Microsoft KB Archive/892429

= Systems Management Server 2003 cluster support requirements =

Article ID: 892429

Article Last Modified on 12/4/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003

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INTRODUCTION
This article describes the requirements and limitations you must know about when you install Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 in a clustered environment.



SMS 2003 site server
SMS 2003 site systems are not supported in a Windows Clustered environment. This includes the SMS site database server and the following SMS 2003 server roles:
 * Management point
 * Distribution point
 * Reporting point
 * Server locator points
 * Client access point

Additionally, the SMS 2003 Administrator Console is not supported in a clustered environment

Note The &quot;Distribution Point and Windows Cluster Service&quot; section in Chapter 10 of the Systems Management Server 2003 Concepts, Planning, and Deployment Guide incorrectly states that SMS 2003 Distribution points are supported on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server with the Windows Cluster service enabled.

You can use Network Load Balancing for SMS 2003 management points and server locator points. However, a primary site can have only one logical management point, and this is the default management point. The default management point can reside on a single computer or multiple computers that are running in a Network Load Balancing cluster.

You can also implement Network Load Balancing for server locator points and you can configure one or more server locator point in a site or even in a site hierarchy depending on your requirements.

For more information about Windows Network Load Balancing with SMS 2003, see Chapter 10 in the &quot;Planning Your SMS Deployment and Configuration&quot; section in the Systems Management Server 2003 Concepts, Planning, and Deployment Guide.

To download the Systems Management Server 2003 Concepts, Planning, and Deployment Guide, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb633760.aspx

SMS 2003 clients
The SMS 2003 Advanced Client can be installed in a clustered environment, but is not cluster aware. Additionally, the SMS Advanced Client must be upgraded to SMS 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and can only be installed on individual Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based or Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later-based computers in a clustered environment.

Note You must not install the SMS 2003 Advanced Client files on a shared drive in a clustered environment. The SMS Advanced Client files must be installed locally on each node that is running the SMS 2003 Advanced Client.

The SMS 2003 Legacy Client is not supported in a clustered environment and must not be installed on individual cluster nodes.

When you install the SMS Advanced Client, you cannot use the cluster name as the SMS Advanced Client name. Instead, you must specify the name of the computer where the SMS Advanced Client is installed. In this case, the individual nodes in the cluster can be SMS managed devices, but the virtual name of the cluster cannot be managed by SMS.

The SMS Advanced Client can restart individual cluster nodes when a restart is requested. However, the SMS Advanced client does not failover when it restarts a clustered node.

Note You can restart multiple nodes in the cluster at the same time.

Additionally, you must not configure any one of the following SMS 2003 Advanced Client components on a shared drive in a cluster:
 * Software Distribution Cache
 * SMS Client program files
 * CCMSETUP
 * CAPINST
 * SMS Advanced Client Windows Installer files

Keywords: kbtshoot kbinfo KB892429

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