Is Current Branch the latest version of SCCM?

[iamrufus]

Hi everyone

I am a little confused so bare with me. We have a license for System Center 2012 R2 Config Manager but I have recently removed this due to a few issues we were having and I am looking to re-install from scratch. The idea being having 1 Primary site and 2 Secondary sites which are quite small, may even get away with just having the secondary sites as DPs instead. Anyway my main question is which version of SCCM should I be installing if I am starting from scratch? I have downloaded the latest SCCM 2012 R2 iso from Microsoft but I then saw the Current Branch version so it threw me a little.

The last version of SCCM i had installed was 1706.

Appreciate any advice

Many Thanks

 

[dderby]

The new naming convention is a bit confusing if you're used to releases having different names. The latest version of "current branch" is 1706.

Sometimes the only way to get to the newest version is install the latest ISO (1702) from VLSC and update through the console. If you have an already installed version, you can copy the cd.latest folder from the install directory and use this to install 1706 directly. 

Not sure starting from scratch is the answer though, as you're often going to run into trouble with ConfigMgr. Even the new install will require troubleshooting. It's a large beast with many moving parts (and many things that can break). 

[iamrufus]

Thanks very much for this, I am just downloading the 1702 current branch version from the Eval center as VLSC only seemed to have 1606 for some reason. I know starting from scratch really isn't ideal, i just ended up deleting the server and recreating it under a different name. I have sent an uninstall script to remove configmgr manger from the clients as well which will hopefully stop them trying to connect back to the old server. It using the same site name im hoping wont cause to much of an issue just have to wait and see. Only really plan on using it for imaging machines at the moment as well rather than supplying updates and pushing out software which is currently controlled elsewhere.

[dderby]

Well... If I could offer a piece of advice... Don't jump straight into a production deployment. You'll just end up learning that you've done the wrong thing again and reinstall (again and again). Create a lab using Johan's rehydration kit. If you just want to do some deployments, maybe look at some MDT to wet your feet. It's pretty good by itself, and if you're going to be deploying long term with ConfigMgr you'll want MDT and ConfigMgr to be integrated (it adds a bunch of features ). If you start there, you'll be able to use the skills to understand configmgr deployments better. Also, you'll be able to automatically build reference images that just work everywhere. If you're going to skip MDT, at least make sure you read some stuff on how to set up the database, making sure it's on the same machine, setting up the tempdb correctly. Spend at least a full week (i.e. 45-60 hours) researching the basics of setting it up. It's OK to make mistakes, there's a lot to learn and a way to fix almost anything. There's a lot of really good resources for this sort of thing; jumping in blindly guarantees that you'll be burnt and waste the time later when you don't have it. Also, hit up twitter, channel 9 and other resources to find other resources. This website is also amazing. 

 

PS: This will probably help your uninstall/reinstall for the clients:  https://www.andersrodland.com/configmgr-client-health-version-0-7-2/