Reading through the wealth of information in SCCM logs can be a challenge, especially if you are provisioning a lot of systems at one time.  I've put together a VBScript example to help make the job of debugging provisioning problems easier.  This script will parse through the log file you specify and create a new log file containing entries relevant to the string you are searching for.  The most common usage for this would be to look through the amtopmgr.log for all entries related to a specific computer name.  This script will first go through the log and find all the thread values associated with the computer name, then, it will take any log entry with any of those thread values and place it in a new file and launch it in the SMS Trace (Trace32) application.  The idea is that having all these entries, not just the lines with the computer name, will paint a more complete picture of what has gone on during the provisioning process and cut back on the time spent looking for relevant log entries by hand.  Here's some information on how to run the script.

Required parameters:

/l: - The SCCM log file you want to parse, typically amtopmgr.log

/s: - The search string, often a computer name, you want to parse the logs for

Optional parameters:

/o: - The name of the parsed log file this script will produce.

      If no name is specified, the file will be named:

      <specified computer name>.log

Example: cscript sccmlogparse.vbs /l:amtopmgr.log /s:vProPC /o:parsedlog.log

You can download the script here:

http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-3400

The SCCM Out-of-Band (OOB) Management Console is a stand-alone executable that is typically launched from within the SCCM console application itself. There may be cases where different groups in an IT department will want to make use of the OOB access to clients, but should not have access to the other features of SCCM in order to maintain proper separation of duties and best known security practices. It is possible to use existing technologies to launch the OOB Management Console outside of the SCCM console application itself. This package contains documentation that explains the required SCCM security configuration and includes and example VBScript.  You can download the package here:

http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-3398

This information is based on Microsoft’s beta release of System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 and is subject to change.

Within the SCCM SP2 beta, Microsoft has included support for AMT Audit Log.  Audit Log was introduced in AMT version 4 and provides a mechanism to captures the occurrence of significant AMT events and who performed those actions.

Before you begin, you must configure SCCM SP2 on which AMT Audit Log events it turns on.  This can be done by selecting Out of Band Management properties under "Site Database" -> "Site Management" -> <Site Code> -> "Site Settings" -> "Component Configuration" -> “Audit Setting” Tab.

Unlike other AMT feature enablement with SCCM, Audit log is not enabled during Provisioning or through the Update Management Controller process; it must be performed as a post provisioning step.  To enable the AMT Audit log, you must right click on the AMT client and select “Out of Band Management” -> “Enable Auditing and Apply Audit Log Settings”.  You can also disable and clear the audit log from this menu as well.

Once enabled on the AMT Client, you can access the AMT Audit Log through the Out of Band Management Console available through right clicking on the AMT client and select “Out of Band Management” -> “Out of Band Management Console”.

--Matt Royer

Note: This information is based on Microsoft’s beta release of System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 and is subject to change.

Besides extending ConfigMgr support for new Operating Systems (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Vista Sp2) and Branch Cache (peer to peer content distribution), ConfigMgr SP2 significantly evolves their native support for AMT / vPro use cases and features.  As noted in the SCCM SP2 release notes, extension of the Intel vPro Technology support expands into:

OOB Wireless Management / Wireless Profile Management

·         Provide configuration of up to eight (8) wireless profiles per site that are available to AMT clients assigned to that site

·         Set the wireless information during AMT provisioning and configure all required profile settings (SSID, key management, encryption, etc.)

·         Send wireless profile operations to the Intel translator on AMT systems with revisions earlier than 3.2.1

End Point Access Control / 802.1x support

·         Provision 802.1x settings on AMT wireless clients during AMT provisioning

·         Send 802.1x settings operations to the Intel translator on AMT systems with revisions earlier than 3.2.1

Persistent Data Storage

·         Non Volatile Memory or Third Party Data Store (3PDS)

·         Write string data into 3PDS on AMT through OOB management console

Access Monitor: Audit Log

·         Enable or Disable Audit Log (no critical event settings)

·         View Audit Log through OOB Console

Remote Power Management: Power State Configuration

·         Enable configuration of the power policy settings and include in provisioning settings when provisioning an AMT system

If you are interested in taking a closer look at the SCCM SP2 beta build, you can get access to the download by going to https://connect.microsoft.com and signing up for access.

--Matt Royer