Q. What is a Configuration Manager Cloud Management Gateway?
A. Traditionally Configuration Manager clients report to a Management Point with inventory, find out available advertisements and more. If clients are on the Internet then Internet Based Client Management is utilized to provide a contact point however this requires exposing infrastructure to the Internet. With Configuration Manager 1610 and newer a new option is available, the Cloud Management Gateway. Like the Cloud Distribution Point which provides a Configuration Manager distribution point hosted in Azure and available via the Internet, the Cloud Management Gateway provides an automatically managed Azure service that is accessible over the Internet by clients. Key capabilities the Cloud Management Gateway provides are:
- Application deployment
- Patch deployment
- OS upgrade (but not full OSD deployment)
- Inventory
For a full list of features not supported see article https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/core/clients/manage/plan-cloud-management-gateway. Note you would need a Cloud DP to store the actual content being delivered (but utilize Windows Update for patch delivery to minimize storage costs in Azure).
Note that while the Cloud Management Gateway is automatically managed it will incur Azure subscription costs and network egress costs.
