In recent days, Microsoft Configuration Manager version 2211 was released; the goal of this article is to provide an overall overview of the main news introduced in this latest release in order to better manage your Configuration Manager infrastructure.
The update is available directly in the console on environments running version 2107 or later releases.
At the time of writing this article, the update appears to be available through the Early update ring channel; in order to add your own infrastructure within this channel, you need to run the Powershell script available at the following link.
The other main changes present in the 2211 release will be reported in the next chapters.
The main changes present in the 2211 release will be reported in the next chapters.
Cloud-Attach
Improvements in Cloud Sync functionality
Version 2211 introduces improvements related to the Cloud Sync functionality especially in throtteling and error handling; a dedicated dashboard has also been added within the Monitoring section to verify its correct status.
The dashboard allows you to view the status of the Cloud Sync component per collection, the respective Azure AD groups, the total count of synchronized members and the details of the last sync.
Site Infrastructure
Check permission on Network Access Account
With a view to adopting the Zero Trust model on all Microsoft products, the Configuration Manager Product Group has introduced a control on the permissions assigned to the Network Access account; in the event that more rights than necessary are assigned, a warning will be signaled informing the administrator to remove the additional permissions assigned to that account.
In case you are using HTTPS or Enhanced-HTTP, it is recommended to remove the Network Access account as it is not used.
Distribution Point content migration
The Distribution Point content migration feature, introduced in preview starting from release 2207, is now available as a production-ready feature; through the Powershell Start-CMDistributionPointMigration command it is possible to migrate the content from one Distribution Point to another and monitor its status; for example, this feature can be used to migrate content from a Cloud Management Gateway classic or from a Cloud Distribution Point (end of support 2024) to another Distribution Point.
Software Center
New Featured tab on Software Center
Inside the Software Center, a new tab called Featured is now available (which can be set as the default tab upon opening) which allows the user to view the apps in the foreground (Featured apps):
From the moment the IT administrator will indicate an application as “featured” it will be visible within this tab in such a way as to encourage the user to install and use the application in the foreground.
At the moment, this feature is only available for apps distributed in Available mode on User collection.
Console
Improvements in the Configuration Manager console
In the 2211 release, further improvements were introduced to the console; the most relevant updates are:
- Search Improvements:
- By default, all subfolders are searched from the moment the selected node contains any; however, it is possible to narrow the search by selecting the “Current Node” option from the search toolbar.
- By selecting the “All Objects” option, available on the ribbon, it is possible to expand the search to include all nodes.
- The dark mode functionality has also been extended to buttons, context menus, links and detail sections such as the O365 Updates and Health Attestation dashboards (the dark mode functionality is still in pre-release therefore activation is required from the Adminstration section).
Conclusions
Configuration Manager version 2211 introduces a series of product improvements that increase the quality and ease of management of the entire infrastructure and help the end user to make better use of the services provided.
Enterprise Mobility Blog 