One of the advantages that is brought with SCCM SP1 having integrated support with vPro is the ability to leverage vPro Power On command with Advertisements. What this allows you to do is power up a vPro client that is currently turned off and executive a desired task sequence or software distribution package. So in a scenario where you want to patch your clients at 2:00 am in the morning, you can leveraging vPro and SCCM SP1 to wake your clients up, patch them, and shutdown them back down. This gives you the option of shutting down your vPro clients (to save power) without sacrificing ideal patching / software upgrade times at night (which may be less impactful to your end users) and then gracefully shut them back down again when the patching is complete.
In a limited fashion, Wake On LAN (WOL) has given us this option in the past. However unlike WOL, Intel vPro Technology allows you to securely and reliability power up a client without the challenges and potential security issues that comes with the transitional WOL Magic Packet. The following abstract has a pretty good explanation of the differences between WOL and vPro Power On.
To configure SCCM SP1 to use the vPro Power Up commands, you will need to drill down to "Site Database" -> "Site Management" and select properties from the right click menu on your site server. Once the "Site Properties" window appears, click on the Wake On LAN Tab. After ensuring that the "Enable Wake On LAN for this site" is Checked, you will notice three additional configurable options:
Use power on commands if the computer supports this technology; otherwise, use wake-up packets
Use power on commands only
Use wake-up packets only
The reference to "use power on commands" is Microsoft's definition of leveraging vPro Power Management. So to use vPro Power Management for client power on during an advertisements, you will need to ensure that either "Use power on commands if the computer supports this technology; otherwise, use wake-up packets" or "Use power on commands only" is selected. Since you are likely to have a mix of vPro and non-vPro clients in your environment, it is recommended that you use the "Use power on commands if the computer supports this technology; otherwise, use wake-up packets" option.
To allow for easy use of both vPro Power Control and WOL within SCCM SP1, Microsoft decided to bundle both options under "Wake on LAN". So when you are leverage vPro Power Up control on Advertisement, you just need to specify use to Wake on LAN (WOL) and depending on the configuration in the "Site Properties: Wake On LAN Tab" it will use vPro Power or the traditional Legacy WOL packet.
To create an advisement that leverages vPro Power up command...
Right Click on the Collection you want the advertisement for and select "Advertise Task Sequence".
When the "New Advertisement Wizard" window appears, enter in the Name of the Advertisement and a comment.
Select the desired "Task Sequence" you have created (To create a Task Sequence, please reference the following article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693631.aspx). Click "Next" to Proceed.
On the Schedule Screen, specify your Advertisement Start & Expires (if required) dates.
To allow the "Enable Wake on LAN" option to be selected, you must first specify a "Mandatory Assignments". Click the new icon and define a schedule or immediate action and click "OK".
Once the "Mandatory Assignments" has been defined, check the "Enable Wake on LAN". Select other option and priority as necessary and click "Next".
Select the desired "Distribution Points" options and click "Next".
Select the desired "Interaction" options and click "Next".
Select the desired "Security" options and click "Next".
When the "Summary" Appears, confirm and click "Next".
The advertisement with vPro Power Up control has now been configured. Based on the Mandatory Assignments specified, you should see the vPro Client power on and execute the task sequence. For more details on how to create Advertisements within SCCM SP1, please visit Microsoft Web site.
--Matt Royer
