New to SCCM - Need general guidance on nomenclature and where to start
I have been hired at a very large company with hundreds of thousands of users, workstations, and millions to tens of millions of software installations. And we are involved in a merger. I need to be able to use SCCM 2007 to determine how many of a number of common software packages or programs we have such as Adobe, Office, Windows, Symantec, etc in order to determine compliance with number of licenses, etc. I need to map them to the machine used and then find the primary user of the machine. I am sure if I can understand the views and columns to join on in SCCM, I can figure out what user columns to join on. We want to be able to create some reports and be able to drill down on department, etc. I have a number of questions, some probably easy, and some harder. Anything you can put in will help, even though you may not answer them all. First of all, nomenclature. I don't know what these are, but I have somewhat of an idea, but that won't cut it. And I have read some of the Microsoft and other explanations, but it seems that they don't really start from the beginning. Also, I don't have any access to any console. I am just working with SQL Server views on the server. Anyway, here they are: Collection Site Asset Intelligence (view) Schema view Status view Metering ResourceID Software Distribution Software Inventory Then I need to know a good technology to use to report on. I tried some things in Reporting Service, but some of the reports had 60 or 70 lines. They worked fine. But when there were too many, it just bogged down. Yet, when parameters are input, the user won't know if there is a large number or not. Is there a way around this? I actually will have a list of software titles at first, somewhat arbitrary names, and need to know how many copies are installed and on what machines they are installed. Then, I can join the employee info. I can't even seem to find a list of software titles. I imagined a table of a few thousand to tens of thousands of rows (a lookup table of sorts). Then, I would look in (v_Add_Remove_Programs, v_GS_Installed_Software, ???) for matches to this table. You get the idea. If I can just get started - I am quite computer and database literate.
May 6th, 2010 11:55pm

What you are looking for sounds a little like a mix/mash of a few built ins. Summary of needs: List of applications installed, and on which machines. Potentially including App Name, Directory, Version, as well as Machine Name, User (Top Console User) and so on. Hardware 01A - Summary of computers in a specific collection Software 01A - Summary of installed software in a specific collection Software 02E - Installed software on a specific computer Here is how I would do it: Step 1: Cut a hole in the box... Sorry about that. Step 1: Run Software 02E against a few random machines. Take down some info, get a baseline of what you think you want to report on. Step 2: Create a collection based on that info. Such as: A collection that pulls machines with what you are looking for. Either by File Name, Product Name, Product ID, so on and so forth. I imagine this SQL statement could be quite huge. GL HF DD. Step 3: Run Software 01A on said collection and see if that matches what you are looking for. If this fits, you can expand it to run on the All Systems built in collection. Step 4: On the Software 01A report, you should be able to see the number of machines each app is on. You can then drill down further, along the left hand side, and see a list of machines that have n App installed. Step 5: You now have a list of apps, that are installed company wide, and the ability to view what machines they are installed on. You can then run Hardware 01A on that same collection which will show the Top Console User, per machine, in that collection. Hopefully between the two reports, you can match up: Who typically logs into this machine. What the machine name is and where it is located (Depending on your naming convention). As well as what apps are installed on that machine. Step 6: ??? Step 7: Profit As for the terminology you listed. One of the main standouts you listed, Software Metering, could be very, VERY, helpful in the future. With Software Metering, you can set a rule to monitor a certain collection for the use of a specific Application's File Name. Example: Create a rule to monitor who has XYZ app in your USA region collection. This will show you who has XYZ, how often they launch it, and how long it is in use for on average. Very useful information in terms of "Who actually needs to use this licensed product?". /whew Hope that helps, Nettles
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May 7th, 2010 12:26am

I agree with John Marcum. If you are working at a company with hundreds of thousands of clients... and I can think of one off hand... there is likely some very experienced and knowledgable internal resources you should work with. Don't get me wrong, the forums and community is great. But if you truly need assistance learning the views and terminology, start with the documentation. Start reading. It takes years to get the depth and breadth of knowledge about all of the inner workings of configmgr view relationships. and leverage the internal engineers. I suspect they can help, especially if you indicate what your needs are. Also, SRS is the future of ConfigMgr. I strongly suspect that at a company with several hundred thousand objects in their configmgr database, SRS is the preferred reporting medium; probably to a replica db. Probably using Report Builder 2.0, and 3.0 really soon if not already. Probably with internal templates. Standardize. Simplify. Automate.
May 7th, 2010 3:53pm

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