SCCM 2012 Useful Resources

I often get question about where to start or where to find the best resources about Configuration Manager. I decided to build a list of the best tools to help you manage your SCCM environment. This list will evolve with time so bookmark this page and come back on a regular basis.

SCCM 2012 Books

To start learning or to deepen your knowledge, theses are my books recommendation. You can’t go wrong with these authors. They have been working, talking, blogging  about SMS/SCCM since forever.

The first 3 are about SCCM in general and the last 3 are more oriented toward system deployments.

Cover	Title
	System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager: Mastering the Fundamentals
	System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager Unleashed: Supplement to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager
	Mastering System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
	Stealing with Pride, Vol. 1: Advanced OSD Customizations for MDT 2013 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2
	Deployment Fundamentals, Vol. 4: Deploying Windows 8 and Office 2013 Using MDT 2012 Update 1 Paperback
	Deployment Fundamentals, Vol. 5: Building a Real-World Infrastructure with Windows Server 2012 R2, Mdt 2013, and Powershell Paperback

Education

Here’s some links to learn about SCCM.

Microsoft Virtual Lab | Installing a demo SCCM environment can be a pain if you don’t have experience. Virutal Labs is THE place to start with SCCM . It allows to run an SCCM virtual machine in your web browser for 2 hours

Channel 9 | You’ll find all session recording of major events like TechED and MMS. The place to watch and re-watch sessions from the best speakers

Infrastructure

Resources about the best practices and best tools to install SCCM in your organisation

Prerequisites Installation Tool | Check and Install all prerequisites before a Configuration Manager installation

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SQL recommendations | Recommendation for SQL before installing SCCM

Optimizing SCCM databases | Script and best practice to manage your SQL database

Index and Statistics Maintenance | Script and best practice to manage your SQL database

The Hydration Kit for System Center 2012 R2 | Builds a complete System Center 2012 R2 infrastructure, and a few supporting infrastructure servers, as either virtual machines or physical machines

SCCM 2012 Migration made easy | SCCM 2007 to 2012 Migration guide

Splitting existing SCCM database into multiple SQL files | Tutorial on how to split your database

WSUS Cleanup Process | Nice article on how to maintain the SUSDB database using a weekly maintenance task

Network Traffic Estimates | Evaluating SCCM client activity impact on your network

Configuration Manager 2012 Sizing considerations | Hardware considerations and System requirements to install Configuration Manager 2012

Managing and Troubleshooting

Scripts and tool to manage SCCM on a daily basis.

Microsoft SCCM Tool Kit | Contains mandatory troubleshooting tools for every Configuration Manager admins

WMI & Powershell browser | Must have tool when playing in WMI and PowerShell

Client Center | Designed for IT Professionals to troubleshoot SCCM Client related Issues. The Client Center for Configuration Manager provides a quick and easy overview of client settings, including running services and Agent settings in a good, easy to use user interface

Right Click Tools | A console Extension to initiate action on your clients and collection

CM12SDK | A nice PowerShell library

Client StartUp Script | Awesome script to install your clients

OSD

Front-ends and best practice on Operating System Deployment.

UEFI and Bitlocker FrontEnd HTA | A Frontend for your OSD deployment

UI++ | Another Frontend for your OSD deployment

How to Master Drivers in SCCM 2012 | Great guide on how to manage drivers in SCCM 2012 using apply Driver Packages

Windows Noob Guides | A great starting point for deploying your first devices

Backup and restore your Task Sequence using PowerShell | Great tool to restore corrupt Task Sequences

Create Task sequence Using PowerShell | In case you are lazy

Application deployment and Packaging

To master application and package deployment.

ITNinja | Community for silent package and applications installations

PowerShell Deployment Toolkit | Provides a set of functions to perform common application deployment tasks and to interact with the user during a deployment

Email Appoval Tool | This utility integrate a real approval flow with the standard SCCM 2012 application request feature

Reports

Exploit every bit of data from the SCCM database by creating simple and effective reports

Create Custom Reports | How to create a dashboard for System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager using SQL 2012 Reporting Services and Report Builder 3.0

SCD Reports | Our own set of custom reports

SCCM 2012 Books