Friday, 9 January 2026

🔍SCCM (MECM) RAS Assessment

 

SCCM (MECM) RAS Assessment – Comprehensive Checklist


1️⃣ Site Infrastructure & Core Health

Site Server Component Status

  • Site component errors & warnings

  • SMS_EXECUTIVE, SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER

  • Site System Status (green/yellow/red)

Inbox & Backlog Health

  • Inbox folders backlog (auth, distmgr, statmgr, hman, replmgr)

  • File age vs processing delay

Status Message Configuration

  • Status message interval settings

  • Backlog in statmgr.box

  • State message processing delays

Maintenance Tasks Status

  • Enabled / disabled tasks

  • Cleanup discovery data

  • Delete aged status messages

  • Rebuild indexes

  • Summarize software metering

  • WSUS cleanup (SUP)


2️⃣ SQL & Database Health (Critical for RAS)

SQL Database Health

  • CM_<SiteCode> database status

  • SUP (WSUS) database performance

  • Data & log file growth configuration

  • Auto-growth & free space

SQL Performance

  • CPU, Memory, Disk latency

  • TempDB configuration

  • SQL max memory setting

  • Blocking & long-running queries

SQL Replication & Change Tracking

  • Replication health (rcmctrl.log)

  • Change Tracking backlog

  • SQL Broker status

  • Replication link analyzer output

Index & Statistics Health

  • Fragmentation %

  • Index maintenance jobs

  • Statistics update status


3️⃣ Upgrade, Version & Compatibility

Current SCCM Version

  • Baseline vs latest hotfix

  • Unsupported versions

  • Console version consistency

Site Server & Site System Compatibility

  • OS version support

  • SQL version support

  • ADK / WinPE compatibility

  • TLS / .NET version compliance

Upgrade Readiness

  • Prerequisite check warnings

  • Custom SQL modifications

  • Unsupported features in use


4️⃣ Client Health & Discovery

Discovery Configuration

  • AD System/User Discovery

  • Boundary & boundary group alignment

  • Duplicate records

Client Health

  • Active vs inactive clients

  • Client activity (7/14/30 days)

  • Client version consistency

  • Client remediation status

Duplicate & Inactive Devices

  • Duplicate GUID / Hardware ID

  • Stale discovery records

  • Cleanup policies


5️⃣ Inventory & Compliance

Hardware Inventory

  • Inventory cycle success rate

  • Inventory backlog

  • Corrupted MIF files

Software Inventory

  • Enabled/disabled evaluation

  • Performance impact

  • Inventory class optimization

Inventory Data Completeness

  • % reporting hardware inventory

  • % reporting software inventory


6️⃣ Patching & Update Compliance

SUP / WSUS Health

  • Sync success & duration

  • Declined/expired updates

  • WSUS cleanup effectiveness

Patch Compliance

  • Compliance vs non-compliant devices

  • Unknown compliance devices

  • Scan failure root cause

Deployment Health

  • Update deployment success/failure

  • Maintenance window conflicts


7️⃣ Content, Distribution & Delivery

Content Distribution

  • Distribution failures

  • DP content validation status

  • Retrying content vs stuck packages

Distribution Points

  • DP role health

  • Client count per DP

  • Disk usage & free space

  • PXE / Multicast (if enabled)

All Content Status

  • Application, Package, Driver, Image

  • Distribution vs deployment mismatch

Delivery Optimization

  • DO enabled policies

  • Peer cache usage

  • Bandwidth savings tracking


8️⃣ Collections & Evaluation

Collection Design

  • Query vs direct collections

  • Limiting collection best practices

  • Nested collection depth

Collection Evaluation

  • Full vs incremental evaluation

  • Long-running collections

  • Evaluation backlog


9️⃣ Reporting, Dashboards & Customizations

SSRS Health

  • Report server availability

  • Performance of reports

Custom SSRS Reports & Dashboards

  • Unsupported SQL queries

  • Direct DB queries impact

  • Report usage relevance

Scripts & CI Baselines

  • Scripts approval governance

  • Execution frequency

  • Compliance baseline performance


🔟 Cloud & Modern Management

CMG Status

  • Service health

  • Traffic & client load

  • Certificate expiry

  • Cost monitoring

PKI Infrastructure

  • Client auth certificates

  • DP & MP certs

  • Expiry & renewal process

Co-Management Configuration

  • Workload split (Intune vs SCCM)

  • Device eligibility

  • Policy conflicts


1️⃣1️⃣ Roles & Scale Validation

Management Points

  • Client count per MP

  • MP response time

  • IIS health

Distribution Points

  • Client count per DP

  • DP performance under load

Secondary Sites

  • Justification & necessity

  • Replication health

  • Alternatives (DP groups)


1️⃣2️⃣ Security & Governance (Often Missed 🚨)

RBAC & Security

  • Admin role review

  • Least privilege compliance

Auditing

  • Script execution auditing

  • Change tracking

AV / EDR Exclusions

  • SQL & SCCM folder exclusions

  • Real-time scan impact


📌 RAS Assessment Output (What Microsoft Expects)

For each item, capture:

  • Current State

  • Risk Level (Low / Medium / High)

  • Impact

  • Recommendation

  • Effort to Fix


💡 Architect-Level Tip (Interview / Assessment)


RAS SCCM assessment focuses on site stability, SQL health, client manageability, content delivery efficiency, patch compliance accuracy, and cloud readiness, while validating scalability, security, and upgrade readiness against Microsoft best practices

🔍SCCM (MECM) RAS Assessment

  SCCM (MECM) RAS Assessment – Comprehensive Checklist 1️⃣ Site Infrastructure & Core Health ✔ Site Server Component Status Site c...