SCCM 2012 Automatic Deployment Rules

In SCCM 2012 we have a number of changes in Software Updates. One of the most anticipated one’s is Auto Deployment Rules.

Yes finally I hear you say….

Well Lets run through creating an Auto Deployment and one little gotcha to keep your eye on.

In the Console we select

 Software Library > Software Updates > Automatic Deployment Rules

Choose Create Automatic Deployment Rule from the Ribbon or Right click on the mouse.

      

In the first screen we can choose a Template

(Templates are no longer a node in the console they are now created when creating an Auto Deployment Rule or manually Deploying Updates and are saved at the Summary screen.Ill point this out later in the post)

You can Select to Add to an Existing Software Update Group or Create a new Software Update Group.

If you select Add to an Existing Software Update Group a brand new group will be created the first time the Auto Deployment Rule is run and every time the rule runs after that the new updates are added to that group.

(NOTE You cannot create a software Update group manually and then create an Auto Deployment rule to add new updates to that group. Even if you give it the same name and description the Auto Deployment Rule will still create a new group. See Figure below.The group created at 6:02 pm was done manually. I then ran the Auto Deployment rule at 6:07 pm and you can see that it creates a group with a duplicate name and description.)

If you select Create a new Software Update Group every time the rule is run a new Software Update Group is created.

You can also choose to Enable the deployment after the rule is run.

Here you can choose to use Wake on lan and also decide whether to automatically deploy all updates and approve any license agreements or deploy only updates that do not include license agreements.

This is where you select the requirements to select the updates to auto approve.

Here you can set a Schedule for the Rule to run. Potentially every Patch Tuesday or Daily for Forefront updates.

Or you can run the rule manually.

Similar to CM07 we can set the deployment schedule and whether the Deployment will be Mandatory.

Set the User Experience, deadline behaviour and reboot suppression.

We can now Generate Alerts if the compliance falls below a certain after a certain period of time. As before we can select to disable alerts for Operations Manager.

Set your Deployment options

Either select an existing package or create a new one for the new updates

Select a DP or DP Group

Where to download the updates from

Choose a language

On the Summary screen you can Choose to Save your settings as a Template for future use

We now see the new Rule in the console and we can choose to Run Now from the ribbon.

The log file for troubleshooting is Ruleengine.log

We can see the Auto Deployment Rule is kicked off

Evaluating and downloading updates

Here we see it looking for an existing update group and not finding one therefore creating a new Software Update Group then adding the updates to that Group.

Back to the console.If we select Software Update Groups we now see the newly created Windows 7 Automatic Deployment and the Deployment (Yet to be enabled) on the tab below.

When we select Show Members we can see the updates applied.

and there you have it.

Exclude updates from Automatic Deployment Rule (ADR) in SCCM 2012

Sometimes it is necessary to exclude some updates from automatically distribute to clients.
When using Automatic Deployment Rule (ADR) in sccm 2012, all updates that meet the criteria that was configured will added to the associated software updates group, and will be eventually distribute to clients.

Exclude updates from ADR
Find the desire ADR, under Software Library node go to Software Updates -> Automatic Update Rules.
In the ADR properties, go to Software Updates tab and add a Title with - (minus) and the name of the update you would like to exclude.



The following is an example for exclusion an IE9 for Windows Server 2008 R2:
-“Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based systems”

You can add multiple exclusions as well.
The following is an example for exclusion Internet Explorer 10 and 11 for Windows 7:

Quotes should be added only when you use the exact name of the update.
When using a partial name of the update or when using it for general product exclusion, use it without the quotes.
Be aware that using general title without quote, will result all updates that match that partial name to be excluded from the deployment.
For example, using Title -internet explorer 10 will result internet explorer 10 and all updates for internet 10 to be exclude.

Remove the update from the package
Last thing to do is to remove the update from the package.

• locate the the package name: double click the ADR and navigate to Deployment Package tab:

• Under Software Library node, navigate to Overview->Software Updates->Deployment Packages, and double click the relevant package.
• In the search box, type the update name you would like to remove.
• Make sure the update is not part of any deployment by right click the update, choose Edit Membership and remove the update from any deployment:
  Refresh and wait!!!  this process can take up to couple of minutes to clear all deployments.

Deleting an update without removing it from existing deployment will popup the following warning:

•  Delete the update from the package.

courtesy link : http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrdogs/archive/2012/05/08/configmgr-2012-automatic-deployment-rules.aspx