Thoughts on OpsMgr and System Center 2012

Step by step guide for the error ‘…too many arguments specified…’ for the report ‘Performance By Utilization’

2012-01-31T20:32:00.001+01:00

Important to know:
This posting is based on this article Kevin Holman posted. Based on the information provided in that article I wrote this step by step guide.

Issue
When one has imported the latest version of the Server OS MP (version 6.0.6958.0) with the additional Reports MP (Microsoft.Windows.Server.Reports.mp) one can bump into a nagging error when running the Report Performance By Utilization.

I ran the Report and all i got was: ‘An error has occurred during report processing. Query execution failed for dataset 'PerfDS'.’:

How to solve it
And this puzzled me since the related SQL Server is based on SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1. So no issues there. So it was time for some Bing actions (no more Google for me since Google has decided to wreck the search results with Google+ information…). And soon I found this posting written by Kevin Holman.

Item 4 in the Known Issues section of his posting told all I needed to know:

But first I needed to enable Remote Errors on the related SSRS instance in order to make sure I experience the issue described in the posting. How? Easy and also to be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337165.aspx.

Start a RDP session with the SSRS server;
Log on and start SQL Server Management Studio and logon to the SSRS instance (NOT the DB engine!);
Right click on the SSRS instance, select Properties and go to Advanced and set EnableRemoteErrors item to True. No restart needed. Just click OK and close SQL Server Management Studio.
When you run the problematic report again, you’ll get more information about the CAUSE of the error and BINGO! Exact the same error as described: Procedure or function Microsoft_SystemCenter_Report_Performance_By_Utilization has too many arguments specified.

OK, so now I know this issue matches exactly the one Kevin has described. Now it’s time for some action in order to restore the functionality of this Report. In this case I have decided to run the procedure high lighted in purple since that one is straight forward and easy to do:

Let’s start:

Download the MP for the server OS and unzip it by either installing it on your workstation or running the QWERTY.msi tool;
Make sure the MP Authoring Console is installed on the same workstation, start this tool and open the file Microsoft.Windows.Server.Reports.mp;
Go to Reporting > Data Warehouse Scripts;
Select the Data Warehouse script Microsoft.Windows.Server.Reports.PerformancebyUtilization.Script and select in the left pane the option Properties;
Go to the Install tab and select the WHOLE SQL script and copy it:
Backup the Data Warehouse database before you run this SQL script!!!
Right click the Data Warehouse database (OperationsManagerDW) and select the option New Query;
Paste the query which you copied in Step 5:
Run the query. It will run fast:
Close SQL Server Management Studio. Go to the SCOM R2 Console and run the Report again. BINGO!

So within a few minutes a nagging problem was solved! Nice one!

Fast Track
Here is the required SQL script which you must run against the Data Warehouse database when you have above mentioned issues. If not, contact CSS!

Now you can start from Step 6 :).

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sysobjects WHERE type = 'P' AND name = 'Microsoft_SystemCenter_Report_Performace_By_Utilization')
BEGIN
EXECUTE ('CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.[Microsoft_SystemCenter_Report_Performace_By_Utilization] AS RETURN 1')
END
GO

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[Microsoft_SystemCenter_Report_Performace_By_Utilization]
    @DataAggregation INT,
    @StartDate DATETIME,
    @EndDate DATETIME,
    @GroupManagedEntityID INT,
    @Top INT,
    @OrderType BIT,
    @ManagementGroupsCsv NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @PerfObjectCounterListXml XML,
    @MPListXml XML
AS
BEGIN

SET NOCOUNT ON

    DECLARE @ExecError INT
    DECLARE @Error INT
    DECLARE @xmlDoc INT
    -- build a list of all relationship
-- types derived from "System.Containment"
-- get row id of the "containment" relationship type
DECLARE @ContainmentRelationshipTypeRowId int

SELECT @ContainmentRelationshipTypeRowId = RelationshipTypeRowId
FROM vRelationshipType
WHERE (RelationshipTypeSystemName = 'System.Containment')

-- create table to hold all relationship types found
IF (OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#RelationshipType') IS NOT NULL)
DROP TABLE #RelationshipType

CREATE TABLE #RelationshipType (
RelationshipTypeRowId int
)

-- use table-valued function to build relationship list
INSERT #RelationshipType (RelationshipTypeRowId)
SELECT RelationshipTypeRowId
FROM dbo.RelationshipDerivedTypeHierarchy(@ContainmentRelationshipTypeRowId, 0)

-- *********************************************
-- * STEP I: Get member computers
--
--     In this step we're going to figure out
--     which objects are currently members
--     of the group specified for report
-- *********************************************

-- create table to hold all contained objects
IF (OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#ContainedManagedEntity') IS NOT NULL)
DROP TABLE #ContainedManagedEntity
CREATE TABLE #ContainedManagedEntity (
ManagedEntityRowId int
,[Level] int
)

-- prepare recursion: put group into contained objects
INSERT #ContainedManagedEntity(ManagedEntityRowId, [Level])
VALUES (@GroupManagedEntityID, 0)
DECLARE @CurrentLevel int
SET @CurrentLevel = 1

DECLARE @RowCount int
SET @RowCount = 1

-- recursively walk down containment hierarchy
WHILE (@RowCount > 0)
BEGIN
INSERT #ContainedManagedEntity(ManagedEntityRowId, [Level])
SELECT r.TargetManagedEntityRowId, @CurrentLevel
FROM vRelationship r
          JOIN #RelationshipType rt ON (r.RelationshipTypeRowId = rt.RelationshipTypeRowId)
          JOIN #ContainedManagedEntity c ON (r.SourceManagedEntityRowId = c.ManagedEntityRowId) AND (c.[Level] = @CurrentLevel - 1)
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT *
                FROM vRelationshipManagementGroup rmg
                WHERE (rmg.RelationshipRowId = r.RelationshipRowId)
                  AND (GETUTCDATE() BETWEEN rmg.FromDateTime AND ISNULL(rmg.ToDateTime, '99991231'))
               ) -- membership relationship exists as of NOW
SELECT @RowCount = @@ROWCOUNT
SET @CurrentLevel = @CurrentLevel + 1
END

    CREATE TABLE #PerfObjectCounters (
        PerfObject VARCHAR(MAX),
        PerfCounter VARCHAR(MAX),
        PerInstance BIT
        )

SET @Error = @@ERROR
IF @Error <> 0 GOTO QuitError

    CREATE TABLE #ManagementGroups(ManagementGroupGuid UNIQUEIDENTIFIER)
    SET @Error = @@ERROR
    IF @Error <> 0 GOTO QuitError

    EXEC @ExecError = sp_xml_preparedocument @xmlDoc OUTPUT, @PerfObjectCounterListXml
    SET @Error = @@ERROR
    IF @ExecError <> 0 OR @Error <> 0 GOTO QuitError

    INSERT INTO #PerfObjectCounters (PerfObject, PerfCounter, PerInstance)
    SELECT PerfObject, PerfCounter, PerInstance
    FROM OPENXML(@xmlDoc,'/Data/Objects/Object',2) WITH
        (PerfObject VARCHAR(MAX) '@Name',
         PerfCounter VARCHAR(MAX) '@Counter',
         PerInstance BIT '@PerInstance'
         )

    DECLARE @Pos        INT,
            @NextPos    INT,
            @ValueLen   INT,
            @MGList        NVARCHAR(MAX)

SET @Pos = 0
SET @NextPos = 1

    WHILE @NextPos > 0
        BEGIN
            SET @NextPos = CHARINDEX(',', @ManagementGroupsCsv, @Pos + 1)
            SET @ValueLen = (CASE WHEN @NextPos > 0
                                  THEN @NextPos
                                  ELSE LEN(@ManagementGroupsCsv) + 1
                             END) - @Pos - 1
            INSERT #ManagementGroups (ManagementGroupGuid)
             VALUES (CONVERT(UNIQUEIDENTIFIER, SUBSTRING(REPLACE(@ManagementGroupsCsv,' ',''), @Pos + 1, @ValueLen)))
            SET @Pos = @NextPos
        END

    IF @ExecError <> 0 GOTO QuitError
    CREATE TABLE #ManagementPacks (
    ManagementPackSysName VARCHAR(MAX),
    ManagementPackId INT
    )
    EXEC @ExecError = sp_xml_preparedocument @xmlDoc OUTPUT, @MPListXml
        SET @Error = @@ERROR
        IF @ExecError <> 0 OR @Error <> 0 GOTO QuitError

