3. Console Nodes
In
addition to the new, improved look provided with MMC 3.0, Microsoft
wanted to create a more user-friendly console with ConfigMgr 2007. The
ConfigMgr team reorganized the console tree, which now consists of five
main nodes, rather than the 12 nodes you had with the SMS 2003 console.
Here are the five main nodes:
Site Management—
The Site Management node shows the site hierarchy and the site
components, such as boundaries, client agents, addresses, site
maintenance tasks, and roles. Computer Management— This is the main node for the administrator. It contains all the components to manage the clients in the site. System Status— This node shows the overall health of the site, and includes tasks for troubleshooting a site. Security Rights— Security rights can be set here on entities of ConfigMgr, such as collections, remote tools, packages, and advertisements. Tools— The Tools node contains the ConfigMgr Service Manager, which can be used to start and stop services and components.
When
you deploy a site, the Computer Management and System Status nodes are
the most commonly used nodes for daily administration and management of
your clients.
Table 2 describes the nodes and subnodes in more detail.
Table 2. Configuration Manager Console Nodes| Node | Subnode | Description |
|---|
| Site Database | | Here
you can select the site database for the site you want to manage. You
can customize the console by connecting to multiple site databases. | | Site Management | | This
main node displays the site hierarchy. The central site will display at
the top, with all primary and secondary sites shown below. The Site
Management node allows you to configure sitewide settings for that
particular site or any child sites in the hierarchy. | | | | Using
the console, you can configure properties such as boundaries, site
roles, addresses, client agents, discovery methods, certificates,
status filters, and summarizers. To keep the site healthy, there is a
site maintenance folder with tasks and SQL commands. | | Computer Management | | This node enables you to use Manager 2007 features to manage ConfigMgr 2007 clients. It includes a number of subnodes. | | Computer Management | Collections | In
this subnode, you can create, delete, or modify collections.
Collections are used to group clients for distributing packages and
other tasks. | | Computer Management | Conflicting Records | Sometimes there will be duplicate records. This subnode allows you to manage those records, create new records, and block them.
| | Computer Management | Software Distribution | This subnode displays all the packages and advertisements to distribute software to the clients in the collections. | | Computer Management | Software Updates | Software Updates allows administrators to deploy updates to the clients. | | Computer Management | Operating System Deployment | A
new capability in ConfigMgr 2007, Operating System Deployment allows
the administrator to create and deploy operating system images based on
task sequences.
| | Computer Management | Asset Intelligence | You can use Asset Intelligence, to create reports and inventory showing software usage. | | Computer Management | Software Metering | You can create metering rules in this subnode to monitor the program usage of the clients. | | Computer Management | Reporting | This subnode allows you to create and run reports based on WQL queries. | | Computer Management | Desired Configuration Management | ConfigMgr
2007 includes the ability to configure desired configuration management
rules and baselines, and use configuration packs to keep your clients
compliant with company policy. | | Computer Management | Queries | By
default, some basic queries such as All Systems are installed with
ConfigMgr. Administrators can create and run their own queries to
collect information from the ConfigMgr database. | | Computer Management | Mobile Device Management | Configuration items and packages can be created to manage mobile devices. | | Computer Management | Network Access Protection | This subnode enables you to configure ConfigMgr as a remediation server for software update deployment. | | System Status | | This
node displays the health of the site, packages, and advertisements. You
can use this node for troubleshooting and maintenance tasks. | | System Status | Advertisement Status | Shows the status of all advertisements for the site. | | System Status | Package Status | Shows the status of all packages for the site. | | System Status | Site Status | Shows the overall health of the site hierarchy and tasks for troubleshooting a site. | | System Status | Status Message Queries | Queries collection status information of client and site components. | | Security Rights | | Use this node to set security rights for ConfigMgr security objects, including collections, packages, and advertisements. | | Security Rights | Users | This subnode allows you to add, delete, and clone users or groups who need access to ConfigMgr. | | Security Rights | Rights | In
the Rights subnode, you can set the permissions a specific user has.
This subnode also displays an overview of all rights currently set.
ConfigMgr rights are categorized under Class and Instance rights. The
Manage User Wizard also allows you to configure the rights for the
user.
| | Tools | | The Tools node allows you to start and stop ConfigMgr 2007 service and thread component activity. | | Tools | ConfigMgr Service Manager | The
ConfigMgr Service Manager is located under this subnode. You can use
the Service Manager to start, stop, pause, and resume components in
Configuration Manager.
|
Console Keystrokes
Although
you can use the mouse to navigate through all the nodes in
Configuration Manager, it also has a number of keystrokes you can use.
The combination of those keystrokes and the mouse enables you to browse
through the console very quickly. Table 3 displays a list of the available keystrokes.
Table 3. Configuration Manager Keystrokes| Keystroke | Description |
|---|
| F1 | Pressing
the F1 key displays the Configuration Manager Documentation Library.
Help is “location aware,” meaning if you press the F1 key while the
Query node is selected, the library will open at the “Query” section in
Online Help. | | F3 | The F3 key automatically moves the cursor to the “Look for” section in the top bar of the result pane. | | F5 | To refresh items in a console pane or to refresh the results of components, press the F5 key. | | F6 | To
move between the console tree pane and the result pane, use the F6 key.
When you move from the console tree pane to the result pane, the cursor
is automatically placed in the “Look for” section in the top bar of the
result pane. Moving works both ways, so you can also move from the
result pane to the console tree pane. | | Shift+F10 | Holding
down the Shift key and pressing the F10 key will display the action
menu of the selected item. This is the same menu as when right-clicking
the item with the mouse. | | Tab, Shift+Tab | Using
the Tab key, you can move the focus from the console tree pane to the
result pane and the available boxes in the top bar of the result pane.
Holding down the Shift key while pressing the Tab key allows you to
change the focus to the opposite direction. | | Up arrow | Moves the cursor up in the tree or the items in the result pane. | | Down arrow | Moves the cursor down in the tree or the items in the result pane. | | Right arrow | Pressing the right arrow expands the selected items, displaying all child items. | | Left arrow | Pressing
the left arrow collapses all child items of the selected item. This
also applies to the main nodes in the console. As an example, when the
Software Distribution node is selected, the left arrow key moves the
cursor to the parent (the main Computer Management node). |
|
