In this post I will cover the steps to setup a cloud management gateway (CMG) in SCCM. I have got Configuration Manager 1902 in my setup and I will use the same to configure the CMG.
Setting up the cloud management gateway in Configuration Manager 1902 is very easy. If you are using earlier versions of SCCM such as SCCM 1802 or SCCM 1806 you might not see some options that are included in SCCM 1902.
What is Cloud Management Gateway in SCCM
The cloud management gateway also known as CMG, that provides a simple way to manage Configuration Manager clients on the internet. When you deploy the CMG as a cloud service in Microsoft Azure, you can manage internet clients without additional infrastructure.
The biggest advantage of cloud management gateway in SCCM is you don’t need to expose your on-premises infrastructure to the internet. If you are planning to use CMG, I would suggest you to read this article by Microsoft.
The CMG uses Azure Cloud Services as PaaS, this service uses virtual machines (VMs) that will involve compute costs. By default the CMG uses a Standard A2 V2 VM.
When you create a CMG, you select how many VM instances support the CMG. By default it 1 and 16 is the maximum. But the question is how many such VM’s do you actually require ?. That’s answered here.
CMG Ports and Data Flow
When you plan to setup CMG, you don’t need to open any inbound ports to your on-premises network. The service connection point and CMG connection point are the ones that initiate all communication with Azure and the CMG.
The service connection point deploys and monitors the service in Azure, hence it must be in online mode. The CMG connection point connects to the CMG to manage communication between the CMG and on-premises site system roles.
For complete information about cloud management gateway ports, read this article.
SCCM Cloud Management Gateway Setup Requirements / Prerequisites
Here are the important requirements or prerequisites for SCCM CMG :-
- First of all you need an Azure Subscription to host the cloud management gateway.
- If you are deploying CMG, you need a Subscription Admin. To integrate the site with Azure AD for deploying the CMG using Azure Resource Manager, you need a Global Admin.
- Ensure the SCCM service connection point is in online mode.
- Integration with Azure AD for deploying the service with Azure Resource Manager.
- If you ask me use at-least SCCM 1806 and above if you are creating a CMG in your setup. I will explain the reason for this in next section.
- You need at-least one on-prem Windows Server to host the CMG.
Certificates for Configuration Manager Cloud Management Gateway
One thing that you must really work on is the CMG certificates. I have not included this info under CMG prerequisites section because this topic is quite complex. However I will try my best to make it easy for you.
- CMG server authentication certificate
- CMG trusted root certificate to clients
- Server authentication certificate issued by public provider / Enterprise PKI
- Client Authentication Certificate
- Client trusted root certificate to CMG
- HTTPS certs for Management Points
- Azure Management Certificate
CMG Server Authentication Certificate
The CMG server authentication certificate is required while creating the CMG in the Configuration Manager console. When you setup a CMG, it basically creates a HTTPS service to which your internet clients connect.
For a valid CMG server auth cert, you can either acquire a certificate from a public provider or issue it from your public key infrastructure (PKI). In this post, I will be issuing the cert from my PKI.
If you are using SCCM 1802 and above, you can use a wildcard certificates as CMG server cert. Before you create this certificate, ensure the Azure domain name that you use is unique.
CMG trusted root certificate to clients
This certificate is for clients that must trust the CMG server authentication certificate. There are two methods to accomplish this :-
- Use a certificate from a public and globally trusted certificate provider.
- Use a certificate issued by an enterprise CA from your public key infrastructure (PKI).
Client trusted root certificate to CMG
You supply this root certificate when you setup the cloud management gateway in the Configuration Manager console. The CMG must trust the client authentication certificates. If you’re using PKI client authentication certificates, then you must add a trusted root certificate to the CMG.
HTTPS certs for Management Points
To configure HTTPS on Management points requires PKI and this topic is huge. Don’t worry, I have covered step-by-step deployment of the PKI certificates for SCCM here.
Azure management certificate
The Azure management certificate is required for classic service deployments. With SCCM 1810 and above the classic service deployments in Azure are deprecated. So start using Azure Resource Manager deployments for the cloud management gateway.
Confirm Unique Azure Domain Name
You must confirm that the Azure domain name you want is unique. You can check this in Azure portal. When you enter the DNS name, you should see either a green tick or red X. Green tick means yes the domain name is available and red X means it is not available.
Login to Azure portal and select Cloud Services (classic). Click +Add button.
