Key Requirements and Changes for Servicing Window 10

System CenterConfiguration Manager(as-a-Service)

Mark Serafine - Senior Premier Field EngineerMicrosoft Corporation

: Servicing Options

Windows 10 Release Types and Cadences

All new releases that Microsoft publishes for Windows 10 will be cumulative

Feature upgrades - Installs the latest new features, experiences, and capabilities on devices that are already running Windows 10. • Contains an entire copy of Windows and can be used to install Windows 10 on existing devices running Windows 7 or 8.1, and on new devices where no operating system

is installed.• Expected to be published an average of 2-3 times a year.• Since the servicing lifetime of a feature upgrade typically ends when the servicing lifetime of the subsequent feature upgrade begins, the length of servicing lifetimes will

also vary.

Servicing updates - Installs security fixes and other important updates.• Published as needed for any feature upgrades that are still supported, and on Update (Patch) Tuesday. Additional servicing updates for Windows 10 may be published

outside of this monthly cycle when required.

Servicing Option New Feature Upgrade Availability

Minimum Length of Servicing Time

Key Benefits Supported Win10 Editions

Current Branch (CB) Immediately after first published by Microsoft

Approx. 4 months New features are available to users as soon as possible

Home, Pro, Edu, Ent.

Current Branch for Business (CBB)

Approx. 4 months after first published by Microsoft

Approx. 8 months Additional time to test new feature upgrades prior to deployment

Pro, Edu, Ent

Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB)

Immediately after published by Microsoft

10 years Enables long-term deployment of selected Win10 releases in low-change configurations

Enterprise LTSB

Windows-as-a-Service (WaaS)

: Feature Upgrade Release Process

A servicing branch (Servicing Branch #1) is created for every release to produce new releases for approx. one year.• Lifetime depends on when subsequent feature upgrades are published. • Approx. 4 months after publishing feature upgrade, Servicing Branch #1 is used again to republish updated installation media for Windows 10 Pro, Education, and

Enterprise editions.• Updated media contains the exact same feature upgrade as the original media as well as all the servicing updates published since the feature upgrade was first made

available.

A second servicing branch (Servicing Branch #2) is created for producing servicing update releases up to 10 years if the feature upgrade will receive LTSB support.• The time between these releases will vary between 1-3 years, and is strongly influenced by input from customers regarding the readiness of the release for long-term

enterprise deployment.• This media is never published to Windows Update for deployment. Installations of the Enterprise LTSB edition must be performed another way.

Servicing updates are published in a way that determines the Windows 10 editions on which they can be installed. • i.e., servicing updates produced from

a given servicing branch can only be installed on devices running a Windows 10 edition produced from the same servicing branch.

: Current Branch (CB) Servicing

Devices serviced from CBs must install two to three feature upgrades per year to remain current and continue to receive servicing updates.

Feature upgrades are received immediately after they are made publicly available. Windows 10 Home supports Windows Update for release deployment. Window 10 Pro, Education, and Enterprise editions support Windows Update, WSUS, Configuration Manager, and other configuration management systems:

• Windows Update: Devices configured for immediate installation will receive new feature upgrades and servicing updates and targeted as soon as they are published in the Windows Update service.

• WSUS: The same workflows as with Windows Update except releases must be approved before installations begin. • Configuration Manager: Installation media can be obtained from Microsoft to deploy new feature upgrades using standard change control processes. All applicable

servicing updates must be obtained and deployed as well.

: Current Branch for Business (CBB) Servicing

Feature upgrades are deferred for a period of approx. four months after publishing to allow for testing and additional time-in-market to mature. • CBBs will receive servicing updates for approximately twice as many months as CBs, enabling two CBBs to receive servicing support at the same time .

Servicing updates for a feature upgrade after its corresponding CBB reaches the end of its servicing lifetime will not be produced. • Feature upgrade deployments cannot be extended indefinitely. Newer feature upgrades must be deployed before CBBs end.

Supported by Windows 10 Pro, Education, and Enterprise editions through Windows Update, WSUS, Configuration Manager, and other configuration management systems:

• Windows Update: Devices will receive new feature upgrades and servicing updates as soon as they are published in the Windows Update service, targeted to devices configured for deferred installation.

• All servicing updates that are applicable to the feature upgrade running on a device will be installed immediately after being published in the Windows Update service.

• WSUS: The same workflows as with Windows Update except releases must be approved before installations begin.

