How to Assign Clients to a Site in Configuration Manager

You can manually assign client computers to a site by using the following two methods:

• Use a client installation property that specifies the site code.

• In Control Panel, in Configuration Manager, specify the site code.

Automatic site assignment can occur during client deployment, or when you click Find Site in the Advanced tab of the Configuration Manager Properties in the Control Panel. The Configuration Manager client compares its own network location with the boundaries that are configured in the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager hierarchy. When the network location of the client falls within a boundary group that is enabled for site assignment, or the hierarchy is configured for a fallback site, the client is automatically assigned to that site without your having to specify a site code.

You can configure boundaries by using one or more of the following:

• IP subnet

• Active Directory site

• IP v6 prefix

• IP address range

For information about how to configure boundary groups for site assignment and how to configure a fallback site for automatic site assignment, see the Create and Configure Boundary Groups for Configuration Manager section in the Configuring Boundaries and Boundary Groups in Configuration Manager.

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager clients that use automatic site assignment attempt to find site boundary groups that are published to Active Directory Domain Services. If this method fails (for example, the Active Directory schema is not extended for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, or clients are workgroup computers), clients can find boundary group information from a management point.

You can specify a management point for client computers to use when they are installed, or clients can locate a management point by using DNS publishing or WINS.

If the client cannot find a site that is associated with a boundary group that contains its network location, and the hierarchy does not have a fallback site, the client retries every 10 minutes until it can be assigned to a site.

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager client computers cannot be automatically assigned to a site if any of the following scenarios apply, and instead, they must be manually assigned:

• They are currently assigned to a site.

• They are on the Internet or configured as Internet-only clients.

• Their network location does not fall within one of the configured boundary groups in the Configuration Manager hierarchy, and there is no fallback site for the hierarchy.

After a client has found its assigned site, the version and operating system of the client is checked to ensure that a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site can manage it. For example, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager cannot manage Configuration Manager 2007 clients or clients that are running Windows 2000.

Whereas site assignment fails if you assign a client that runs Windows 2000 to a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site, when you assign a Configuration Manager 2007 client to a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, site assignment succeeds to support automatic client upgrade. However, until the Configuration Manager 2007 client is upgraded to a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager client, Configuration Manager cannot manage this client by using client settings, applications, or software updates.

Configuration Manager also checks that you have assigned the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager client to a site that supports the Configuration Manager client version, as shown in the following table. These scenarios might occur during a migration period when you migrate from Configuration Manager 2007 to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.

The site compatibility check requires one of the following conditions:

• The client can access site information published to Active Directory Domain Services.

• The client can communicate with a management point in the site.

If the site compatibility check fails to finish successfully, the site assignment fails, and the client remains unmanaged until the site compatibility check finishes successfully when it is run again.

The exception to performing the site compatibility check occurs when a client is configured for an Internet-based management point. In this scenario, no site compatibility check is made. If you are assigning clients to a site that contains Internet-based site systems, and you specify an Internet-based management point, ensure that you are assigning the client to the correct site. If you mistakenly assign the client to a Configuration Manager 2007 site or to a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site that does not have Internet-based site system roles, the client will be unmanaged.

After a client is successfully assigned to a site, it locates a management point in the site.

Client computers download a list of management points in the site that they can connect to. This process happens whenever the client restarts, every 25 hours, and if the client detects a network change, such as the computer disconnects and reconnects on the network or it receives a new IP address. The list includes management points on the intranet and whether they accept client connections over HTTP or HTTPS. When the client computer is on the Internet and the client doesn’t yet have a list of management points, it connects to the specified Internet-based management point to obtain a list of management points. When the client has a list of management points for its assigned site, it then selects one to connect to:

• When the client is on the intranet and it has a valid PKI certificate that it can use, the client chooses HTTPS management points before HTTP management points. It then locates the closest management point, based on its forest membership.

• When the client is on the Internet, it non-deterministically chooses one of the Internet-based management points.

