SCCM - Multiple TS or 1? Automatic OU selection or manual?

[superaz300]

Hey Guys,

 

Just after some input how you guys do your SCCM. Currently, a site I look after has a Task Sequence for each organisation unit in AD. Example, TS Name is "Deploy W10 - Student Laptops". The same task sequence exists for around 10 other OU's. Granted, this is only a small school, however I was wondering of getting this down to 1 main TS?

 

I would like it if I could get SCCM to prompt for the OU location upon running the TS. I have managed to get a prompt for a Computer Name using the OSDComputerName value, would be nice to get a list populated of AD OU's.

 

Or, do you guys do it manually? As in, join to the domain, and manually move the computer into the correct OU?

 

Looking forward to the replies.

 

James

[mrbios]

1 task sequence and a bunch of variables. When we start our task sequence it asks you what type of computer it is, along with the name (student, teacher, admin, server, staff laptop, student laptop) we just enter 1 into which ever it is then it ends up getting the right group policies for the type of machine. Still have to move the machine manually in AD into a more specific OU for the classroom and building, but i don't have any policies applying to anything below the upper level "student computers" or "teacher computers" for example, so it ensures it's classified correctly with the right GPs at least.

[Arthur]

I would like it if I could get SCCM to prompt for the OU location upon running the TS.

TSGui might be worth looking at. @clareq uses it to move computers into the correct OU from the TS.

 

Another alternative is the ConfigMgr WebService. Once setup this gives you loads of additional PowerShell cmdlets that can be used in your Task Sequence like SetADOrganizationalUnitForComputer and AddADComputerToGroup.

[superaz300]

1 task sequence and a bunch of variables. When we start our task sequence it asks you what type of computer it is, along with the name (student, teacher, admin, server, staff laptop, student laptop) we just enter 1 into which ever it is then it ends up getting the right group policies for the type of machine. Still have to move the machine manually in AD into a more specific OU for the classroom and building, but i don't have any policies applying to anything below the upper level "student computers" or "teacher computers" for example, so it ensures it's classified correctly with the right GPs at least.

 

Thank you. This is really useful, I am still learning the power of SCCM and different ways it can be used.

[superaz300]

TSGui might be worth looking at. @clareq uses it to move computers into the correct OU from the TS.

 

Another alternative is the ConfigMgr WebService. Once setup this gives you loads of additional PowerShell cmdlets that can be used in your Task Sequence like SetADOrganizationalUnitForComputer and AddADComputerToGroup.

 

Thank you for sharing this! I have just download TSGui now, definitely going to have a play! If this works, I could even implemented this on some of the bigger sites I look after, will save some time during machine building without having to really do anything manually.

[CHiLL]

I have one two TSs, though in a perfect world I'd only have one.

 

The main TS services 99% of our Windows devices and will set the machine name via OSDComputerName and install drivers (based on WMI queries for make/model), core applications, customisations. It will also join the machine to the domain and place it in a holding Deployment OU. I just need to move the machine into the correct OU in ADUC and SCCM's collection rules will automatically add the machine into the correct collection based on machine name/OU and the rest of the applications for that room will be installed automatically.

 

The other 1% are Windows tablets with 1x USB, WiFi and no Ethernet. This means I cannot PXE boot them, as they don't support it (even with a USB-Ethernet adaptor). I can't use reliably use USB offline TS media as the tablets tend to corrupt the USB drives and WinPE doesn't automatically detect the Ethernet port of the adapter. I had to resort to modifying the boot image to use devcon.exe to restart the USB controller before WinPE initialises. This then allows WinPE to see the USB Ethernet adapter, obtain an IP address and connect to SCCM. I don't want this modification to apply on the other 99% of devices and WinPE doesn't work if you use one boot image for booting and another specified in the TS - they both have to use the same boot image. So therefore I need two TS, one for 99% of my devices using the unmodified TS and another for the remaining 1% using the modified TS.

[Norphy]

I have one task sequence.

 

I have a set of collections with collection variables assigned to them.

The task sequence picks up those variables and automagically puts the PC into the correct OU when it's built.

 

That relies on the PC being in SCCM already. If it isn't, the PC is set to run a UI similar to the one that @Arthur posted about, UI++. It brings up a wizard asking where the PC is and what they want to call it. It only appears if the PC is an Unknown PC and checks for the presence of a collection variable on the Unknown PCs collection to determine whether it appears or not: