0

I created a Secondary Site using Kaido Jarvemets's PowerShell script from Codeplex which worked great and it is located here:"Automated Configuration Manager Secondary Site server with PowerShell". Then I used the built-in SCCM Copy Packages Wizard and copied over packages from one of my Distribution Points to the Secondary Sites's DP. The Copy Packages Wizard reported successful, but when I go to my Secondary Site server, I cannot find the packages anywhere. I even ran a Report showing the status of all my DPs and it even showed that all my packages are on my Secondary Site DP, but I have NO IDEA where to find them. Can someone help me out here please? Thanks

The_Ratzenator
  • 150
  • 1
  • 2
  • 12

2 Answers2

0

When SCCM leverages a site server as a Distribution Point, it creates hidden shares on the hard disks for package distribution. SCCM will use the drive with the most free space at the time the package was added to the DP. The name of the share begins with SMSPKG, followed by the drive letter and the dollar sign.

Assume the distribution point is sent a package. At the time the package is sent, the E: drive has the largest amount of free space. The package will be stored at the hidden share \\{DistributionPoint}\SMSPKGE$\{PKG_ID}. You can find the package ID by various means, but one method might be, from Powershell:

## where XXX is the site code and SCCMSERVER is the name of your SCCM SERVER

PS X:\> gwmi -namespace 'root\sms\site_XXX' -query 'SELECT name,packageId FROM SMS_PACKAGE' -computer SCCMSERVER|select name,packageid

Hopefully this is helpful.

You can confirm the location of any package in the SCCM console by checking the package status node under the Package object in the Software Distribution node. I have attached a screen shot including the relevant details.

SCCM Package Status Node

Sean C.
  • 954
  • 5
  • 7
  • This is what I thought, but I could not find this under the Shares location in Computer Management. I also created a powershell script and put all my SCCM servers in an array and used the Copy-Item cmdlet and copied the NO_SMS_ON_DRIVE.sms over to all of the C: drives on each server to ensure that SCCM does not create this hidden share on the root of any of their C: drives and since none of them have Branch DPs, but rather Standard DPs, this will work. Thanks for your help, this confirmed what I thought was occurring. I couldn't find any of this info on Microsoft's site at all. – The_Ratzenator Mar 30 '13 at 04:50
  • There is no SMSPKG share on my Secondary Site server at all, but the report shows that packages exists on this DP. Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on? – The_Ratzenator Mar 30 '13 at 05:14
  • I added a screenshot depicting how to find the location of the package sources. – Sean C. Mar 30 '13 at 12:08
  • Sorry man, I totally forgot to mention I checked that already and the install shows pending status, but the report shows that the packages exists, so it is quite confusing. – The_Ratzenator Mar 30 '13 at 17:15
  • If this screen shows pending then the package is NOT installed on the DP. Just because you create a package does not mean a package is distributed. Package creation is the instantiation of an SCCM Package Object. This sets up properties about the package. When you distribute a package, that's the copy process. The screen which shows pending distribution in your case indicates there is a problem copying the package to the Distribution Point. Running a report that shows a package exists just means that you created a package object. – Sean C. Mar 31 '13 at 01:25
  • There is a report called, "All Distribution Points". Run that report. When you get the results, click on the DP where you believe the package should be deployed. If it's shown as pending in the console view, this report will confirm that the package is not installed on that specific DP. I suspect that you'll have some indication of what's going on in the SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER logs. Try the Site Status node under SITE > Component Status > SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER. I would also like to point out that I did answer your original question... and then some. :) – Sean C. Mar 31 '13 at 01:29
  • Okay, that was what I was looking for. I wanted to know why there was an inconsistency between what the report was telling me and what the reality is. – The_Ratzenator Mar 31 '13 at 01:37
0

here is an update and I am actually embarrassed to divulge this, but i had to create my addresses on my Primary Site to communicate with my Secondary Sites. I knew this, but I assumed that PowerShell script i ran did this for me, apparently it did not. Anyway, its working now.

The_Ratzenator
  • 150
  • 1
  • 2
  • 12