SCE 2007 Computer not yet contacted

I have just installed Microsoft System Centre Essentials 2007 and the one server that I would have thought would appear in the console correctly (The SCE Server itself) did not.  When looking at the console the computer appears as unknown with a status of not yet contacted.  This indicates that the Windows Update Agent on the client has not yet contacted the SCE server.  To force this:

1.  First, check that the client is configured to use the SCE server for Windows Updates.  The following registry entries should be set to https://<SCEServerFQDN>:8531

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\windows\WindowsUpdate\WUServer

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\windows\WindowsUpdate\WUStatusServer

2.  If the above registry keys are not set correctly, and you are using the Domain Group Policy option, run “gpupdate /force” to refresh the settings.

3.  Once the above registry key is correct, you can force the client to contact the server by running “wuauclt -detectnow” on the client.

Citrix Certified Administrator

Well, after a few weeks of long study, I passed the Citrix Certified Administrator Exam (1Y0-259) Presentation Server 4.5 Administration.

The bizzar thing about it is that I completed the exam thinking that I failed, but when the “Congratulations You Passed” appeared on the screen I was extatic!!  Like most Citrix documents and practice exams that I have read, this exam suffered from being vague in a lot of areas which lead to my lack of confidence.

All that aside I passed and now I have to start studying for (1Y0-327) Password Manager 4.5.  This one will be more difficult as I have never installed it in a real world situation and I don’t think I ever will…….

Enabling Remote Citrix Access Management Console Connections

It is often useful to remotely manage your Citrix server farm from your desktop or a management workstation, the only issue is that in a Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 farm installed on Windows Server 2003, remote connections are disabled by default.

The Citrix Access Management console used COM+ to communicate to the server farm as as such Network COM+ connections need to be enabled.  To enable this follow these steps on each of the Citrix servers you will connect to:

1. Click Start then select Control Panel
2. Double click Add Remove Programs
3. Select Add Remove Windows Components
4. Highlight Application Server and click Details
5. Tick Enable Network COM+ Access and click OK then Next to install
6. Once installed click Finish
Now that Network COM+ is enabled on the Windows Server you will be able to successfully run discovery from your management workstation.