• Configuration Manager: Installation media can be obtained from Microsoft to deploy new feature upgrades using standard change control processes. All applicable servicing updates must be obtained and deployed as well.

: Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB)

Only servicing updates for the duration of their deployment will be received in order to reduce the number of non-essential changes made to the targeted devices.

Begins when a feature upgrade with long-term support is published and ends after 10 years.

Only the Enterprise LTSB edition supports long-term servicing, which has important differences from other Win10 editions regarding upgradability and feature set.• Reconfiguring an Enterprise LTSB device to run other editions of Windows 10 may require the restoration of data and/or reinstallation of applications after the other

edition has been installed.• Enterprise LTSB does not include the following system and universal apps because new releases of these apps are unlikely to remain compatible with a feature upgrade of

Enterprise LTSB for the duration of its servicing lifetime: • Microsoft Edge, Windows Store Client, Cortana (limited search remains available), Outlook Mail & Calendar, OneNote, Weather, News, Sports, Money, Photos,

Camera, Music and Clock.

Enterprise LTSB supports release deployment using Windows Update, WSUS, Configuration Manager and other configuration management systems:

• Windows Update: Windows Update will install only servicing updates, and do so as soon as they are published in the Windows Update service. Windows Update does not install feature upgrades on devices configured for long-term servicing.

• WSUS: The same workflows as with Windows Update except releases must be approved before installations begin.

• Configuration Manager: Servicing updates should be obtained from Microsoft and deployed as soon as possible.

Configuration Manager 2012 and 2007: Servicing Support

Configuration Manager – Release Versions and Support Limitations

Summary of Windows 10 servicing support in Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2012:

Product Version Release Vehicle Windows 10 Features Supported Windows Servicing Support

System Center 2007 Configuration Manager Compatibility Pack Existing feature included in latest Windows LTSB at point of release (management only, no OSD). Newer features will not be supported.

Windows 10 July 2015 LTSB

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2 CU1AND

System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1 CU1

Service Packs and Cumulative Updates

Support for existing features included in latest Windows LTSB at point of release. Newer features will not be supported.

Windows 10 LTSB 2015, and Windows 10 CB/CBB through February(ish) 2016.

Windows 10 Current Branch/CBB deployments: Upgrading to System Center Configuration Manager will be required to continue deployments of 2016 releases. • If upgrading to System Center Configuration Manager isn’t possible prior to the release of builds after the FEB 2016 (1602) CBB revision of NOV 2015’s CB release (1511),

Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2015 with ConfigMgr 2012 will be required to remain in a supported configuration going forward. Subsequent releases of the Windows 10 Current Branch in 2016 and beyond will not be supported with ConfigMgr 2012.

Summary of Configuration Manager “vNext” options:

Product Version Release Availability Windows Servicing Support

System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch) - CB

4QTR CY2015 Windows 10 CB/CBB/LTSB

System Center 2016 Configuration Manager (Long-Term Servicing Branch) - LTSB

1QTR CY2016 – Inline with other System Center 2016 Products

Windows 10 LTSB

Configuration Manager: New Features and Requirements

Configuration Manager (as-a-Service) – New Feature Summary Calendar years will no longer be included in the name since the new System Center Configuration Manager will be updated frequently. As updates are released,

they will be denoted with a year and a month (YYMM) format. (i.e., 1512 = December 2015)

In-place upgrade from Configuration Manager 2012 to the new Configuration Manager • Migration is required from Configuration Manager 2007. (in-place upgrade is not supported)

Frequent, incremental updates will be released for Configuration Manager. As upgrades for Windows 10 are released, updates for Configuration Manager in support of these upgrades will also be released.

• This is done to provide full support of every edition and servicing configuration of Windows 10.• Each version/update will be supported for 12 months before customers are required to upgrade to the latest version for continued support.

Service Connection Point: New site system role to Configuration Manager • Used by the site to check for and download updates to ConfigMgr. Updates are automatically downloaded.• Replaces the Microsoft Intune connector.• Used for submitting usage and diagnostic (telemetry) data from Configuration Manager. (details on next slide)

Service Connection Tool: An offline tool for use with sites on disconnected networks. (details on slide 10)

Software Center and Application Catalog combined into a single application.

Configuration Manager: New Features and Requirements

Configuration Manager (as-a-Service) – Telemetry Data Telemetry data includes schema details of the Configuration Manager database.

