Logo
PREGNANCY
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows Azure
Windows Server
Windows Phone
 
 
Windows Server

Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 : Configuring Site Server Properties and Site Systems - The Site Configuration Process Flow

3/19/2012 3:20:42 PM
Different SMS 2003 services and processes carry out different tasks depending on the site property or site setting you enable or configure. However, there is still one basic process flow that takes place when any site setting changes. The change is requested by you and posted to the SMS database, the change is carried out by the appropriate SMS site server component processes, and the database is updated with the change. Let’s explore this process more closely.

Site settings are stored in the site control file. This file is named Sitectrl.ct0 and is maintained in the SMS\Inboxes\Sitectrl.box directory on the site server. This file is a text file that you can view using any text editor. The beginning of a representative site control file is displayed in Figure 1. The file is quite complete and detailed. It’s the single most significant file for the site, apart from the database itself, because it contains every site setting parameter.

Figure 1. An example of some of the site properties contained in the site control file, showing the site code and site name (S00 and Contoso Corp), the site server platform (X86), the installation directory (V:\SMS), and the site server name and domain (SQL1 and Contoso).

The site control file can be modified either through a change initiated by the SMS administrator or through a change initiated by an SMS component. Figure 2 outlines the process flow for initiating and carrying out a change to the site control file. The SMS SQL Monitor service and the Hierarchy Manager and Site Control Manager threads are the three SMS 2003 components responsible for maintaining and updating the site control file.

Figure 2. The process flow for carrying out changes to the site control file in an SMS site.


This process is broken down into the following steps:

1.
When the SMS administrator makes a change to a site setting through the SMS Administrator Console, the SMS Provider directs that request to the SMS database through Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). It matches the change against the current database settings, called the site control image, and then creates a delta site control image that contains the changes to be made.

2.
A SQL stored procedure (one of over 200) is triggered, which wakes up the SMS SQL Monitor Service.

3.
The SMS SQL Monitor, in turn, writes a wake-up file to Hierarchy Manager’s inbox, SMS\Inboxes\Hman.box. This filename is in the form sitecode.ssu or sitecode.scu, where sitecode is the three-character code you assigned to the site during setup.

4.
The Hierarchy Manager component on the site server monitors Hman.box for any new files. When the wake-up file is written to that folder, the Hierarchy Manager thread accesses the database and looks for any proposed changes to the site settings. If a delta image exists in the database, Hierarchy Manager creates a delta site control file with the extension .CT1 and writes this file to Site Control Manager’s inbox, SMS\Inboxes\Sitectrl.box\Incoming.

5.
The Site Control Manager component on the site server monitors Sitectrl.box\Incoming for any new files. When the .CT1 file is written, the Site Control Manager thread wakes up, reads the .CT1 file, and performs three actions:

  • It copies the current Sitectrl.ct0 file to the SMS\Sitectrl.box\History folder. SMS retains the last 100 site control files. As you’ll discover, these files can multiply quickly.

  • It merges the changes into the current site control file and creates a .CT2 file in Hierarchy Manager’s inbox, SMS\Inboxes\Hman.box.

  • It creates a new Sitectrl.ct0 file in the SMS\Sitectrl.box directory.

6.
Hierarchy Manager wakes up when the .CT2 file is written to its inbox and updates the SMS database with the new site control data.

Note

Hierarchy Manager and Site Control Manager wake up whenever a file is written to their respective inboxes on the site server. However, they also have wake-up cycles. Hierarchy Manager will wake up every 60 minutes by default, and Site Control Manager will wake up once a day at midnight by default to generate a heartbeat site control file for Hierarchy Manager.


Site Control Filenames

As you monitor the Hierarchy Manager and Site Control Manager inboxes, you’ll see the .CT1 and .CT2 files created. You’ll also notice the rather strange filenames that are assigned to these files. When the files are created, they’re assigned randomly generated filenames. This is done both to ensure uniqueness and to provide security. By scanning the status messages that are generated, or the log files, for Hierarchy Manager and Site Control Manager, you’ll be able to follow the creation of these files as they move from inbox to inbox.

The history copy of the site control file that Site Control Manager writes to the SMS\Inboxes\Sitectrl.box\History folder, however, has a definite naming convention. Here each site control history file is named *.ct0, where * represents the site control file serial number in hexadecimal format. Thus, site control file 9 would be saved with the filename 00000009.ct0, and site control file 10 would be saved with the filename 0000000A.ct0.

The site control file’s serial number is simply its sequential order in relation to other site control files. The site control file created during setup is serial number 0. The next one representing a change in site settings would be serial number 1, and so on. The serial number is recorded in the sixth line of the site control file, which can be read using any text editor.


