Systems Management Server Administrator

What is Systems Management Server Administrator?

The main tool for administering a deployment of Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) in an enterprise. The SMS Administrator program provides access to the Microsoft SQL Server database that stores SMS information such as packages, jobs, and events for different sites, servers, and clients. The program also lets you create, view, or modify these objects. Specifically, you can use the SMS Administrator program to:

• View a list of all computers in your site and sites beneath it in the SMS hierarchy and view the inventory for each individual computer
• Provide direct support to computers using the remote troubleshooting utilities
• Create, modify, and delete packages and program groups
• Define inventory rules for packages to enable SMS to scan for these packages and report them to the inventory database
• Configure site properties for your site and sites beneath it in the SMS hierarchy
• Use Network Monitor to capture network traffic from a computer in the inventory
• Configure SMS to receive Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps and store these traps in the database
• Use Microsoft Windows NT administrative tools to manage Windows NT–based computers in the inventory

How It Works

You can install the SMS Administrator on any computer running Windows NT. You can use the SMS Administrator to log on to the SMS hierarchy and administer the objects and properties for your site and other sites beneath it in the hierarchy. You can access the Structured Query Language (SQL) database for any SMS system in which you have appropriate permissions. If you log on to the central SMS site, you can administer the entire SMS system.

The SMS Administrator program uses multiple windows for managing objects in the SMS database. Some of the more important windows include the following:

• Sites window:
  Displays a complete view of all domains and computers for your current site and its subsites. The site that you log on to is the top site in your Sites window, regardless of whether any parent sites are above it. Use the Sites window to view the detailed hardware and software inventory of any computer that is displayed in the window and to launch the remote management and troubleshooting utilities for that computer.

   

• Jobs window:
  Lets you create, modify, cancel, and delete jobs to manage the distribution, installation, and removal of software on your network. Jobs are stored in the SMS database. SMS automatically creates system jobs for maintaining the system. Before you create a job, first create a package and any machine groups, site groups, or queries you might need if you want to limit which computers receive the package.

   

• Packages window:
  Lets you create, configure, and manage packages. Packages store information about software so that the software can be identified, distributed, installed on clients, or shared from servers.

   

• Program Groups window:
  Lets you create SMS network applications that are delivered to users as program items within program groups.

   

• Queries window:
  Lets you search for objects in the database. You use queries to select target computers for software distribution.

   

• Event, Alert, and SNMP Trap windows:
  Provide information and tools for managing network assets.