Planning for Client Settings in Configuration Manager

Use client settings in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager to configure user and device settings for the hierarchy. Client settings include configuration options such as the hardware inventory and schedule, and the polling schedule for client policy.

All Configuration Manager clients in the hierarchy use the Default Client Settings that are automatically created when you install Configuration Manager. However, you can modify the default client settings and you can create custom client settings to override the default client settings for specific users or devices.

When you create a set of custom client settings, you must assign it to one or more collections for the settings to be applied to the collection members. If you apply multiple sets of custom client settings to the same user or device, you can control the order in which these settings are applied according to the order that you specify. Custom device or user settings with an Order value of 1 are always processed last and will override any other configurations. The Default Client Settings has a permanent order of 10,000, which ensures it is always applied before any custom settings are applied. When there is a conflict of settings, the client setting that was applied last (with the lower order value) overrides any previous settings.

You can create custom client settings at the central administration site or from any primary site in the hierarchy. Custom settings replicate to all sites in the hierarchy.

For information about how to configure client settings, see How to Configure Client Settings in Configuration Manager.

For information about client settings for clients that run Linux and UNIX in Configuration Manager SP1, see the Client Settings for Linux and UNIX Servers section in the How to Manage Linux and UNIX Clients in Configuration Manager topic.