This short post is an overview of SCCM 1810 new features. I will try to cover the top 15 new features that are part of SCCM 1810 in brief. We know SCCM 1810 is already released. The SCCM 1810 also includes fixes and improvements over previous version i.e. SCCM 1806. The SCCM 1806 wasn’t that stable version compared to SCCM 1810. I can tell this from the fact that a lot of SCCM 1806 hotfixes were released.
Most of the features that got added to SCCM 1810 were from SCCM 1810 technical preview. While this is not my first post on SCCM 1810, I have some posts published on SCCM 1810. For now let’s look at SCCM 1810 new features.
An Overview of SCCM 1810 New Features
A lot of new features have been added to SCCM 1810 release.
Support for Windows Server 2019
Configuration Manager now supports Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server, version 1809, as site systems. This is a great addition. In my current lab setup, I am running SCCM on Windows Server 2019 and it’s way better than Server 2016.
Site server in passive mode
Until now we had no option to add an extra site server in passive mode. However SCCM 1810 fills that gap. CAS and child primary sites can now have an additional site server in passive mode.
Improvements to setup prerequisites
A lot of you might encounter warnings during the SCCM 1810 installation. This is because with SCCM 1810, Microsoft has made improvements to setup prerequisites. I can say some addition checks are done during prerequisite check step.
- Pending system restart – Solution
- SQL change tracking cleanup – Solution
- SQL Native Client version – Solution
New boundary group options
When you install SCCM 1810, you will find two new boundary group options.
- Prefer distribution points over peers with the same subnet.
- Prefer cloud distribution points over distribution points.
New Management insights rule – Peer cache source client version
I have published a lot of posts on SCCM Management Insights. This time we have a new management insights rule for peer cache source client version. This rule identifies clients that serve as a peer cache source but haven’t upgraded from a pre-1806 client version. I believe more rules will be added in upcoming versions of Configuration Manager current branch.
Wake-up Clients from SCCM Console
This new SCCM 1810 feature allows you to wakeup clients right from SCCM console. This feature works even when the client is on a different subnet than site server.
Client Installation Changes
This feature was actually part of SCCM 1810 technical preview. And it made it’s way to SCCM 1810 current branch as new feature. In short this feature allows ccmsetup to look for the content directly from management point in case the content is not available with distribution point.
Co-Management Dashboard Improvements
The co-management dashboard is more advanced and includes the following.
- Additional states under co-management enrollment status tile includes.
- Funnel chart that shows states of the enrollment process.
- Count of Enrollment errors.
Convert applications to MSIX & Repair applications
With this SCCM 1810 feature, you can now convert existing .msi apps to MSIX format. Repair applications is an awesome feature that allows the admins to specify the repair command. The command can be supplied either during setup or can be added to deployed application. A detailed explanation of how to repair applications in SCCM 1810 is documented here.
Approve application requests via email
Not a new feature exactly. This feature was first introduced in SCCM 1802. In SCCM 1810 Microsoft added the email support. This means when a user requests the application in software center, the admins get an email. They can then approve the request or deny it. You can read more about Approve SCCM Application Requests via Email here.
Configuration Manager – Support Center & Administrator authentication
When you install SCCM 1810, you can specify the minimum authentication level for administrators to access SCCM sites. Check out the Authentication tab in Hierarchy Settings. Support center now combines multiple troubleshooting tools into one. More about support center is documented here.
Improvement to lifecycle dashboard & data warehouse
The product lifecycle dashboard shows info about SCCM 2012 R2 and later. In addition to that, a new report Lifecycle 05A – Product lifecycle dashboard is available. With respect to data warehouse, you can now synchronize more tables from the site database to the data warehouse. More about SCCM data warehouse point installation, refer this post.
Improvements to CMPivot & Scripts
I would say there are always improvements being made to CMPivot and scripts. More info about it is here.
Phased deployment of software updates
This SCCM 1810 feature allows the admins to create phased deployments for software updates. The concept is almost similar to SCCM phased application deployments, here is a post on it.
Task Sequence
If i have to sum up SCCM 1810 task sequence additions then here they are.
- Task sequence support of Windows Autopilot for existing devices
- Specify the drive for offline OS image servicing
- Task sequence support for boundary groups
