Then the next question from this then becomes: Where will you have administrators who use the Patch Manager console? In all sites, or only in the corporate site?
I believe it would be beneficial to have a local console session available for each site, in case additional administrative activities need to be performed from the branch offices. I have been led to believe that no matter which application server you point the console at, you can still get all of the inventory data from all the other management servers. Would you say that my understanding of this is correct? Is my information also correct that any console can be directed to connect to any application server at will and it is not a 1:1 relationship with a specific application server?
I suspect in a Configuration Manager-based six-site environment, additional management servers will not serve any useful purpose.
I'm not sure I follow this logic, could you please explain further? I have six geographically disparate locations that will have clients that that generate inventory data, wouldn't installing a management server in each location allow that information to be stored locally instead of being streamed across the WAN back to the data center? Is there a down-side to this configuration?
if you are managing Software Updates from each side independently, there may be value in having an on-site application role server.
Does this mean that if I install an application server at each site I lose the ability to manage updates centrally, or are you simply stating that unless each site is managed independently, it is of no advantage to install the application role in each site?
However, it is the specific question of performing WMI-based Managed Computer Inventories, and/or other client-management tasks,
that will directly drive the need, or lack thereof, to deploy Automation Role servers in the remote sites.
Are there any disadvantages of installing the automation role, but not utilizing it? Does it cause a large additional (and possibly unneeded) overhead if automaton is installed, but not used?
Back to the questions regarding the database installation:
- Does Patch Manager support being installed on SQL Express 2012 or do I need to use 2008?
- If WSUS and Patch Manager (all roles) are installed on the same box, would it be better to leave WSUS running on WID and Patch Manager under SQL Express, or should both databases be running under SQL Express?