System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 Unleashed

Managing and maintaining desktop computing infrastructure is more challenging than ever before. Microsoft's new System Center Configuration Manager 2007, the major upgrade to Microsoft's long-time SMS product, promises IT organizations unprecedented security, convenience, and completeness when it comes to managing their PCs. However, reviewers have noted, SCCM 2007 adopters need extensive up-front knowledge to take full advantage of this product. This is the first book to offer comprehensive, independent, real-world coverage of SCCM 2007 through its entire lifecycle: from planning and deployment to day-to-day administration and troubleshooting. The authors introduce a powerful methodology designed to help implementers carefully define the solutions they need to solve, and optimize their SCCM 2007 deployments to successfully solve those problems. The authors don't just cover SCCM 2007's features: they present crucial information on the other products and technologies its features and components rely upon. This book's coverage ranges from network and architecture design to Active Directory integration and software packaging; testing and stabilization to software and OS distribution; reporting to security.