How to Create a Deployment Template

Article
10/04/2022

You create a software updates deployment template, in Configuration Manager, by creating an instance of the SMS_Template class and populating the properties.

To create a deployment template

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider.
Create the new template object by using the SMS_Template class.
Populate the new template properties.
Save the new template and properties.

Example

The following example method shows how to create a software updates deployment template by using the SMS_Template class and class properties.

For information about calling the sample code, see Calling Configuration Manager Code Snippets.

Note

In the following code examples, the template settings are passed into the method by using a string variable called deploymentTemplateSettings. The template settings are stored in an XML structure.

VB Template Setting Example (one long string):

deploymentTemplateSettings = "<TemplateDescription xmlns:xsi=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"" xmlns:xsd=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema""> <CollectionId>SMS00001</CollectionId> <IncludeSub>true</IncludeSub> <AttendedInstall>true</AttendedInstall> <UTC>true</UTC> <Duration>2</Duration> <DurationUnits>Weeks</DurationUnits> <SuppressServers>Unchecked</SuppressServers> <SuppressWorkstations>Unchecked</SuppressWorkstations> <AllowRestart>false</AllowRestart> <Deploy2003>true</Deploy2003> <CollectImmediately>false</CollectImmediately> <LocalDPOption>DownloadAndInstall</LocalDPOption> <RemoteDPOption>DownloadAndInstall</RemoteDPOption> <DisableMomAlert>false</DisableMomAlert> <GenerateMomAlert>false</GenerateMomAlert> <UseRemoteDP>false</UseRemoteDP> <UseUnprotectedDP>false</UseUnprotectedDP> </TemplateDescription>"

C# Template Setting Example (the same template settings and still passed as a string, but the XML structure is more obvious):

string deploymentTemplateSettings =   
  @"<TemplateDescription xmlns:xsi=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"" xmlns:xsd=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"">  
  <CollectionId>SMS00001</CollectionId>  
  <IncludeSub>true</IncludeSub>  
  <AttendedInstall>true</AttendedInstall>  
  <UTC>true</UTC>  
  <Duration>2</Duration>  
  <DurationUnits>Weeks</DurationUnits>  
  <SuppressServers>Unchecked</SuppressServers>  
  <SuppressWorkstations>Unchecked</SuppressWorkstations>  
  <AllowRestart>false</AllowRestart>  
  <Deploy2003>true</Deploy2003>  
  <CollectImmediately>false</CollectImmediately>  
  <LocalDPOption>DownloadAndInstall</LocalDPOption>  
  <RemoteDPOption>DownloadAndInstall</RemoteDPOption>  
  <DisableMomAlert>false</DisableMomAlert>  
  <GenerateMomAlert>false</GenerateMomAlert>  
  <UseRemoteDP>false</UseRemoteDP>  
  <UseUnprotectedDP>false</UseUnprotectedDP>  
  </TemplateDescription>";


Sub CreateSUMDeploymentTemplate(connection,              _  
                                 newTemplateName,         _  
                                 newTemplateDescription,  _  
                                 newTemplateSettings,     _  
                                 newTemplateType)                 

    ' Create the new Template object.  
    Set newSUMTemplate = connection.Get("SMS_Template").SpawnInstance_  

    ' Populate the SMS_Template properties.  
    ' Note: The template name (newTemplateName) must be unique.  
    newSUMTemplate.Name = newTemplateName  
    newSUMTemplate.Description = newTemplateDescription  
    newSUMTemplate.Data = newTemplateSettings  
    newSUMTemplate.Type = newTemplateType  

    ' Save the new template and properties.  
    newSUMTemplate.Put_   

    ' Output the new template name.  
    Wscript.Echo "Created new template: " & newTemplateName                    

 End Sub


public void CreateSUMDeploymentTemplate(WqlConnectionManager connection,  
                                        string newTemplateName,   
                                        string newTemplateDescription,  
                                        string newTemplateSettings,  
                                        int newTemplateType)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        // Create the template object.  
        IResultObject newSUMTemplate = connection.CreateInstance("SMS_Template");  

        // Populate the new template properties.  
        // Note: The template name (newTemplateName) must be unique.  
        newSUMTemplate["Name"].StringValue = newTemplateName;  
        newSUMTemplate["Description"].StringValue = newTemplateDescription;  
        newSUMTemplate["Data"].StringValue = newTemplateSettings;  
        newSUMTemplate["Type"].IntegerValue = newTemplateType;  

        // Save the new template and the new template properties.  
        newSUMTemplate.Put();  

        // Output the new template name.  
        Console.WriteLine("Created template: " + newTemplateName);  
    }  

    catch (SmsException ex)  
    {  
        Console.WriteLine("Failed to create template. Error: " + ex.Message);  
        throw;  
    }  
}

This example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`connection`	- Managed: `WqlConnectionManager` - VBScript: SWbemServices	A valid connection to the SMS Provider.
`newTemplateName`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The new template name. The template name must be unique.
`newTemplateDescription`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The description for the new template.
`newTemplateSettings`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The new template settings. The settings are in an XML structure, stored as a string. CollectionId The collection for the software update deployment. A valid collection ID. IncludeSub Include members of subcollections. `true` `false` AttendedInstall Display software update notifications on clients (false will suppress notifications). `true` `false` UTC Use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) instead of client local time. `true` `false` Duration Duration of the deployment. 1-24 (hours) 1-365 (days) 1-4 (weeks) 1-12 (months) DurationUnits Duration units. hours days weeks months SuppressServers Suppress the system restart on servers. Checked Unchecked SuppressWorkstations Suppress the system restart on workstations. Checked Unchecked AllowRestart Allow system restart outside of maintenance windows (for both servers and workstations). `true` `false` Deploy2003 Deploy software updates to SMS 2003 clients. `true` `false` CollectImmediately (SMS 2003 client specific) Collect hardware inventory immediately after installing software updates. `true` `false` LocalDPOption (SMS 2003 client specific) Specify whether to download the update source files before running the installation when a distribution point is available locally. DownloadAndInstall InstallFromDP RemoteDPOption (SMS 2003 client specific) Specify whether to download the update source files before running the installation when no distribution point is available locally. DownloadAndInstall InstallFromDP DisableMomAlert Disable Operations Manager alerts while software updates run. `true` `false` GenerateMomAlert Generate Operations Manager alert when a software update installation fails. `true` `false` UseRemoteDP Download software updates from use a remote distribution point (even when a client is connected within a slow or unreliable network boundary). `true` `false` UseUnprotectedDP Download software updates from a unprotected distribution point (when updates are not available from any protected distribution point). `true` `false`
`newTemplateType`	- Managed: `Integer` - VBScript: `Integer`	The new template type. Currently the only possible value is: - `0` (SUM_DEPLOYMENT)

Compiling the Code

This C# example requires:

Namespaces

System

System.Collections.Generic

System.Text

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine

Assembly

adminui.wqlqueryengine

microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider

Robust Programming

For more information about error handling, see About Configuration Manager Errors.

.NET Framework Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see Configuration Manager role-based administration.

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