Is the DCM Solution specific to Exchange?

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This is one of the most frequently asked questions about the Desired Configuration Monitoring (DCM) Solution Accelerator. Actually, its not. You can pretty much monitor for compliance of anything and / or on any server as long as you can get hold of your setting in one of the five supported data sources. The five supported data sources are:

  • Active Directory
  • File System
  • Metabase
  • Registry
  • WMI

As long as the Setting you want to monitor is present in one of the above data sources, you can create a data source / setting / rule to monitor the same.

The only confusing part of DCM which forces people to link DCM with Exchange is the Manifest Type. When you attempt to save a manifest (also called a configuration template), the DCM Authoring tool (also called the DCM UI) prompts you to select a Manifest Type. In the Manifest Type drop down box, you can only find values specific to Exchange. These values are currently hard coded and cannot be modified / extended. This is the only part of DCM which forces your thinking to relate DCM and Exchange. Buts its not the case.

Let me know if you have further questions on this...

Thanks!