Macintosh Client Add In 1

[mnt25]

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if there were any add in tools for Macintosh computers for SMS 2003. We have about 150 that we would like SMS to manage but I found that in the deployment,planning and concepts guide the Macintosh is not supported out of the box. Does anyone know any work arounds to this or an add on tool.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Mieszko]

From the webcasts and microsoft presentations I have seen, Mac is not going to be supported natively. Another vendor is working on an add-in, but MS wouldn't tell me who.

m

 

[PAP]

I included some Mac into my SMS site. I wrote a vbs script in order to generate the DDR files and I created inventory mif file manually. I know, it's boring but you can increase the process with some supplementary scripting.
The object for the DDR scripting can be found into the ADSync package and here a good documentation:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sms/hh/sms/usingsms_3qih.asp

Contact me if you want more informations,
PAP

 

[mnt25]

Hey Pap,

How many MACS are managing in SMS 2003? Are you pushing out software to these machines (we need to get inventoru and distribute software).

It appears that the ADSync package only creates a DDR and will not collect detailed hardware/software inventory information or support distribution. Does this mean that the client agent will not be installed on the MACS?

I appreciate your reply and any further feedback you could provide!

Thanks so much,
Matt

 

[PAP]

Matt,
I'm managing only about 10 Macs. The solution is very basic: all the datas are collected manually and then I create DDRs and inventory MIFs.
There is no client agent on the Macs. It's not supported. So, software distribution and remote controle are not available.
The goal is only to have the Macs included into the SMS database for the calculation of the costs in my company.
I've made many researches, but I didn't find any 3rd party MAC client for SMS.

 

[RodTrent]

Altiris (

http://www.altiris.com)

will have a MAC client for SMS 2003. And, there are others that will be releasing similar products.

Rod Trent
Microsoft.MVP.SMS
=======================================
Main site:

http://www.myITforum.com

=======================================

 

[mnt25]

Hey Rod,

Thanks for your reply! I recently evaluated Altiris' Inventory Solution for the Macintosh platform. I've configured it to forward inventory to the SMS site server. Its a simple configuration but I've noticed that all inventory is placed in the BADMIF folder on the SMS site server. I've read a few posts on Altiris regarding this issue. I will be contacting them shortly to determine a workaround.

While Atiris does offer an inventory solution for my Macintosh machines (if I get it working correctly), it does not support Software Distribution.

I am not sure what to do regrading software deployment as I cannot locate a single solution that fits all the requirements. The only one I've located is LANDesk but we are moving away from this.

Would you be able to tell me the "other" vendors currently working on this?

Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[mnt25]

Hello Again,

I wanted to know if anyone has used the proudct suite Netopia and what their experience has been with it. I am looking to integrate this with SMS 2003 for my Macintosh platform. Any feedback would be excellent!
Thanks,
Matt