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How to Create Global Conditions in Configuration Manager

 

Updated: October 9, 2015

Applies To: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1

In System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, global conditions are rules that represent business or technical conditions that you can use to specify how an application is provided and deployed to client devices. You can create global conditions from the Global Conditions node of the Configuration Manager console or from within the Create Deployment Type Wizard. Global conditions are accessed from the Requirements page of the Create Deployment Type Wizard.

Note

You can only edit global conditions from the site where they were created.

Use the following procedures to create Configuration Manager global conditions.

Provide Basic Information about the Global Condition

Several different types of global conditions are available. Different options are associated with the different global condition types. When you select a specific global condition type, Configuration Manager displays the options that apply to your selection.

To provide basic information about the global condition

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, click Software Library.

  2. In the Software Library workspace, expand Application Management, and then click Global Conditions.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click Create Global Condition.

  4. In the Create Global Condition dialog box, provide a name and an optional description for the global condition.

  5. In the Device type drop-down list, choose whether the global condition is for a Windows computer, Windows Mobile device, or a Nokia device.

  6. In the Condition Type drop-down list, choose one of the following options:

    - **Setting** – This option checks for the existence of one or more items on client devices. For example, you can check that a particular file, folder, or registry key value exists on a client device.

- **Expression** – This option allows you to configure more complex rules to determine if the condition is satisfied on client devices. For example, you can determine if the physical memory on a computer is between 2 GB and 4 GB or to determine if a mobile device uses touch screen input.

Configure Rules for the Global Condition

The procedure for defining the global condition rules is different depending on whether you are configuring a setting or an expression. Use the applicable procedure here to configure a setting or an expression for the global condition.

To configure a setting for the global condition

  1. In the Condition Type drop-down list, choose Setting.

  2. In the Setting type drop-down list, choose the item to use as the condition for which requirements will be checked. The following setting types are available.

    Setting type

    More information

    Active Directory query

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • LDAP prefix - Specify a valid LDAP prefix to the Active Directory Domain Services query to assess compliance on client computers. You can use either LDAP:// or GC://.

    • Distinguished Name (DN) - Specify the distinguished name of the Active Directory Domain Services object that will be assessed for compliance on client computers.

    • Search filter - Specify an optional LDAP filter to refine the results from the Active Directory Domain Services query to assess compliance on client computers.

    • Search scope - Specify the search scope in Active Directory Domain Services:

      • Base - Queries only the object specified.

      • One Level - This option is not used in this version of Configuration Manager.

      • Subtree - Queries the object specified and its complete subtree in the directory.

    • Property - Specify the property of the Active Directory Domain Services object that will be used to assess compliance on client computers.

    • Query - Displays the LDAP query that is constructed from the entries in LDAP prefix, Distinguished name (DN), Search Filter if specified and Property. This query will be used to assess compliance on client computers.

    Assembly

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Assembly name: Specifies the name of the assembly object to search for. The name cannot be the same as any other assembly object of the same type and the name must be registered in the Global Assembly Cache. The assembly name can be a maximum of 256 characters long.

    Note

    An assembly is a piece of code that can be shared between applications. Assemblies can have the file name extension .dll or .exe. The Global Assembly Cache is a folder named %systemroot%\assembly on client computers in which all shared assemblies are stored.

    File system

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Type – From the drop-down list, select whether you want to search for a File or a Folder.

    • Path - Specify the path to the specified file or folder on client computers. You can specify system environment variables and the %USERPROFILE% environment variable in the path.

      Note

      If you use the %USERPROFILE% environment variable in the Path or File or folder name fields, all user profiles on the client computer will be searched. This could result in the discovery of multiple instances of the file or folder.

    • File or folder name - Specify the name of the file or folder object that will be searched for. You can specify system environment variables and the %USERPROFILE% environment variable in the file or folder name. You can also use the wildcards * and ? in the filename.

      Note

      If you specify a file or folder name and use wildcards, this might produce a high numbers of results. This could result in high resource use on the client computer and also high network traffic when reporting results to Configuration Manager.

    • Include subfolders – Enable this option if you also want to search any subfolders under the specified path.

    • This file or folder is associated with a 64-bit application - Choose whether the 64-bit system file location (%windir%\system32) should be searched in addition to the 32-bit system file location (%windir%\syswow64) on Configuration Manager clients that run a 64-bit version of Windows.

      Note

      If the same file or folder exists in both the 64-bit and 32-bit system file locations on the same 64-bit computer, multiple files will be discovered by the global condition.

    The File system setting type does not support specifying a UNC path to a network share in the Path field.

    IIS metabase

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Metabase path - Specify a valid path to the IIS Metabase.

    • Property ID - Specify the numeric property of the IIS Metabase setting.

    Registry key

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Hive – From the drop-down list, select the registry hive that you want to search in.

    • Key - Specify the registry key name that you want to search for. The format used should be key\subkey.

    • This registry key is associated with a 64-bit application - Specifies whether the 64-bit registry keys should be searched in addition to the 32-bit registry keys on clients that run a 64-bit version of Windows.

      Note

      If the same registry key exists in both the 64-bit and 32-bit registry locations on the same 64-bit computer, both registry keys will be discovered by the global condition.

    Registry value

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Hive - From the drop-down list, select the registry hive that you want to search in.

    • Key - Specify the registry key name that you want to search for. The format used should be key\subkey.

    • Value – Specify the value that must be contained within the specified registry key.

    • This registry key is associated with a 64-bit application - Specifies whether the 64-bit registry keys should be searched in addition to the 32-bit registry keys on clients that run a 64-bit version of Windows.

      Note

      If the same registry key exists in both the 64-bit and 32-bit registry locations on the same 64-bit computer, both registry keys will be discovered by the global condition.

    Script

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Discovery script – Click Add to enter, or browse to the script to use. You can use Windows PowerShell, VBScript or JScript scripts.

    • Run scripts by using the logged on user credentials – If you enable this option, the script will run on client computers by using the logged on users credentials.

      Note

      The value returned by the script will be used to assess the compliance of the global condition. For example, when you use VBScript, you could use the command WScript.Echo Result to return the Result variable value to the global condition.

      If your script returns multiple values, these values must be on a single line, separated with a semi-colon. If each value is on a separate line, the evaluation will fail.

    SQL query

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • SQL Server instance – Choose whether you want the SQL query to run on the default instance, all instances, or a specified database instance name.

      Note

      The instance name must refer to a local instance of SQL Server. To refer to a clustered SQL server instance, you should use a script setting.

    • Database - Specify the name of the Microsoft SQL Server database for which the SQL query will be run.

    • Column - Specify the column name returned by the Transact-SQL statement to use to assess the compliance of the global condition.

    • Transact-SQL statement – Specify the full SQL query to use for the global condition. You can also click Open to open an existing SQL query.

    WQL query

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Namespace - Specify the WMI namespace that will be used to build a WQL query that will be assessed for compliance on client computers. The default value is Root\cimv2.

    • Class - Specifies the WMI class that will be used to build a WQL query that will be assessed for compliance on client computers.

    • Property - Specifies the WMI property that will be used to build a WQL query that will be assessed for compliance on client computers.

    • WQL query WHERE clause - You can use the WQL query WHERE clause item to specify a WHERE clause to be applied to the specified namespace, class, and property on client computers.

    XPath query

    Configure the following for this setting type:

    • Path - Specify the path to the XML file on client computers that will be used to assess compliance. Configuration Manager supports the use of all Windows system environment variables and the %USERPROFILE% user variable in the path name.

    • XML file name - Specify the file name containing the XML query to use to assess compliance on client computers.

    • Include subfolders - Enable this option if you also want to search any subfolders under the specified path.

    • This file is associated with a 64-bit application - Choose whether the 64-bit system file location (%windir%\system32) should be searched in addition to the 32-bit system file location (%windir%\syswow64) on Configuration Manager clients that run a 64-bit version of Windows.

    • XPath query - Specify a valid full XML path language (XPath) query to use to assess compliance on client computers.

    • Namespaces - Opens the XML Namespaces dialog box to identify namespaces and prefixes to use during the XPath query.

  3. In the Data type drop-down list, choose the format in which data will be returned by the condition before it is used to check requirements.

    Note

    The Data type drop-down list is not displayed for all setting types.

  4. Configure further details about this setting below the Setting type drop-down list. The items you can configure will vary depending on the setting type you have selected.

  5. Click OK to save the rule and to close the Create Global Condition dialog box.

To configure an expression for the global condition

  1. In the Condition Type drop-down list, choose Expression.

  2. Click Add Clause to open the Add Clause dialog box.

  3. From the Select category drop-down list, select whether this expression is for a device or a user. Alternatively, select Custom to use a previously configured global condition.

  4. From the Select a condition drop-down list, select the condition to use to assess whether the user or device meets the rule requirements. The contents of this list will vary depending on the selected category.

  5. From the Choose operator drop-down list, choose the operator that will be used to compare the selected condition to the specified value to assess whether the user or device meets the rule requirements. The available operators will vary depending on the selected condition.

  6. In the Value field, specify the values that will be used with the selected condition and operator to assess whether the user or device meets the rule requirements. The available values will vary depending on the selected condition and the selected operator.

  7. Click OK to save the expression and to close the Add Clause dialog box.

  8. When you have finished adding clauses to the global condition, click OK to close the Create Global Condition dialog box and to save the global condition.