Installing the ConfigMgr 2012 Release Candidate (RC)

On 27 october 2011 the Release Candidate (RC) of ConfigMgr 2012 is released. Because I'm doing ConfigMgr implementations most of times, I want to know which changes are made during installation. In this blog the setup of this new release is viewed, to see if there are any differences between previous releases. This installation is done on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 server.

Have a look on Microsoft TechNet for download information: Download Microsoft System Center 2012 Pre-Release Products

Nice to see that ConfigMgr 2012 is now combined with Endpoint Protection 2012, which is the successor of Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010.

Unpack the file, and start Splash.hta for starting the setup. The following screen will be seen then, which has many new options in it:

When choosing INSTALL a message is displayed that DotNet Framework 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 are needed for starting the installation. So let's see first what's needed on the server for having a successful installation:

• DotNet Framework 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 (with default IIS Role Services)
• Remote Differential Compression (RDC)
• Background Intelligence Transfer Service (BITS)
• Windows Server Updates Servies (WSUS) > (optional)
• IIS Role Services > IIS 6 WMI Compatibility

While ConfigMgr 2012 Beta 2 must be installed on SQL Server 2008 with SP1 and CU10 (because SP2 and R2 are not supported), they can be used for installation now! For SQL Server 2008 SP2 with CU6 is needed or SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 with CU3 is needed.

For Supported Configurations information, visit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682077.aspx

Then the installation begins..

• Available Setup Options (Primary Site Server, Central Administration Site, Recover a Site Server)
• Microsoft Software License Terms
• Updated Prerequisite Components (15 items till now)
• Server Language Selection (English by default and 5 other languages) which is new in RC
• Client Language Selection (English by default and 21 other languages) which is also new in RC
• Site and Installation Settings (Site Code, Site Name, Console)
• Primary Site Installation (install a standalone site, or join an existing hierarchy)
• Database Information (Server and Database name, Instance name)
• SMS Provider Settings (cannot be installed on a clustered SQL server)
• Client Computer Communication Settings (Native or Mixed mode)
• Site System Roles (Choose HTTP or HTTPS for MP or DP, this can be choosen per rol)
• Customer Experience Improvement Program Configuration
• Setting Summary
• Prerequisite Check
• Install.. (this takes a while..) 

After that ConfigMgr 2012 RC is installed! Not that hard I think? Just 12 minutes has been used to install ConfigMgr and database.

Nice to see that Endpoint Protection 2012 is immediately available in the ConfigMgr console now. This with Antimalware and Windows Firewall policies by default.

Next blog will zoom deeper in new features of this ConfigMgr release! I'm very excited again about this new ConfigMgr release! Hope you are too!