SCCM/MECM 2207 Hardware Inventory - Length of time to update Server

Question

SCCM/MECM 2207 Hardware Inventory - Length of time to update Server

Matt Pierce 1

Howdy. I have a SCCM/MECM 2207 hot-patched Primary Site server configured and working normally.

My question is related to the time frame in which a client updates the server with its hardware inventory. More so, how long before the Device listed in the Configuration Manager Console is updated with this information and shows the date and time under the Hardware Scan heading.

When I manually run a hardware inventory scan, this seems to take a very long time, not in minutes. All the logs on the client device and server show success. I know the device has been updated because if I open Resource Explorer, under Hardware everything is listed. But the device inside the CM Console still is blank under the Hardware Scan heading.

I am assuming that due to this not showing is why when I client on the Collections tab, the device isn't showing being a member of certain device collections based on Operating System. This is also problematic as I have Windows Updates associated to Device Collections that have included OS Device Collections on them for deploying Windows updates.

So, can anyone help me to understand if there is a way I can speed this process up? Again, this is a new server setup, with less than 20 computers active on it currently. I'd appreciate any assistance.

Matt

4 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

fyi, quick SQL to find collection with incremental checkbox checked. If the ID starts with "SMS" then it's an internal/default collection, and you can leave incremental checked on. It's the other, not-SMS default ones you would want to really evaluate how desperately you need incremental to be enabled.

Select c.SiteID as 'CollectionID', c.CollectionName,
case when c.CollectionType=1 then 'User or UserGroup'
when c.CollectionType=2 then 'System'
when c.CollectionType=0 then 'Custom'
else cast(c.CollectionType as varchar)
end as 'CollectionType'
,c.MemberCount
from v_collections c
where c.RefreshType in (4,6)

Answer 2

Garth Jones 1,666 MVP

In generally, it should take less than 5 minutes to be update within the db. Use this article to see where the slow down is.
https://www.recastsoftware.com/resources/updated-troubleshoot-configmgr-hardware-inventory-issues/

Answer 3

Garth Jones 1,666 MVP

I missed that you are talking about within the console node, that take ~24 hours to update. It is NOT meant to be real time.

As for the collection, that could be many reasons but most likely due to how often the collection membership is refreshed. However you Say OS. EXACTLY which of the several locations are you using for OS details? I'm asking as it MIGHT not even be HW inventory that collects those details e.g heartbeat discovery.

Matt Pierce 1 Reputation point

2022-11-03T15:09:30.27+00:00

I guess I don't really understand why it takes so long to update the device when looking at it in the CM Console. If it's not meant to be real time, where is the documentation from Microsoft on when and how long it should take to update. To say ~24 hours is not a good thing when you are trying to work on testing things. Who on Earth wants to wait ~24 before moving forward with testing.

With that said, if the HWINV isn't what is needed for a device to automatically be added into a Device Collection, what triggers that?

I have several DCs I added from a systemcenterdudes PS script. Works great. Added in all the stuff I really needed for OS DCs. So here is my DC environment:

I have

setup for my Windows Clients. Inside the Windows 10 Versions, which is where I am focusing on right now, I Have this:

However, after installing the CM Client on the device, running the Management Cycle and Hardware Inventory Cycle manually, it never gets added to the Workstations | Windows 10 DC, which is setup on a limiting collection for Workstations | All. Inside this DC, the device is listed, and is shown on the Collections tab on the Device. So, why doesn't it auto add to the Windows 10 DC? And also, it should get added into the specific build DC I have setup as well; in this case the device is running version 21H2.

Thanks for your help Garth!
Matt Pierce 1 Reputation point

2022-11-03T15:09:55.05+00:00

So, if you have some suggestions or ideas that could help me move forward, you have my complete attention as I'd love to learn what the Best Practice process would be and/or how to solve this issue so we can move forward.

I can say this for newly imaged devices; they are going into the DCs automatically as they should have they have done their Management Cycle and HWINV cycle.

