Using Collections to Manage Resources Overview

Systems Management Server (SMS) helps you create and maintain collections. Collections gather resources into logical, manageable groups in ways that best enable you to manage your SMS site. Collections can reflect the structure and organization of your organization by putting resources in groups such as user groups, clients, and routers. SMS uses collections as targets during software distribution to clients.

You can define and maintain resource collections by using Collections in the SMS Administrator console. When you select a collection that is defined for the site, the resources in that collection appear in the details pane:

Name: The name of the resource, such as the computer name or user account name.
Resource class: The class of the resource, such as System.
Domain: The domain in which the resource exists.
Site Code: The three-letter site code that "discovered" the resource.
Client: Whether or not the resource has SMS client software installed.
Assigned: Whether or not the resource has been assigned to the current site or a site below it in the hierarchy.