Active Directory Forest Discovery.
Launch the Configuration Manager Console. On the left pane select
the Administration, expand Hierarchy Configuration, Select Discovery
Methods. On the right pane double click “Active Directory Forest Discovery”.
Check all the boxes to enable the AD Forest Discovery. With this all the Active
Directory site boundaries are created automatically along with IP address
boundaries. Click on Apply.
When you click on Apply, it asks you to run the full discovery as soon as
possible. Click on Yes. Click on OK.
Active Directory Group Discovery – Double click the Active Directory Group
Discovery and Check the box which says “Enable Active Directory Group
Discovery“. Once you do that at the bottom you must add the Groups or the
Location. Click on Add and click on Location.
Click Browse to specify the location. Select the Active Directory Container.
You should find the name that you entered, click on OK.
Active Directory System Discovery – Right Click Active Directory System
Discovery and click on properties. Click on Enable Active Directory System
Discovery. To add the Active Directory Containers Click on the Orange color
icon. Click on Browse and select the domain. click OK. Click on Apply. Run
the full discovery by clicking Yes. Click on OK and close the properties page.
Active Directory User Discovery – Double click the Active Directory User
Discovery, Enable the Active Directory User Discovery. Add the Active
Directory Containers. Click on OK.
CONFIGURATION MANAGER Boundaries – A boundary is a network location
on the intranet that can contain one or more devices that you want to manage.
Boundaries can be an IP subnet, Active Directory site name, IPv6 Prefix, or an IP
address range, and the hierarchy can include any combination of these
boundary types. To use a boundary, you must add the boundary to one or more
boundary groups. Boundary groups are collections of boundaries. By using
boundary groups, clients on the intranet can find an assigned site and locate
content when they have to install software, such as applications, software
updates, and operating system images. When we run the Active Directory Forest
Discovery, the boundaries are discovered automatically.
Lets take a look in the CONFIGURATION MANAGERSP1 console and find out
whether a Boundary has been created or not. Alright we see that the boundary
has been created.
Now we need to add the Boundary to the Boundary groups. To do so
Select Boundary Groups, right click and click on create a boundary group.
Provide a name to the boundary group and click on Add. On the Add
Boundaries window select the boundary, in our case there is only one
discovered boundary and that is the Default-First-Site-Name. Click on Apply.
Click on References tab, check Use this Boundary group for site assignment.
To add the site system servers, click Add and select the Site System Server.
Click on OK.
Once you do the above step, the Boundary Group must be seen in the console
under Boundary Groups.
Since we have run the full discovery for Active directory users, systems and
groups, wait for few minutes while the discovery cycle is complete. Click
on Assets and compliance, click on Devices and click on All Systems. We see
that the computers have been discovered successfully.
Similarly, on the same window click on User Collections, click on All Users and
User Groups, you should see all the users and user groups on the right side of
the pane.
Automatically use the client push for discovered
computers
In this method we will configure client push installation settings. Use this
method only if you want the configuration manager clients to get automatically
installed on the machine that is discovered. Most of the companies won’t prefer
this method as there might be some computers in the organization where
configuration manager client is not required.
Launch the configuration manager console, click on Administration, under Site
Configuration, click on Sites, in the Sites list, select the site for which you want
to configure automatic site-wide client push installation. On the top ribbon click
on Client Installation Settings and click on Client Push Installation.
On the Client Push Installation Properties windows, click on General tab, check
the box Enable automatic site-wide client push installation. Under System types,
select Servers and Workstations. If you want the client to be installed on the
ConfigMgr site servers then select Configuration Manager site system servers.
Is it okay to install configuration manager client on domain controllers ? –
Domain controllers are managed by system administrators and it is not
recommended to install the configuration manager client on domain controllers,
although there is no harm in installing it on domain controllers.
If you want to install the configuration manager clients on domain controllers
the best option that you can choose is Never install the ConfigMgr client on
domain controllers unless specified in client push installation wizard. This means
you can use the client push installation wizard to install the client on domain
controller.
Click on Accounts tab, we need to add an user account with which the client
installation happens. The account that you add must have the permissions to
install the client software, in other words the user account should have the local
admin rights in the machine. Click on yellow color icon and click on New
Account.
You can specify the installation properties during the client installation process.
Usage of these switches is completely optional.
Click on Apply and OK.
After few minutes when login to CLIENT machine and look at the process tab in
task manager , see [Link] running. The configuration manager client is
pushed automatically to the machines.
Now, we see that both the client machines have got configuration manager
client installed.
Installing Configuration Manager clients using
Client Push Installation Wizard
Installing configuration manager clients using client push installation wizard is
very simple and you can use the wizard to install clients even if the site is not
configured for client push. Ensure that the client installation settings are
configured correctly, specially the accounts.
Click on Assets and Compliance, click on Devices, click on All Systems, right click
on one of the computer and click on Install Client (hold Ctrl and select multiple
computers if you want to install on more than one computer). In this example
we will be installing the client on the domain controller machine,
On the Install Configuration Manager Client wizard click on Next.
If you are pushing the configuration manager client to a domain controller
machine click on Allow the client software to be installed on domain
controllers. While configuring the client push installation If you have enabled
the automatic installation of clients on domain controllers then the first option
will not be available. Click on Install the client software from a specified site and
click on Next.
Click on Close.
After few minutes, on domain controller machine, we see that [Link]
process is running in the task manager.
After few minutes in the console we see that the client has been installed on the
domain controller. Thus the client push installation wizard worked perfectly
here.
You can view the [Link] file on the domain controller to check the log
messages and also to monitor the client installation process.