    INSERT INTO #ManagementPacks(ManagementPackSysName, ManagementPackId)
        SELECT ManagementPackSysName, MP.ManagementPackRowId
        FROM OPENXML(@xmlDoc,'/ManagementPacks/ManagementPack',2) WITH
            (ManagementPackSysName VARCHAR(MAX) '@Name')
        INNER JOIN
            ManagementPack MP ON MP.ManagementPackSystemName = ManagementPackSysName

IF @DataAggregation = 1

    WITH ComputerId AS
    (
        SELECT
            MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId,
            MgEntity.Name
        FROM
            vManagedEntity MgEntity
        INNER JOIN
            vManagedEntityType MgEntityType ON MgEntity.ManagedEntityTypeRowId = MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeRowId
            JOIN #ContainedManagedEntity cme ON MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId = cme.ManagedEntityRowId
        WHERE
            MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeSystemName = 'Microsoft.Windows.Computer'
    ),
    PerfTable AS
    (
    SELECT
        MgEntity.[Path] ComputerName,
        SUM(PerfData.SampleCount * PerfData.AverageValue)/(SUM(SUM(PerfData.SampleCount)) OVER(PARTITION BY MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId, PerfRule.ObjectName, PerfRule.CounterName)) AverageValue,
        PerfRule.ObjectName ObjectName,
        PerfRule.CounterName CounterName,
        PerfRuleInst.InstanceName InstanceName,
        MAX(CAST(#PerfObjectCounters.PerInstance AS INT)) PerInstance,
        ComputerId.ManagedEntityRowId ManagedEntityRowId,
        MAX(PerfRule.RuleRowId) RuleId,
        (SUM(SUM(PerfData.SampleCount)) OVER(PARTITION BY MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId, PerfRule.ObjectName, PerfRule.CounterName)) RuleSampleCount
    FROM
        [Perf].vPerfDaily PerfData
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vManagedEntity MgEntity ON PerfData.ManagedEntityRowId =
            MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vManagedEntityType MgEntityType ON MgEntity.ManagedEntityTypeRowId =
            MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vPerformanceRuleInstance PerfRuleInst ON
            PerfRuleInst.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId =
            PerfData.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vPerformanceRule PerfRule ON PerfRuleInst.RuleRowId =
            PerfRule.RuleRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vManagementGroup MG ON MgEntity.ManagementGroupRowId = MG.ManagementGroupRowId
        INNER JOIN
            #ManagementGroups ON MG.ManagementGroupGuid = #ManagementGroups.ManagementGroupGuid
        INNER JOIN
            #PerfObjectCounters ON PerfRule.ObjectName = PerfObject AND PerfRule.CounterName = PerfCounter
        INNER JOIN
            #ManagementPacks ON MgEntityType.ManagementPackRowId = #ManagementPacks.ManagementPackId
        RIGHT JOIN
            ComputerId ON ComputerId.Name = MgEntity.Path
    WHERE
          (
            CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(VARCHAR, PerfData.[DateTime], 101))
            BETWEEN
                CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(VARCHAR, @StartDate, 101))
            AND
                CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(VARCHAR, @EndDate, 101))
          )
         AND
          (
            MgEntity.[Path] IS NOT NULL
          )
    GROUP BY
        MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId, MgEntity.[Path], PerfRule.ObjectName, PerfRule.CounterName, PerfRuleInst.InstanceName, MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeSystemName, ComputerId.ManagedEntityRowId
    ),
    InstanceFilteredTable AS
    (
    SELECT
        ComputerName,
        SUM(AverageValue*RuleSampleCount)/ SUM(SUM(RuleSampleCount)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName,InstanceName,ManagedEntityRowId) AverageValue,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        PerInstance,
        CASE WHEN (@OrderType = 1) THEN
            (CASE WHEN ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MAX(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName <> '% Free Space'))
                    OR (PerInstance = 0)
                    OR ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MIN(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName = '% Free Space'))
                THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
        ELSE
            (CASE WHEN ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MIN(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName <> '% Free Space'))
                    OR (PerInstance = 0)
                    OR ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MAX(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName = '% Free Space'))
                THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
        END MaxFlag,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    FROM
        PerfTable
    GROUP BY
        ComputerName,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        PerInstance,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    ),
    InstanceRankedTable AS
    (
        SELECT
            ComputerName,
            AverageValue,
            ObjectName,
            CounterName,
            InstanceName,
            PerInstance,
            ManagedEntityRowId,
            ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName ORDER BY MaxFlag DESC) MaxFlag
        FROM
            InstanceFilteredTable
    ),
    OrderedPerfTable AS
    (
    SELECT
        CASE WHEN (@OrderType = 1)THEN
            CASE WHEN (CounterName <> '% Free Space')
            THEN (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue DESC))
            ELSE (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue ASC)) END
        ELSE
            CASE WHEN (CounterName <> '% Free Space')
            THEN (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue ASC))
            ELSE (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue DESC))END
        END OrderNum,
        ComputerName,
        AverageValue,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    FROM
        InstanceRankedTable
    WHERE
        MaxFlag = 1
    )
    SELECT
        OrderNum,
        ComputerName,
        AverageValue,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    FROM
        OrderedPerfTable
    WHERE
        OrderNum <= @Top

ELSE
    WITH ComputerId AS
    (
        SELECT
            MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId,
            MgEntity.Name
        FROM
            vManagedEntity MgEntity
        INNER JOIN
            vManagedEntityType MgEntityType ON MgEntity.ManagedEntityTypeRowId = MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeRowId
            JOIN #ContainedManagedEntity cme ON MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId = cme.ManagedEntityRowId
        WHERE
            MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeSystemName = 'Microsoft.Windows.Computer'
    ),
    PerfTable AS
    (
    SELECT
        MgEntity.[Path] ComputerName,
        SUM(PerfData.SampleCount * PerfData.AverageValue)/(SUM(SUM(PerfData.SampleCount)) OVER(PARTITION BY MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId, PerfRule.ObjectName, PerfRule.CounterName)) AverageValue,
        PerfRule.ObjectName ObjectName,
        PerfRule.CounterName CounterName,
        PerfRuleInst.InstanceName InstanceName,
        MAX(CAST(#PerfObjectCounters.PerInstance AS INT)) PerInstance,
        ComputerId.ManagedEntityRowId ManagedEntityRowId,
        MAX(PerfRule.RuleRowId) RuleId,
        (SUM(SUM(PerfData.SampleCount)) OVER(PARTITION BY MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId, PerfRule.ObjectName, PerfRule.CounterName)) RuleSampleCount
    FROM
        [Perf].vPerfHourly PerfData
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vManagedEntity MgEntity ON PerfData.ManagedEntityRowId =
            MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vManagedEntityType MgEntityType ON MgEntity.ManagedEntityTypeRowId =
            MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vPerformanceRuleInstance PerfRuleInst ON
            PerfRuleInst.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId =
            PerfData.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vPerformanceRule PerfRule ON PerfRuleInst.RuleRowId =
            PerfRule.RuleRowId
        INNER JOIN
            [dbo].vManagementGroup MG ON MgEntity.ManagementGroupRowId = MG.ManagementGroupRowId
        INNER JOIN
            #ManagementGroups ON MG.ManagementGroupGuid = #ManagementGroups.ManagementGroupGuid
        INNER JOIN
            #PerfObjectCounters ON PerfRule.ObjectName = PerfObject AND PerfRule.CounterName = PerfCounter
        INNER JOIN
            #ManagementPacks ON MgEntityType.ManagementPackRowId = #ManagementPacks.ManagementPackId
        RIGHT JOIN
            ComputerId ON ComputerId.Name = MgEntity.Path
    WHERE
          (
            CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(VARCHAR, PerfData.[DateTime], 101))
            BETWEEN
                CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(VARCHAR, @StartDate, 101))
            AND
                CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(VARCHAR, @EndDate, 101))
          )
         AND
          (
            MgEntity.[Path] IS NOT NULL
          )
    GROUP BY
        MgEntity.ManagedEntityRowId, MgEntity.[Path], PerfRule.ObjectName, PerfRule.CounterName, PerfRuleInst.InstanceName, MgEntityType.ManagedEntityTypeSystemName, ComputerId.ManagedEntityRowId
    ),
    InstanceFilteredTable AS
    (
    SELECT
        ComputerName,
        SUM(AverageValue*RuleSampleCount)/ SUM(SUM(RuleSampleCount)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName,InstanceName,ManagedEntityRowId) AverageValue,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        PerInstance,
        CASE WHEN (@OrderType = 1) THEN
            (CASE WHEN ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MAX(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName <> '% Free Space'))
                    OR (PerInstance = 0)
                    OR ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MIN(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName = '% Free Space'))
                THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
        ELSE
            (CASE WHEN ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MIN(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName <> '% Free Space'))
                    OR (PerInstance = 0)
                    OR ((PerInstance = 1) AND (AVG(AverageValue) = MAX(AVG(AverageValue)) OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName)) AND (CounterName = '% Free Space'))
                THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
        END MaxFlag,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    FROM
        PerfTable
    GROUP BY
        ComputerName,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        PerInstance,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    ),
    InstanceRankedTable AS
    (
        SELECT
            ComputerName,
            AverageValue,
            ObjectName,
            CounterName,
            InstanceName,
            PerInstance,
            ManagedEntityRowId,
            ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ComputerName,ObjectName,CounterName ORDER BY MaxFlag DESC) MaxFlag
        FROM
            InstanceFilteredTable
    ),
    OrderedPerfTable AS
    (
    SELECT
        CASE WHEN (@OrderType = 1)THEN
            CASE WHEN (CounterName <> '% Free Space')
            THEN (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue DESC))
            ELSE (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue ASC)) END
        ELSE
            CASE WHEN (CounterName <> '% Free Space')
            THEN (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue ASC))
            ELSE (ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ObjectName, CounterName ORDER BY AverageValue DESC))END
        END OrderNum,
        ComputerName,
        AverageValue,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    FROM
        InstanceRankedTable
    WHERE
        MaxFlag = 1
    )
    SELECT
        OrderNum,
        ComputerName,
        AverageValue,
        ObjectName,
        CounterName,
        InstanceName,
        ManagedEntityRowId
    FROM
        OrderedPerfTable
    WHERE
        OrderNum <= @Top

    QuitError:
    DROP TABLE #PerfObjectCounters
    DROP TABLE #ManagementGroups
    DROP TABLE #ManagementPacks
    IF (@xmlDoc IS NOT NULL)
    EXEC sp_xml_removedocument @xmlDoc
    SET @xmlDoc = NULL

RETURN @Error

END

GRANT EXECUTE ON dbo.[Microsoft_SystemCenter_Report_Performace_By_Utilization] TO OpsMgrReader
GO

MMS 2012, Session Declined & The Avengers?

2012-01-27T16:32:00.001+01:00

Cameron Fuller has posted an excellent posting about declined sessions for MMS 2012.

It isn’t meant as an uproar but more to see whether some of these declined sessions can gain some momentum and enough weight so one or more of these declined sessions is accepted none the less. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

However, in order for this to work, we need YOU! So please leave a comment on his blog so we know what sessions are appreciated by YOU.

Want to know more? Go here: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/cfuller/archive/2012/01/27/mms-2012-session-declined-amp-the-avengers.aspx

System Center Advisor (SCA) is released

2012-01-27T08:38:00.001+01:00

For some time now Microsoft has tested a new cloud product based on Windows Azure which went by the code name Atlanta. In Q1 of 2011 it got it’s official name, System Center Advisor (SCA). After rigorous testing for a long time and many new versions, yesterday SCA is officially launched by Microsoft and became General Available (GA) in 26 countries right away.

Even though SCA uses some of the core components of SCOM (Agents, Gateways and customized Management Packs) it does NOT offer real time monitoring. Instead, it offers advices based on Best Practices and experiences from Microsoft CSS. So SCA can be looked upon as a stand alone complimentary service alongside SCOM.

When you have Software Assurance (SA) in place for SQL Server and/or Windows Server. you get the service for FREE! Last but not least, you can sign up for a 60 day free trial as well.

Also good to know, installing SCA is a walk in the park. Almost a Next > Next > Finish experience. No need for deep and detailed knowledge about installing SCA. It’s a walk in the park :).

Some useful Microsoft links about SCA:

SCA Demo: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=32e32209-71c4-43d2-b2ae-015598bf5b7d
SCA blog posting by Microsoft: http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2012/01/26/system-center-advisor-released.aspx
SCA website: https://systemcenteradvisor.com/

Some useful community links about SCA:

SCA, how does it work (credits go to Stefan Stranger): http://thoughtsonopsmgr.blogspot.com/2011/03/scom-in-sky.html
SCOM, using the SCA MPs: http://scug.be/blogs/scom/archive/2011/05/02/using-system-center-advisor-management-packs-in-opsmgr.aspx

Authoring custom APM Rules for granular Alerting

2012-01-23T20:26:00.001+01:00

Daniele Muscetta has posted an excellent article about writing new APM Rules with an added expression filter. Even though I am not really a MP Author, this posting is easy to understand and to recreate. Awesome!

Thanks Daniele for sharing. Posting to be found here.

SCVMM 2012 and SCOM/OM12 – Potential integration issues

2012-01-23T20:13:00.001+01:00

The System Center Operations Manager Support Team has posted an article describing potential integration issues with SCOM / OM12 and System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM 2012).

Per issue, the cause and the recommended action(s) are described. Want to know more? Go here.

Updated KB: How to fight Config Churn

2012-01-23T20:07:00.001+01:00

What is it?
Config Churn is for SCOM similar to us processing old news – like the news of some days ago - and never getting into a state where we get to the point to process the latest news from BBC/CNN/Fox News, just because we can’t keep up with all the changes happening around us. Like an overload and never ever reaching a status quo.

For SCOM this situation is just as bad since it never gets into a state where it knows the current status of all monitored servers. The monitored servers themselves are way behind in processing their configuration as well, which may result in running old configurations (Rules/Monitors/Discoveries/Workflows and the lot). All this can lead to the SCOM Management Servers becoming stale, which is noticed by these servers turning gray in the Console. Ouch!

How to fight it?
Since every Management Group differs in size, dimensions (the amount of secondary Management Servers, Gateway servers), imported and tuned MPs (are there any home brewed among them?) it’s hard to tell exactly when Config Churn will take place. Changes are however, at a certain moment in time there will be Config Churn to some degree.

This is also the reason why there aren’t any Monitors/Rules in place which will tell you when Config Churn is taking place. Simply because it can manifest itself in many different ways. Yes, there are certain EventIDs in the OpsMgr event log which point into that direction. True. But per Management Group it really differs.

Therefore it’s important to keep track of the OpsMgr event log of the RMS on a regular basis in order to see all is well. This doesn’t have to take much of your time, ten minutes at the most. Just run the event log once a week and be done with it.

Is there a KB article for it?
But how to recognize Config Churn? And how to fight it? And how to identify the culprits? There are multiple good resources to be found on the internet but on different places. Gladly KB2603913 solves this issue and has grouped them all together. It tells you what Config Churn is, how to recognize it, who the usual suspects are, how to identify them, and what to do about it.

So go check it out this KB article since it’s really a good one with lots of good and solid information.

Please: Don’t use strange characters in the names of Customized Reports…

2012-01-20T13:29:00.001+01:00

Bumped into this situation where some Linked Reports had to be exported to another SSRS instance. Huh? That can’t be done? Yes you can!

However, now it didn’t work at all. I just got strange errors referring to non-existing Reports and the lot. It puzzled me for a while and then I found it: the Linked Reports had percentage characters (%) in their names. And batch files (used here for importing the exported Linked Reports) use % signs for defining parameters…

Ouch!

After having renamed those Reports in SSRS and running a new export, the new import run just fine….

Conclusion:
Whenever you export (Linked) Reports using this tool, make sure those Reports don’t have strange characters in their names. Otherwise you bump into the same situation as I did…

New Tools > New Skills > New Certifications > Same Trade

2012-01-20T13:20:00.001+01:00

I know that many of us may get tired of the effort keeping up with all the developments. However, as I see it, it’s part of our trade. When one doesn’t learn anymore in the ICT it means no growth. No growth means – sooner or later – no job. Which isn’t fun at all. Also because the younger generation is coming and fast. So in order to differentiate, every single person taking his/her job and responsibilities seriously, should learn new skills and in order to show one masters those new skills, get certified as well. That way one doesn’t become just another ICT employer but gets some name and fame as well.

I know the days where even people delivering pizza’s (don’t get me wrong here, I have nothing against people delivering pizza’s) could easily become MCSE for Windows NT 4 without ever having touched any Windows NT4 server…. We named it certification deflation. Gladly those days are over and nowadays Microsoft Certification really means something. Of course, other skills are required as well. But when one works on it and keep his/her certification in good shape, the more changes one has to get that job one really likes and aims at.

With the launch of the System Center 2012 campaign Microsoft covers every single angle of it. Not only marketing, but also training AND last but not least, CERTIFICATION:

And:

All you want (and IMO NEED) to know, is to be found here.The sooner you familiarize yourself with it the better since a lot is going to change.

System Center 2012 Training Buffet now open! All YOU can LEARN for FREE!

2012-01-19T12:16:00.001+01:00

Wow! Before the 17th of January it was hard to find good training materials / sessions about the System Center 2012 Suite for FREE on the internet. A lot has changed after that date, the marketing machine of Microsoft is gaining momentum and putting out really good stuff.

Yes, the sessions, trainings, meetings and virtual class rooms will contain marketing messages. But besides that much good solid information about the products themselves will be shared as well. One will have the opportunity to learn a whole deal about the new products before they go RTM.

I am around in IT a long while already but never before I have seen such a huge offering of high quality trainings, meetings, virtual class rooms and the lot. Therefore I have branded it ‘The System Center 2012 Training Buffet’. All you can LEARN and everything for FREE! Awesome!

In order to group all the posts containing offerings of the ‘The System Center 2012 Training Buffet’ I have tagged them with the label TRAINING. Click this link or the TRAINING item in the Tag Cloud and all postings containing referrals to the learning material will be shown.

The latest offering right out the SC 2012 kitchen of Microsoft is this one: TechNet Webcast: From Virtualization to Private Cloud with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (Level 200).

Want to know more? Go here.

Jump Start class: Creating and managing a private cloud with System Center 2012

2012-01-18T22:06:00.001+01:00

Wow! The free trainings for the new System Center products are really hitting the streets these days! Awesome!

Now you can follow a Jump Start class: Creating and managing a private cloud with System Center 2012.

Taken directly from the website:

Why is this Jump Start a good time investment? Who should attend?
This accelerated Jump Start is tailored for IT professionals familiar with Windows Server technologies, Hyper-V virtualization, and the System Center management solutions. The course is designed to provide a fast-paced and technical understanding of how and why Microsoft’s approach to the private cloud delivers scalability, security, flexibility and control. Here are few unique benefits of this course:

Students have the opportunity to learn from and interact with the industry’s best cloud technologists! Check out the instructor bios below.
This high-energy, demo-rich learning experience will help IT Professionals understand why Microsoft private cloud solutions are making a splash in the industry.
Students will see with their own eyes how Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center 2012 work together to provide the best combination of security and scale.
Information-packed agenda! Day one of this two-day online course will focus on designing and deploying the right solutions for your organization, while day two will provide an in-depth look at the tools available to help monitor, secure and control the operational aspects of a private cloud.

And:

When this training will be given: February 21-22, 2012 from 9:00am – 5:00pm PST.

Want to know more? Go here.

Learning Opalis/Orchestrator in no time and for FREE

2012-01-18T21:10:00.001+01:00

System Center Central has posted an excellent article all about learning Opalis/Orchestrator in no time and for free.

Posting to be found here.

Thanks to Pete Zerger for sharing!

MVA - Configuring and deploying Microsoft's Private Cloud

2012-01-18T11:02:00.001+01:00

Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) has released a new track, all about Private Cloud Specialization.

Taken directly from the website: ‘…After completing this private cloud specialization, you will have an understanding of Microsoft’s vision for cloud computing, from the business perspective to the technical level…’.

For any one involved with the current set of System Center products I strongly advice to follow this track. Simply because it will enable you not only to understand the new line of System Center 2012 products but also to know the philosophy behind it all, which is just as important.

So go here, sign up and follow this track. Good to know: it’s FREE. It costs some of your time but it well enable you to understand the future of the SC products as a whole.

Modifying SCOM R2 Agent on W2K08 throws error: ‘Microsoft ESENT keys are required to install this application.’

2012-01-18T10:53:00.001+01:00

When one runs a W2K08 server with the SCOM R2 Agent installed and want to modify that SCOM R2 Agent, like making it multi-homed, this error might be thrown:

And:

UAC (User Account Control) is the culprit here. Which is simply solved by running the specific msi command from an elevated cmd-prompt. For SCOM R2 based Agents:

Microsoft has also released a KB article about it, KB969569 which tells you what msi command to use for the SCOM and SCOM R2 Agents.

TechNet Virtual Lab: OM12 Infrastructure and Application Performance Monitoring

2012-01-18T10:45:00.001+01:00

When you want to get some hands-on experience with infrastructure and application performance monitoring with OM12, this TechNet Virtual Lab is the one you’re looking for:

Go here and register yourself.

System Center 2012 Suite Licensing Datasheet and FAQ

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

Everything you want to know about the System Center Suite Licensing is to be found in these two PDF files:

01-18-2012 Update: Aidin Finn has written a comprehensive posting about the new licensing model for System Center, to be found here.

System Center 2012 Release Candidate plus optional Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 download AVAILABLE!!!

2012-01-17T18:10:00.001+01:00

Just some minutes ago Microsoft launched ALL System Center 2012 products in their RC (Release Candidate) status! All these products are FREE for trial download.

Also an additional tool is available enabling an easy installation experience for ALL SC 2012 products: System Center 2012 Unified Installer. As the same website states: ‘…is a utility designed to perform new, clean installations of System Center 2012 for testing and evaluation purposes only…’.

A new System Center product is System Center 2012 App Controller. As the same website states: ‘…provides a common self-service experience across private and public clouds that can help you empower application owners to easily build, configure, deploy, and manage new services…’.

On top of it all, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is available for download as well from the same website.

All this software is presented as Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Software. As the same website states: ‘…Microsoft private cloud solutions are built on System Center and Windows Server…’.

All I can say: download, install it and be surprised!

Addendum MP for the Active Directory MP, version 6.0.7670.0

2012-01-17T08:37:00.001+01:00

Jimmy Harper, a PFE for SCOM has posted on his blog an addendum for the AD MP, version 6.0.7670.0.

As it turns out this version of the AD MP has some broken Rules, that alert on events in the System and Application Event Log on Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers, and some Rules that alert on events in the Application log on Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers.

The team responsible for the AD MP are aware of this issue and will fix it in the next version of the AD MP. For now, when you’re running version 6.0.7670.0 of the AD MP you’ll need the addendum as well which can be downloaded from the blog of Jimmy Harper, to be found here.

When you’re running any older version of the AD MP you’ll need ALSO an other addendum, to be found here. Basically meaning you have to install TWO addendums.

Perhaps time to update the MP itself to version 6.0.7670.0 thus requiring only one addendum?

OM12 APM (Application Monitoring) – Some very useful posts

2012-01-16T09:35:00.001+01:00

With OM12 the AVIcode product is integrated and rebranded as APM (Application Monitoring), enabling OM12 to monitor .NET products. Not just on its surface but deep down in to the nitty gritty details, enabling OM12 operators with ‘a few mouse clicks’ to cover a .NET application completely, without having them to know anything about .NET programming.

On top of it all, the Alerts which are generated by APM are really detailed, delivering experienced .NET developers the information they need to get their job done. Besides these Alerts two new Consoles are added as well, tailored to detailed APM monitoring, tracking and reporting.

(Picture taken from http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2011/07/30/operations-manager-and-application-monitoring.aspx.)

Since AVIcode is a product with so many capabilities, possibilities and therefore items to configure, one could easily say that OM12 is actually two products in one: the successor of SCOM R2 and the successor of AVIcode. On one hand it’s good, since one gets even more bang for the buck, on the other hand it looks like a challenge as well since one has to learn how to run two products instead of one.

However, Microsoft has gone to great lengths not only to integrate these two products but also to lower the learning curve. And they have succeeded very well in it. None the less, for anyone without any experience with AVIcode (like me, I knew about the product but also its price which was really staggering) the APM component of OM12 is something new which requires some new skills. This posting refers to some valuable resources found on the internet all about APM, what it does, how it works and out of what components it’s made off.

Read these postings since they really help you understanding APM quickly, thus enabling one to get the most out of APM.

Configuring APM – Basic overview and guide
http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2011/11/11/application-performance-monitoring-with-operations-manager-2012.aspx
AVIcode vs. APM – High level overview
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sergkanz/archive/2011/09/13/cut-the-monitoring-price-application-monitoring-investments.aspx
APM Architecture in OM12 Beta
http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2011/08/12/application-performance-monitoring-in-opsmgr-2012-beta.aspx
How to use APM in OM12
http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2011/07/30/operations-manager-and-application-monitoring.aspx
Working with Alerts in APM
http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2011/08/23/application-monitoring-working-with-alerts.aspx
APM Object Model
http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2012/01/14/apm-object-model.aspx
Microsoft TechNet – Monitoring .NET applications
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212856.aspx
Quick look – APM in OM12
http://www.viacode.com/blog/blog/2011/12/15/.net-avicode-apm-monitoring-in-scom-2012-rc-quick-look
KB: Steps to import the AVIcode 5.7 templates after upgrading to OM12
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2606375
Series of blog postings all about installing APM
http://www.systemcentersolutions.com/2011/08/installing-avicode-apm-monitoring/
Troubleshooting: Why aren’t my web applications discovered?
http://www.systemcentersolutions.com/2011/08/apm-avicode-why-arent-my-web-applications-discovered/

OM12: What does the RMSE (Root Management Server Emulator) do?

