In Part I we completed the preparation of Active Directory, along with our SCCM Management Point and SQL Server. In Part II we setup the SCCM Certificate templates, created Group Policies for our clients, and setup all of the proper certificates on our SCCM Management Point. Now we have finally reached the point here in Part III where we will be actually performing the installation of System Center Configuration Manager 2012, so let’s begin.

RDP to your SCCM MP and launch the splash HTML Application from the SCCM 2012 ISO file.

I am using a freeware utility MagicDisc to mount my ISO files. More information on this software here: http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-history.htm

The first thing we are going to want to do is click the Get the latest Configuration Manager updates. You will be prompted where to save the files, I have a hard drive attached to this server for data and applications, so I will be saving these files there in a folder called “ConfigMgr_Updates”. Then click Download.

These updates can be stored in a network location or locally on the machine. I will be saving these files locally.

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and relax as it will take a while to download all of the updates, depending on your network connection. The setupdl.exe shell will keep you updated and give you specifics on the download as it progresses real-time.

Once that completes, I recommend you run the Assess server readiness option as well, just as another check before proceeding with the installation.

When the check completes, you should only have the below results, they all relate to SQL Server. This is fine as we will be running SQL on another server and that is why they are failing. This check will be ran again as part of the installation at the end. If you encounter any issues, you should troubleshoot them before proceeding.

Now you will need to click the Install option on the splash screen as we’ll begin the installation. Then you will be greeted with the first page of the Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Setup Wizard. Read over the information and click Next.

Next, we have the available setup options. We will be selecting the Install a Configuration Manager primary site. Do not check the typical installation checkbox. We will not be following that template.

Enter your license key here or enter it later, I’ll be entering this later. You will have 180 days to validate your product key.

Read through and accept the license agreement terms.

Next you will need to accept license terms for SQL 2008 R2 Express, SQL 2008 Native Client, and Silverlight 4. Even though we are not running our SQL database for SCCM here, it will still need to install features from the Express installer locally.

Next we will point the installer to the updates we downloaded earlier. If you jumped ahead of me did not download them before, you’ll need to do so at this time. Click Next and the installer will validate your download files and proceed.

Specify any additional languages you may need for both your Server and Clients in the next two steps:

The next step is very important. You will need to enter your Site Code and Site Name. In this installation I will be using “003”. I used code “001” in my production environment and code “002” in my development environment. Both setups are Primary Standalone configurations and completely independent of one another. As I mentioned earlier, I like keeping things organized ;)

For the Site Code you can use any combination of three letters and/or numbers. Make sure this is something that you are ok with making permanent. You can change it, but it’s not pretty.

See SCCM guru Anoop’s blog post on editing the site control file. You’ll want to avoid this situation if possible.:

http://anoopcnair.com/2012/05/23/configmgr-sccm-2012-how-to-edit-site-control-sitectrl-file/

I am also going to install SCCM to my secondary drive; however, you can install it on your primary drive if you would like. Make sure you leave the checkbox checked as we want the console installed for sure.

Next we choose, Install the primary site as a stand-alone site. When you click next, you will get a dialog box warning you that you will be unable to join this site to a hierarchy. That’s fine for our scenario.

Next you will need to specify the name of the SQL Server, the Instance, the Database Name you want to create, and SQL Service Broker Port. If you’ve been following my guide to this point, you already have a SQL Server ready.

Server name – Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the remote SQL server
Instance name – Leave blank, unless you are utilizing a named instance
Database name – I would leave the default here, CM_(SiteCode), again for organizational purposes this makes sense.
SSB Port – We have already opened the broker port in Part I, if this fails, make sure you have a firewall rule to allow 4022 from your SCCM MP on your SQL Server. See Part I if you need assistance.

Next you will need to specify the Systems Management Server (SMS). This will be the local host we are running the installation on, our MP.

Next, on the Client Computer Communication Settings, we will leave the default here, All site system roles accept only HTTPS communication from clients.

