Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, formerly System Center Configuration Manager and Systems Management Server (SMS) is a systems management software product developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

for managing large groups of computers providing remote control, patch management, software distribution, operating system deployment, and hardware and software inventory. Configuration Manager supports the Microsoft Windows and Windows Embedded operating systems. Previous versions also supported macOS (OS X),

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

UNIX Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...

, as well as

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...

, Symbian,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

and Android mobile operating systems.

History

Configuration Manager has evolved since Microsoft originally released it as "Systems Management Server" in 1994. Significant releases include: * Systems Management Server 1.0, released in 1994 along with Windows NT Server 3.5. This initial release targeted the management of MS-DOS, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, Macintosh, and OS/2 desktops on Windows NT Server, NetWare, LAN Manager, and Pathworks networks. * Systems Management Server 1.1, released in 1995 to help customers migrate to Windows 95. * Systems Management Server 1.2, released in 1996 with new remote-control, SNMP, inventory, and network-monitoring capabilities. * Systems Management Server 2.0, released in 1999 to help with Y2K remediation efforts. * Systems Management Server 2003, released in 2003 with improved stability, reliability, and software-distribution capabilities. Microsoft Systems Center product suite * Configuration Manager 2007, released in 2007 with support for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. * Configuration Manager 2012, released in 2012 with significant changes to application deployment capabilities. * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1511, released in November 2015 to support Windows 10 and new Windows servicing options. * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1602, released March 11, 2016. New features include conditional access for PCs, Office 365 Update Management, greater management of mobile devices and of Windows 10. * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1606, released July 22, 2016. New features include support for managing new Windows 10 features like Windows Information Protection and Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, improved integration with the Windows Store for Business supporting online and offline-licensed apps, and more. * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1610, released in November 2016 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1702, released March 2017 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1706, released July 2017 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1710, released November 2017 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1802, released March 2018 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1806, released July 2018 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1810, released December 2018 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1902, released March 2019 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1906, released July 2019 Microsoft Endpoint Manager product suite * Configuration Manager Current Branch 1910, released December 2019 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2002, released April 2020 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2006, released August 2020 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2010, released November 2020 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2103, released May 2021 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2107, released August 2021 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2111, released December 2021 * Configuration Manager Current Branch 2203, released April 2022 SMS went through three major iterations: * The 1.x versions of the product defined the scope of control of the management server (the site) in terms of the NT domain being managed. * With the 2.x versions, that site paradigm switched to a group of subnets to be managed together. * With SMS 2003 the site could also be defined as one or more

Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of Process (computing), processes and Windows service, services. Initially, Active D ...

sites. The most frequently used feature is a software deployment, which provides installation and updating of Windows Apps, legacy applications, and Operating Systems across a business enterprise. SMS 2003 saw 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 25000 Advanced Clients.) Microsoft introduced the Advanced Client to provide a solution to the problem where a managed laptop might connect to a corporate network from multiple locations and thus should not always download content from the same place within the enterprise (though it should always receive policy from its own site). When an Advanced Client is within another location (SMS Site), it may use a local distribution point to download or run a program, which can conserve bandwidth across a WAN.

Components

* Policy Infrastructure * Service Window Manager * State System * Center Configuration Manager Scheduler (CCM Scheduler) * Center Configuration Manager

Configuration Item The term configuration item (CI) refers to the fundamental structural unit of a configuration management system. Examples of CIs include individual Computer hardware, hardware or software components. The configuration-management system oversees the ...

Software Developers Kit (CCM CI SDK) * Desired Configuration Management Agent (DCM Agent) * Desired Configuration Management Reporting (DCM Reporting) * MTC * CI Agent * CI Store * CI Downloader * CI Task Manager * CI State Store * Content Infrastructure * Software Distribution * Reporting * Software Updates * Operating System Deployment

Requirements

The requirements for Configuration Manager are always changing as the system becomes more and more complex. An up-to-date, detailed dive into the requirements can be found on the Microsoft Website Documentatio
here

Product branding and naming

Microsoft Configuration Management has gone through two brand changes. Both resulted in reducing confusion with other initialism as well as including the software in a Microsoft systems management portfolio. In 2007, System Management Service (SMS) became System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). This helped avoid confusion with the Short Message Service (SMS) initialism and added the product, along with other system management tools, under a unified System Center brand. In 2019 Configuration Manager moved to the

Microsoft Endpoint Manager Microsoft Intune (formerly Windows Intune) is a Microsoft cloud-based unified endpoint management service for both corporate and BYO devices. It extends some of the "on-premises" functionality of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager to the ...

suite to better align it with

Microsoft Intune Microsoft Intune (formerly Windows Intune) is a Microsoft cloud-based unified endpoint management service for both corporate and BYO devices. It extends some of the "on-premises" functionality of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager to the ...

and related endpoint management solutions. This change also helped reduce confusion of the oft used initialism SCCM that is common in other industries such as The

Society of Critical Care Medicine The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) is the largest non-profit medical organization in the practice of critical care. SCCM was established in 1970 and is an independently incorporated, international, educational and scientific society base ...

(SCCM). Throughout the life of the product, many acronyms, initialisms, and abbreviations have been used to refer to the software including * SMS * SCCM * CM * MECM * MEMCM * ConfigMgr * Config Man However, Microsoft has stated and documented that the official name is one of the following * Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager * Configuration Manager * ConfigMgr #MEMCM is the semi-official Twitter hastag of the product

References

External links