD - security group (lets call it myapp_v1.0), computers or users added to collection.

SCCM - device collection group called myapp_v1.0 queries AD's group called myapp_v1.0.

SCCM - deploy the myapp_v1.0 to the relevant device collection.

 

As you're new, heres a quick couple of notes worth keeping in mind, apologies if you already know.

Within the properties of the SCCM device/user collection within membership rules tab, you'll notice "use incremental updates for this collection". This updates the group every 5 minutes (you can change this if you desire).

The client on the end user's computer by default gets updated every 60 minutes (change this in client settings with administration).

This means it can take up to an hour for the software to push through to the client.

Force an update on the client machine: Control Panel - Configuration Manager - Actions - Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation cycle.

[Geoff]

For application deployment I create collections for machines with the software installed then use those as my deployment collections. e.g. here's my query for 'Java':

 

select 
SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,
SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceType,
SMS_R_SYSTEM.Name,
SMS_R_SYSTEM.SMSUniqueIdentifier,
SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceDomainORWorkgroup,
SMS_R_SYSTEM.Client 
from SMS_R_System 
inner join SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS on SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SMS_R_System.ResourceId 
where 
SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName like "Java _ Update %"

[randle]

Hey randle, think of the device collection as just a collection of computers/users. Then you can target applications/settings etc to your collection as required. Here's a rough sketch

AD - security group (lets call it myapp_v1.0), computers or users added to collection.

SCCM - device collection group called myapp_v1.0 queries AD's group called myapp_v1.0.

SCCM - deploy the myapp_v1.0 to the relevant device collection.

 

As you're new, heres a quick couple of notes worth keeping in mind, apologies if you already know.

Within the properties of the SCCM device/user collection within membership rules tab, you'll notice "use incremental updates for this collection". This updates the group every 5 minutes (you can change this if you desire).

The client on the end user's computer by default gets updated every 60 minutes (change this in client settings with administration).

This means it can take up to an hour for the software to push through to the client.

Force an update on the client machine: Control Panel - Configuration Manager - Actions - Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation cycle.

Thanks for the clarification. I did find the policy polling interval setting for the client after I posted last and have changed this to 15 minutes. I have a relatively small SCCM deployment so can't see this causing too much issue.

 

I must admit, I thought it would be a push process for deployment but obviously not. Even in a large deployment scenario I can't say I'd be too pumped having to wait up to 60 minutes to see results but, as you mention, suppose you could force this from the client manually. Is there no way to do this via the console? I've heard of Right-click tools!?

[clareq]

+1 for right click tools, great little utility.

[ReadTheNetwork]

I've not used right click tools, it's something I need to look into at some point. @clareq, what does extra features does it provide?

[clareq]

I doubt I've scratched the surface of what it can do - details can be found here: https://psrightclicktools.codeplex.com/documentation

[randle]

Should really read the about section before I post. Software can be found http://www.nowmicro.com/recast/ Edited August 15, 2016 by randle
Being a tool