• Microsoft’s privacy statement and EULA both state that PII data is not collected, which creates a legal obligation for Microsoft to comply.• Telemetry data from EACH hierarchy (closed networks as well) will need to be uploaded in order to receive the Feature Upgrades & Servicing updates available for both

Windows 10 (CB/CBB) and Configuration Manager.• NOTE: CB can still be “serviced” (aka Release Ready) w/o using uploaded telemetry data; however, it is not recommended as this will not provide the capability

for updates (including security) to maintain Windows 10 CB configurations in this scenario.• The telemetry data is used for ensuring future releases of ConfigMgr will be a higher quality at a faster cadence. For example, if current telemetry shows that few

customers use Server 2008 or Server 2008 R2 on their site servers, and that German language packs are the most widely used, the focus of additional test efforts can be performed for the server versions and language packs that customers are actually using.

The three levels of data collection that are planned for future releases include:• Basic: includes data about setup and upgrade like the number of sites and which Configuration Manager features are enabled. No personally indefinable information will

be transmitted.• Enhanced (default): includes the data in the Basic setting plus transmits data about the hierarchy, how each feature is used (frequency and duration), and enhanced

diagnostic information like the memory state of your server when a system or app crash occurs. No personally identifiable data will be transmitted.• Full: includes the data in the Basic and Enhanced settings and also sends advanced diagnostic information like system files and memory snapshots. This option may

include personally identifiably information, but we won’t use that information to identify or contact you, or target advertising to you.

Data is hashed as it is being exported.• A one-way hash of the names of tables in SQL is performed at export, and then these hashed table names are used while doing the same hash with the default tables

that are shipped in the product. If the hashes are the same, the table is considered a known, default tables. If the hashes don’t match, the table is considered a custom table created by the customer with an unknown name.

• This provides a determination of the consistency of customers’ SQL schema with what is known to be shipped with the product.

Data retention/lifecycle policy of the telemetry data is currently under development/discussion.

The only “opt-out” option regarding the submission of this telemetry data is to use the LTSB configuration option.

Configuration Manager: New Features and Requirements

Configuration Manager (as-a-Service) – Service Connection Tool Required for keeping offline/disconnected sites up-to-date. This process also requires the upload of usage data to Microsoft.

• Also required for downloading the Servicing Dashboard UI that is required for CBB and its associated servicing plans. (screenshots on next slide)

For disconnected networks, the hashed telemetry data is exported into a CSV file (example below) by the Service Connection Tool. This file is then uploaded to the Microsoft service in the cloud (from a connected network) to begin the feature upgrade and servicing update downloads.

Command Line Switches• -prepare: Prepares the site by gathering user data and creating a .cab file

• Admins can choose the name and location of the .cab • -connect: Connects to the Microsoft service in the cloud, uploads the .cab file and downloads:

• All available ConfigMgr updates • Windows servicing related downloads (feature upgrades and service updates)

• -import: Imports to the console

• -export (optional): Exports the current usage data to a .csv file.

Configuration Manager: New Features and Requirements

Configuration Manager (as-a-Service) – CBB Servicing Dashboard UI

The Servicing Dashboard UI is required for creating/maintaining CBB servicing plans.

The dashboard is downloaded for sites on connected networks through the Service Connection Point site system role, and through the Service Connection Tool for sites on disconnected networks.

TechNet: Windows 10 Servicing Options for Updates and Upgrades • https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt598226(v=vs.85).aspx

ConfigMgr Team Blog (Aaron Czechowski): System Center Configuration Manager: Support for Windows 10 and Microsoft Intune• http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2015/10/27/system-center-configmgr-support-for-win-10-and-intune.aspx

In the Cloud Blog (Brad Anderson): The Future of Configuration Manager• http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/2015/10/27/the-future-of-configuration-manager.aspx

In the Cloud Blog (Brad Anderson): The Incredible Past, Remarkable Present, and Extraordinary Future of ConfigMgr• http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/2015/11/05/the-incredible-past-remarkable-present-and-extraordinary-future-of-configmgr.aspx

TechNet: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager Technical Preview – New Capabilities in Tech Preview 3 (Usage Data)• https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn965439.aspx#BKMK_UsageData

References

Aaron Czechowski – Sr. Program Manager

Kerim Hanif – Sr. Program Manager

Mark Serafine – Sr. Premier Field Engineer

John Rayborn – Sr. Premier Field Engineer

Contributors / Reviewers