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ConfigMgr 2007 and AMT/vPRO - Useful Links for Initial Planning and Deployment

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imageOut of band management feature support in Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 provides powerful management control for computers that have the Intel vPro chip set and Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) firmware versions 3.2.1 or later.

Out of band management allows an administrator to connect to a computer's management controller when the computer is turned off, in sleep or hibernate modes, or otherwise unresponsive through the operating system. By way of contrast, in-band management is the classic approach used by Configuration Manager and its predecessors whereby an agent runs in the full operating system on the managed computer and the management controller accomplishes tasks by communicating with the management agent.

Out of band management supplements in-band management. While in-band management supports a wider range of operations because it's environment is the full operating system, in-band management might not be functional if the operating system is not present or is not operational. In these situations, the supplementary capabilities of out of band management allow administrators to manage these computers without requiring local access to the computer.

Out of band management tasks include the following:

  • Powering on one or many computers (for example, for maintenance on computers outside business hours).
  • Powering off one or many computers (for example, the operating system stops responding).
  • Restarting a nonfunctioning computer or booting from a locally connected device or known good boot image file.
  • Re-imaging a computer by booting from a boot image file that is located on the network or by using a PXE server.
  • Reconfiguring the BIOS settings on a selected computer (and bypassing the BIOS password if this is supported by the BIOS manufacturer).
  • Booting to a command-based operating system to run commands, repair utilities, or diagnostic applications (for example, upgrading the firmware or running a disk repair utility).
  • Configuring scheduled software update deployments and advertisements to wake up computers prior to running.

AMT enabled machines must first be discovered (we use the term discover management controllers, in the SCCM Admin console, which means to discover the actual AMT chipset on a computer that has AMT and AMT is enabled in the BIOS) in SCCM SP1, then they can provisioned via a PKI Infrastructure and a specially created AMT Provisioning Certificate. This is what is known as "In-Band Provisioning".

Out-Of-Band Provisioning is when you would use Intel's tools to provision a machine and then simply select the Import Out Of Band Computers, from the right click pane of "Collections" (only available with SP1). We do not support any of the Intel tools or the provisioning process for Out-Of-Band Provisioning unless it is after the point that the computers have been Imported as the above describes.

After provisioning process, the Out of Band management console (OOBConsole) that is supplied with Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 can be used to control AMT enabled machines. The OOBConsole uses Windows remote management technology (WinRM)) to connect to the management controller on a computer.

The following hotfix should be installed before troubleshooting any AMT related issue:

KB960804 - A hotfix rollup package addresses issues that involve the Out of Band Management (OOB) feature in Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1

Intel's AMT (Advanced Management Technology) is part of the Intel Management Engine, which is built into PCs with Intel vPro technology. vPro is a combination of hardware features  of which AMT is a subset that we support SCCM integration with.

Microsoft Links:

Intel Links:

Buz Brodin | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    hi man thanks for the useful links and information.