2012-01-12T09:11:00.001+01:00

The last few days an intense and very interesting discussion has been going on with the product teams of OM12 and the SCOM MVPs. It all started with this question my fellow (and much respected) MVP Cameron Fuller asked: What does the RSME (Root Management Server Emulator) actually do?

Soon a whole new mail thread came to be where many of us shared their thoughts, insights and (mis)understandings. Gladly the product team of OM12 explained the whole matter, with the backup of some SCOM MVPs who also knew exactly what the RMSE does and doesn’t do.

Cameron Fuller collected all the information, double checked it, rewrote some parts of it and checked the end result with the whole team. When they gave their green light on it, Cameron posted it on his blog.

So for every one who wants to know what the RSME does and doesn’t do, this posting tells you all there is to know.

And this is why I love being an MVP: You have direct contact with the product teams AND the other MVPs who really know so much. No matter how complicated something might seem, there is always somebody with an answer!

Thank you!

Management Pack Quality Survey: The Results – Part I: Answers to Questions 2 & 3

2012-01-11T13:49:00.001+01:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
The Survey
Part I – Answers to Question 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As stated before in total 28 people responded to this survey. Some MPs weren’t used by many of them so I skipped those answers since the foundation would be too small to say anything ‘solid’. As a rule of thumb I only looked at the MPs which were used by 13 people or more. This gave me 20 MPs in total:

SharePoint 2007
SharePoint 2010
Exchange 2007
Exchange 2010
OCS
Forefront TMG
ISA 2004/2006
SCCM
Windows Server Operating System
File Services 2008 R2
Terminal Services
Remote Desktop Services
Hyper-V
SQL
IIS
AD
DNS
DHCP
WINS
Print Server

In this posting I will share the answers given to these two questions:

What do you think of the quality of the guides that are delivered with these Management Packs?
How long did it take to tune these Management Packs?

Let’s start.

Q01: What do you think of the quality of the guides that are delivered with these Management Packs?

Bad rated MP guides
In total three MP guides got the rating bad (outdated, no updates etc):

DHCP
WINS
Print Server

Poor rated MP Guides
In total eight MP guides got the rating poor (not enough information, still some guessing/searching on the internet required etc):

SharePoint 2007
SharePoint 2010
Exchange 2010
OCS
Forefront TMG
ISA 2004/2006
SCCM
Terminal Services

Good rated MP Guides
In total nine MP guides got the rating good (all the information required is provided):

Exchange 2007
Windows Server Operating System
File Services 2008 R2
Remote Desktop Services
Hyper-V
SQL
IIS
AD
DNS

Conclusion
It’s not surprising to see that the MPs which are rated bad (see the first posting) also have issues with the related MP guides. Since the overall quality of a MP is judged upon all of its facets among which the related MP guide is a component to be taken seriously. The eight MP Guides rated poor are way too many. Some of these MPs aren’t properly updated thus contain old information are – even worse – contain contradicting information. Other guides are missing information. The guides which are rated good are nine in total. Which is good but not good enough since eleven other guides aren’t up to specs. So there is still some work to do for the people responsible for the related MP guides.

The raw results for this question can be found here.

Q02: How long did it take to tune these Management Packs?

Hard to tune and is an ongoing process
In total two MPs got this rating:

Exchange 2010;
SCCM (when this survey was launched the new SCCM MP was just life. So the new version of the MP should get a better rating since the most problematic issues with this MP have been addressed in the latest version of this MP).

Some weeks to tune
Four MPs got this rating:

OCS
File Services 2008 R2
AD
DNS

On itself it’s a logical thing since these four MPs cover the more complicated infrastructural/communication services. Therefore it takes some weeks to tweak and tune the related MPs as well.

One week or less to tune
Five MPs got this rating:

SharePoint 2010
Exchange 2007
ForeFront TMG (equal amount of answers ranging from some weeks to one day...)
Windows Server Operating System
SQL

Some days or just one day to tune
Nine MPs got this rating:

SharePoint 2007
ISA 2004/2006
Terminal Services
Remote Desktop Services
Hyper-V
IIS
DHCP
WINS
Print Server

Conclusion
The Hyper-V MP is very basic so there is not much to tune. The Print Server MP is old and hasn’t got an update for a long time, so this MP doesn’t work with Windows Server 2008 (R2) based Print Servers. Therefore there isn’t much to tune either. The DHCP MP isn’t that nice either and very basic so there is much to tune. Basically the real good MPs (like SQL, AD, DNS, Windows Server) take more then a day to tune. So the amount of time required to tune a MP doesn’t necessarily tell the quality of a MP. The only exception here are the MPs which require ongoing tuning. This means something is really amiss with those MPs. Again, the SCCM MP is renewed. Much of the noise is cut down so this version of the SCCM MP should require less effort to tune.

Other MPs require tuning for some time since they monitor complex infrastructures like SharePoint, AD and DNS. Which is acceptable as long as in some point of time the tuning stops and only some maintenance in order to reflect infrastructural changes are required.

The raw results for this question can be found here.

In the next posting of this series I will post and discuss the answers given to the fourth and fifth question in this survey. So stay tuned!

System Center 2012 & System Center Strategy Event - 17th of January

2012-01-07T11:07:00.001+01:00

On the 17th of January Microsoft will broadcast a big System Center 2012 & System Center strategy event, titled: Transforming IT with Microsoft Private Cloud.

As Mary JoFoley from ZDNet states about this event: ‘…This could be the day that Microsoft announces the release to manufacturing of the 10 or so products that comprise the System Center 2012 family…’

The event will be broadcasted here and also shows the schedule:

Translated to Europe/Amsterdam times: The event starts at 17:30 and ends at approx. 19:30.

For all persons involved with any System Center product in any kind of way and interested in the latest cloud developments I strongly advice to join this meeting.

SCOM R2 doesn’t work: SDK Service isn’t initialized. However, SDK is up & running…

2012-01-05T16:54:00.001+01:00

Issue
Bumped into this situation: SCOM R2 didn’t run anymore. When people tried to start the Console the message was shown about the SDK Service not running. But when they checked the status of this service on the RMS, all seemed to be fine. All three SCOM R2 services were in a running state. However, the OpsMgr event log told them a different story: EventID 33333 all over. This events tells SCOM R2 isn’t able to store date in the database. So time for some investigation.

Cause
When one bumps into a situation like this it’s time to investigate the SQL server which hosts the SCOM R2 databases. Here the cause is to be found. These causes can be:

SQL Engine not running;
SCOM database is corrupted (you don’t want to go there…);
SCOM database is running in single-user mode;
SCOM database is full;
SCOM database log file is full.

In this case Option 5 was at play here. The log file was full. Which is strange since by default the Recovery Model for the SCOM R2 databases is set to Simple. So the log file stays small and nothing serious happens to it. But now the log file was totally used (0% space left). And indeed, the Recovery Model for the OpsMgr database AND the OpsMgrDW database was changed to FULL…

Time for some actions.

Solution
In this case I stopped all SCOM R2 services on the RMS and the Health Service on the MS servers. Since SQL wasn’t happy either with the filled log files for the SCOM R2 databases and it’s a dedicated SQL server, I restarted the SQL engine so everything was fresh.

First thing I did was giving more space to the log files of both SCOM R2 databases, just a couple of GBs per log file, but just enough to do the trick:

Open SQL Server Management Studio, log on to the correct instance, select the SCOM R2 database, right click it and select Properties;
Go to the second page on the left (Files) and adjust the file size of the log file by incrementing it with a couple of GBs;
Click OK and the change will be applied right away;
Repeat this action for the other SCOM database as well.

Now the log files have some space again so the can ‘breath’. Now it’s time for the second action, backing up the SCOM R2 databases. Better to be safe than sorry :). When you don’t add space to the log files, you’ll get this error when trying to backup the SCOM R2 databases:

In SQL Server Management Studio:

Right click the SCOM R2 database, select Tasks and the option Back Up;
Backup the database to a file location and select the on the page Options under the header Reliability the option Verify backup when finished;
Let the backup job run by clicking OK and wait until it’s finished;
Repeat this action for the other SCOM database as well.

Now we have valid backups of both SCOM R2 databases, so there is a way back when things turn sour. Until now I haven’t seen this happening but better be safe than sorry :).

Since SCOM R2 was installed in such a manner to facilitate the full Recovery Model of both SCOM R2 databases (not enough disk space nor enough I/O power for having a smooth running SCOM R2 environment) I decided to change the Recovery Model back to Simple for both SCOM R2 databases:

In SQL Server Management Studio:

Select the SCOM R2 database, right click it and select Properties;
Go to the fourth page on the left (Options) and adjust the Recovery Model of the database to Simple;
Click OK. Now the Recovery Model will be set back to Simple;
Repeat this action for the other SCOM database as well.

Now the log files of both SCOM R2 databases are still huge but they’re almost empty. Perfect time for some shrinking of the size of the databases! Before that it’s better to run a backup again of the databases. Also to be safe and not sorry but also to make sure the shrink actions will land properly.

In SQL Server Management Studio:

Select the SCOM R2 database, right click it and select Tasks > Shrink > Files;
Make sure for File Type to select Log;
Under the header Shrink Action select the option Reorganize pages before releasing unused space. Shrink File to: xyz MB (minimum is 0 MB);
Select a proper file size (not too big since the Recovery Model is Simple);
And click OK. This can take some minutes, depending on the size and speed of the SQL server;
Repeat this action for the other SCOM database as well.

Now all is well again and SCOM will operate smoothly again AFTER the SCOM R2 services are started of course on the RMS and MS servers :).

MMS2012: Here we come!!!

2012-01-04T10:27:00.001+01:00

Yeah! Today I have booked for three colleagues and myself the trip to Las Vegas in order to attend MMS2012! Nice!

Can’t wait to go there. Hopefully we all meet there! Personally I think this MMS is going to rock and roll since this year is THE year of the new System Center products. So MMS2012 will be too hot to handle!

For everyone involved in any System Center product, MMS2012 is THE place to be. Want to know more and even better, buy yourself entrance tickets? Go here.

Management Pack Quality Survey: The Results – Part I: Answers to Question 1

2012-01-03T14:22:00.001+01:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
The Survey
Part II – Answers to Question 2 & 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The introduction
On the 13th of December 2011 I posted a survey all about MP Quality. Even though not too many people responded (28 in total), it still got some good exposure since some other bloggers also referred to this survey. And the people who responded to the survey are the ones who run multiple and BIG SCOM environments in different configurations and setups.

This results IMO into a survey which isn’t high at a quantity level but has a high quality level all because the people who responded really know what they’re talking about. They’re consultants themselves or highly experienced technical people with deep practical knowledge and experience with SCOM and it’s related aspects like MP authoring or offering SCOM R2 as a service to other companies. So they really know what they’re talking about.

Some people pointed out to me that I have forgotten one MP, the Group Policy MP. Sorry about that one. I thought to have covered all of them, but unfortunately I didn’t. As it turns out almost all Monitors in this MP require a manual reset, which introduces much manual labor. Which isn’t nice at all…

Question One
In a series of blog postings I will share the results of this survey with you. This posting will be about the answers given to Question 1: ‘What do you think of the quality of these Management Packs?’

The raw results can be found here. For this posting I have ‘translated’ the outcome in order to get a better understanding of the answers and its relations. Why? Suppose that out of 28 people 27 state not to use the MP. So only a single person states to use the MP. It goes way too far to state that his or her answer represents the general feeling about that particular MP.

Also the highest percentage for a possible answer counts. Example: One could answer Bad (1), Poor (2), Acceptable (3), Good (4), Outstanding (5) or Don’t know. Don’t use this MP (6), where the latter is skipped by me. For the SharePoint 2007 MP 10 out of 28 people responded to think the MP to be Acceptable. Only four think less of that MP. So this MP got as Quality rating Acceptable.

The Translation
In total the question ‘What do you think of the quality of these Management Packs?’ was asked for 33 MPs. One MP was unknown by the people who responded, the SQL Server Appliance MP, so in total 32 MPs remain.

In total 28 people responded to this survey. Some MPs weren’t used by many of them so I skipped those answers since the basis would be too small to say anything ‘solid’. As a rule of thumb I only looked at the MPs which were used by 13 people or more. This gave me 20 MPs in total:

SharePoint 2007
SharePoint 2010
Exchange 2007
Exchange 2010
OCS
Forefront TMG
ISA 2004/2006
SCCM
Windows Server Operating System
File Services 2008 R2
Terminal Services
Remote Desktop Services
Hyper-V
SQL
IIS
AD
DNS
DHCP
WINS
Print Server

This also gives a good view of what Microsoft MPs people use most often. MPs which I skipped since 12 or less people use them:

Lync server 2010: 8 out of 28 persons use it;
Lync Server 2010 Group Chat: 1 person out of 28 use it;
ForeFront Identity Manager 2010: 4 persons out of 28 use it;
Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange 2010: 7 persons out of 28 use it;
SCSM: 5 persons out of 28 use it;
DPM 2007: 9 persons out of 28 use it;
DPM 2010: 8 persons out of 28 use it;
Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server: 1 person out of 28 use it;
Windows Azure Applications: 2 persons out of 28 use it;
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: 3 persons out of 28 use it;
Microsoft BitLocker: 3 persons out of 28 use it;
Windows Storage Server 2008 R2: 3 persons out of 28 use it;
SQL Server Appliance: 0 persons out of 28 use it.

Perhaps these MPs should get more exposure in order to be used by more people.

Out of the 20 MPs getting a rating their are five MPs which underperform (1 gets the rating Poor and 4 of them Bad). Six of them do get the rating Acceptable (which is basically OK but nothing more). Seven of them get the rating Good and the remaining two get the same count for the ratings Acceptable and Good.

None of the MPs gets the rating Outstanding.

Bad rated MPs:

SCCM
DHCP
WINS
Print Server

IMO:
- Most of the MPs listed here are the old converted ones. Only exception here is the OCS MP;
- Most of the MPs listed here haven’t got an update for a long time so there is no maintenance. Only exception here is the SCCM MP;
- The DHCP MP isn’t OK. It should get a better presentation in the SCOM Console and should work properly;
- The Print Server MP is a shame. Pull it or improve it. Now it kills the overall experience of SCOM.

Poor rated MPs:

IMO:
- OCS is an old product now. Lync is the successor and comes with a better MP. Want a better MP for OCS? Migrate to Lync :)

Acceptable rated MPs:

SharePoint 2007
ForeFront TMG
ISA 2004/2006
Terminal Services
Remote Desktop Services
DNS

IMO:
- These MPs are native SCOM MPs thus deliver added value to any SCOM environment.

Acceptable and Good rated MPs:

Exchange 2010 (Even though 14 people rated this MP Acceptable or Good, 6 people rated this MP to be bad as well…)
File Services 2008 R2

Good rated MPs:

SharePoint 2010
Exchange 2007
Windows Server Operating System
Hyper-V
SQL
IIS
AD

IMO:
- Most of these MPs are the ones which showcase the power and strength of SCOM, except for the Hyper-V MP;
- The Hyper-V MP is just too basic. Add more power to it;
- The SQL MP is a showcase what a MP should be all about, including version control and update cycles.

Conclusion
Too many MPs are rated Acceptable or even less. IMHO: Since SCOM/OM12 has to compete with other enterprise monitoring solutions it’s important to have MPs – which are delivered by Microsoft – to be top notch thus a shiny example to third party vendors. So a rating Acceptable for any MP delivered by Microsoft isn’t going to kill the competition and should be at least Good. This way SCOM becomes an even better product.

In the next posting of this series I will post and discuss the answers given to the second question in this survey: What do you think of the quality of the guides that are delivered with these Management Packs? So stay tuned!

MVP renewal!

2012-01-02T09:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I got this message:

So for a third year I am a MVP! Very nice. A good start of 2012. Happy New Year everybody!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

2011-12-22T15:25:00.001+01:00

From Saturday the 24th of December 2011 until the 3rd of January 2012 this blog will be silent since I am on vacation.

I want to thank you all for visiting my blog, your comments, time and advices. 2012 will be a special year since many new revamped System Center products will go RTM. So there’s enough to blog about!

For now I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Exporting Linked Reports to another SSRS instance? Yes YOU can!

