Chapter 8 is titled “The SMS Community”, and in this chapter Rod talks about Add-on Tools and Support groups.
The best quote from this chapter is the first line of this chapter. “… another reason why I think SMS 2003 is one of the best systems management products is the SMS community”. I couldn’t agree more! Try finding an active forum, Web site, or user group for any other systems management product; they are hard to come by and if you do find one it will always be controlled by the vendor!
Rod touches on some of the Add-ons to SMS 2003 both free and commercial. For Support resources he touches on only a few online resources, and he missed a few that I like!
This site! Canadian SMS user group. www.SMSug.ca
www.FAQShop.com run by Cliff Hobbs SMS MVP.
There are a number of SMS / SCCM Blogs on TechNet http://blogs.technet.com/default.aspx
Lastly he talks about User Groups (UG). This is one place I also have a lot of experience with and I agree with him, join a user group! If one does not exist, see about creating one. However I must caution you, it can be a lot of hard work, and it is better to become a Special Interest Group (SIG) of an already existing user group then to start up one.
Need help finding a user group try this link!
Canada
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/technet/community/usergroups/
World
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/usergroup/default.mspx
Overall the message in the chapter is Get involved!
Rod’s Blog can be found at http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/rkruetzfeld/default.aspx
Chapter 7
Chapter 6
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/04/19/279.aspx
Chapter 5
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/04/17/272.aspx
Chapter 4
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/04/15/267.aspx
Chapter 3
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/03/25/231.aspx
Chapter 2
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/01/29/135.aspx
Chapter 1
http://smsug.ca/blogs/garth_jones/archive/2007/01/09/103.aspx
Where to purchase this book:
For Canadian Blog readers: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/item/books-978159059698/0/Pro+SMS+2003?__Lang=en-CA
Save 34% on books over $25 at chapters.indigo.ca
For USA Blog readers: http://astore.amazon.com/buzzmanagement/detail/1590596986/002-8061924-2500037