In System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, global conditions are rules that represent business or technical conditions that you can use to specify how an application is provided and deployed to client devices. You can create global conditions from the Global Conditions node of the Configuration Manager console or from within the Create Deployment Type Wizard. Global conditions are accessed from the Requirements page of the Create Deployment Type Wizard.
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| You can only edit global conditions from the site where they were created. |
Use the following procedures to create Configuration Manager global conditions.
Provide Basic Information about the
Global Condition
Several different types of global conditions are available. Different options are associated with the different global condition types. When you select a specific global condition type, Configuration Manager displays the options that apply to your selection.
To provide basic information about the
global condition
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In the Configuration Manager console, click Software Library.
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In the Software Library workspace, expand Application Management, and then click Global Conditions.
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On the Home tab, in the Create group, click Create Global Condition.
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In the Create Global Condition dialog box, provide a name and an optional description for the global condition.
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In the Device type drop-down list, choose whether the global condition is for a Windows computer, Windows Mobile device, or a Nokia device.
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In the Condition Type drop-down list, choose one of the following options:
- Setting – This option checks for the
existence of one or more items on client devices. For example, you
can check that a particular file, folder, or registry key value
exists on a client device.
- Expression – This option allows you to
configure more complex rules to determine if the condition is
satisfied on client devices. For example, you can determine if the
physical memory on a computer is between 2 GB and 4 GB or to
determine if a mobile device uses touch screen input.
- Setting – This option checks for the
existence of one or more items on client devices. For example, you
can check that a particular file, folder, or registry key value
exists on a client device.
Configure Rules for the Global
Condition
The procedure for defining the global condition rules is different depending on whether you are configuring a setting or an expression. Use the applicable procedure here to configure a setting or an expression for the global condition.
To configure a setting for the global
condition
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In the Condition Type drop-down list, choose Setting.
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In the Setting type drop-down list, choose the item to use as the condition for which requirements will be checked. The following setting types are available.
Setting type More information Active Directory query
Configure the following for this setting type:
- LDAP prefix - Specify a valid LDAP
prefix to the Active Directory Domain Services query to assess
compliance on client computers. You can use either LDAP://
or GC://.
- Distinguished Name (DN) - Specify the
distinguished name of the Active Directory Domain Services object
that will be assessed for compliance on client computers.
- Search filter - Specify an optional
LDAP filter to refine the results from the Active Directory Domain
Services query to assess compliance on client computers.
- Search scope - Specify the search
scope in Active Directory Domain Services:
- Base - Queries only the object
specified.
- One Level - This option is not used in
this version of Configuration Manager.
- Subtree - Queries the object specified
and its complete subtree in the directory.
- Base - Queries only the object
specified.
- Property - Specify the property of the
Active Directory Domain Services object that will be used to assess
compliance on client computers.
- Query - Displays the LDAP query that
is constructed from the entries in LDAP prefix,
Distinguished name (DN), Search Filter if specified
and Property. This query will be used to assess compliance
on client computers.
Assembly
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Assembly name: Specifies the name of
the assembly object to search for. The name cannot be the same as
any other assembly object of the same type and the name must be
registered in the Global Assembly Cache. The assembly name can be a
maximum of 256 characters long.
NoteAn assembly is a piece of code that can be shared between applications. Assemblies can have the file name extension .dll or .exe. The Global Assembly Cache is a folder named %systemroot%\assembly on client computers in which all shared assemblies are stored. File system
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Type – From the drop-down list, select
whether you want to search for a File or a
Folder.
- Path - Specify the path to the
specified file or folder on client computers. You can specify
system environment variables and the %USERPROFILE%
environment variable in the path.
NoteIf you use the %USERPROFILE% environment variable in the Path or File or folder name fields, all user profiles on the client computer will be searched. This could result in the discovery of multiple instances of the file or folder. - File or folder name - Specify the name
of the file or folder object that will be searched for. You can
specify system environment variables and the %USERPROFILE%
environment variable in the file or folder name. You can also use
the wildcards * and ? in the filename.
NoteIf you specify a file or folder name and use wildcards, this might produce a high numbers of results. This could result in high resource use on the client computer and also high network traffic when reporting results to Configuration Manager. - Include subfolders – Enable this
option if you also want to search any subfolders under the
specified path.
- This file or folder is associated with a
64-bit application - Choose whether the 64-bit system file
location (%windir%\system32) should be searched in addition
to the 32-bit system file location (%windir%\syswow64) on
Configuration Manager clients that run a 64-bit version of
Windows.
NoteIf the same file or folder exists in both the 64-bit and 32-bit system file locations on the same 64-bit computer, multiple files will be discovered by the global condition.
The File system setting type does not support specifying a UNC path to a network share in the Path field.
IIS metabase
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Metabase path - Specify a valid path
to the IIS Metabase.
- Property ID - Specify the numeric
property of the IIS Metabase setting.