This is not the whole story, of course. When you initiate a change, you might be asking SMS to enable a component, schedule a task, or initiate discovery or installation. Other SMS components also monitor the Sitectrl.ct0 file for changes, or the SQL Monitor Service might write a wake-up file directly to the appropriate component’s inbox. When Site Control Manager generates the new site control file or SQL Monitor writes a wake-up file to an inbox, these other components wake up, read the file(s) for changes that pertain to that component, and then carry out the change. These same components might themselves create .CT1 files to update the site control file with changes that have been carried out.

As you can see, the Site Control Manager process is very much event driven, meaning that services and threads wake up when a change is detected rather than waiting a predetermined period of time before waking up and checking for any activity that needs to take place. This process was introduced with SMS 2.0 and further enhances the performance of SMS 2003, as many of these processes have been streamlined.

Other -----------------
- Windows Server 2003 : Windows Security and Patch Management - Using Auditing and the Event Log
- Windows Server 2003 : Windows Security and Patch Management - Locking Down Windows
- Recovering from a Disaster in an Exchange Server 2007 Environment : Recovering from a Site Failure & Recovering from a Disk Failure
- Recovering from a Disaster in an Exchange Server 2007 Environment : Identifying the Extent of the Problem & Preparing for a More Easily Recoverable Environment
- Windows Server 2008 Server Core : Setting the Environment & Modifying the Hardware Setup
- Windows Server 2008 Server Core : Performing Console Configuration
- Windows Server 2008 : Using Basic ds Commands - Understanding Distinguished Names & Adding Objects with dsadd
- Windows Server 2008 : Manipulating IIS with appcmd
- Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge : Edge Server Administration (part 2)
- Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge : Edge Server Administration (part 1)
- Sharepoint 2010 : Setting Up the Crawler - Crawling Other Document Types with iFilters
- Sharepoint 2010 : Setting Up the Crawler - Defining Scopes
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Accelerators : Extended Sales Forecasting Accelerator (part 1) - CRM Reports
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Accelerators : Extended Sales Forecasting Accelerator (part 1) - CRM Customizations
- Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 : Processing Business Tasks - Building a Display dimensions dialog
- Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 : Processing Business Tasks - Creating electronic payment format
- Sharepoint 2007 : Change the Look of a Site Using Themes & Change the Home Page of a Site
- Sharepoint 2007 : Open the Site’s Settings Page & Change the Name, Description, Icon, or URL of a Site
- Microsoft Content Management Server : Preparing Postings for Search Indexing - Outputting META Tags
- Microsoft Content Management Server : Influencing Search Engines with the ROBOTS META Tag
 
 
Most view of day
- Windows Server : Network Access Policy and Server and Domain Isolation (part 2) - Planning NAP IPsec Enforcement
- Planning Deployment : Installing BDD 2007
- Microsoft Access 2010 : Enhancing the Queries That You Build - Everything You Need to Know About Query Basics
- System Center Configuration Manager 2007 : Desired Configuration Management - Troubleshooting
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 1) - Understanding client object model fundamentals
- Microsoft SharePoint 2013 : Working with Visio Services - Designing dashboards - Data linking (part 1) - Obtaining external data
- Securing Your SharePoint and Windows Azure Solutions : Configuring Shared Access Permissions for BLOB Storage - Using the Service Bus and Access Control Service
- Integrating BizTalk Server 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM : Communicating from Dynamics CRM to BizTalk Server (part 3) - Registering the plugin, Testing the plugin
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 : Managing Transport and Journaling Rules - Setting Up Message Classifications (part 1)
- Windows Phone 8 : Phone-Specific Design (part 2) - Using the Panorama Control in Blend
Top 10
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 6) - Working with the JavaScript client object model - Creating, reading, updating, and deleting in the JavaScript client object model
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 5) - Working with the JavaScript client object model - Handling errors
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 4) - Working with the JavaScript client object model - Returning collections
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 3) - Working with the managed client object model - Creating, reading, updating, and deleting
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 2) - Working with the managed client object model - Handling errors
- Sharepoint 2013 : Working with the CSOM (part 1) - Understanding client object model fundamentals
- Windows Phone 8 : Configuring Mailbox Settings (part 5) - Configuring Automatic Replies
- Windows Phone 8 : Configuring Mailbox Settings (part 4) - Lightening the Display,Changing the Mailbox Sync Settings
- Windows Phone 8 : Configuring Mailbox Settings (part 3) - Message Signatures, Blind CCing Yourself
- Windows Phone 8 : Configuring Mailbox Settings (part 2) - Unlinking Mailboxes, Conversation View
 
 
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows Azure
Windows Server
Windows Phone
2015 Camaro