You will then receive another dialog box that says, “Hey, you better make sure your certs are configured correctly, otherwise SCCM won’t work”. We spent a lot of time and effort configuring the certificate infrastructure in Part II, so we’re confident we can proceed.

Next, we will specify where to install the Management and Distribution Points. We will be installing these on our SCCM standalone server. This is the default setting, so click Next to continue.

Make a selection on whether or not to join the Customer Experience Improvement Program.

Next you are provided with a Settings Summary. Here is a complete breakdown of what we’ve configured during the installation.

Before we click Next, let’s review all of the Setup Components.

Setup Type – Primary site installation, we decided this from the onset of the project.

Site Code – 003, My setup, Production is “001”, and Dev is “002”, I am using 003 as a Test. Make sure you are completely comfortable with your choice.

Site Name – Gabriel Testing Site, again this is for testing. Use something descriptive to your environment. This will correlate to a field later in the SCCM console.

Role Communication Protocol – HTTPS only, we setup PKI in Part II, and we want to comply with any possible security standards and have traffic and communication encrypted.

Client Use PKI Certificate – This says No here, but we’ve set this MP to only accept HTTPS for all roles globally. In Part II, we configured clients with certificates via GP, so both the client and server are configured correctly.

Product Key – EVAL, this will need to be updated with a license key within 180 days.

Installation Directory – S:\System Center\Configuration Manager, this can be on your C: partition if you would like

External File Folder – S:\ConfigMgr_Updates, these are the files we downloaded before we began the installation

SQL Server – FQDN to remote SQL server

SSB Port – 4022, we opened this in Part I

Database Name – CM_003, (CM_SiteCode) Leaving the default for me makes sense

SMS Provider – SCCM server

Management Point – SCCM server

Protocol for Management Point – HTTPS, all HTTPS throughout the environment

Distribution Point – SCCM server

Protocol for Distribution Point – HTTPS, again secure communication

Enable All Languages for Mobile Devices – No, this was unnecessary for me as I will have no mobile devices checking in.

Click Next to run the Prerequisite Check.

Notice we have some items flagged here, but none of them are show-stoppers. Lets look at them:

These warnings are both related to SQL Server memory. It suggests that I configure a memory limit and then suggests that I need more RAM for my Management Point and remote SQL Server. In my case this SQL server will only be used for SCCM in testing. I will flag this and will configure this later if I notice any performace issues. In my production environment I would configure this with much more RAM that the 4GB I have in testing and configure memory limits. This is done from within SQL Server Management Studio. Here is where you would set this:

Now we will click Begin Install. It’s time to refresh that coffee cup again, as this installation will take some time to complete.

The installation is now complete. If you do encounter any errors, click the View Log as this contains all of the logging information on your SCCM installation.

Now let’s launch the Configuration Manager Console. Navigate to Start > Programs > Microsoft System Center 2012 > Configuration Manager > Configuration Manager Console.

Congratulations! You’ve installed System Center Configuration Manager 2012. There is still much left to do within the console, but first since this is just the installation walkthrough, let’s install the CM console on another computer in the domain.

Just like other System Center Products, such as Virtual Machine Manager, the Configuration Manger administration console can be installed on remote machines for remote administration.

First you need to either mount the ISO on your remote management machine or make the installation files available on a shared network location and launch the splash.hta file.

This time we will need to select Install Configuration Manager console.

Enter the FQDN of your SCCM Server:

Default installation should be fine in most cases.

Configure Customer Experience settings.

Then click Install.

A few minutes later the installation will complete and we’ll now be able to launch the console.

You’ll be greeted with the same console, just as you were on the SCCM server itself. I highly recommend installing the console on your workstation and connecting to CM that way as opposed to directly accessing the server. The only exception to this would be if you have a high-latency connection to your MP, in which case you should RDP to the server and manage it directly from there.

This concludes Part III. In Part IV we will begin the setup of the Boundaries, the Discovery jobs, along with further configuration of the Distribution Point.