Active Directory Integration

SMS 2003 is able to publish data in the Active Directory database. Active Directory data is used by advanced clients so that they can discover Management Points and Distribution Points on the network. For SMS data to be published, the Active Directory schema needs to be extended. Once that is done, the SMS Service will try to publish data to the System Management container inside the System container. The SMS Service account (or the SMS Site Server computer account when using advanced security) must have Read, Write, Create All Child Objects, and Delete All Child Objects rights to this container.

The Active Directory schema can be extended for SMS before installation, during installation, or after installation. During schema extension the following classes and attributes are created:

Classes:

MS-SMS-Management-Point
MS-SMS-Server_Locator-Point
MS-SMS-Site
MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range

Attributes:

MS-SMS-Site-Code
MS-SMS-Assignment-Site-Code
MS-SMS-Site-Boundaries
MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundaries
MS-SMS-Default-MP
MS-SMS-Device-Management-Point
MS-SM-MP-Name
MS-SMS-MP-Address
MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-Low
MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-High

Note

SMS 2003 does not require the Active Directory schema to be extended, or even the use of Active Directory. If Active Directory is not present, or the schema is not extended, advanced clients will use data published in a WINS Server for site system discovery. Therefore, in a non–Active Directory environment, WINS is required for SMS to function properly.