2. Dynamic Collections
Now that you have gone through the process to create a static collection, let’s talk about dynamic collections. A dynamic collection
uses a query-based membership to determine the members of that
collection. This means that dynamic collections change, based on the
criteria defined for the collection.
2.1 Creating a Dynamic Collection
The SCCMUnleashed.com
organization is starting the process of deploying the Forefront client
to a set of workstations, but wants to limit the size of the deployment
to mitigate the
risk of affecting large numbers of workstations simultaneously. This
can be addressed by creating a dynamic collection to target all Windows
XP or Vista systems, restricted in its reach by being limited to
systems only in a specific Organizational Unit (OU). To create this
dynamic collection, perform the following steps:
1. | The
first step of this process is creating a collection containing all
Windows XP and Vista systems. You create a dynamic collection in a
similar manner to a static collection within the ConfigMgr console
-> Site Database -> Computer Management -> Collections.
Right-click and choose New Collection. Name this collection All Windows XP and Vista Systems, and this time use the query icon (circled in Figure 10) to define the collection membership.
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You
can implement query membership rules independently or in conjunction
with direct membership rules. As an example, you could populate a
collection in the following manner:
Direct
membership rules give administrators the ability to select any of the
existing resource classes (which include User, User Group, and System
Resources) as the criteria for collection membership. The most common
implementation of direct membership rules is the use of the NetBIOS
name attribute in the System Resource class.
Query
membership rules are more powerful than direct membership rules, and
because of their dynamic capabilities, they are recommended for
creating collection memberships. Collections have the ability to rerun
a query configured as the membership rule on a recurring interval, so
that systems that do not meet the criteria initially for the collection
will show up if they meet the criteria later. In Configuration Manager
2007, the default collection’s update interval is every 24 hours. You
can configure this frequency in the ConfigMgr console to be more or
less frequent, per collection, dependent on management needs.
Use
caution when setting aggressive collection update intervals,
particularly in large environments or on servers with poorly performing
disk subsystems. In SMS 2.0, the default collection update interval was
set for every 2 hours—this was found to waste system resources and
cause overall poor performance on site servers. With SMS 2003, the
default collection update interval changed to 24 hours, the consensus
being that if collections need more frequent updating, the admin could
configure “one-off” type scenarios, as needed, using the collection
properties.
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| 2. | Define the name of the collection as All Windows XP and Vista Systems and then use the Import Query Statement button (shown in Figure 11)
to import an existing query. Choose the query most similar to the one
you want to create—All Windows XP Systems, in this case. After
selecting the query, edit it using the Edit Query Statement button.
| 3. | Editing
the query statement on the General tab shows the various attributes for
the collection. The focus for this particular collection is on the
Criteria tab, which is what needs to change to alter the collection to
display both Vista and XP systems. To edit the criteria, either
double-click the line showing the criteria or click the modify button
(circled in Figure 12).
| 4. | Editing the criteria opens the Criterion Properties dialog box. This dialog box (shown in Figure 13) allows you to define how to configure the criteria for this query. The following fields affect how the query works:
| 5. | For
this example, change the Criterion Type setting to List of values (to
be able to match multiple different operating systems using the query).
List of values is only one of the available criteria discussed in step
4, but it most closely matches the requirements for this particular
collection. This change alters the Operator field, which now defaults
to a value of “is in.” Use the Value button to display the values
currently known for the field defined in the Where clause. In this
example, this is all known operating system versions; Figure 14 displays these values.
| 6. | To make this query match the values for all Windows XP and Vista systems, use the Value button (shown in Figure 15)
to add the different operating system values matching that
value—Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 5.1, Microsoft Windows NT
Workstation 5.2, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 6.0. These values are
selected based on the value that is selected (these do not need to be
typed in if they are selected from the Values list).
These versions match to Windows XP, Windows XP 64, and Windows Vista. A
good reference for Windows version numbers is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT.
Here are two ways to create this collection:
Defining a collection that would match all operating system versions that include workstation but also match previous operating system versions (such as Windows 2000 Professional System) Creating a collection that would match all operating system versions containing %Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 5.% or %Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 6.%
The second approach is more straightforward, meets the criteria, and
will adapt if additional workstation versions are created that match
the criteria. ConfigMgr is a flexible tool, and offers multiple ways to
achieve the same result.
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Tip: Approach for Creating Collections
It
is best to create collections based on the criteria most logical to you
so that they perform as you expect them to and are easier to debug.
To
verify the membership of the collection, complete the wizard and verify
that the members of the new collection match the members expected,
based on the query just defined.
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