2011-12-22T15:11:00.001+01:00

Bumped into the issue where some Linked Reports had to be exported to another SSRS instance used for SCOM R2. But out of the box that won’t work. So it was time for some investigation and guess what? I found a great tool which enables one to export all catalog items from one SSRS instance to another, among them Linked Reports! But before I tell you more about that tool, let’s start at the beginning.

What’s a LINKED Report?
A Linked Report isn’t a Report at all but a reference to the report definition of an existing Report, plus any settings and properties that one defines for a Linked Report. (This information is to be found here as well).

Basically this explains why a Linked Report can’t be exported directly as a RDL file. Since it’s simply not a RDL file but some kind of shortcut with some predefined parameters. And out of the box, Linked Reports can’t be exported to another SSRS instance.

Along came Jasper Smith
Who is he? Good question! He’s a UK based SQL MVP and runs a blog of his own, all about… SQL! He made a great tool, Reporting Services Scripter (2.0.0.17), which enables one to export all items from a SSRS catalog.

The tool came to be in 2005 and has been developed ever since. The last version is built in 2009 and works with SQL Server 2008 R2 as well. I tested it myself and everything goes fine!

Some issues to reckon with
Even though the tool explains it self and comes with a good help file, there are some issues to reckon with:

When running the tool against a x64 based version of SQL server, the path for SET RS in the batch file has to be modified to SET RS="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\RS.EXE". Otherwise the batch file won’t be able to find the RS.EXE executable.
When you export Linked Reports, you also want to export the predefined parameters like targeted Groups and the lot. In order to export those as well, you have to modify the Options of the tool. Go to the third tab Report, copy these settings and click Apply. Now all predefined parameters will be exported as well.
Many times customized Reports are saved to a separate folder and presented as such in the SCOM R2/OM12 Console, like this:

When running the tool in order to export the Linked Reports, it’s to be advised to select that folder.

The contents of that folder (the Linked Reports) will be exported as well. When the script is run on the new SSRS instance, the folder AND it’s contents are automatically created. Saves one a lot of time.
Last but not least: Only import the Linked Reports to the new SSRS instance when the referred Report Definitions and Reports are in place as well as the predefined parameters like Groups and computers for instance. Otherwise one might bump into some unexpected results like a faulty Report.

All credits go to Jasper Smith for building AND sharing such a magnificent tool! Thank you Jasper!

Tool can be found here.

Savision Live Maps Beta 2 for OM12 is available

2011-12-20T09:14:00.001+01:00

For some weeks now the second beta of Savision Live Maps for OM12 RC is publicly available. I have installed it in one of the OM12 RC LAB environments (since the product is beta it’s advised not to install it in a OM12 RC environment which runs under the TAP program!) and it works perfectly. For now I can’t really say anything has changed under the hood.

Which is basically good since it enables one to export the Maps created in earlier versions of Savision Live Maps. In a posting soon to come I’ll tell you how to do that.

When you have OM12 RC running in a lab environment I advice you to install Savision Live Maps Beta 2 as well. Since this software really adds so much value to your OM12 environment, even with the new Widgets and Dashboard functionality by default present in OM12. Now you can test drive migrations from Savision Live Maps SCOM R2 environments to OM12 environments.

For download go here and select the last option (highlighted in yellow):

One has to enter some information like a valid email address and the name of the OM12 RC MG. After that one can start the download and install it in a couple of seconds.

Beta 1 is actually Beta 2…
Since it’s a beta product there are still many things under construction. When one double clicks the file LiveMapsV6_BETA2.exe, this screen will be shown:

But don’t let it fool you. It’s really Beta 2.

When all components are installed and one opens the Live Maps Authoring Console, it will still show the Beta 1 text. However, pay attention to the version number 6.0.2.0 which tells it’s Beta 2:

Beta 1 has version number 6.0.0.18465 and was valid until 31st of December 2011. Beta 2 expires on the 1st of March 2012.

OM12 RC: Web Console vs OM12 Console

2011-12-20T07:58:00.001+01:00

Cameron Fuller, a much respected MVP (yeah, I met him a couple of times and he’s also fun to be with. Especially when one orders food with hot hot hot peppers. He eats them like candy and he doesn’t explode. This still puzzles me…) posted a great article all about the differences between the OM12 RC Web Console and the OM12 RC Console.

Mind the ‘RC’ bit please since things still might change when OM12 goes RTM.

The excellent posting can be found here.

Cameron, thanks for sharing! Next time we meet I’ll buy you a huge bottle of Tabasco :).

OM12 RC installation: Installation of Reporting stops and shows a red cross when entering the SQL Server Instance in installation screen

2011-12-20T07:42:00.001+01:00

Got this one from a much respected reader of my blog, John Bradshaw from Australia. Thanks for sharing John!

Issue
When installing OM12 RC Reporting one has to enter the name of the SQL Server Instance:

After that a red cross is shown and the installation stops. No error messages are shown at all.

Cause
The SQL Server Agent on the SQL Server hosting the SSRS instance isn’t running. Therefore the ‘scheduled operations cannot be created’. These scheduled operations are scripts and the lot which are part of the OM12 Reporting installation.

Solution
Start the SQL Server Agent on the SQL Server hosting the SSRS instance and the installation will run now.

Background information
For myself I haven’t seen this issue because when I install the SQL server required for SCOMR2/OM12 I always set all SQL related services to start automatically. This has saved me the above mentioned issue.

But I can imagine situations where the SQL server is already provisioned by the DBA’s. In that case ask them to set all related SQL services to start automatically.

New KB article: SCOM R2 Config service consumes 100% cpu for a long time

2011-12-16T07:12:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Microsoft released a new KB article about an issue with the SCOM R2 Config service. This service consumes 100% cpu for a long time.

KB2655633 tells the cause of this issue and how to solve it.

Authoring has started: System Center 2012 Operations Manager Unleashed

2011-12-15T17:52:00.001+01:00

Wow! Never I will forget the day a colleague of mine showed me THE book for SCOM: System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed. All the questions I had were answered! It introduced me to the real world of SCOM.

The names on the cover were totally new and unknown to me. At that moment I didn’t expect to meet them in the flesh nor to become a MVP as well. At that time I even didn’t know what a MVP was :).

Much has changed! And now I have the honor to be a contributor for the new book, System Center 2012 Operations Manager Unleashed, as well! Wow! I am really honored to be part of the team which is writing this book. Already learning a great deal. Thank you Kerrie, Cameron and John for having me in this special group of people!

Want to know more about this book? Kerrie has written more about it, to be found here.

Also good to know, another much respected Dutch SCOM MVP writes the chapter about Management Pack authoring. For me personally he’s Da Master of MP Authoring: Oskar Landman. Deep respect man!

New KB article: SCOM R2 Linux Agent fails to deploy: ‘The certificate Common Name (CN) does not match’

2011-12-14T07:53:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Microsoft released a new KB article about the SCOM R2 Linux Agent failing to deploy and showing this error: ‘The certificate Common Name (CN) does not match’.

KB2651766 tells the cause of this issue and how to solve it.

New KB article: SCOM R2 Console may crash while setting the scale on a performance view

2011-12-14T07:51:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Microsoft released a new KB article about SCOM R2 Console crashes when setting the scale on a performance view. At this moment there isn’t a solution, only a workaround, to be found here: KB2652434.

Management Packs: What do YOU think about it?

2011-12-13T15:59:00.001+01:00

Some time ago I posted an article about the level of quality of the MPs delivered by Microsoft. I got many comments on it, some of them a bit too ‘spicy’ to post. So it was difficult for me to get a clear picture about how YOU really feel about it.

However, looking at 2012 it will be an important year for Microsoft and the System Center Suite as a whole. Many SC products will be revamped and launched in H1 of 2012, among them Microsoft System Center 2012 – Operations Manager or OM12.

Even though the RC is publicly available and shows many new features it’s still the infrastructure. What makes any SCOM (R2) or OM12 environment ‘tick’ is the Management Pack. IMO, the MP is key to the success of any SCOM R2 /OM12 environment.

Therefore I am curious about what YOU think about the Management Packs delivered by Microsoft. So I have created an online survey to be found here. This survey is limited and accepts only the first 250 responses, so be quick!

And of course, I will post the outcome in January 2012.

Thank YOU for participating in this survey.

Operations Manager Implementation Phases: At what level are YOU?

2011-12-05T20:48:00.001+01:00

Whether your run a SCOM R2 environment or will migrate/install OM12 in H1 2012, there are certain phases to reckon with. Every phase comes with a set of deliverables which require attention.

Sometimes organizations tend to think that implementing SCOM is the most important phase and covers it all or at least 80% of it. Just some more work to be done but nothing special. Actually, that’s not true.

