Regarding Secondary Sites
Hi Wally, I would be glad if you could answer me the following queries regarding secondary site in depth please: We have a central site, 5 primary sites with 5 secondary sites under each primary site. I have some queries related to our environment: 1. It is made sure that there is no boundary overlap between any of the sites. Clients falling in secondary site boundary show assigned to secondary site prior to the installation of SCCM client. After the installation of SCCM client, the clients get assigned to the primary site. Is this correct behavior? How long does this switch take to come into effect? 2. Secondary site clients are always assigned to the primary site & never to the secondary site. Is this statement correct? Also, how does one come to know in this case, without checking boundary whether the client is a secondary site client or a primary site client, from the server & the client? How does that matter? 3. What is the difference between "agent site" & "sms installed site"? If I check the property of some clients on SCCM server, I get agent site 0, agent site 1,2,3,4,5... as well as sms installed site twice/thrice - all pointing to many/different sites - its own primary, a different primary site, different secondary sites, even though the boundary of secondary/primary site it falls in is not overlapping. What can be the cause & the solution? We can't get the client installed/working in this case. 4. Some sites show as client & assigned, but not approved. For some of them, right clicking & approve doesn't appear to choose. What can be the cause? Why does this happen & how do we approve them, even though we have chosen to auto approve domain computers & we have no workgroup computers. What is the possible troubleshooting/solution? How long will I have to wait for the approval to show approved instead of "N/A"? 5. The clients falling into the boundary of any site, must get assigned to it, after it gets discovered into the SCCM database. I find that there are many client computers which show not assigned to any site, even though they fall into the boundary allocated to the specific site. What can be the reason & possible solution/troubleshooting? 6. If there are lets say 100 clients in a custom collection, installed & considered to be functioning properly, now if I delete these computers from the collection, will these computers get deleted from the SCCM database? If yes, & when they are discovered at their next schedule, will they again be associated as workable clients & will they function perfectly as earlier? Or will they appear as non-clients & need to install client afresh? 7. I made collections on the basis of AD site, there by its SCCM Site. On some of the collections, I found that even the clients which should have been there, i.e. the client machines showing assigned to different secondary/primary site also show up here. I thought it might be a good idea to delete these clients so that when they will again get discovered, they will get allocated to their respective site as per the boundary to which they fall in. Am I correct & is this approach right? If not, what should I do? 8. I also found that it the collection I made, some clients have many different "agent site" & many "sms installed site". Are there any problems which could arise due to this? What is the resolution? 9. In my scenario, discovery is only set in primary sites, not in secondary sites. Does that make sense? But heartbeat discovery is set in secondary site as well - shall I remove it? Client push install a/c need not be required on secondary site, isn't it? 10. If I initiate a client push installation for a machine falling in secondary site boundary, & both pri & sec site have MP, where does the client get installed from? Where does the policy flow from before & after the client installation? Also, what will happen if I initiate the client installation from an altogether different primary site? Regards, Harish Harry
March 14th, 2010 1:38am

1. It is made sure that there is no boundary overlap between any of the sites. Clients falling in secondary site boundary show assigned to secondary site prior to the installation of SCCM client. After the installation of SCCM client, the clients get assigned to the primary site. Is this correct behavior? How long does this switch take to come into effect?This is the correct behavior. If the secondary site is a DP, clients will still access it if it is within their boundary, but they will always be a member of the primary site. 2. Secondary site clients are always assigned to the primary site & never to the secondary site. Is this statement correct? Also, how does one come to know in this case, without checking boundary whether the client is a secondary site client or a primary site client, from the server & the client? How does that matter?Yes, they will always be assigned to their respective primary site. If your boundaries are set up by AD site, for example, you can create collections to know which client is in which site. You can also manage them by subnet so you can see which physical site they belong to. 3. What is the difference between "agent site" & "sms installed site"? If I check the property of some clients on SCCM server, I get agent site 0, agent site 1,2,3,4,5... as well as sms installed site twice/thrice - all pointing to many/different sites - its own primary, a different primary site, different secondary sites, even though the boundary of secondary/primary site it falls in is not overlapping. What can be the cause & the solution? We can't get the client installed/working in this case. This would depend on how you have client discovery configured. You can see which discovery method applies to which agent site by looking at Agent Name in the same property window. The numbers correspond.4. Some sites show as client & assigned, but not approved. For some of them, right clicking & approve doesn't appear to choose. What can be the cause? Why does this happen & how do we approve them, even though we have chosen to auto approve domain computers & we have no workgroup computers. What is the possible troubleshooting/solution? How long will I have to wait for the approval to show approved instead of "N/A"?You may have to refresh your view after you approve for it to appear as approved within the console. 5. The clients falling into the boundary of any site, must get assigned to it, after it gets discovered into the SCCM database. I find that there are many client computers which show not assigned to any site, even though they fall into the boundary allocated to the specific site. What can be the reason & possible solution/troubleshooting? This seems like an incorrect boundary configuration somewhere. Do the affected clients have anything in common?6. If there are lets say 100 clients in a custom collection, installed & considered to be functioning properly, now if I delete these computers from the collection, will these computers get deleted from the SCCM database? If yes, & when they are discovered at their next schedule, will they again be associated as workable clients & will they function perfectly as earlier? Or will they appear as non-clients & need to install client afresh?The next discovery cycle will pick them back up as managed clients. 7. I made collections on the basis of AD site, there by its SCCM Site. On some of the collections, I found that even the clients which should have been there, i.e. the client machines showing assigned to different secondary/primary site also show up here. I thought it might be a good idea to delete these clients so that when they will again get discovered, they will get allocated to their respective site as per the boundary to which they fall in. Am I correct & is this approach right? If not, what should I do? If a client machine moves (i.e., laptop goes to a different office), it can be picked up in AD as belonging to that site, thus affecting your AD site membership. 8. I also found that it the collection I made, some clients have many different "agent site" & many "sms installed site". Are there any problems which could arise due to this? What is the resolution? No. Clients can be discovered by multiple discovery agents and this can be a result. 9. In my scenario, discovery is only set in primary sites, not in secondary sites. Does that make sense? But heartbeat discovery is set in secondary site as well - shall I remove it? Client push install a/c need not be required on secondary site, isn't it? AD discovery configured at a parent site will also discover clients for the secondary sites.10. If I initiate a client push installation for a machine falling in secondary site boundary, & both pri & sec site have MP, where does the client get installed from? Where does the policy flow from before & after the client installation? Also, what will happen if I initiate the client installation from an altogether different primary site?That depends on how you have your SUP(s) configured. The client will automatically pull from the closest location, by default.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 14th, 2010 1:54am

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics