The New Configuration Manager Community Hub

In this post we will take a look at the new Configuration Manager Community Hub. To use the Community Hub you will need to run Configuration Manager Current Branch version 2002 (or later).

What is Configuration Manager Community Hub ?

The Configuration Manager community hub is a place where Configuration Manager administrators can share their useful content. This includes scripts, reports, applications, tasks sequences and Configuration Items.

Rather than reinventing items like Scripts and Reports from scratch, IT Admins can share it in SCCM Community hub.

According to Microsoft Initially the content will be uploaded only by Microsoft. However in the future community contributors will be able to upload their own content using their GitHub account as well.

To summarize, the Community hub supports the following objects :-

• PowerShell Scripts
• Reports
• Task sequences
• Applications
• Configuration items

SCCM Community Hub Prerequisites

So now that you know about the Community hub, let’s look the prerequisites part. The device running the Configuration Manager console used to access the Community hub needs the following items:

• The device must have .NET Framework version 4.6 or higher installed.
• Windows 10 build 17110 or higher.
• A Windows Server OS isn’t supported. This has been the case since the inception of community hub. So the Configuration Manager console needs to be installed on a Windows 10 device separate from the site server.
• The logged-in user account can’t be the built-in administrator account.
• To download reports, you need to turn on the option Use Configuration Manager-generated certificates for HTTP site systems at the site level.
• In order to import a script you require create permission for SMS_Scripts class. And to import a report the account must be a Full Administrator security role.

Enable Use Configuration Manager-generated certificates for HTTP site systems

To download reports, you need to turn on the option Use Configuration Manager-generated certificates for HTTP site systems at the site you’re importing into.

• Launch Configuration Manager Console
• Go to Administration > Site Configuration > Sites.
• Select the site and choose Properties in the ribbon.
• On the Communication Security tab, select the option to Use Configuration Manager-generated certificates for HTTP site systems.

Enable Configuration Manager Community Hub Feature

To enable the new Community hub cloud feature in Configuration Manager

• Launch the Configuration Manager console.
• Go to Administration > Overview > Updates and Servicing > Features.
• Right click Community hub cloud feature and click Turn on.
• When asked Do you want to turn on this feature, click Yes.

When you click Yes, notice that the Community hub feature is enabled. The status now shows as On.

How to Use the Community hub

After you enable the Community Hub feature, install the SCCM console on Windows 10.

• Launch the Configuration Manager console.
• Click the Community Workspace.
• In the left pane click Hub.

Now in the right pane, you will see some sample scripts, task sequences loaded by default. These are uploaded by Microsoft.

Download a Sample script from Community Hub

Lets select a sample script and download it from the community hub. For example, lets download Configure Edge Auto Update in this case. To download this script, click Download.

Note – You don’t need to sign-in to download any of these scripts.

The download completed successfully.

If you click Your Downloads option, you will find all the scripts that were downloaded with your account.

Finally lets see where this script is. Go to Software Library > Overview > Scripts. In the right pane, you will find the scripts that you downloaded using Community Hub.

All you need to do now is approve the script and deploy. That was really easy and quick.

I really liked this feature but it’s not a complete feature yet. I mean we will see lots of new additions to this feature in coming days.

What is your opinion?. Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.