using vNext in a LAB - Part 2. Configuration

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In Part 1. of this series we Installed vNext, now we will configure it.

 

 

If you have used Configuration Manager 2007 before you'll know that we need to use Boundaries. You need boundaries or the clients will not find the nearest Distribution Point when they make a Client Location Request. The boundaries help them find the content at the nearest Distribution Point. Before we can configure the boundary in vNext we will create a new Active Directory Site based on our Ip subnet.

 

Step 1. Add new Active Directory Site

 

We will begin our Configuration by adding an Active Directory Site.

 

Perform the following on the Active Directory Domain Controller as a Domain Administrator

 

Open Active Directory Sites and Services, Click on Sites, New site.

 

 

Give your new site a name like WindowsNoobSite and click the DEFAULTIPSITELINK and click ok.

 

 

 

click Ok again

 

Now right click on Subnets, and choose New Subnet

 

 

Enter your Prefix in the box provided (I'm using 192.168.3.x so I entered 192.168.3.0/24) and select the WindowsNoobSite then click ok.

 

 

Now we are going to Move our Active Directory server (AD1) from the Default-First-Site-Name to our new site, WindowsNoobSite, so expand it as below and right click on AD1 and choose Move.

 

 

Select our WindowsNoobSite and click ok.

 

 

The AD1 server is moved to our new site !

 

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Step 2. Configure vNext to use the New AD Site as a boundary.

 

 

Perform the following on the vNext server as SMSadmin

 

By now you'll know that the Admin Console has changed in vNext (it looks similar to SCOM 2007) and these changes are not just graphical. The following is taken from the Microsoft vNext Server InfraStructure Document supplied with the download of the beta.

 

Changes to the Administrator Console

The Configuration Manager 2007 console is based on the Microsoft Management Console 3.0 framework. In Configuration Manager v.Next, the Configuration Manager console is based on the System Center framework, which automatically refreshes the console data and provides a consistent console experience with other System Center products.

 

Ok great, let's start configuring it. Open the console and in the left lower pane select Administration.

 

 

Expand Site Hierarchy and then click on Boundaries. As we havn't added any yet, it will appear blank.

 

 

So let's add one by right-clicking and choose Create Boundary

 

 

In the description pane, enter AD Site Boundary, for Type, click on the drop down menu and choose Active Directory Site, then click on Browse and select our WindowsNoobSite that we created above.

 

 

For Network Connection select Fast (Lan) and click Apply.

 

 

Press F5 to refresh the console and you should see your new Boundary listed.

 

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Step 3. Configuring Discovery Methods in vNext

 

Now that we've configured our Boundary, we need to configure Discovery methods. In the Administration node, expand Site Operations, and sites, select our Windows Noob site and at the bottom of the screen you'll see Discovery Methods.

 

 

Click on Discovery Methods to see what discovery methods are configured, by default, only Heartbeat Discovery is configured (enabled).

 

 

Right click on Active Directory System Discovery and choose Properties.

 

 

Place a checkmark in Enable Active Directory System Discovery and then click on the yellow star

 

 

When the New Active Directory Container window appears, click on Browse

 

 

and for the purpose of this lab it's ok to leave the root of the domain as selected, click ok.

 

 

review the selections made and click ok, if required you can change your polling schedule by clicking on that tab, but for now let's leave it as it is

 

 

then right click on Active Directory System Discovery and choose Run Now

 

 

Answer Yes to the discovery question

 

 

After a few minutes have passed you can verify that the discovery has run by looking at the All Systems collection (in the WunderBar, click on Assets and Compliance, then select the All Systems Collection, then right click and select Update Collection Membership)

 

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Step 4. Enable Active Directory User Discovery

 

In Discovery Methods, select Active Directory User Discovery and double click on it

 

 

place a checkmark in Enable Active Directory User Discovery and then click on the yellow starburst icon.

 

 

the New Active Directory container window appears, click on browse and select the default container listed in the Select New Container window

 

 

click ok and now you'll see the LDAP path is listed

 

 

click ok again and if you want, adjust the polling schedule (by default it's every 7 days with a 5 minute delta discovery interval) or just leave it as is.

 

 

Click Ok to close, and then right click on Active Directory User Discovery and choose Run Now to run the Active Directory User discovery now, answer Yes when prompted.

 

 

 

In the Wunderbar, click on Assets and Compliance, select Collection Members, All Users in the navigation pane, as the discovery is probably not done yet it may say no items found.

 

 

right click on All Users and select Update Collection Membership,

 

 

when done press F5 to refresh and you should see it populated with Active Directory users

 

 

 

Next Steps > Now that we have configured Discovery, we are ready for Additional Configuration in Part 3