Enter the DNS name which should be unique as I mentioned before. In my case I see a green tick so I will be prajwalcmg.cloudapp.net will be my unique Azure domain name or DNS name.
At this post there are two options. You can skip creating this service because it will be created automatically when we setup CMG. You may also create the service and use it while setting up CMG.
Configure Azure Services for Cloud Management
We will now configure Azure cloud services that you can use with SCCM using the Azure Services Wizard. We will create web app and native client app that provide subscription and configuration details, and authenticate communications with Azure AD.
Go to Administration > Overview > Cloud Services > Azure Services. Right click Azure Services and click Configure Azure Services.
Select the Azure Services as Cloud Management and specify a name and description. Click Next.
Select the Azure environment which is AzurePublicCloud. First we will create a web app, click Browse.
In the Server App box, click Create.
In the Create Server Application box, enter the application name. It can be anything. Specify key validation period and next click Sign-in button.
You should now see a box where-in you must sign in. Once you enter the correct credentials, you Azure AD tenant name will be shown along with Signed in successfully message.
Click OK.
Select the server app that you just created and click OK.
We will now create a native client app, so click Browse.
Enter the application name and you must sign-in again. When you do that click OK.
Now we have Server and Client app created. Click Next.
You can leave this option “Enable Azure Active Directory User Discovery” selected. Click Next.
Click Next on Summary page.
Finally on Completion page, click Close.
Verify Configuration Manager Azure Service
To verify the Azure Service that you created for Configuration Manager, click Azure Services. On the right pane you should see the Azure service and Associated Azure Service which is Cloud Management.
If you click Azure Active Directory Tenants, you should see Tenant name and tenant ID. In addition to that, you will see the Application Name, Tenant ID, Client ID in the bottom pane.
Create and Issue Web Server CMG Certificate Template
In this section we will create a new custom certificate which by using the web server certificate template. At this point, if you have templates created during implementing PKI, you can simply duplicate the SCCM IIS Certificate and use it.
If not you can duplicate the web server template and configure it. This certificate will be used for the installation of the SCCM cloud management gateway.
Login to Certification Authority server, open the Certification Authority console. Right-click Certificate Templates and select Manage.
Right click Web Server and click Duplicate Template.
Click Compatibility tab and ensure the settings are same as per below screenshot.
Click General tab and specify a name to this temple. I will name it as SCCM CMG Certificate.
Click Request Handling and ensure Allow private key to be exported is checked.
Now click Security tab, add the group that contains your SCCM Primary Site server computer account. Select the group and allow Enroll permission.
For Enterprise Admins, you can uncheck Enroll permission. Click Apply and OK. Close the console.
Now right click Certificate Templates and click New > Certificate Template to Issue.
Select the SCCM CMG Certificate and click OK.
Import Web server CMG certificate on the Primary Site Server
After you have created the CMG certificate, we will now import this certificate on our SCCM server.
Login to SCCM server. Open the Certificates console (run the command certlm.msc – this saves your time). Expand Personal > Certificates. Right click Certificates > All Tasks > Request New Certificate.
From the list of certs, select SCCM CMG Certificate and click the link below it.
In the Certificate Properties dialog box, under for Subject name, select Type as Full DN. Under Alternative name, select Type as DNS and enter the service name.
Enter a public DNS name that you want to use with CMG. So I will enter *.prajwal.org here which allows me to use any subdomain for CMG.
Click General tab and specify a friendly name to this certificate and then click Apply and OK.
Click Enroll.
The certificate is enrolled successfully. Click Finish.
Export the CMG Web Server Certificate
In the above step, on the site server, you requested the CMG certificate and enrolled it. Now we will export this certificate in a .PFX format. This certificate will required while creating cloud management gateway.
Select the CMG certificate, right click and click All Tasks > Export.
On welcome to certificate export wizard, click Next.
Select Yes, export the private key. Click Next.
Make no changes here and click Next.
Enter a password and click Next.
Save the CMG certificate on your computer. Click Next.
Click Finish. This completes the CMG certificate export process.
Setup / Create SCCM Cloud Management Gateway
To create or setup cloud management gateway in SCCM –
- Launch the SCCM console.
- Navigate to Administration > Cloud Services > Cloud Management Gateway.
- Right click Cloud Management Gateway and click Create Cloud Management Gateway
You should now see the Create Cloud Management Gateway Wizard. Click Sign-in and login with your subscription admin account.