Mobile device clients that are enrolled by Configuration Manager only connect to one management point in their assigned site and never connect to management points in secondary sites. These clients always connect over HTTPS and the management point must be configured to accept client connections over the Internet. When there is more than one management point for mobile device clients in the primary site, Configuration Manager non-deterministically chooses one of these management points during assignment and the mobile device client continues to use the same management point.

When the client has downloaded client policy from a management point in the site, the client is then a managed client.

After site assignment succeeds, and the client has found a management point, a client computer that uses Active Directory Domain Services for its site compatibility check downloads client-related site settings for its assigned site. These settings include the client certificate selection criteria, whether to use a certificate revocation list, and the client request port numbers. The client continues to check these settings on a periodic basis.

When client computers cannot obtain site settings from Active Directory Domain Services, they download them from their management point. Client computers can also obtain the site settings when they are installed by using client push, or you specify them manually by using CCMSetup.exe and client installation properties. For more information about the client installation properties, see About Client Installation Properties in Configuration Manager.

All clients download the default client settings policy and any applicable custom client settings policy. Software Center relies on these client configuration policies for Windows computers and will notify users that Software Center cannot run successfully until this configuration information is downloaded. Depending on the client settings that are configured, the initial download of client settings might take a while, and some client management tasks might not run until this process is complete.

You can verify that site assignment is successful by using any of the following methods:

• For clients on Windows computers, use Configuration Manager in the Control Panel and verify that the site code is correctly displayed on the Site tab.

• For client computers, in the Assets and Compliance workspace, use the Devices node to verify that the computer displays Yes for the Client column and the correct primary site code for the Site Code column.

• For mobile device clients, in the Assets and Compliance workspace, use the All Mobile Devices collection to verify that the mobile device displays Yes for the Client column and the correct primary site code for the Site Code column.

• Use the reports for client assignment and mobile device enrollment.

• For client computers, use the LocationServices.log file on the client.

When client computers on the intranet are assigned to a primary site but change their network location so that it falls within a boundary group that is configured for another site, they have roamed to another site. When this site is a secondary site for their assigned site, clients can use a management point in the secondary to download client policy and upload client data, which avoids sending this data over a potentially slow network. However, if these clients roam into the boundaries for another primary site or a secondary that is not a child site of their assigned site, these clients always use a management point in their assigned site to download client policy and to upload data to their site.

These client computers that roam to other sites (all primary sites and all secondary sites) can always use management points in other sites for content location requests. Management points in the current site can give clients a list of distribution points that have the content that clients request.

For client computers that are configured for Internet-only client management, and for Mac computers and mobile devices that are enrolled by Configuration Manager, these clients only communicate with management points in their assigned site. These clients never communicate with management points in secondary sites or with management points in other primary sites.

The following have changed for site assignment since Configuration Manager 2007:

• For automatic site assignment to succeed with boundary information, the boundary must be configured in a boundary group that is configured for site assignment.

• In Configuration Manager 2007, automatic site assignment would fail if the client was not in a specified boundary. New in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, if you specify a fallback site (an optional setting for the hierarchy) and the client’s network location is not in a boundary group, automatic site assignment succeeds, and the client is assigned to the specified fallback site.

• Clients can now download site settings from the management point after they have assigned to the site if they cannot locate these settings from Active Directory Domain Services.

• Although clients continue to download policy and upload client data to management points in their assigned site or in a secondary site that is a child site of their assigned site, all clients that are configured for intranet client management can now use any management point in the hierarchy for content location requests. There is no longer a requirement to extend the Active Directory schema to support this capability, and there is no longer a concept of regional and global roaming.

• DNS publishing no longer requires you to configure a DNS suffix on the client if there is a management point published to DNS in the same domain as the client. In this scenario, automatic site assignment works by default when you publish to DNS at least one management point, even if this management point is in a different Configuration Manager site to the client’s final assigned site.

You can now reassign Configuration Manager clients, including managed mobile devices, to another primary site in the hierarchy. Clients can be reassigned individually or can be multi-selected and reassigned in bulk to a new site.