Microsoft Systems Management Server

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Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) is a systems management software product by Microsoft for managing large groups of Windows-based computer systems. SMS provides remote control, patch management, software distribution, and hardware and software inventory. An optional feature is operating system deployment which requires the installation of the SMS 2003 OS Deployment Feature Pack. The current version is 2003 SP2.

Vintela Management Extensions provides the possibility to manage Unix computer systems from within SMS as well. [1]

There have been three major iterations of SMS. The 1.x versions of the product defined the scope of control of the management server (the site) in terms of the NT domain that was being managed. Since the 1.x versions, that site paradigm has switched to a group of subnets that will be managed together. Since SMS 2003, the site could also be defined as one or more Active Directory sites.

The major difference between the 2.x product and SMS 2003 is the introduction of the Advanced Client. The Advanced Client communicates with a more scalable management infrastructure, namely the Management Point. A Management Point (MP) can manage up to twenty five thousand Advanced Clients.

The Advanced Client was introduced to provide a solution to the problem that a managed laptop might connect to a corporate network from multiple different locations and should not always download content from the same place within the enterprise (though it should always receive policy from its own site).

Microsoft announced the next generation of the product, "V4" (formally named System Center Configuration Manager 2007) at the Microsoft Management Summit in April 2005, with a tentative release for 2007. The beta version has been released, and is available at Microsoft's SMS website.

[edit] Version history

1994 — Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.0
1995 — Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.1
1996 — Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2
1999 — Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0
2003 — Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003
2007 — System Center Configuration Manager 2007 [Changed from: Microsoft Systems Management Server version 4]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e Remote administration software
Apple Remote Desktop \| Back Orifice \| Back Orifice 2000 \| Citrix Presentation Server \| CrossLoop Microsoft Systems Management Server \| NetBus \| Remote Desktop Protocol \| Sub7 \| Timbuktu \| Virtual Network Computing