After a Configuration Manager 2012 client is installed, it must join a Configuration Manager 2012 primary site before it can be managed. Clients cannot be assigned to a central administration site. The site that a client computer joins is referred to as its assigned site.
The assignment process occurs after the client is successfully installed, and determines which site manages the client computer. However, you can install a client and not immediately assign it to a site, but in this scenario the client will be unmanaged until site assignment is successful. For more information about how to install a client, see How to Install Clients in Configuration Manager 2012.
You can either directly assign a client to a site, or use automatic site assignment where the client automatically finds an appropriate site based on its current network location or it is assigned to a fallback site that has been configured for the hierarchy.
After the client is assigned to a site, it remains assigned to that site even if it changes its IP address and roams to another site. Only an administrator can later manually assign the client to another site or remove the client assignment.
If the client fails to assign to a site, the client software remains installed, but will be unmanaged.
.gif) Note |
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| A client is considered unmanaged when it is installed but not assigned to a site, or is assigned to a site but cannot communicate with a management point. |
How Manual Site Assignment Works
You can manually assign clients to a site by using the following two methods:
- Use a client installation property that
specifies the site code.
- Specify the site code in Configuration
Manager in the Control Panel.
| Note |
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| If you manually assign a client computer to a Configuration Manager 2012 site code that does not exist, site assignment fails. The client remains installed but unmanaged until it is assigned to a valid Configuration Manager 2012 site. |
How Automatic Site Assignment Works
Automatic site assignment can occur during client deployment or when you click Find Site in the Advanced tab of the Configuration Manager Properties in the Control Panel. The Configuration Manager client compares its own network location with the boundaries that are configured in the Configuration Manager 2012 hierarchy. When the network location of the client falls within a boundary group that is enabled for site assignment, the client is automatically assigned to that site.
You can configure boundaries by using one or more of the following:
- IP subnet
- Active Directory site
- IP v6 prefix
- IP address range
| Note |
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| If a Configuration Manager 2012 client has multiple network cards (possibly a LAN network card and a dial-up modem), and therefore has multiple IP addresses, the IP address used to an evaluate client site assignment is nondeterministic. |
Configuration Manager 2012 clients that use automatic site assignment attempt to find site boundary groups that are published to Active Directory Domain Services. If this method fails (for example, the Active Directory schema is not extended for Configuration Manager 2012, or clients are workgroup computers), clients can find boundary group information from a server locator point.
You can directly assigned the server locator point to clients when they are installed, or clients can attempt to locate it by using WINS.
If the client cannot find a site that is associated with a boundary group that contains its network location and the hierarchy does not have a fallback site, the client retries every 10 minutes until it is able to assign to a site.
Configuration Manager 2012 clients cannot be automatically assigned to a site if any of the following scenarios apply, and instead they must be manually assigned:
- They are currently assigned to a site.
- You want to manage them as Internet-based
clients.
- They will locate management points by using
DNS publishing.
- Their network location does not fall within
one of the configured boundary groups in the Configuration Manager
hierarchy and there is no fallback site for the hierarchy.
Completing Site Assignment by Checking Site Compatibility
After a client has found its assigned site, the client's version and operating system is checked to ensure that it can be managed by a Configuration Manager 2012 site. Configuration Manager 2012 cannot manage Configuration Manager 2007 clients or clients that are running Windows 2000. Both of these configurations would result in an unmanaged client, so site assignment checks identify this misconfiguration.
The site compatibility check requires one of the following conditions:
- The client can access site information
published in Active Directory Domain Services.
- The client can access a server locator
point.
If the site compatibility check fails to complete successfully, site assignment will fail and the client will remain unmanaged until the site compatibility check is successful.
The exception to performing the site compatibility check is when a client is configured for an Internet-based management point. In this scenario, no site compatibility check is made. If you are assigning clients to a site that contains Internet-based site systems and you specify an Internet-based management point, make sure that you are assigning the client to the correct site. If you mistakenly assign the client to a Configuration Manager 2007 site or to a Configuration Manager 2012 site that does not have Internet-based site system roles, the client will be unmanaged.
Locating Management Points
After a client is successfully assigned to a site, it must then locate a management point in the site so that it can download the client policy. Or, if the client is assigned when it is on the Internet, the client connects to the specified Internet-based management point. When the client has downloaded client policy from a management point in the site, the client is then a managed client.
Locating Site Settings
After site assignment succeeds and the client has found a management point, a client that uses Active Directory Domain Services for its site compatibility check will locate some site settings for its assigned site. This includes the client certificate selection criteria for when clients connect over HTTPS, whether to use a certificate revocation list, and the client request port numbers. The client continues to check these settings on a periodic basis.
However, a client that uses a server locator point for its site compatibility check cannot be automatically reconfigured for these settings and instead, you must specify them during client installation. You can do this by using client push installation or by using CCMSetup.exe and client installation properties. For more information about the client installation properties, see About Configuration Manager Client Installation Properties.
What’s New in Configuration Manager 2012
The following have changed for site assignment since Configuration Manager 2007:
- For automatic site assignment to succeed with
boundary information, the boundary must be configured in a boundary
group that is configured for site assignment.
- In Configuration Manager 2007, automatic site
assignment would fail if the client was not in a specified
boundary. New in Configuration Manager 2012, if you
specify a fallback site (an optional setting for the hierarchy) and
the client’s network location is not in a boundary group, automatic
site assignment succeeds and the client is assigned to the
specified fallback site.