SMS domain?

[DPB007]

Can Microsoft SMS be set up in a workgroup instead of a domain?? Or I guess is it necessary for an SMS server to be joined to a domain to function correctly? I need to manage 20-30 W2K servers remotely but I do not have the option of setting up a dedicated domain on the restricted network where the machines reside. All I can do is put them into a workgroup. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

DB

 

[tbrennans]

Supposedly SMS 2003 service pack 1 will. and this article addresses how to do it:

http://myitforum.techtarget.com/articles/8/view.asp?id=7747

 

[DPB007]

Thanks for the help!! So let me see if I understand this....if I just set up the SMS server in a workgroup and have the rest of the machines join that workgroup it will work? Or are you talking about having an SMS server that is already a domain member discover clients that cannot join the domain?? Bacically I need to set up the whole thing in a workgroup...independant of the domains on the network already.....An SMS setup with the 20-30 servers that I need to manage and the SMS server in their own little workgroup. Will this work? What functionality, if any, would I lose if it is set up this way? Please let me know. Thanks!!

-DB

 

[tbrennans]

Well, I haven't done this so anything I say is pure speculation but, I read to say that it will discover the computers in the workgroup and on the domain, then it goes on to tell you how to make them (the workgroup computers) clients by use of wins.

I have found all the guys that post these articles will reply if they leave their email on the bottom of the article....he did and mentioned to contact him any time so I'd bet he could explain what he did better than I could!

 

[Jpoandl]

Not sure about the setting up an SMS Server in a workgroup (never tried it), but you can make the SMS server a DC. I've done this in some of my lab segements that I could not get domain admin rights to. So I created a stand along DC with a new domain name and then installed SMS 2003 onto the same server.

SMS will be able to manage clients that are not part of the domain that the SMS server belongs to. In other words, as long as you have local administrator rights (known user name and password), SMS can manage it. There is no domain membership requirement. SMS can manage clients in workgroups and non-trusted domains.

In fact, if you create a domain just for SMS, you can still use ADVANCED SECURITY. Advanced security requires AD but it gets rid of most of the accounts that SMS 2.0 uses. Furthermore, your workgroup clients can still use the Advanced Client (with SP1).

One limitation of managing clients that do not belong to the same domain as the SMS site server belongs to, is that you are required use SMS 2003 SP1.



Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2003

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