| In SMS 1.2 | In SMS 2.0 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Software is distributed to a single client or machine group. | Software is always distributed to a collection.
However, you can create a static collection to distribute
software to a specific client.
If you specify a dynamic collection as the target for software distribution, new clients that meet the collection criteria receive the software distribution. Many tasks that SMS 1.2 performed by sending jobs to clients now occur automatically as a background task on the client. |
|
| Entire machine group membership lists are sent to child sites. | An enumerated list is sent only if the collection
is static or if the child site is a secondary site (has no SMS site
database).
Sending a dynamic collection to a primary site transmits only the collections rules. |
|
| New feature | Distribute Software Wizard guides you through all the steps of software distribution. | This wizard helps you create or specify a package, program, collection, and advertisement. |
| If you had to install software in a particular order, you had to time and monitor the jobs used to install them to ensure that the installation order was observed. | For each program, you can specify other programs
that must run first. You do not need to advertise these programs
separately, so they can all be available at the same time.
When you advertise programs that include dependencies to dynamic collections, any client (including a new one) that meets the collection criteria will receive the programs in the proper order. |
|
| Removing software required submitting a separate job. | You can configure a program to remove a software application or shortcut automatically, when the client is no longer a member of the target collection. | For example, when a member of the Finance user group logs on, you can add an application shortcut to the desktop and remove it when a user who is not a member of the user group logs on. |
| New feature | You can use SMS Installer to create and modify an installation script for any software, set of files, icon, or registry update that you want to deliver to clients. | The installation script permits unattended installation. There is no need to interrupt your end users with installation prompts or rely on them to make the choices you want. |
| The Jobs window provided only limited job status information. | System Status in the SMS Administrator console tree provides summaries for packages and advertisements. | This status information includes success and error messages for every step of the software distribution process; you can filter out the success messages if you prefer. |
Note SMS 2.0 includes many more software distribution improvements, which involve many process and terminology changes. For more details, see Distributing Software to Clients Overview even if you are thoroughly familiar with software distribution in earlier versions of SMS.
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