SMS 2003: Finding Overlapping Boundaries

We seem to run into overlapping boundaries issues every so often and without the right tool, troubleshooting these kinds of problems can be very difficult and frustrating.  Typically the way this problem manifests itself is that you find that an SMS Advanced client ends up getting policy or advertisements from the wrong site, or they end up using the wrong Management Point (MP) or Distribution Point (DP).  Fortunately my buddy Russ Slaten wrote a great VBScript a few months back that we use quite a bit here in product support and it can help identify these situations in your environment.  He has this posted on his blog, but I posted the intro and a direct link to the archive below:

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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where an SMS Advanced client ends up getting policy or advertisements from the wrong site, or they are using the wrong MP/DP?  This is a very common issue for our customers and determining root cause can be difficult.  When AD Sites and IP Ranges were included in SMS 2003 overlapping boundary issues became much more common and much harder to control.  In many larger environments the administrator managing SMS is not responsible for managing AD sites causing even more confusion.

To continue reading and to download the VBScript click here.

J.C. Hornbeck