Tag Archives: MEMCM

Why Cloud Management Gateway Is So Important Now

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With the prevailing global situation requiring more and more people to work from home, businesses need to ensure that productivity does not suffer. And to do that, you need to effectively manage remote devices. Hence the need for technology such as the Cloud Management Gateway (CMG).

By utilizing the CMG, your business has an alternative to IBCM that most would consider a significant upgrade. This creates a favorable environment that allows your organization to eliminate the obstacles of having a remote workforce. Needless to say but the CMG can play a massive role in your organization and its importance is certainly worth discussing.

Requirements

Before you can use the Cloud Management Gateway you need to meet the following requirements:

  • An Azure subscription to host the CMG,
  • You need a Full administrator or Infrastructure administrator user account in Configuration Manager,
  • During the initial creation of certain components, the participation of an Azure admin is needed,
  • You need at least one on-premises Windows server to host the CMG connection point,
  • A server authentication certificate for the CMG,
  • There needs to be an integration of the site with Azure AD to deploy the service with Azure Resource Manager,
  • Depending on your client OS version and authentication model, other certificates may be required,
  • Clients are required to use IPv4.

When is it useful?

There are several scenarios where the CMG could come in handy and they include the following:

  • For management of traditional Windows 10 clients using modern identity which can either be hybrid or pure cloud domain-joined with Azure AD.
  • For management of traditional Windows clients with Active Directory domain-joined identity. The clients included are Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
  • For installation of the Configuration Manager client on Windows 10 devices over the internet.
  • For new device provisioning with co-management.

Benefits to your business

CMG enables your Enterprise admins to perform several actions. Among the things they can do, they can manage the following over the internet:

  • Push software updates and enable endpoint protection,
  • Inventory and client status,
  • Compliance settings,
  • Software distribution,
  • Windows 10 in-place upgrades,
  • Manage branch office devices over less expensive internet instead of across expensive WAN or VPN connections.

Eliminates complications

Although Internet-based client management (IBCM) has been around for years, a lot of users tend to find it complicated. CMG aims to be a simpler solution. It is an Azure-hosted service that manages internet-based clients through a new role called the cloud management gateway connector point.

By adding the CMG to your environment, you’ll get an intermediary cloud solution. And this can be your bridge to a full cloud management solution of your Windows 10 devices through Microsoft Intune.

Also, your organization doesn’t need to expose on-premises infrastructure to the internet and neither will you require additional infrastructure. So by using the CMG, you get rid of a lot of what users don’t like about IBCM.

Manage internet clients

Cloud Management Gateway helps you to easily and effectively manage clients that are on the internet. Often, there are going to be events in your environment that will require a swift response.

However, previously this was problematic for clients that would not be currently on-premises. By leveraging the CMG, you can manage clients all over the world as long as they have an internet connection.

Furthermore, it doesn’t require you to buy any additional IT infrastructure. So unlike IBCM that would need additional hardware that you need to maintain, for the CMG you just need to have Azure.

Strengthen your security

The moment you have systems that are not directly connected to your IT infrastructure, your data security is at an increased risk. This is particularly evident with remote work.

Although a lot of businesses have responded by using VPNs, you cannot adequately protect workstations through VPN channels. Hence the importance of the Cloud Management Gateway.

With it, you can better manage devices connected to the Internet and thus improve your corporate security posture. This is further enhanced by the fact that you can leverage Microsoft Azure services so that there is no need to expose your infrastructure to the internet.

Cost management

Whenever you use cloud services, you will incur costs associated with your usage. And the Cloud Management Gateway is no exception. Fortunately for clients, Microsoft intends to help you to keep those costs under control. You can do this through client settings, for instance, where you can determine which clients can access the CMG.

Another feature you can leverage is virtual machine configuration. The latter enables you to choose between 1 and 16 virtual machines per instance of Cloud Management Gateway. Also, if you want to, you can stop the CMG so that it’s no longer serving clients.

Therefore, to optimize user experience for all clients, the CMG helps to reduce the unavoidable costs that come with cloud services.

Constantly evolving

Another reason why the CMG is so important is how the technology is constantly evolving. There has been a lot of innovation taking place such as the ability to automatically do a client install through the CMG.

This is a great option to have because it eliminates the need for the client to be on the intranet. In addition, the platform is adaptable to your organization’s needs. So it can handle several scenarios such as:

  • Traditional PC management (Windows 7, 8.1, 10),
  • Modern PC management (Windows 10 with modern identity),
  • Internet client installs.

Wrap up

Every organization should be looking for ways to make the most of its IT investments. Thus from the information available, we can see that every environment that uses ConfigMgr can benefit from using the Cloud Management Gateway. And you can leverage the CMG for clients all across the globe. The convenience that this provides you cannot be overstated. As the world changes and technology evolves, we need platforms that can help organizations to become more efficient and enhance productivity.

Microsoft Endpoint Manager: Benefits of Being Able to View Hardware Inventory in MEM

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In July 2020, Microsoft announced the release of update 2007 for the Technical Preview Branch of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM). And with that, came a feature that now allows you to view hardware inventory for a tenant-attached Configuration Manager device in the admin center. With most pieces of hardware in offices today being connected to the internet, being able to view hardware inventory is extremely important. Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM) now offers that capability and thus gives your business several advantages.

Getting set up

Before you can use this feature, there are several requirements that you will need to meet:

  • You need to have an environment that’s tenant attached with uploaded devices,
  • You need either Microsoft Edge (version 77 and later) or Google Chrome,
  • You need a user account that has been discovered with both Active Directory user discovery and Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) user discovery. Simply put, this means that the user account should be a synced user object in Azure.

In addition, the user account will require the following permissions:

  • Admin User role for the Configuration Manager Microservice application in Azure AD. This role will be added in Azure AD from:

Enterprise applications  >  Configuration Manager Microservice  >  Users and groups  >  Add user.

If you have Azure AD premium, groups will be supported.

Network security

The security of your network should be something of great concern. Especially in a world where cybercrime is increasing at an alarming rate. Having said that, we can begin to see why a hardware inventory in MEM feature could come in very handy.

Keeping track of all the hardware in your organization is no mean feat. Particularly for businesses that have also employed bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.

You need to have a system that can readily provide you with the necessary information on all devices. This helps your IT team to maintain high levels of network security, prevent breaches, and manage any potential issues that may arise.

Optimize productivity

By leveraging the hardware inventory feature in Microsoft Endpoint Manager, you can keep track of how devices are performing. The last thing your business needs is to have computers worth tens of thousands of dollars operating at subpar levels.

With accurate information on hardware inventory, you can easily see how the devices in your organization are performing. You can then address any issues that may arise to streamline productivity from top to bottom. If you are going to invest in expensive, high-tech devices, you need them to operate as they should.

Reduce overhead costs with Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Well-managed IT infrastructure can help your organization to reduce overhead costs. The ability to view hardware inventory in MEM is going to give IT a bird’s eye view of all your IT infrastructure. And this enables you to effectively manage all hardware from procurement till retirement.

Doing this will cut your costs by doing away with issues such as IT overspend and non-compliance. Working in this manner will fully optimize your productivity, as mentioned above.

Lifecycle management

MEM’s view hardware inventory feature helps you to keep track of hardware from purchase, how it is used, and finally to its retirement. With this kind of actionable data readily available, it simplifies the decisions you make in the future. such as new purchases and upgrades.

Moreover, you can easily keep track of contracts with vendors. This is especially helpful to know when to renew those contracts or make purchase orders. All these things add significant benefits to your business by increasing operational efficiency while minimizing risks.

Enhance IT efficiency

If there is anything that is abundantly clear from what your organization will gain from MEM’s view hardware feature it’s that it will simplify life for IT teams. Significantly. With the data available to them, it makes it far less likely for any issues to arise during audits. Also, it creates less workload by eliminating the need for manual tracking and scanning of devices. Your IT department will inevitably operate more efficiently by being able to easily keep tabs on all hardware.

Asset protection and Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Another key advantage that comes with being able to keep track of your organization’s hardware is increased asset protection. Keeping track of devices allows you to not only get performance-related data but location data as well.

And having this information will help to mitigate the risk of loss or theft of devices. Therefore, utilizing the view hardware inventory in MEM tool helps your organization to easily stay on top of the work status of an asset, its physical location, and disposition.

Better overall governance

Viewing hardware inventory is going to give you an increased degree of visibility. Because of the accurate data at your disposal concerning your IT infrastructure, you’ll have a better handle of key assets. Therefore, they are less likely to be misplaced, misused, or underutilized.

And so with all these advantages, it simplifies the process of coming up with more effective governance protocols. This is something that will hugely benefit the entire organization from top to bottom and not just your IT department.

Keeping track of assets with Microsoft Endpoint Manager

There’s no denying that keeping tabs on your hardware is just as essential and important as the software management side of things. After all, technology is a huge investment for any business. And so how you keep track of your hardware will inevitably affect your bottom line.

Having real-time, accurate information about your assets goes a long way in the optimization of productivity. Not to mention enhancing the overall security of your business. Viewing hardware inventory in Microsoft Endpoint Manager is an incredible tool that should help your business become more efficient. The benefits are clear for us all to see.