It is supported to install and operate multiple, independent
hierarchies of System Center 2012
Configuration Manager on the same network. However, because
different hierarchies of Configuration Manager do not interoperate
outside of migration, each hierarchy requires configurations to
prevent conflicts between them. Additionally, you can make certain
configurations to help resources that you manage to interact with
the site systems from the correct hierarchy.
The following sections provide information about using different
versions of Configuration Manager on the same network:
Interoperability between System
Center 2012 Configuration Manager and
Configuration Manager 2007
A System Center 2012
Configuration Manager site or hierarchy cannot interoperate
with a Configuration Manager 2007 site or hierarchy. A
Configuration Manager 2007 site cannot report to a
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager parent
site, and you cannot upgrade a Configuration Manager 2007 site to a
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site.
Instead of an in-place upgrade, you use
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager migration
to migrate your Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 objects and
data to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
For information about migrating from Configuration Manager
2007 SP2 to System Center 2012
Configuration Manager, see Migrating Hierarchies in
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
Because you can deploy a System Center 2012
Configuration Manager site or hierarchy side-by-side with a
Configuration Manager 2007 site or hierarchy, take action to
prevent clients from either version from trying to join a site from
the other Configuration Manager version. For example, if your
Configuration Manager hierarchies have overlapping boundaries,
including the same network locations, you might assign each new
client to a specific site instead of using automatic site
assignment. For information about automatic site assignment in
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, see
How to Assign
Clients to a Site in Configuration Manager. Additionally, it is
not supported to install a client from Configuration Manager 2007
on a computer that hosts a site system role from
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, nor to
install a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
client on a computer that hosts a site system role from
Configuration Manager 2007.
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
supports only System Center 2012
Configuration Manager device and mobile device clients. The
following clients and the following Virtual Private Network (VPN)
connection are not supported:
- Any Configuration Manager 2007 or earlier
computer client version
- Any Configuration Manager 2007 or earlier
device management client
- Windows CE Platform Builder device management
client (any version)
- System Center Mobile Device Manager VPN
connection
Client Site Assignment
Considerations
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
clients can be assigned to only one site. When automatic site
assignment is used to assign clients to a site during client
installation, and more than one boundary group includes the same
boundary, and the boundary groups have different assigned sites,
the actual site assignment of a client cannot be predicted.
If boundaries overlap across multiple
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and
Configuration Manager 2007 site hierarchies, clients might not get
assigned to the correct site hierarchy or might not get assigned to
a site at all.
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
clients check the version of the Configuration Manager site before
they complete site assignment and cannot assign to a Configuration
Manager 2007 site if boundaries overlap. However, Configuration
Manager 2007 clients do not check for the site version and can
incorrectly be assigned to a System Center 2012
Configuration Manager site.
To prevent Configuration Manager 2007 clients from
unintentionally being assigned to a System Center 2012
Configuration Manager site when the two hierarchies have
overlapping boundaries, configure Configuration Manager 2007 client
installation parameters to assign clients to a specific site.
Interoperability between Sites with
Different Service Pack Versions in System Center 2012
Configuration Manager
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
requires that each site in a hierarchy be of the same service pack
level. However, while you are actively upgrading a hierarchy to a
new service pack (including an upgrade to System Center 2012 R2
Configuration Manager), different sites in the hierarchy upgrade at
different times. Therefore, to support the upgrade process,
Configuration Manager supports limited interactions between
different service pack versions in a single hierarchy.
Limitations to Configuration Manager
Capabilities in a Mixed-Version Hierarchy
When different sites in a single hierarchy use
different service pack versions, some Configuration Manager
functionality is not available. This can affect how you manage
Configuration Manager objects in the Configuration Manager console,
and what functionality is available to clients. Typically,
functionality from the newer version of Configuration Manager is
not accessible at sites or to clients that run a lower service pack
version.
The following sections list the objects and
functionality that are affected when you have sites in a hierarchy
with different service pack versions, and provide details about the
limitations for those objects.
Limitations when upgrading to System
Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1
| Object |
Details |
|
Endpoint Protection and anti-malware policies
|
The following are limitations for using Endpoint Protection and
anti-malware policies in a hierarchy with sites that use different
service pack versions:
- Anti-malware polices that you create when you
use a Configuration Manager console that connects to a
Configuration Manager SP1 site apply only to clients that run
Configuration Manager SP1. Clients that run Configuration
Manager with no service pack do not receive these new policies
until they upgrade to SP1.
- Anti-malware policies that are created on a
site that runs Configuration Manager SP1 cannot be viewed on a
Configuration Manager console that connects to a Configuration
Manager site with no service pack unless the user who runs the
console is associated with the All security scope. If the
user is not associated with this security scope, grant the user the
necessary security scope or manage anti-malware policies from the
central administration site until all sites in the hierarchy update
to Configuration Manager SP1.
- To initiate a malware scan on a Configuration
Manager SP1 client, you must use a Configuration Manager
console that connects to a Configuration Manager SP1 site.
- You cannot add new alerts for Endpoint
Protection until all sites in the hierarchy have been upgraded to
Configuration Manager SP1.
|
|
New deployment types in Configuration Manager SP1
|
Due to the global data replication, new deployment types that
are available with Configuration Manager cannot be created nor used
until all sites in the hierarchy run Configuration
Manager SP1.
