SCCM - System Center Configuration Manager

Configmgr : Connecting Primary Child Sites To Central Primary parent site in and out of same domain

Today I was at a customer doing a migration from a Configmgr 2007 with site code APL to a new Configmgr 2007 site with site code ICT. I couldn’t get my new Configmgr site with Site code ICT attached to the central primary. The button for “ set parent site “ was grayed out. I hereby give you my checklist I followed to discover the error . I was stuck for an hour before I realized what was going on .

So here are my tips for troubleshooting it :

1. Install your new SCCM 2007 SP(X) as a new primary server to match what you currently have as a SMS 2007 SP(X) Central Primary. Service Pack levels are important and must be thesame !! Releases however could be different ( one could have R2 and the other can be without R2 ).
2. Add the Server$ account name to the local admin group on each server and give the new server permission as required on the System container in AD.
3. Make sure that your AD schema is extended.
4. Check the following settings are enabled (from Advanced tab in site properties) :

· Publish this site in Active Directory Domain Services

· Require secure key exchange between sites

5. If these sites are NOT configured with these options ,then you should manually exchange the public keys :

To manually transfer the child site public key to the parent site

1. While logged on to the child site, open a command prompt and navigate to the location of Preinst.exe.

2. Run the following command to export the child site’s public key: Preinst /keyforparent

3. The Preinst /keyforparent command places the public key of the child site in the <site code>.CT4 file located at the root of the system drive.

4. Move the <site code>.CT4 file to the parent site's <install directory>\inboxes\hman.box directory.

To manually transfer the parent site public key to the child site

1. While logged on to the parent site, open a command prompt and navigate to the location of Preinst.exe.

2. Run the following command to export the parent site’s public key: Preinst /keyforchild.

3. The Preinst /keyforchild command places the public key of the parent site in the <site code>.CT5 file located at the root of the system drive.

4. Move the <site code>.CT5 file to the <install directory>\inboxes\hman.box directory on the child site

6. On the primary site server, Add the central site server computer account to the local Site to Site connection group Ex. SMS_SiteToSiteConnection_ICT. Then on the central site server, Add the primary site server computer account to the local Site to Site connection group Ex. SMS_SiteToSiteConnection_APL.
7. And last but not least : If that button “ set parent site “ ïs grayed out , Make sure that there isn’t any Asset intelligence synch point installed on you Primary Child site installed . I was way to quick and was reading over it , as I was thinking that something else was wrong . Dumb Dumb .

After removing the AIS point in my hierarchy , the button finally came available .

Hope it Helps ,

Kenny Buntinx