On successful sign-in you should see Subscription ID, Azure AD app name and tenant name automatically populated. Click Next
On the Settings page, click Browse and select the CMG certificate. The Service name and deployment name are populated automatically.
At this step you can use an existing resource group or create new resource group. I will go with just 1 VM instance.
You see two options and a certificates button.
- Verify Client Certificate Revocation – To understand this refer this article.
- Allow CMG to function as a cloud distribution point and serve content from Azure storage – With SCCM 1806, you get this new option. Now a CMG can also serve content to clients. This functionality reduces the required certificates and cost of Azure VMs.
I will leave both the above options checked. Next click Certificates.
You need to specify a certificate that tells CMG what certs it needs to trust. In my case I have got an PKI setup, so I will add the root certificate.
Click Next.
On the Alerts page, click Next.
On the completion page click Close.
Cloud Management Gateway Status
After you setup cloud management gateway, monitor the status in the SCCM console. Right now the status in Provisioning.
After few minutes the status is changed to Provisioning Completed. Later I will cover what log file do you need to monitor for this.
Install Cloud Management Gateway Connection Point
To install cloud management gateway connection point role in SCCM
- In SCCM console, go to Administration > Site Configuration > Servers and Site System Roles.
- Right click site server and click Add Site System Roles.
Click Next.
Check the box for Cloud Management gateway connection point. Click Next.
Select the cloud management gateway and click Next.
On the completion page, click Close.
Allow SCCM Cloud Management Gateway Traffic
You must configure the management point and software update point site systems to accept CMG traffic. Do this procedure on the primary site, for all management points and software update points that service internet-based clients.
Go Administration > Site Configuration > Servers and Site System Roles. Select the site server and in the bottom pane, right click Management point and click Properties.
Under Management Point Properties, check the box Allow Configuration Manager cloud management gateway traffic. Click OK.
Under Software update point properties, check the box Allow Configuration Manager cloud management gateway traffic. Click OK.
Allow access to cloud distribution points
Under the client settings, click Cloud Services. Under Device/User Settings, set Allow access to cloud distribution point to Yes.
Associate CMG with Boundary groups
If you are using SCCM 1902, you can associate a CMG with a boundary group. You can do this after you setup cloud management gateway. When you create or configure a boundary group, on the References tab, add a cloud management gateway.
Configure clients for CMG
Once you setup cloud management gateway and all the site system roles are running, clients get the location of the CMG service automatically on the next location request.
Most of all the clients must be on the intranet to receive the location of the CMG service. By default the polling cycle for location requests is every 24 hours. However to speed up the request, you can restart the SMS Agent Host service (ccmexec.exe) on the computer.
To troubleshoot CMG client traffic, use CMGHttpHandler.log, CMGService.log, and SMS_Cloud_ProxyConnector.log.
I will cover more about CMG troubleshooting and other stuff related to it in some other post.
Enable Remote Desktop on SCCM CMG (Cloud Management Gateway)
Once you setup the SCCM CMG, you can enable remote desktop on SCCM CMG. Once you enable remote desktop on CMG, you can the IIS log files from the CMG Virtual Machine. Here is a step by step guide on how to enable remote desktop in SCCM cloud management gateway.
Cloud Management Gateway Log Files for Troubleshooting
When you setup the SCCM cloud management gateway, you must know the CMG log files that can help you to troubleshoot CMG issues. There are very few CMG log files and I have listed all the CMG log files in this post.
Hello,
Is there a way to tell internet computer that a CMG exist? We got computer outside of our network, unable to access our network (no VPN access) that we want to add to a CMG. SCCM already have the client configuration to use CMG, but the location is unknown because it didn’t exist at the time. Can we push a wmi entry or something (we can remote with skype in them)?
Thank you
Hi, Firstly let me thank you for your excellent job, your guides are awesome. Actually we are implementing CMG but I’ve some concerns about the “Import Web server CMG certificate on the Primary Site Server”. In this case you are creating a DNS for your domain but when you are importing the .pfx file to the CMG wizard it populates the services with yourname.cloudapp.net Is required to create / match this DNS entry with the DNS created with de Azure Resource Group? In my company is required to create a CSR prior to create a CER file instead of using… Read more »
Hi, first of all thank you for all of your guides. They are so what of helpful for someone like me that I call myself a Rookie. And exatly this is why I am asking a professional for help. Please have in mind I have said I am a rookie and have linited know how in troubleshooting 🙁 Microsoft.ClassicCompute and Microsoft.Storage resource is registered Under APP Registration/API Authorization I do have following entries for the SERVER APP Microsoft Graph => Directory Read all => Administrator consent YES => granted for my enterprise I do have a resource group in my case… Read more »
HI
is my case no resolvable?