These deployment types include the following:
- Mac OS X
- Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V)
5
- Windows app package
- Windows app package (in the Windows
Store)
- Windows Phone 8
- Windows Phone 8 deep link
- iOS (all)
- Android (all)
For information about deployment types, see How to Create Deployment
Types in Configuration Manager.
|
|
App-V virtual environments
|
You cannot configure, nor use App-V virtual environments until
all sites in the hierarchy run Configuration Manager SP1.
For more information about App-V virtual environments, see the
Using
App-V Virtual Applications with Configuration Manager section
in the Introduction to
Application Management in Configuration Manager topic.
|
|
Boot images for operating system deployment
|
The default boot images are automatically updated to Windows
ADK-based boot images, which use Windows PE 4, when the
top-level site is upgraded to Configuration Manager SP1. Use
these boot images only for deployments to clients at Configuration
Manager SP1 sites. For more information, see Planning for Operating
System Deployment Interoperability.
|
|
Client to down-level management point communications
|
A Configuration Manager client that communicates with a
management point from a site that runs a lower service pack version
than the client can only use functionality that the down-level
version of Configuration Manager supports. For example, if you
deploy content from a Configuration Manager SP1 site to a
Configuration Manager SP1 client that communicates with a
management point that is installed at a secondary site that has not
yet upgraded to SP1, that client cannot use new functionality from
SP1. This includes receiving new deployment types that are
available in SP1, or receiving a cloud-based distribution point as
a content location.
|
|
Client to up-level Application Catalog website point
|
Configuration Manager clients require Microsoft
Silverlight 5 to use an Application Catalog website point from
a Configuration Manager SP1 site. When a computer that runs
the Configuration Manager client with no service pack and that does
not have Silverlight 5 installed connects to an Application
Catalog website point from a Configuration Manager SP1 site,
the client is prompted to install Silverlight 5.
|
|
Client to down-level Application Catalog website point
|
When a computer that runs the Configuration Manager SP1
client connects to an Application Catalog website point from a
Configuration Manager site with no service pack, the end user can
view the application list, but cannot request or install
applications. Additionally, the end user cannot configure the
setting I regularly use this computer to do my work on the
My Devices tab.
|
Limitations when Upgrading to System
Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
| Object |
Details |
|
Network access account
|
When you use a Configuration Manager console connected to a
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager central administration
site to view the network access account details, the console does
not display details for accounts that are configured at primary
sites that run Configuration Manager SP1. After the site
upgrades to System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, the
account details will be visible in the console.
Beginning with System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager you
can create multiple network access accounts for use at each primary
site. To accommodate this change, Configuration Manager stores the
information about the accounts in a new location in the site
database than was used by previous versions of Configuration
Manager. Configuration Manager SP1 clients that talk to a
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager site only use the first
Network Access Account from the list of available accounts at that
site.
|
|
Boot images for operating system deployment
|
The default boot images are automatically updated to Windows ADK
8.1-based boot images, which use Windows PE 4, when the
top-level site is upgraded to System Center 2012 R2 Configuration
Manager. Use these boot images only for deployments to clients at
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager sites. For more
information, see Planning for Operating
System Deployment Interoperability.
|
|
Client to down-level management point communications
|
A Configuration Manager client that communicates with a
management point from a site that runs a lower service pack version
than the client can only use functionality that the down-level
version of Configuration Manager supports. For example, if you
deploy content from a System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
site to a System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager client that
communicates with a management point that is installed at a
secondary site that has not yet upgraded to System Center 2012 R2
Configuration Manager, that client cannot use new functionality
from System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager.
|
|
VPN, Wi-Fi and Certificate profiles do not replicate to primary
sites
|
After you update a central administration site from
Configuration Manager SP1 to System Center 2012 R2
Configuration Manager, VPN, Wi-Fi and Certificate Profiles might
not replicate to child primary sites that have not yet upgraded to
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager. After you upgrade the
child primary sites, normal replication resumes.
|
Interoperability for the
Configuration Manager Console
The following table contains information about the use
of the Configuration Manager console in an environment that has a
mix of Configuration Manager versions.
| Interoperability environment |
More information |
|
An environment with both Configuration Manager 2007 and
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
|
To manage a Configuration Manager site, both the console and the
site the console connects to must run the same version of
Configuration Manager. For example, you cannot use a
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager console to
manage a Configuration Manager 2007 site, or vice versa.
It is supported to install both the System Center 2012
Configuration Manager console and the Configuration Manager
2007 console on the same computer. You can use this configuration
to manage sites or hierarchies of each product from a single
computer.
|
|
An environment with multiple versions of System Center 2012
Configuration Manager
|
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager does not
support using a console from one version of
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager to connect
to a site that runs a different version of
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. For
example, you cannot use console from Configuration Manager with SP1
to directly connect to a site that runs System Center 2012 R2
Configuration Manager. To connect a console, both the site and the
console that connects to the site must be of the same version.
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager does not
support installing more than a single Configuration Manager console
on a computer. To use multiple consoles that are specific to
different versions of System Center 2012
Configuration Manager, you must install the different consoles
on separate computers.
During the process of upgrading sites in a hierarchy, you can
connect a console to a site and view information about other sites
in that hierarchy, even when those sites run a different version of
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager. However,
in this scenario some features that are available in the latest
product version are not available in the console until all sites in
the hierarchy upgrade to the latest product version.
|
See Also
