SMS: How to Remove Inactive Systems Management Server Site Servers (188055)

SUMMARY

If Systems Management Server child site servers (primary or secondary) are removed from the network, before removing them from the parent's database through the Systems Management Server Administrator program, you may experience errors when you attempt to communicate with them. You will notice that System Jobs destined for the 'removed' site go into a retrying state.

MORE INFORMATION

To remove the servers from the database, run the "preinst /delsite:{<child site code>, <parent site code>}" command, as in the following example:

  preinst /delsite:{prf,scf}

For more information on this process, see the BackOffice Resource Kit 1 SMS Guide, page 2.

The child site's database entry should be deleted immediately. Either refresh the Systems Management Server Administrator program UI, or quit the Systems Management Server Administrator program and start it again. When the refresh occurs, you may notice the following error:

Some machines in your database are associated with sites or domains that do not appear in your Sites tree. The missing items are listed below.

It would then be followed by the site code and domain name that was removed using the steps above. This error occurs because there are still client records in the database that belonged to the deleted site. To remove the clients, perform the following steps:

Start the Systems Management Server Administrator program. On the File menu, click Execute Query.
Under Query, select All Personal Computers.
Under Query Result Format, select Identification and click OK.
Click the word Site in the Site column. This sorts the list by site code.
Delete the clients associated with the deleted site.

After the clients have been deleted, quit the Systems Management Server Administrator program and then start it again, to confirm that the error does not reoccur.