SCCM Latest Version

If you are interested in upgrading your present SCCM instance to the latest available SCCM latest version 1806 upgrade, you are at the right place as this section of the article explains to you in a step-by-step manner without missing a single detail. In this article, you will learn about SCCM Latest Version.

Installation of 1806 is not possible if you are currently running SCCM 2012 as the baseline version would be 1802.

In order to install SCCM 1806 as an update on an existing instance, you should at least be running any of the following versions (SCCM 1706, SCCM 1710, or SCCM 1802).

One very important point with regards to 1806 is that it supports only Windows 2012+ operating system and SQL Server 2012 SP3 database.

We would not spend much time running the SCCM 1806 Prerequisite check but it is very much appreciated if you run it before you upgrade, to know of any missing dependencies for your upgrade.

Once this check is done and we are confident that this upgrade can proceed further, we can start with the launch of the 1806 upgrade.

It takes about 45 minutes to do the whole update process and the following are the steps that need to be done as part of the upgrade process.

1. SCCM 1806 Upgrade Guide:

• The 1806 upgrade can be initiated by right-clicking the Configuration Manager 1806 update and selecting the Install Update Pack.
• On the General screen that pops up, click on the Next button.
• Now on the Features tab, you need to click to select the checkboxes against the features that you want to enable during the update process.
• If you’ve gone past this screen without actually choosing any features, you should be able to choose features as shown below - no need to actually worry about the features selection as such:
• Now getting back to the previous point, from the feature selection -> In the Client Update Options tab, we can choose the desired option for your client update. This allows the upgrade process only for the client's member that belongs to a specific collection as such.
• On the next screen, License Terms, you will have to accept the terms and then you’ll need to click on Next.
• On the Summary tab of the installer, you can review your choices made previously and then click Next. Close the wizard on the Completion tab of the installer as such.
• The whole process takes up to a minute but the actual installation begins in the background. During the actual installation process, the State column value changes to Installing as well.
• The process of the upgrade progress can be monitored using the Monitoring / Updates and Servicing Status menu option. On this option, right-click the Update Name and then you can click Show Status. A point to mention here is that the real-time status is not captured here, hence always rely on the Refresh button to update.
• SCCM logs can be obtained from the SCCM Installation directory. The possible path is <SCCM Installation directory>LogsCMUpdate.log using CMTrace.
• On successful completion, you will see a message “There is no pending update package to be processed” in the log files mentioned. The last step in the installation process is Installation Succeeded from Installing.
• Refresh the Updates and Servicing node on the Administration console and check the State column value to get updated as Installed.
• Based on the cumulative updates, consoles are automatically updated. At the time of opening the console, if you’re not running the latest version then you would see an error message like the below.
• Clicking on Ok should restart and start the update process automatically.
• You can wait and check for the whole process to be completed. Alternately, you can cross-check on the logs as well. Once this process is updated, you would now be running the latest version.
• The process to verify the setup completion is to check on the build number and also the version would state Version 1806. A sample screenshot is shown below.
• To check on the Servers, you can traverse to Administration Site Configuration Sites. You can then right-click on your site and choose Properties. On the Properties screen, you check both the Build Number and the Version.
• To update the clients, we can rely on the Client Upgrade feature. For this, you can open the SCCM console and then go to Administration / Site Configurations / Sites.
• Click on the Hierarchy Settings on the topmost ribbon
• Choose the Client Upgrade tab and then you will have to enable the checkbox with the label “Upgrade client automatically when the new client update is available.”
• Review the selections made and also change them based on your needs as well.

2. SCCM 2018 Updates:

SCCM 2018 was a successful release with loads of features and enhancements in the areas of client management, site infrastructure, content management, compliance settings, operating system deployment, application management, reporting, software updates, and configuration manager console.

Following is the thorough list of features that this release has come up with:

• High availability of the site server
• Remote content library configuration for the site server
• Exclusion of Active Directory (AD) from the discovery part
• Enablement of distribution points to use the network congestion control
• HTTP site system is enhanced further
• Cloud Management dashboard
• Improved WSUS (Windows Server Update Service) maintenance
• Enabling content to be downloaded from a CMG (Cloud Management Gateway)
• PXE (Pre-boot eXecution Environment) without WDS (Windows Deployment Service)            

Conclusion:

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2016 helps system administrators to handle client Operating Systems on a large scale with the utmost ease. This tool enables the whole process into a much more convenient way of managing things. It provides features like remote control, patch management, operating system deployment, software distribution, network access protection, application distribution, and inventory management (both Software and Hardware). This article, on the whole, helps the administrators install the required prerequisites and SCCM as well.