SMS Discovery
The process of updating the SMS SQL database
so that Active Directory objects are
accessible by SMS is called Discovery.
In most cases, several types of Active
Directory objects will need to be discovered
for SMS to deploy software. These
types include AD user accounts, security
groups, computer accounts, etc.
NOTE: If you are experimenting
with SMS on the Iowa-test domain, you will
probably need to run discovery before
beginning to use it. If you are using
SMS on the Iowa domain, the chances are that
the user account and computer account AD
objects have already been discovered by SMS.
You may need to start Active Directory
System Group Discovery in order for SMS
to find the new SMS-Department-Systems
group you created that contains all of the
computer accounts in your department.
There are several methods that SMS uses to
Discover Active Directory objects. To
view these, open the SMS Console, expand
Site Database (UI2 - The University of Iowa)
| Site Hierarchy | UI2 - The University of
Iowa | Site Settings | Discovery Methods
SMS Discovery Methods
-
Windows
User Account/Group Discovery - These
discovery methods should not need to be
used because their purpose is to
discover computers that are running a
legacy operating system (Windows 9x, ME
and before). ITS is not supporting
the management of computers with legacy
operating systems.
-
Heartbeat Discovery - This
discovery method is used by SMS to keep
track of computer that it has already
discovered to make sure they still exist
on the network.
-
Network Discovery - This
discovery method should never
be used as it creates too much traffic
on our network.
The Active Directory Discovery
methods query the domain controller to
extract information about newly
discovered AD objects.
-
Active Directory System Discovery -
returns the Computer name, AD container
name, IP address and Assigned AD site to
the SMS database.
-
Active Directory User Discovery
-
returns the Username, FQN of the user
account, AD domain, AD container name.
-
Active Directory System Group
Discovery - returns the OU, Global,
Universal and Nested security groups
Starting SMS Discovery
When you have added new security groups or
computer accounts that need to be discovered
by SMS, you will need to start the last
three discovery methods listed above - AD
System, User and System Group Discovery.
Important Note: Active Directory
System Discovery and Active Directory
System Group Discovery are scheduled to
automatically run every 8 hours.
Please use SMS Discovery only when needed.
Given the size of the Iowa domain, each of
these discovery methods can consume a fairly
large amount of bandwidth when run.
Please use discretion when running any of
these Discovery methods. If your need
is not urgent, it is best to wait until the
scheduled discoveries run. Active
Directory User Discovery is not scheduled to
run automatically.
To begin each of there discovery types,
follow this procedure:
-
Looking at the image above, double-click
on Active Directory System Discovery.
The following window will be displayed.
Click on the Polling Schedule
tab.
-
To start
this type of SMS Discovery, click the
checkbox by Run discovery as soon
as possible, then click Apply,
then OK.
-
Repeat this
procedure on the other two Active
Directory Discovery Methods.
...continue to SMS
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