Here is a basic description and some notes made during the upgrade of SCCM CB from version 1511 to 1602 using the Service Connection Point (SCP) site system role in Offline Mode.
Assumption
The SCP role has been installed and configured in Offline Mode.
Before Starting
The procedures below use the serviceconnectiontool.exe tool.
This tool can be found in a folder on the SCCM Site Server here: ..\Microsoft Configuration Manager\cd.latest\SMSSETUP\TOOLS\ServiceConnectionTool.
All commands documented should be run from an admin command prompt at the folder where the serviceconnectiontool.exe resides, in this case C:\Temp\ServiceConnectionTool.
If the SCP is installed on a remote server, all the contents of the ..\Microsoft Configuration Manager\cd.latest\SMSSETUP\TOOLS\ServiceConnectionTool folder need to be copied to a folder on the SCP server, e.g. C:\Temp\ServiceConnectionTool.
In this case the SCP is on a remote server, with Internet access. Once the contents of the ServiceConnectionTool folder are copied to the remote server, two subfolders called Data and Packages were created.
The Data folder is for the output files that are to be uploaded.
The Packages folder is for the data downloaded – this folder must be empty for the download to even start.
Main Procdure
Microsoft describe this as a three-step process.
Prepare – run this command to prepare the usage data
Once the update has been successfully installed a prompt to upgrade the admin console appears if the Show Status option is selected in the \Monitoring\Overview\Site Servicing Status pane.
Clients can be upgraded using Client Push or the automatically if the Upgrade all clients in the hierarch using production client check box is selected under \Administration\Overview\Site Configuration\Sites and selecting the Hierarchy Settings menu option, then the Client Upgrade tab.
Noticed in the SCCM Admin Console that all the domain-connected clients were ‘waiting approval’ even though he Hierarchy Settings were correctly configured to automatically approve computers in trusted domains (right-click the Sites node under Site Configuration in the Administration workspace).
Root Cause
IIS on the Management Point did not have Windows Authentication enabled.
Solution
Enable Windows Authentication in IIS and restart all affected client agents.
Note: Check all SCCM virtual directories have Windows Authentication enabled once enabled at server level.
SCCM 2012 and newer versions include some Endpoint Protection templates containing predefined settings for different types of systems such as SQL Server and Exchange.
The templates are storage in the ..\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\XmlStorage\EPTemplates.
Trying to vMotion a VM and it failed with the following error:
A general system error occurred: PBM error occurred during PreMigrateCheckCallback: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.
Easy fix – ensure the Profile Driven Storage service is running on the vCenter server – in my case I had disabled it in an attempt to save resources on the vCenter server and I did not think I was using Profile Driven Storage functionality – so I thought!
Saw the message below in the Distribution Point Configuration Status window in the SCCM Admin Console when trying to install a new SCCM 2012 R2 SP1 Distribution Point. Target server running Windows Server 2012 R2 Update.
Failed to install DP files on the remote DP. Error code = 1722
Fix
Copy smsdpprov.mof from ..\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\bin\X64 on the Site Server to the server where the DP install has failed.
Open an Command Prompt as Administrator and run mofcomp.exe smsdpprov.mof.
When a DP install fails SCCM will try again every 20 mins. Kept an watch on the DistMgr log file and the DP installed OK after the above command was run and subsequent content distribution worked as expected.
Real world sys admin – getting the job done without the need to stroke your own ego