Registry key
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Hive – From the drop-down list, select
the registry hive that you want to search in.
- Key - Specify the registry key name
that you want to search for. The format used should be
key\subkey.
- This registry key is associated with a
64-bit application - Specifies whether the 64-bit registry keys
should be searched in addition to the 32-bit registry keys on
clients that run a 64-bit version of Windows.
NoteIf the same registry key exists in both the 64-bit and 32-bit registry locations on the same 64-bit computer, both registry keys will be discovered by the global condition.
Registry value
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Hive - From the drop-down list, select
the registry hive that you want to search in.
- Key - Specify the registry key name
that you want to search for. The format used should be
key\subkey.
- Value – Specify the value that must be
contained within the specified registry key.
- This registry key is associated with a
64-bit application - Specifies whether the 64-bit registry keys
should be searched in addition to the 32-bit registry keys on
clients that run a 64-bit version of Windows.
NoteIf the same registry key exists in both the 64-bit and 32-bit registry locations on the same 64-bit computer, both registry keys will be discovered by the global condition.
Script
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Discovery script – Click Add to
enter, or browse to the script to use. You can use Windows
PowerShell, VBScript or JScript scripts.
- Run scripts by using the logged on user
credentials – If you enable this option, the script will run on
client computers by using the logged on users credentials.
NoteThe value returned by the script will be used to assess the compliance of the global condition. For example, when you use VBScript, you could use the command WScript.Echo Result to return the Result variable value to the global condition.
SQL query
Configure the following for this setting type:
- SQL Server instance – Choose whether
you want the SQL query to run on the default instance, all
instances, or a specified database instance name.
NoteThe instance name must refer to a local instance of SQL Server. To refer to a clustered SQL server instance, you should use a script setting. - Database - Specify the name of the
Microsoft SQL Server database for which the SQL query will be
run.
- Column - Specify the column name
returned by the Transact-SQL statement to use to assess the
compliance of the global condition.
- Transact-SQL statement – Specify the
full SQL query to use for the global condition. You can also click
Open to open an existing SQL query.
WQL query
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Namespace - Specify the WMI namespace
that will be used to build a WQL query that will be assessed for
compliance on client computers. The default value is
Root\cimv2.
- Class - Specifies the WMI class that
will be used to build a WQL query that will be assessed for
compliance on client computers.
- Property - Specifies the WMI property
that will be used to build a WQL query that will be assessed for
compliance on client computers.
- WQL query WHERE clause - You can use
the WQL query WHERE clause item to specify a WHERE clause to
be applied to the specified namespace, class, and property on
client computers.
XPath query
Configure the following for this setting type:
- Path - Specify the path to the XML
file on client computers that will be used to assess compliance.
Configuration Manager supports the use of all Windows system
environment variables and the %USERPROFILE% user variable in
the path name.
- XML file name - Specify the file name
containing the XML query to use to assess compliance on client
computers.
- Include subfolders - Enable this
option if you also want to search any subfolders under the
specified path.
- This file is associated with a 64-bit
application - Choose whether the 64-bit system file location
(%windir%\system32) should be searched in addition to the
32-bit system file location (%windir%\syswow64) on
Configuration Manager clients that run a 64-bit version of
Windows.
- XPath query - Specify a valid full XML
path language (XPath) query to use to assess compliance on client
computers.
- Namespaces - Opens the XML
Namespaces dialog box to identify namespaces and prefixes to
use during the XPath query.
- LDAP prefix - Specify a valid LDAP
prefix to the Active Directory Domain Services query to assess
compliance on client computers. You can use either LDAP://
or GC://.
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In the Data type drop-down list, choose the format in which data will be returned by the condition before it is used to check requirements.
NoteThe Data type drop-down list is not displayed for all setting types. -
Configure further details about this setting below the Setting type drop-down list. The items you can configure will vary depending on the setting type you have selected.
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Click OK to save the rule and to close the Create Global Condition dialog box.
To configure an expression for the
global condition
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In the Condition Type drop-down list, choose Expression.
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Click Add Clause to open the Add Clause dialog box.
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From the Select category drop-down list, select whether this expression is for a device or a user. Alternatively, select Custom to use a previously configured global condition.
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From the Select a condition drop-down list, select the condition to use to assess whether the user or device meets the rule requirements. The contents of this list will vary depending on the selected category.
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From the Choose operator drop-down list, choose the operator that will be used to compare the selected condition to the specified value to assess whether the user or device meets the rule requirements. The available operators will vary depending on the selected condition.
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In the Value field, specify the values that will be used with the selected condition and operator to assess whether the user or device meets the rule requirements. The available values will vary depending on the selected condition and the selected operator.
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Click OK to save the expression and to close the Add Clause dialog box.
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When you have finished adding clauses to the global condition, click OK to close the Create Global Condition dialog box and to save the global condition.
See Also
For additional information, see Information and Support for Configuration Manager.
To contact the documentation team, email SMSdocs@microsoft.com.