One other thing I should point out, is that I have Custom Client Settings setup on different DCs for Windows Updates. This is why it's critical that I get this issue working so that I can better understand the flow and why/why not the devices get added to the DC.

Thanks Garth!
Sherry Kissinger 5,526 Reputation points

2022-11-03T16:14:11.677+00:00
<caveat, I'm not Garth...>
So it sounds more like you want to get specific collections to update in a timely fashion?

This is where some planning out of your collection hierarchy might need to be reviewed.

I'm trying to understand what it is you have now, vs. what you want to have. Based on your screenshots, to me, it almost looks like you are trying to use Collections as a way to "report on who has what version of Windows 10". Personally, I would never do that. That's asking Collections to do work for no good reason, when a SQL report should be used for that, not collection membership.

Trying to guess on your end goal... is it this?

I have some specific Windows 10 workstations...that need to get specific Custom Client Agent settings as quickly as possible following CM Client installation.

What I'm missing to help you is how is the definition of "specific Windows 10 workstations" defined to you? Your screenshots seem to split Windows 10 workstations up into things like 21H2 for example. my question is "why is that needed" ? That feels like reporting, and isn't needed really for collections.

I see that you've run a systemcenterdudes script to create the collections for you? That's great, I guess... but if you don't know what their collection criteria is, the collection update schedule, and the dependencies, you won't know how it is supposed to work. You need to look at each of those collections, since you didn't make them yourself, and see what they are MEANT to do.
Matt Pierce 1 Reputation point

2022-11-03T16:58:48.903+00:00

Yes to ? #1.

I haven't begun to deal with reporting If I am not doing something via Microsoft Best Practice, I want to know that and learn what I should be doing instead. What I was using the DCs for, is to have a quick glance at what all devices I have for different query types. Such as how many Windows devices I have, which OS is installed on it and which build version. As for reporting, I know I can pull reports and see all this same information, but that's not the goal of what I am trying to do in regard to Custom Client Settings and Windows updates.

To your )1 question on end goal - Yes, that is exactly correct.

To answer the next paragraph question, I did it this way because in my reading and instructional video watching of how-to setup, configure, deploy, etcetera, this was what I came out with. If there is a much better way of doing this to deploy the Custom Client Settings and by proxy of that Windows updates, I am all ears and want to learn and would appreciate your guidance.

As for the SCD device collection script I ran to get all 150 device collections, the ones I am concentrating on right now are the specific Windows workstation related ones. I have looked over everyone, delete several that don't meet our needs, add some based off these and updated different options on each, such as Limiting collection and Membership Rules. If there is something more I need to be doing here, please let me know.

Thanks for the reply Sherry. I hope to get more info so I can continue to learn and improve and move forward.

-matt
Sherry Kissinger 5,526 Reputation points

2022-11-04T15:00:34.903+00:00

Let me start with my own experience, to see if that helps you understand my opinion. My experience is that in a company with 435k CM endpoints, 390k of which were workstations, for Custom Client Agent Settings (that's for anything in there) total of 22 of those. only about a dozen of those were for workstations, specifically. AND they were split up into "Hardware Inventory - Custom For FuBar Line of Business", "Reboot Countdown - Custom for Widgets Line of Business".

So when you say you have 150 collections, and your intention is to have custom client agent settings for those 150 collections, I can't fathom why you need so many. But let's say you do need 25 custom client agent settings. Have you designed a flowchart yet for ... "If this device is used by Fubar Line of Business, they need this, that, and the other". "If device used by WhoopDeDo Line of Business, they need this, the other, but not That". Once you have your definitions lined up on who needs what, then you can determine what collections you ACTUALLY need for that purpose.
Matt Pierce 1 Reputation point

2022-11-04T16:09:36.607+00:00

Understood. I did import the 150 DCs but didn't keep 85% of them. Our server is in VMware Sphere, and I have enough resources. I am not looking to create 150 Custom Client Settings.

