SMS: How to Reduce SMS Accounts Required for Installation on Large Windows NT Domains

ID: Q235169

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0

SYMPTOMS

In Systems Management Server configurations where many sites share the same domain, a large number of Systems Management Server accounts are created. For each Systems Management Server site, a unique client connection account (SMSClient_XXX) and server connection account (SMSServer_XXX) is created. For example, in a domain where 500 Systems Management Server primary and secondary sites exist, 1,000 client connection and server connection accounts are created.

In such a configuration, you may want to limit the creation of such a large number of accounts.

WORKAROUND

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Systems Management Server 2.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q236325 How to Obtain the Latest Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server 2.0. This problem was first corrected in Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack Service Pack 1.

MORE INFORMATION

Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack 1 provides a Setup command-line method of manually specifying the client connection and server connection accounts that are used in the domain. The accounts must already exist and have the appropriate rights. When the accounts are manually specified, the Setup program does not create the default SMSServer_XXX and SMSClient_XXX accounts.

The following example shows the syntax of the Setup command:


setup /ServerAccount DOMAIN\<account> /ServerPassword <password> /ClientAccount DOMAIN\<account> /ClientPassword <password>

For example, when you install a site, you want the Setup program to use MyDomain\SMSServerAcct (password Elvis1) as the server connection account and MyDomain\SMSClientAcct (password Elvis2) as the client connection account. You can invoke the Setup program using the following syntax:


setup /ServerAccount MyDomain\SMSServerAcct /ServerPassword Elvis1 /ClientAccount MyDomain\SMSClientAcct /ClientPassword Elvis2

However, to use the command-line argument, you must run the Setup program directly from the CD-ROM. Therefore, specifying a pre-created server and client connection account is not possible for remote secondary site Setup.

To specify accounts for a secondary site, create an .ini file called SMSAccountSetup.ini in the %Winnt%\System32 folder of the targeted secondary site server. The .ini file lists the server and client account information in the following format:


[ServerAccount]
Name=SMSServer
Password=Elvis1

[ClientAccount]
Name=SMSClient
Password=Elvis2

When the Setup program starts, it reads the SMSAccountSetup.ini file from the %Winnt%\system32 folder. The accounts specified in the .ini file are treated the same as the /ServerAccount and the /ClientAccount command-line arguments and the default SMSServer_XXX and SMSClient_XXX accounts are not created.

If there is any need to reset a site, run the Setup program with the same command line to manually specify the accounts again:


setup /ServerAccount DOMAIN\<account> /ServerPassword <password> /ClientAccount DOMAIN\<account> /ClientPassword <password>.

Otherwise, the default server and client connection accounts are created.

To change the password for the pre-created server or client connection account, run the Setup program with the same command line as the initial installation (this time specify the new passwords).

NOTE: This installation method only supports passwords up to 14 characters or less in length, even though it is possible to create accounts and passwords that exceed this limit at a command line in Microsoft Windows NT or in the graphical user interface (GUI) with Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information about accounts, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q237759 Avoiding Client Lockouts When Using Client Connection Accounts

Additional query words: prodsms account

Keywords : kbSMS200 kbSMS200bug kbSMS120 kbSMS120bug
Version : winnt:2.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug