When SMS uses the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates to distribute software updates, the following basic elements of the process are important:
- The Inventory Tool for Custom Updates must be installed on SMS
Advanced Clients. The SMS 2003 R2 Inventory Tool for
Custom Updates installation creates packages, programs, and
advertisements that install the inventory scan tool automatically
to all SMS 2003 Advanced Clients in the specified
collection.
- The Advanced Client runs the inventory scan tool and sends the
results to the site server as part of hardware inventory during the
client's next hardware inventory cycle.
- The site server processes the inventory and places it in the
SMS site database. The information is now available in SMS reports
and for the Distribute Software Updates Wizard to create the SMS
objects (packages, programs, and advertisements) necessary to
deploy applicable software updates to clients.
Folder Used in the Software Update Process
During Setup, the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates wizard creates a directory named PkgSource under the destination folder specified in the wizard. Setup shares this folder as \\siteserver\CSTPackageSrc and grants the local Windows Administrators group and SMS Administrators full control.
 Note |
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| If there is already a shared folder with the name CSTPackageSrc, Setup shares the folder as CSTPackageSrc_x instead, where x is the next available number that will create a unique share name. |
When you create packages to distribute software updates by using the Distribute Software Updates wizard, you must have an additional source directory to store the software updates downloaded from various vendors. This directory can be manually created or the Distribute Software Updates wizard can create this for you. For more information, see Scenarios and Procedures for Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003: Software Distribution and Patch Management available from the Systems Management Server 2003 Product Documentation Web page (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=9502).
Internet Connectivity on the SMS 2003 Site Server
The SMS 2003 site server does not require Internet connectivity. Allowing the site server to connect to the Internet increases the security risk to the site server. The account used to run the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates Setup must be a local administrator, which increases the risk to the computer if malicious software is downloaded. Reduce the risk by limiting the Internet connections initiated from the site server by visiting only trusted Web sites. For more information about improving security for your site server, see Scenarios and Procedures for Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003: Security available from the Systems Management Server 2003 Product Documentation Web page (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=9502).