We will do the flowchart soon for how we want to do things like computer restarts & update stuff, if that's where all that needs to be setup. Since we are a university division, we have multiple areas who have different needs for when we can restart the devices, such as Student Labs, Research Labs, Podium Computers, Digital Signage Computers, etc. So, I will need to design a flow chart for how all that pans out. Before I did all that, I wanted to get an understanding of how it all needs to be setup and configured and see how the flow worked on a small scale before I start driving down the road of total setup and configuration.

If you wouldn't mind sharing what you have setup for things like Custom Restarts for DCs that would include Digital Signage computers for example, that would help me understand exactly how I need to start. If not, no worries, I'll keep googling to see what's out there to help me. Due to being autistic, seeing it done verses reading a Microsoft Document on how it's done, helps me to learn and understand much better. Same with a specific layout of how-to setup and configure something, like in a How-To guide with step-by-step instructions and best if there is screenshots of the process. So, where I can find them, I use them.

-matt

Answer 4

Garth Jones 1,666 MVP

Most things within the console used cashed results for performance reasons. If you are looking for troubleshooting then resource explorer is always uptodate.
How often are you doing HW inv? What about Heartbeat discovery? In both cases, I recommend these be set to daily. https://askgarth.com/blog/inventory-cycle-version-numbers/

I have not looked that their scripts but my guess is they use heartbeat discovery data. I personally don't add collections for the sake of having collections. I only add them when I need them. Why because this adds overhead to your site server and can slow down everything.

If the data is based on Heartbeat discovery, triggering HW inv. will do nothing to make it fast. You need to trigger heartbeat discovery. Don't forget that the collection membership need to run too before the collection will update. And you will need to do all collections aka limiting collections too.

To echo the infamous words or Jason Sandys there is no such thing as Best Practices. And he is right, there is only the things what work for you.

BTW I'm assuming DC = Device collections.

I 100% agree with Sherry Collections are NOT for reporting. SQL (Reporting) is for reporting.
There is even a built-in report for OS details. Have you looked at them?

I'm curious, what setting will you have different between Windows 10 versions? as it clearly sound like you are using collections for reporting and it will slow down your environment if you are not careful.

Although it is not until May, I would ask to go to https://mmsmoa.com/ this is the place to learn more about ConfigMgr for Experts (like @Sherry Kissinger ) :-)

Matt Pierce 1 Reputation point

2022-11-04T13:01:15.807+00:00

Being fairly new to MECM CB since this year (Hadn't used SCCM since 2012 first came out), I am still very much green and learning on the fly the best I can. Install guides, Admin guides, online resources and videos have been what I have been using. No actually training course since 2012 first came out.

That being said, if you could help to understand where to look inside the device collections (DCs) for what is being used in those collections I grabbed from systemcenterdudes, that would be a good start. Again, just learning the tips of the trade for SCCM/MECM, so bear with me on my lack of understanding how I have some stuff setup. I did import all 150 but deleted probably 75% of what got imported as we do not need those collections, nor did I see ever using them. I mainly kept the OS collections. So, if it's better to use the heartbeat discovery for these collections, how do I trigger these discoveries and where do I look?

As for updating the collection memberships, I have "Use incremental updates for this collection" checked as well as the "Schedule a full update on this collection". I know the default is set to 7 days but I changed that to 1 day. Is that too much or will work well?

Yes, DC = Device Collections. Sorry, thought I added (DCs) in my original post. Not using these collections for reporting purposes. Using them to deploy tasks, applications & updates. If I'm doing that wrong, let me know.

The difference in the Win10 DCs is so that I can target Win10 versions for updates.
Sherry Kissinger 5,526 Reputation points

2022-11-04T14:55:33.677+00:00

Well, first of all... incremental collections checkbox? TURN THAT OFF on anything/everything upon which you have turned it on. You really don't want more than 30 collections with that on. Maybe, if you have super awesome wonderful SQL and hardware, maybe 50 collections like that. MAX EVER.

Changing to 1 day full update is ok (imo); but turning on incremental on anything/everything is likely causing backlogs in collection eval, and making everything WORSE for collection evaluation. You have to be SUPER careful with exactly what you want to be incremental.

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SCCM/MECM 2207 Hardware Inventory - Length of time to update Server

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