New functionality in ConfigMgr 2012 B2 (part2)

My second blog about ConfigMgr 2012 B2 configuration! The first one were most about Discovery Methods and new collections. This blog will dive deeper in Site settings and Client settings. Both features are complete different when setting up in this new release. First have a look at the Site settings then.

When right click on the Primary Site, many options are available. Things like adding a Secondary Site, Component Configuration, Client Agents, Site Maintenance, and so on are all here. This can also be accessible also from the new ribbon.

As you can see the same functionality is here. That's why I would recommend to use the ribbon as many as possible. When choosing Site properties some new functionality wil be seen. Let's have a look at the options. New in here are things like Alerts (used for free disk space on the ConfigMgr server), Sender and Client Computer Communication.

Mixed mode and Native mode doesn't exist anymore in ConfigMgr 2012. Now there is the choice between communication in HTTP and/or HTTPS. Nice thing is this can be decided per rol. For example: communication to the Distribution point can be configured in HTTP, while communication to the Management point is configured in HTTPS.

Also there's an option "Use HTTPS by using client certificate (client authentication capability) when available". This option can also be selected during installation "Clients will use HTTPS when PKI client certificate and HTTPS enabled site roles are available". This is a new feature, which will dynamically use HTTPS when there's PKI in place!

Now have a look at the Client Settings. In ConfigMgr 2007 there were multiple Client agent settings to configure. In this new release only one Client settings screen is available, "Default Client Agent Settings". This will have all functionality for all kind of Client settings onboard.

Things like Inventory, Power Management (default ON), Remote Tools and Software Updates can now be configured in one screen. This will be applied for all ConfigMgr clients. It's also possible to create "Custom Client Settings". Then customized settings for devices or users will overrule the default Client Agent settings. Nice to see that Client Agent settings are organized now!

In the next blog Site roles will be explained.