Sai Marcus

System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) update 1806, the latest "semiannual channel" release of Microsoft's device and server management system, will arrive in the next few weeks, Microsoft said on Tuesday.

When available, the update will show up in the Updates and Servicing node of the SCCM console. Microsoft typically releases three semiannual channel (or branch) releases of SCCM per year.

Last month, Microsoft announced a new commercial release of the whole System Center suite of products. The components of the System Center product suite are listed as being at version 1807.

CMPivot
The SCCM update 1806 release is bringing a new capability to check the status of devices in "real time" called "CMPivot." It's built into the SCCM console and located in the Device Collections node. While SCCM has access to device data for general reporting purposes, CMPivot is conceived as a way to get the information right away through queries, with filterable results. It's perhaps more of a troubleshooting or compliance kind of tool.

For instance, it's possible to use CMPivot to check the firmware update status of devices subject to speculative execution side-channel attacks, a Microsoft document on CMPivot suggested. Such tracking has become a complicated task for IT organizations because they have to ensure that operating system updates and firmware (or "microcode") updates were applied for various client device processors, and new speculative execution variants seem to pop up every few months. In addition to the CMPivot tool, Microsoft offers the ability to check speculative execution side-channel patch compliance via its Windows Analytics and PowerShell tools.