Brian S. Tucker

Below is a list of agents, some new and some old which are configurable in SCCM 2007 Beta. I’ll guess that many of these will not change between this version and the final, but wanted to give a heads up on the agents that are configurable.  The only thing I’m still a bit confused on is that the first 3 agents are combined into the new Device Client Agent. I’m not sure if the first 3 are going to only be used for SMS 2003 clients and then Device Client Agent only for SCCM clients. I can see that being the configuration, but don’t see it in the documentation so far. More to come on that as I figure it out.

Hardware Inventory Client Agent – Once enabled, determines what schedule to perform an inventory of hardware. Includes both hardware and installed software inventory. Default = 7 days

Software Inventory Client Agent – Once enabled, inventories all .exe files on a SCCM client computer. Can be configured for alternate file extensions. However, be aware that by adding other file extensions, the SCCM SQL database will increase in size.

Advertised Programs Client Agent – Once enabled, tells the SCCM client how often to poll the SCCM server for policy. Agent also allows for visual and or audio notifications.

Computer Client Agent (New) –  Allows configuration of the Network Access Account which grants access to advertised packages and configures the polling of the client for policy. Allows for custom notification text for Organization Name, Software Updates, Software Distribution and Operating System deployments. Allows for hour and minute mandatory reminders for software distribution. BITS enabled throttling from the SCCM client to the SCCM site server.

 Computer Client Agent

Desired Configuration Management Client Agent (New) –  Specifies that clients will evaluate their compliance with any configuration baseline that is assigned to that system. Also, this agent allows for the schedule of when to check for baseline compliance. When enabled, a new tab in the Systems Management application in the Control Panel will list the baselines.

Device Client Agent (New) –   Determines the poll interval between the client and the site server for new configuration and software. Agent also allows you to enable software and hardware inventory as well as Software distribution. File collection allows for inventory of specific file extensions similar to Software Inventory above.

 Device Client Agent

Remote Tools Client Agent  - Enables remote tools to be used with SCCM clients. Allows for configuration of who can use remote tools and notifications on the client systems. Note: As with SMS 2003, remote assistance is the preferred method of connecting to a workstation running Windows 2000 Professional or above.

Network Access Protection Client Agent (New) – When enabled, NAP will be applied to the client. SCCM allows you to configure security update policies for systems that are not properly patched. When not properly patched to the baseline, the system will be denied access to network resources. The system will then apply updates and be granted access to the network resource. Although the SCCM client will check for compliance every time the system access the network, policy is only updated once a day by default and can be configured on the Evaluation tab.

 NAP Agent

Software Metering Client Agent –  When enabled, will record use of specific applications such as Winword.exe (Word). The default schedule for sending client activity is 7 days. By default, 20 applications are monitored in Computer Management  / Software Metering.

Software Updates Client Agent (New)-  When enabled, allows for software updates on the client and the schedule of how often the client initiate a software update compliance assessment (Default = 1 week). Allows the option to enforce all mandatory deployments as an override to individual advertisements. Deployment Re-Evaluation allows a custom schedule for previously deployed updates that are missing and still required.

 Software Update Client Agent

Let me know if you have questions. Rather than adding pictures for everything, I only added ones that were key points of interest.

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