Configuration Manager Moves Toward the Clouds

• Configuration Manager client management increasingly relies on Microsoft-hosted services.
• Customers with mission-critical deployments of Windows clients and servers on-premises should plan on deploying the longer-term releases and avoid the rapid updates.

Recent Current Branch releases of Configuration Manager use Microsoft-hosted services to address limitations for managing mobile and occasionally-connected machines. The Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB), in contrast, continues to support the traditional management model.

Configuration Manager Overview

System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) lets organizations manage large sets of machines by deploying OSs, updates, patches, and applications and collecting inventories of Windows and other clients and servers. It can help customers manage policies and power settings, and it forms the basis for managing Endpoint Protection antimalware. Configuration Manager is part of the System Center suite of management tools for both clients and servers. Configuration Manager versions with new features ship in two release cycles: