Configuration baselines and configuration items in the Configuration Manager 2007 console have properties that are used for administrator control and information in Configuration Manager 2007, and do not form part of the evaluation on the client.

For configuration baselines, these properties are found on the General, Relationships, Assignment, and Security tabs of the configuration baseline properties, and include the following:

• Display name and description
  
  
• Configuration categories
  
  
• Which configuration baselines reference it as a dependent configuration baseline
  
  
• To which collections the configuration baseline is assigned, and their schedules
  
  
• Auditing information, such as the site in which the configuration baseline was created or imported, and who last updated it and when
  
  
• The security rights that define who can read, edit, and delete the configuration baselines
  
  

For configuration items, these properties are found on the General tab, the Relationships tab, and the Security tab of the configuration item properties. They include the following:

• Display name and description
  
  
• Configuration categories
  
  
• Auditing information, such as the site in which the configuration item was created or imported, and who last updated it and when
  
  
• The security rights that define who can read, edit, and delete the configuration item
  
  

The version count of the configuration data always increases by one whenever an administrator modifies these properties of a configuration baseline or configuration item. As an example, if the description of a configuration baseline is edited, the configuration baseline version increments by one.

Configuration baselines and configuration items in the Configuration Manager 2007 console also have content, the part of the configuration data that is downloaded to clients with assigned configuration baselines and used for compliance evaluation.

If you import configuration data into desired configuration management, you are importing the configuration data content. The other properties that you see in the Configuration Manager console, such as its display name and description, is defined or automatically created by the Configuration Manager administrator.

For configuration baselines, the content consists of the configuration rules and the configuration items they reference.

For configuration items, the content is defined with the properties found on the following tabs of the configuration item properties: Windows Version, Objects, Settings, Detection Method, and Applicability. They can include the following:

• The objects and settings to be assessed by clients
  
  
• The validation and validation criteria that will be used during compliance evaluation
  
  
• The detection method used for application configuration items
  
  
• The applicability for application and general configuration items
  
  

Whenever you modify these properties in a configuration baseline or a configuration item, the version count of the content increases by one. As an example, if you add a new setting to a configuration item, the configuration item content increments by one.

The configuration data version and the content version do not always stay in step, because it is possible to modify configuration data without modifying the content.

For example, if you modify a configuration item without modifying the content (for example, add a new configuration category to a configuration item), the configuration item version will increase but the configuration item content will remain the same. However, if you modify the content, both the configuration item version and the content version will increment by one.

It is therefore important to display both versions so that you can track both of them in the Configuration Manager console and in reports.

You will also see a reference to both versions on the client, because although it is mainly the content that is downloaded to the client, an exception is the configuration baseline name and description. Although these properties are not used during the evaluation process, they are displayed on the client to help identify which configuration baselines are downloaded and their compliance state.

When you create and update configuration data in Configuration Manager 2007, previous versions are overwritten so that clients will always evaluate using the latest version. However, multiple versions can be stored and used by clients when the configuration data is imported into Configuration Manager 2007.

The compliance information for a configuration baseline or configuration item indicates which version was used for the evaluation. If a client evaluates different versions of the same configuration data or content, the reports show only one entry for the compliance information, not all values for each version evaluated. When the client evaluates compliance with multiple versions, it reports the results of the last version that was used during the compliance evaluation.

Concepts