THX Markus
Hello. First off, thanks for this guide and all of the other post you do, it’s really a lot of good and detailed information in this big world that is Microsoft. Now, I got a simple question that I’m unsure how to answer myself. Currently, I got these site and roles Site server with Service connection point (used for WSfB sync) SUS server connected to SCCM (all updates are managed through sccm, no WUFB) DPs, 1 for VPN connected users with speed throttling Database server Remote Content Library servers Reporting Server Now, I’m planning CMG deployment. Per… Read more »
One question, If I have a global need, can I add more connection points globally? Say 1 in APAC, 1 in Austrailia for better response? Like a normal distribution point?
yes you can setup multiple CMG’s.
Our CMG is up and running and successfully switching between Internet and Intranet. My question is what/how does it know to switch between internet and Intranet
Hello Prajwal,
some reason I try multiple time create CMG in our ConfigMgr 2002 keep fail with status error.
here ERROR: TaskManager: Task [AnalyticsCollectionTask: Service parklandcmg] has failed. Exception Hyak.Common.CloudException, Failed to start deployment slot.
Is there anything you could help?
We currently don’t have full PKI, but working towards it on our infrastructure. With that we went EHTTP on ConfigMgr 2002. How would you configure the MP in that scenario? We did use a PKI cert though on our CMG w/trusted root CA, and trying to use the new Bulk Token Registration, but we are failing to get the client installed. Also, in your guide above, I didn’t see any mention of configuring DNS. If full PKI, do you need to configure CNAME record on internal and public facing DNS, or just public facing?
Thank you for the post. really helpful. I just have a small hickup. All process completed but I am having the issue of the client not able to see the FQDN of the cloud DP in the configuration manager.
Can i configure CMG on non PKI infra. As we don’t have PKI setup and all are client Certificate is Self Signed Certificate.
Thanks for the write up, was very helpful. I have the CMG up and running and serving content. One issue I am having is with VPN users. I created a boundary and group based on the VPN IP range. It works but not if someones home physical IP address overlaps with one of the other internal company network boundary ranges. It seems SCCM sees more than one IP address from the client, the VPN adapter address and the machines local home wireless network IP. I find that if that home wireless IP overlaps an internal boundary IP range assigned to… Read more »
How do you create a trusted root certificate?
When i import the CMG certificate it says: “The certificate is not a valid root”
I keep getting this error on my trial environment:
{
“code”: “DeploymentFailed”,
“message”: “At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/DeployOperations for usage details.”,
“details”: [
{
“code”: “BadRequest”,
“message”: “{\r\n \”error\”: {\r\n \”code\”: \”OperationFailed\”,\r\n \”message\”: \”The operation ’62b5e2289f8a7231870fdcf54f64ee3a’ failed: ‘The requested VM tier is currently not available in Central US for this subscription. Please try another tier or deploy to a different location.’.\”\r\n }\r\n}”
}
]
}
I’ve tried several other regions like:
South Central
North Europe
East US
Have you find a solution for this one?
Microsoft have disabled the function on trial environments. You need to upgrade to pay as you go
I am experiencing same problem. I have tried every region and upgraded my Trial to Pay-As-You-go.
We run into the same problem. We tried multiple regions EU and US and they always fail with the same error message. When I try to deploy an A2_V2 VM manually then it deploys just fine. We have opened a support ticket at Microsoft about a week ago, but no solution yet. Anyone got this fixed?
What in your opinion or MS’s is the optimal Check in Frequency for a partial CMG Environment.
@Prajwal Desai, would you have any topology for implementing this CMG + Azure + SCCM configuration?
How do you get past when you import the cert that the ‘Service Name’ is always the site server name. The cert has the correct details but SCCM (1910) won’t populate the ‘Service Name’ nor the ‘Deployment name’ with anything other than the site server name?
Doh! Fixed. Used the wrong template 🙁
I have followed these steps but always receive the error message “Failed to provision cloud service” error while setting up the SCCM Cloud Management Gateway (CMG) within my SCCM 1902 environment.
What steps can I take to determine what is causing this error so that I can fix it?
Which region did you select to deploy to ?
