Friday 14 November 2014

Managing Linux clients with ConfigMgr 2012 R2

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System Center Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 introduced an exciting new feature - the ability to manage UNIX and Linux clients. The list of supported operating systems has grown since that initial release. You can find the full list (and the names of the installation files) in the "Client Requirements for Linux and UNIX Servers" section of this TechNet Library article.

Supported Configurations for Configuration Manager

The following operating systems are supported:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4,5,6,7
  • Solaris 9,10,11
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 9,10,11
  • Centos 5,6,7
  • Debian 5,6,7
  • Ubuntu 10.04 LTS,12.04 LTS,14.04 LTS
  • Oracle Linux 5,6,7
  • HP-UX 11iv2,11iv3

Further information can be found in this TechNet article:


How to install the clients on Linux and UNIX computers

Client Push installation and automatic client push are not supported on non-Windows clients. You have to download the client installation files and manually copy them to the Linux servers. You then execute the installation manually. At that point you can retrieve hardware and software inventory. You can also automatically deploy updates and RPM files to the servers using traditional ConfigMgr packages and programs.

Please browse the following sections for details on Linux management. I have used a Red Hat Linux 6.5 Server (RHEL 6.5) for these labs.


Copying ConfigMgr client files to the Linux server

Installing ConfigMgr client

Linux client - machine policy and hardware inventory

Linux client - software distribution and patching

Issues I've encountered with Linux Management 





15 comments:

  1. hi sir, i followed your blogs for setting up linux client for hardware inventory.but when i tried to deploy software ,i was not able to install.but i can see the disturbed software in the machine.sir my query is

    1.default while installing client ..a new omi key is generated and disabling the httlp port .Do i have to replace the key with any another so that the linux user can install the software and also able to communicate with the sccm

    2.my sccm setup use both the http and https connection and In the IIS the port is setup as 80.do i have to make changes

    3.i am trying to manage the ubuntu machine ..while installing i gave the commandline as sudo dpkg -i .is there any microsoft documents is there for reference .

    4.sir,what account name should i give in the netaccess account ..is the root or windows domain admin name?do i have to domain join the linux machine to work

    i am fighting it for an week sir,some tips will be really helpful..thanx in advance

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not familiar with Ubuntu Jeet but I'll answer as well as I can:

      1. I've not seen http disabled after installing the SCCM client on a Linux server. Is this specifically a Ubuntu thing?
      2. No, IIS at port 80 is perfect.
      3. Sorry, I can't help you here.
      4. No, the server does not need to be domain joined. You just need to configure the Network Access account. This account should just be a regular domain user with no special permissions. Domain Administrator could be used but it is not required and this is bad practice.

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    2. thanx sir,we were able to setup the infrastructure and able to deploy a small patch in the Ubuntu 12.0 (64-bit) and took hardware inventory for Ubuntu 14 also.one more small doubt sir,
      1.does sccm support linux desktop and only linux servers or only linux servers .i was not able to find any related microsoft documents


      thanx in advance

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    3. ConfigMgr support is for LInux servers only.

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. Another point, out of our requirement for Supporting Linux client systems, tried to install on Linux Clilent system and it installed successfully and also able to do hardware inventory on linux Client system. So what does it mean not supported?

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    6. Jeet had mentioned that following the steps originally he faced problem deploying the package. However in the above comments he could succeed. What was the error and how Jeet fixed it. Can you please throw some light on this? I am on this for last two weeks and will be of great help if we get information.

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  2. First of all many thanks for the great article.

    I am trying to create and deploy package on Ubuntu 15.04 server. (linux server). Followed steps as in your article. However its not working. I checked the log and it is treating this policy as optional and gives error such as "Nix machines do not support optional policies."

    Can you please help with this?

    Also which folder in Linux are the Package files downloaded locally?

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  3. sorry one more clarification to my previous comment, I am using .dep package instead of rpm (as its for ubuntu).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've carried out this process on Red Hat Linux servers only. Unfortunately I don't have a Ubuntu server that I can test with.

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    2. Hi, I am facing same problem with red hat linux also with any version (6 for eg). Even tried with Ubuntu Client then also same problem.

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  4. I see that same issue being reported in other portal however no appropriate reply was provided

    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/54127716-815b-4698-a324-ff610e7da2af/unable-to-deploy-package-having-program-to-ubuntu-server-1404?forum=configmanagerdeployment&prof=required

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  5. Hi sreedhar..

    microsoft didn't mention about the supporting for the few clients.but the sccm will support for it(back then,not sure about now).
    for software pushing use the right command for the installation of the package
    so that the package will install cleanly.
    no need special permission account,an account is need for installing the client or u can create a account just for installing purpose for the Linux client installation with admin rights if u needed(according to your policy).
    for troubleshooting purpose,check the linux sccm client folder ,whether the package gets pushed or not.check the disturbution point.check the logs using the linux commands in the terminal regarding the activity(refer blogs and document).
    for the getting the green in the package installation ,it took lot of time for us to show at that time.
    for ubuntu,use the specified commands to install don't use the redhat commands.right now i am not having the commands which i have used for ubuntu for my package installation.

    try sccm 2016 and also microsoft oms latest tech..i think complexity will be reduced,not sure.but give it a try

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  6. do we get the policy related error as I mentioned in my reply earlier if command is incorrect? I am just trying a very basic shell script using /bin/sh filename.sh. Its a very basic shell script which writes to the /tmp folder.

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  7. Latest another error am encountering when deploying a package which is as follows. I have configured network account as domain admin (as its for a small POC).
    The content is not available on the distribution point....
    Download failed for download id....

    ReplyDelete