Installing a required Configuration Manager site and database

Installing Configuration Manager requires careful planning.

About this task
The sequence of tasks involved in installing Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager follows this outline.
  1. Obtain the installation media, but do not use it to install Configuration Manager yet.
    1. Download a trial from the Microsoft Trial Software page, or learn how to buy Configuration Manager at the Microsoft How to Buy page.
    2. Download the SP1 update from the Microsoft download page.
  2. If the Configuration Manager server does not have access to the Internet, download the installation code from another server and make the code accessible during the installation.
    1. Go to any machine with Internet access.
    2. Run the setup /download path command from the Configuration Manager installation media.

      Setup downloads the necessary files to the chosen path.

    3. Copy the downloaded files to a location that is accessible to the server where you intend to install Configuration Manager.
  3. Required: Plan to deploy the software.

    A System Center Configuration Manager 2007 site has the primary site server, the SQL Database server, clients, resources, and site system roles that can reside on various clients or other machines.

    Examine the many scenarios for installing the site infrastructure. For example, you might install a single site or multiple sites, or install sites in more than one national language locale. Such considerations are the responsibility of infrastructure planning and deployment, which is beyond the scope of this information about the IBM Deployment Pack.

    In addition, you must consider how to enhance site performance, such as co-locating the site server and the database server on the same machine.

    See Technet: Planning and Deploying the Server Infrastructure for Configuration Manager 2007 for more information.

  4. Determine the prerequisite software that you need.

    You must install prerequisite software for the components that you intend to install. Such prerequisites might include Active Directory, Internet Information Services (IIS), Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) server extensions, and Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) extensions, just to name a few.

    Each site role and each feature has specific software requirements, as described in the planning information on TechNet.

    For example, the Operating System Deployment feature requires you to install the Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT), if you plan to capture and restore the user state as part of the operating system deployment. You can download the USMT from the Microsoft Download Center.

    The Operating System Deployment feature for Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 requires (and installs) Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) for Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008.

    There are no other specific prerequisites for installing the IBM Deployment Pack other than having Configuration Manager installed. If the computer is not a primary site server or a secondary console, the IBM Deployment Pack cannot install.

  5. Determine the method that you intend to use for deploying operating system software and install any prerequisites. If you think that you might use all of the methods, install all of the prerequisite software and perform the necessary setup tasks.
    • PXE-initiated deployments require a Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) service point role (and some NTFS-formatted disk space), a DHCP server, Windows Deployment Services (WDS), and a firewall port configuration. Using DHCP and WDS on the same machine requires you to configure WDS to listen on a port other than port 67.

      See Technet: Planning for PXE Initiated Operating System Deployments for more information.

    • Bootable media deployments require a media set of all installation files.
    • Side-by-side deployments require the state migration point site role and the User State Migration Tool.
    • Configuration Manager 2007-initiated deployments require the target system to have a client role.
  6. Determine whether you will use native mode or mixed mode as the communication mode. To use the more secure native mode, you must plan for its prerequisites, which include a public key infrastructure (PKI) and possible access to Domain Name Server (DNS), as described in Technet: Prerequisites for Native Mode.
  7. Install all prerequisite software on the servers where you have decided to deploy Configuration Manager 2007 site roles, except for prerequisites that you plan to install on a target system as you deploy its operating system. For example, you would not install the User State Migration Tool on a client machine until you are ready to deploy a new operating system to that machine.
  8. Deploy Configuration Manager from the installation media according to your planning.
Parent topic: Installing the necessary components