System Center Configuration Manager 2007 : Inside the ConfigMgr Database

SQL Access to the Database

Microsoft’s Configuration Manager developers provide an extensive set of database views that present the underlying data tables in a consistent way. The views abstract away many of the details of the underlying table structure, which may change with future product releases. In some cases, ConfigMgr uses stored procedures in place of views to retrieve data from the tables. The reports in Configuration Manager use SQL views.You can use the views to understand the internal structure of the database. The next sections present a subset of these views and provide information about how the views are organized and named.

Most of the Configuration Manager SQL views correspond to ConfigMgr WMI classes. In many cases, the views also reflect the underlying table structure, with minor formatting changes and more meaningful field names.

Most ConfigMgr administration tasks do not require you to work directly with SQL statements. One Configuration Manager component—ConfigMgr reporting—allows you to directly supply native SQL statements that access the site database. The ConfigMgr console also allows you to create and schedule SQL database maintenance tasks. 

Using SQL Server Management Studio

The primary user interface for administering SQL Server 2005 is the SQL Server Management Studio. To access the Configuration Manager views, perform the following steps:

Viewing Collections

The Collections WMI object provides access to the properties and methods of the Configuration Manager collections defined in the site database. The SQL view v_Collections provides access to much of the same data. Figure 1 shows the tree control expanded in the left pane to display the column definitions for v_Collections, whereas the view on the right displays some of the column values visible when opening the view. These columns correspond to the SMS_Collection WMI class properties, . Notice that the MemberClassName column provides the name of the view for the collection membership. These views correspond to the WMI objects specified in the MemberClassName property of the SMS_Collection WMI class.

Figure 1. The v_Collection SQL view displays the most important properties of the site’s Configuration Manager collections.

The v_Collection view is one of several views referencing Configuration Manager objects. Similar views include v_Advertisement, v_Package, and v_Report. The naming conventions for views generally map to the corresponding WMI classes, according to the following rules:

• WMI class names begin with SMS_, and SQL view names begin with v or v_.
  
  
• View names over 30 characters are truncated.
  
  
• The WMI property names are the same as the field names in the SQL views.
  
  

Site Properties

Basic Configuration Manager site properties are stored in the Sites table and exposed though several views and stored procedures. As an example, v_site displays the basic configuration of the current site and its child sites. The sysreslist table stores information about the site systems. An example of a stored procedure that retrieves data from the sites and sysreslist tables is MP_GetMPListForSite, which displays management point information for the site. The SMSData table includes additional site details, exposed through v_identification.

The tables and views discussed so far relate to the Configuration Manager objects and infrastructure. The database also contains a wealth of data gathered by various discovery methods and client inventory.  Discovery and inventory data is stored in resource tables and presented in resource views. The naming conventions for resource views are as follows:

• Views displaying current inventory data are named v_GS_<group name>.

• Views displaying inventory history data are named v_HS_<group name>.

• Views containing discovery data are named v_R_<resource type name> for data contained in WMI scalar properties and v_RA_<architecture name>_<group name> for data contained in WMI array properties.

• Inventory data for custom architectures is presented in views named v_G<resource type number>_<group name> and v_H<resource type number>_<group name>. 

Other Views

Several views are included that present metadata on other views and serve as keys to understanding the view schema. The v_SchemaViews view, displayed in Figure 2, lists the views in the view schema family and shows the type of each view.

Figure 2. V_SchemaViews provides a list and categorization of Configuration Manager views.

The following SQL statement generates the V_SchemaViews view:

CREATE VIEW [dbo].[v_SchemaViews] As SELECT CASE
WHEN name like 'v[_]RA[_]%' THEN 'Resource Array'
WHEN name like 'v[_]R[_]%'  THEN 'Resource'
WHEN name like 'v[_]HS[_]%' THEN 'Inventory History'
WHEN name like 'v[_]GS[_]%' THEN 'Inventory'
WHEN name like 'v[_]CM[_]%' THEN 'Collection'
WHEN name like '%Summ%' THEN 'Status Summarizer'
WHEN name like '%Stat%' THEN 'Status'
WHEN name like '%Permission%' THEN 'Security'
WHEN name like '%Secured%' THEN 'Security'
WHEN name like '%Map%' THEN 'Schema'
WHEN name = 'v_SchemaViews' THEN 'Schema'
ELSE 'Other'
END
As 'Type', name As 'ViewName'
FROM sysobjects
WHERE type='V' AND name like 'v[_]%'

If you examine the SQL statement, you can see that the selection criteria in the CASE statement use the naming conventions to determine the type of each view.

The v_ResourceMap view presents data from the DiscoveryArchitectures table, which defines the views representing discovery data. Table 2 displays the data provided by the v_ResourceMap view.

ConfigMgr uses the fields in Table 3.3 in the following manner:

• The ResourceType field is the key used throughout the resource views to associate resources with the appropriate discovery architecture.

• The DisplayName field is a descriptive name of the discovery architecture.

• The ResourceClassName indicates the view that contains basic identifying information for each discovered instance of the architecture.

As an example, the v_R_System view provides the unique Resource ID of each computer system discovered by Configuration Manager as well as basic system properties such as the NetBIOS name, operating system, and AD domain. Each resource view containing system information includes the Resource ID field, allowing you to link resources such as hard drives and network cards with the system to which they belong. 

The v_ResourceAttributeMap view displayed in Figure 3 presents resource attribute types extracted from discovery property definition data in the DiscPropertyDefs table.

Figure 3. v_ResourceAttributeMap lists the attributes used in resource views.

The v_GroupMap view lists the inventory groups and views associated with each inventory architecture. Table 3 displays some v_GroupMap entries. Each inventory architecture represents a WMI class specified for inventory collection in the SMS_Def.mof file.

Each entry in Table 3.4 specifies the resource type, a unique GroupID, the inventory and inventory history views that present the group data, and the Management Information Format (MIF) class from which the inventory data for the group is derived.

The v_GroupAttributeMap lists the attributes associated with each inventory group, and the v_ReportViewSchema view provides a list of all classes and properties.

This section examined several of the SQL views Microsoft provides. You can learn a lot about the internal structure of ConfigMgr by using the SQL Server Management Studio to explore the database on your own. You may want to look at the views, the underlying tables, and some of the stored procedures ConfigMgr uses. The examples in this section show how you can analyze and understand these objects.