I would look at your Azure activity log
https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_ActivityLog/ActivityLogBlade
This might give a clue, look at for the red errors.
Had the same issue looking at the Azure activity log it said that i was missing resource Microsoft.ClassicCompute.
I had to go to subscriptions > Resource providers > Find microsoft.classicCompute > Press register
I guess if you create a trial subscription it will not automatically register.
After this you will need to delete and recreate the CMG in the SCCM console
I have followed the instructions in this posting but when I get to the “Create Cloud Management Gateway Wizard” portion and import the certificate file I get a message that says “The service certificate has the following errors/warnings.
[Warning] The service certificate has a wildcard DNS name. Ensure you update the Service CName with the correct FQDN.”
How can I fix this?
How can I post a screenshot of this error message?
Here is a screenshot that shows the error I am receiving: https://imgur.com/6bqSpne
link dead
Hello I followed the step by step but when I tried to create the CMG I get this message.
“A valid Azure AD App is required. Please Deploy the Azure Service for Cloud Management First.”
Any ideas?
Same for me…
Just a word of warning, make sure the CDP server name is NOT the same as your primary site name.
Add Site System Roles. option is greyed out when I try and add the role, I have run the console as admin and also tried the original installer account..
One thing that I have read is that the FQN of the server cannot be the same as the FQN of the CMG, and some suggest to remove the CMG and start again, however some people have said this will cause additonal issues 🙁
Rolled back server to previous VM snapshot, something odd happened to our SCCM during deployment of CMG.
InfoSec wants a layer of protection between the CMG and the on premise systems so what specific ports should we allow to build proper ACL’s?
Between the instructions:
“In the Certificate Properties dialog box, under for Subject name, select Type as Full DN. Under Alternative name, select Type as DNS and enter the service name.”
AND
“Enter a public DNS name that you want to use with CMG. So I will enter *.prajwal.org here which allows me to use any subdomain for CMG.”
I think you forgot to insert a screenshot, I could use an illustration for each step as my CMG cert seems to continue to fail or prompt errors when using as described above.
We are having SCCM 1902 and configured CMG
So
Can we install sccm client in workgroup machines in CMG ?( machines which are not in Azure AD but connected to internet)
Sir
thanks for this documents with SCCM 1902
few questions related to Prerequisites
is it compulsory to have Azure AD (as we have Azure subscription but our machines are not registered in Azure AD)
we are implementing CMG to manage laptops (roaming user) which are in workgroup (not in domain and not in Azure AD)
so it is possible to manage workgroup machine in CMG ?
we are facing error while installing sccm client on workgoup Pc which is connected to internet
I am setting up CMG for the first time. I am getting the following error in the last part of connection analyzer and can’t figure it out.
Failed to get ConfigMgr token with Azure AD token. Status code is ‘500’ and status description is ‘CMGConnector_InternalServerError’. Google results don’t help too much with this error.
there is not proper documents in Microsoft website about using Wilcard domain name which is issued by public CA.
i have got wildcard certificate from public authority but am not able to authenticate from clients . the client requires Client authentication certificate which am struggling to find out
HI Prajwal,
I have configure the things but its giving me a error during provisioning. error : Failed to start deployment slot …. in cloudmgr.log
Can i see the complete log file instead of just one line ?.
I have a question for you, we already have a PKI certificate setup for our Distribution Points and utilize Https internally. Do I need to setup another cert or can I use the existing one we are using already. I am asking as our main reason for using the gateway will be to patch machines that are domain joined but they are not using VPN often enough to get patched. Any guidance here would be appreciated.
Do you recommend using a Service Account with temp Global Admin privileges to setup the Azure AD link or does it require permanent global admin role?
Just curious if i need to use a global admin account just for setup then its done or to use the service account from SCCM with global admin?
Thank you for your effort, I would like to ask something I have two MPs is it required to make them work over https both, or shall I create a new one dedicated for that and regarding to boundary group that will be used for CMG what is the boundary configured
Great………. got it working at last 🙂
Great Post!! Thanks Prajwal!
Great document! Setting this up and make it work isn’t too difficult if u got the certificates in order. The problem we are having is that our clients are not Azure AD joined so we use the certificate for authentication. However the client in the internet doesn’t report the status back of an installation, the status message query stays empty and the deployment keeps the status in progress. Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug but it surprises me that I can’t find any document on the internet about this or that anyone has this problem. Anyone recognizes this?
Can you send me the link where Microsoft says this is a bug ?.