Topic last updated—March 2008

This topic describes how the Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Library is structured and provides examples for successfully navigating and searching this library.

Tips on Searching for Content

Your search strategies differ depending on whether you are searching for terms in the TechCenter library or in the local .chm file.

Searching the .chm

If you are in the .chm version of the help file, you can use the search tab to find the topics you need. If you type a series of words, the search default is AND. For example, searching for reporting service looks for reporting AND service. You can type in OR and NOT operators, such as reporting NOT service. You can also use the NEAR operator to find instances of reporting only when it is in proximity to service.

You have three options at the bottom of the search screen. By default, Match similar words is enabled, so reporting service looks for report and services. If you get a large number of hits, you might want to Search previous results using an additional search term. Search titles only is self-explanatory; however, if you leave that option selected, you might forget and find that you do not see the search results you expect in subsequent searches.

If you delimit the search string with quotation marks, only exact matches for the phrase are returned. For example, "About the Trusted Root Key" finds that exact string, regardless of casing.

To find the topics updated most recently, you can search for "Topic last updated" and then enter a month or year. To see the list of updates to the Configuration Manager Documentation Library (the Library), see What's New in the Configuration Manager Documentation Library for March 2008 and other related topics.

Searching on the Web

If you use the search bar on the actual TechNet page, your search results will contain many links to information not contained in the Configuration Manager Documentation Library. If you're looking to search only within the Configuration Manager Documentation Library itself, you can narrow the scope of the search by defining the site information to search by using the following syntax:

site:technet.microsoft.com "configuration manager"

Follow that up with the actual search terms you're looking for within the Configuration Manager Documentation Library to initiate the search. For example, if you're looking for service principal name requirements and you want to see only information returned that has to do with service principal name requirements for Configuration Manager, your complete search string would look something like the following:

site:technet.microsoft.com "configuration manager" SPN

or

site:technet.microsoft.com "configuration manager" service principal name

If you have Internet Explorer 7.0, you can create a custom search provider to focus only on the Configuration Manager Documentation Library.

To create a custom search provider in Internet Explorer 7.0

  1. Open the search engine of your choice, and search for site:technet.microsoft.com "configuration manager" TEST.

  2. Copy the resulting URL from the address bar.

  3. Go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=110098.

  4. In the Create Your Own section, in step 3 of that Web page, paste the results that you copied in step 2 of this procedure.

  5. In step 4 of the Web page, type a name for your search provider. For example, you could call it ConfigMgr Library.

  6. Click Install.

  7. Open Internet Explorer 7.0.

  8. In the top right corner of the screen, type your search term and then click the arrow next to the magnifying glass button.

  9. From the drop-down list, select the name you entered for your search provider.

Organization of Topics

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 has many features. Some implementations will use every feature while others might use only software updates or operating system deployment. Some administrators will inherit a fully functioning site while others must start from the beginning. The Library has been structured to try to eliminate redundancy and help you find just the information you need for the features you plan to use.

Planning and Deployment Information

If you need to plan and deploy Configuration Manager 2007, start with Configuration Manager Planning and Deployment Overview. Information for planning and deploying servers and clients is in two different sections. Start under Planning and Deploying the Server Infrastructure for Configuration Manager 2007, and then select the relevant sections for your environment.

Note
The server planning section is designed to give you a basic, functioning site, but it does not contain specific information about features because not all features are required or have the same prerequisites and planning considerations. For information about planning and deploying the features provided by Configuration Manager 2007, see the feature information under Configuration Manager 2007 Features.

Everyone planning a deployment should start with Configuration Manager Single Site Planning and Deployment, because even sites with multiple hierarchies must start with a single site. In the subtopics Configuration Manager Tasks for Planning a Single Site and Configuration Manager Tasks for Deploying a Single Site, you find task-based content for how to make crucial planning decisions and then deploy your site. Site deployment tasks are tasks you perform up to and including running Setup. Any tasks you perform in the Configuration Manager 2007 console after Setup is complete are documented in the section How to Configure Configuration Manager 2007.

If you will have more than one site joined in a hierarchy, read Configuration Manager Multiple Site Planning and Deployment. As with the single site section, this section contains planning tasks and deployment tasks for multiple sites. Tasks for configuring multiple sites, such as configuring the parent site, can be found in Configuration Manager Tasks for Configuring Multiple Sites.

If you are upgrading, read Configuration Manager Upgrade and Interoperability Planning and Deployment. This section assumes that you are familiar with Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003.

You should read the sections Deploying Configuration Manager Sites to Support Internet-Based Clients and Deploying Configuration Manager Sites in International and Multi-Language Environments only if they apply to your environments.

Important
If you must support Internet-based clients, you must plan carefully for native mode and your public key infrastructure (PKI) integration with Configuration Manager 2007. Do not skip the important planning and configuration information.

Configuring Your Site

Configuration tasks are things you can do in the Configuration Manager 2007 console after you run Setup and are typically tasks that you perform only a few times before you actually use the feature. The section How to Configure Configuration Manager 2007 contains configuration tasks that apply to a basic Configuration Manager 2007 installation. Feature-specific configuration information is in the corresponding feature section.

Features in Configuration Manager

In general, the main table of contents, as well as each new Configuration Manager feature listed under Configuration Manager 2007 Features, has been arranged to include the following topic areas:

  • Overview of <feature name>   Contains a summary of the feature, including a description of what it is and why you might want to use it. Under this node, you'll find all the supporting conceptual topics related to that feature.

  • Prerequisites for <feature name>   Discusses feature-specific prerequisites.

  • Planning for <feature name>   Describes the choices you need to make before implementing or configuring the feature.

  • Configuring <feature name>   Lists and describes tasks that must be performed to implement the feature.

  • Tasks for <feature name>   Lists and describes the everyday tasks related to using the feature.

  • Troubleshooting <feature name>   Includes information about the feature, such as the various log files that are created and how to use them.

  • Security and Privacy Best Practices for <feature name>   Lists and describes any issues related to security and privacy so that you can quickly find them when you are configuring the feature.

  • Technical Reference for <feature name>   Includes topics that are related to the feature or help to support it but are not essential to configuring or using it.

    Note
    You will not find the F1 help topics here that are related to the feature. Instead, all the F1 topics appear in the top-level topic Technical Reference for Configuration Manager 2007. Here they are grouped according to type: Property Pages, Wizard Pages, Dialog Pages, and Home Pages. Rather than navigating the table of contents to find these topics, it is easier to press F1 when you are using the Administrator console and need help on a displayed page or dialog box. Alternatively, you can also search for these topics by entering the exact name of the page as it appears in the Configuration Manager console—for example, “Site Properties: Site Mode Tab”.

See Also