Hello Everyone! We will soon be deploying a bunch of new computers in our office environment. These computers will replace the current workstations our users are working on, and the old workstations will be retired (they will not return to operation inside the office). There are numerous groups of these computers which require specific software, and are currently within the correct collections. Ideally, we would like the new computer, after OSD, to automatically be assigned to the same collections that the old computer (that it is replacing) is currently assigned to. I would like to think something like this is fairly straightforward to accomplish, but we're not sure how. Our first instinct would be to simply name the new computer with the same host name as the old PC, but this doesn't seem to work (it seems to create a second entry in SCCM for that computer, rather than update the original computer account). What would be the best/easiest way to accomplish? We're hoping we don't have to manually reassign each new PC to their specific collections as necessary (some collections are populated via active directory groups, most are populated via Direct assignment of "System" > "Name"). Thank you for your time and have a great day!

Names do not uniquely identify client systems in ConfigMgr and thus just naming the systems the same doesn't do anything in and of itself. However, the real question is how do you expect ConfigMgr to make the connection between an old system and a new system? The first possibility is to stop using direct membership rules and instead use query based rules to add systems to collection sbased upon their names. Then when you add a new system with the same name as an old system, it will automatically be in the same collections. You could write a script to convery all of your direct membership rules to query-based rules. Alternatively, you could write a different script that you ran periodically to create new rules for like named systems in the same collection. Finally, you could write a script similar to the one just described but instead ran during the task sequence that finds all resources with the same name and creates new rules in the same collection as the old resource for the new, like-named resource. The first option above is the easiest to implement and most flexible in the long run.Jason | http://blog.configmgrftw.com | Twitter @JasonSandys

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Jason! It seemed to me that perhaps the best course of action was to change the current membership rules to be a little more flexible. I believe we'll end up going with your first suggestion. I'm curious: you mention creating a query-based rule to add a system to a collection based upon its name. Would this also be accomplished by using the "System" > "Netbios Name" direct membership rule? It had not occurred to me that we could change collection membership rules via script. I'm new to the scripting/query side of SCCM, and would love any tips or examples which may be available (or a resource to assist in sending me in the right direction). Thank you very much for your time. All help is very much appreciated!

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Jason! It seemed to me that perhaps the best course of action was to change the current membership rules to be a little more flexible. I believe we'll end up going with your first suggestion. I'm curious: you mention creating a query-based rule to add a system to a collection based upon its name. Would this also be accomplished by using the "System" > "Netbios Name" direct membership rule? It had not occurred to me that we could change collection membership rules via script. I'm new to the scripting/query side of SCCM, and would love any tips or examples which may be available (or a resource to assist in sending me in the right direction). Thank you very much for your time. All help is very much appreciated!

Another question as I ponder over things: is it possible to add a computer to collections based upon the collection membership of another computer? For instance: We have a computer called OLDCPU. A new computer with completely new hardware ("NEWCPU") is brought in to replace OLDCPU. When performing Import Computer Information, is it possible to have "NEWCPU" automatically inherit all the collection memberships of OLDCPU? If I understand things correctly, the Computer Association does not do this?

Let's assume the structure is built this way Computer --> Member of AD Group --> Member of SCCM Collection. You need a query(Just a one line query) for any computer which is a member of AD group will eventually become member of SCCM Collection. Next, you have a script to clone a computer account in AD and create new one with new name. In future when you plan for deployments, run the script which will create new computer accounts in AD, and as the accounts are cloned you get the AD membership and thereby right computer becomes member of right SCCM Collections. Alhough you have initial setup work, will be very helpful in long run. Hope this helps.

Let's assume the structure is built this way Computer --> Member of AD Group --> Member of SCCM Collection. You need a query(Just a one line query) for any computer which is a member of AD group will eventually become member of SCCM Collection. Next, you have a script to clone a computer account in AD and create new one with new name. In future when you plan for deployments, run the script which will create new computer accounts in AD, and as the accounts are cloned you get the AD membership and thereby right computer becomes member of right SCCM Collections. Alhough you have initial setup work, will be very helpful in long run. Hope this helps.