Hi SysAdmins

In this post I would like to go through the prerequisites and actions you need to do before you go on and install SCCM 2012 SP1.

If you want, you can jump to the installation procedure of SCCM 2012 SP1, on my earlier post: How to Install SCCM 2012 sp1.

The following are needed before starting the SCCM 2012 installation:

1. Operating system for the SCCM 2012 server: Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 / Windows Server 2012.
2. Active Directory domain Environment
3. Preferably on a separate server, Install SQL Server 2008 SP2 with Cumulative Update 7 or SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 with Cumulative Update 4. During the installation, be sure to select collation SQL_Latin1_general_CP1_CI_AS as this is the only supported collation for SCCM 2012 installation.
4. On the SCCM site server Install BITS, RDC(Remote Differential Compression), WDS (To support PXE or multicast). All are available from add feature/role menu. As described here.
5. On the SCCM site server Install IIS 7.5/8.0 with the following additions:
   Common HTTP Features: Static Content, Default Document
   Application Development: ASP.NET (and automatically selected options), ISAPI Extensions
   Security: Windows Authentication
   IIS 6 Management Compatibility: IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility, IIS 6 WMI Compatibility
6. Install .NET Framework 3.51 SP1.
7. Install .NET Framework 4.0
8. Install WSUS 3.0 SP3 if you need the Software Update Point role.
9. Install Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) suitable for your server OS. Win8/Server 2012 version

Extending the Active Directory Schema

To support dynamic client assignment during Configuration Manager agent deployment and for clients to be able to find the Configuration Manager server infrastructure,

one of the first things you need to do is to extend your active directory schema.

To do this, you need the SCCM 2012 installation DVD. It is easier to accomplish this on your DC while logged in as a schema admin or a member of schema admins group.

Lets assume that the DVD drive letter is R:

On your DC, Navigate to R:\SMSSETUP\BIN\I386

Run extadsch.exe

That’s it, your done for this part.

Give permissions to the site server

If this is a fresh SCCM installation, you first need to create the System Management container.

To create the System Management container, you can use the ADSI Edit tool:

• Start ADSIEDIT.exe
• Expand Domain, expand <distinguished name>, right-click CN=System, click New, and then click Object
• select Container>click Next>  type System Management, and then click Next >Finish

After creating the System Management container, go ahead and give full control permissions to your SCCM site server

To view logs, it is recommended to use CMtrace which is located on the SCCM 2012 DVD in this location:

CMtrace is the new version of SMStrace and has some improvements.

CMtrace for 23 Bit:Drive Letter:\SCCM 2012 Media\SMSSETUP\OSD\bin\I386\cmtrace.exe with version 5.0.7678.0000

Cmtrace for 64 it:Drive letter:\sccm 2012 media\SMSSETUP\OSD\bin\x64\cmtrace.exe with version 5.0.7678.0000