01 – Basic Monitoring
The implementation of SCOM itself is a straight forward process. Of course, whether or not Gateway Servers are required, monitoring of non-Windows based servers, making the SCOM environment itself high available can make it a bit more of a challenge. But still, at the end one gets a SCOM environment which covers the basics. And now another process kicks in, CONNECTING SCOM to the organization.

02 – Permissions and Notifications
Connecting SCOM to the organization starts out easy: Creating User Roles, related View and permissions. What is one allowed to do, see and act upon in certain Role, like DBA for instance? Also deciding what Alert gets out (as an e-mail message for instance, aka the Notification Model) to whom and when, is configured in this phase. Besides that tuning starts as well. What Alerts are OK and what Alerts require additional tuning?

This is an ongoing process which can take up considerable time when the SCOM environment is freshly installed or a MP gets an update. Afterwards, the time required for this tuning takes up an hour per week when performed by well trained staff.

Phases 1 and 2 are still – IMHO – the basics of SCOM. When these phases are covered, one has basic monitoring in place. And for many organizations this is a good starting point to evolve to the next level, Extended Monitoring, also referred to in this posting as the extended layer.

03 – Extension 1
In this phase additional MPs are loaded and configured, like MPs for covering Oracle, BlackBerry Enterprise Servers, extensive network monitoring. Also additional dashboards are created by using the Visio Add-in or 3rd party Software like Savision LiveMaps, with or without SharePoint Integration. And on top of it all, customized Reports are created. Reports which really have added value to your organization.

As you can see, in this phase the first steps are made in order to close the gap between SCOM and the organization. And also notice SCOM is the one who is closing the gap, and not the organization. Basically the technology is adjusting itself to adapt itself more into the organization.

04 – Extension 2
In this phase applications, which are business critical to your organization are being covered by SCOM. Some on a component per component basis, others E2E (end-to-end). But it doesn’t stop here. These applications also need some means of visualization, like comprehensive dashboards (Quality level: Single-Glance-and-You-Know-It) and some good reports (availability, performance, SLAs and the lot).

This can be a process which takes up some time. First of all you must know what to monitor, how to monitor it, where to monitor it. Then you must look into SCOM. Are the Objects already there or are additional MPs required? Or is some basic or deep MP authoring required? What kind of Reports are required? Does SCOM cover those or is additional Report Authoring required? And when chains of Objects are to be put together, does a couple of DAs cover it or we need many DA’s? And how to tie them together in order to make sense and to represent the application which requires monitoring?

Basically, phase 4 repeats itself per application. And per application it can be covered in a few days up to a few weeks depending on how the application is build (web server, front- and backend, client-, server application), what building blocks does the application use (Windows only (haven’t seen that a lot), or other mainstream building blocks like Oracle, Unix, Java and the lot) and what the requirements are.

But the more you find yourself in Phase 4, the more SCOM enters the organization and is tied into it. Dashboards are to be found not only at the desks of the system engineers, but also at the desks of the application owners, service managers and ICT managers as well. Reports flow on a regular basis to the stake holders so they know about their ICT environment all there is to know.

For some more clarification I have included this picture with the four phases and two ‘layers’, Basic and Extended. And ask yourself this question: At what level am I?

When you find your self at Level 1 or 2, take your time to complete those levels before you step to level 3 or 4. Because like a house, without any solid foundations, one can’t build anything good on top of it.

Community: SCOM Agent Health Tips

2011-12-02T16:08:00.001+01:00

Daniele Grandini has posted an excellent article, all about SCOM Agent health tips.

Certainly every SCOM Admin can use these tips and advices. Want to know more? Go here.

Preparing for migrating to OM12: Moving from SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 – Part III: Phase II – The Migration

2011-12-02T15:51:00.001+01:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
Part I – Along came a theory
Part II – The Preparations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the third posting of this series I will describe in more detail Phase II, the actual migration from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 . When you haven’t read the first and second posting of this series please do so now since otherwise you’ll be missing out the big picture here.
For the completeness here is the list of questions/steps which make up Phase II:

Backup of your SCOM environment (SQL, RMS, MS servers and databases). This is step enables the fall-back scenario and not Step 5 since the SCOM R2 environment is already affected by then;
Removal of the SCOM Reporting functionality (we KEEP the Data Warehouse of course!);
Stopping of the Health Service on RMS and all MS servers;
Stopping the Configuration and SDK service on the RMS;
Backup the SCOM databases: OperationsManager and OperationsManagerDW (because no more data comes in these backups are the most current ones and won’t be outdated in any kind of way);
Stop the SQL Server service (and all other related SQL services) on the old SQL Server;
Restore of the SCOM databases OpsMgr and OpsMgrDW on the new SQL 2008 R2 SP1 server;
Adjustment of the registry keys on the RMS, so the new SQL server is used;
Adjustment of the registry keys on all MS servers, so the new SQL server is used;
Adjustment of some entries on both SCOM databases on the new SQL Server so the new SQL server is correctly referred to in the database AND enabling CLR for the OpsMgr database;
Enabling SQL Broker Service on the SCOM R2 database;
Starting all SCOM related services on the RMS and checking the OpsMgr event log for any error;
Launching the OpsMgr Console on the RMS to see whether all is OK;
When all is well, starting the Health Service on the MS servers, one by one and checking the OpsMgr event logs on those servers whether all goes well;
Installation of SCOM Reporting on the new SQL server;
Checking SCOM Reporting by opening the SCOM R2 Console: is the Reporting Wunderbar present?;
Checking the successful upload of data into the Data Warehouse (OpsMgr event logs of the RMS and MS servers);
Restore of custom folders in SSRS and upload of custom RDLs to the correct Folders;
Checking whether all Reports show up again in SCOM (this might take an hour or so).

As stated before, it won’t be a detailed step-by-step guide , but I will highlight the most crucial steps. In the list above the steps which are printed in blue will be explained by me in more detail. Let’s start since there is a lot to share.

Step 2
The SCOM R2 Reporting functionality must be removed now. Of course we KEEP the OperationsManagerDW database!

Open the SSRS server hosting the SCOM Reporting component and log on with admin permissions. Go to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs and select System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Reporting Server > Remove > Yes:

The removal of SCOM R2 Reporting takes a few minutes. When it’s finished it won’t show a dialogue. The ‘installer screen’ just disappears. Open the SCOM R2 Console and the Reporting Wunderbar should be gone now:

Step 5
In order to create the backups one can use SQL Server Management Studio. This tool uses the correct VSS writer so a viable backup will most certainly be created. Also assure the backup is validated:

Step 7
Restoring the SCOM R2 databases to the new SQL 2008 R2 SP1 Server: Use the same medium for this procedure as you used for creating the backups. In this case SQL Server Management Studio. Connect to SQL instance and log on with an account which has sufficient permissions.

Click right on Database > Restore Database. A Wizard is started now. Select the option From device and click on the selection button (red circle):

Select for Backup Media File > Add. Select the backup file of the OperationsManager database > OK > OK

Select the option Restore. Option To database: select from the dropdown menu OperationsManager. Option: To a point in time select Most recent possible > OK.

Restore runs for a while and when all is OK:

Repeat the same steps for the Data Warehouse database:

Step 8
Adjustment of registry keys on the RMS so the correct SQL Server is referred to:

Log on to the RMS with local admin permissions and open the registry editor. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\3.0\Setup.

Change the key DatabaseServerName so the new SQL Server is referred to:

‘Save’ the changes and close the registry editor.

Step 10
Adjustment of some tables in both SCOM databases so the correct SQL Server is referred to. Open SQL Server Management Studio, logon with admin permissions on the SQL instance.

OperationsManager database
Go to Tables > MT_ManagementGroup > click right and select the option Edit Top 200 Rows. Search for record SQLServerName_6B1D1BE8_EBB4_B425_08DC_2385C5930B04

Modify it so it refers to the new SQL Server:

Close the table.

Enabling CLR on the OperationsManager database
Select the database > click right > new query > copy this code

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;

RECONFIGURE;

sp_configure 'clr enabled', 1;

RECONFIGURE;

> Execute:

OperationsManagerDW database
Go to Tables > MemberDatabase and search for the record ServerName

Modify it so it refers to the new SQL Server:

Close the table, but stay in SQL Server Management Studio.

Step 11
Enabling SQL Broker Service: See this posting of mine, Step 2.

Step 15
Installing SCOM R2 Reporting:

First and foremost, check the correct working of SSRS by opening this URL on the SSRS instance in IE (running with elevated permissions!): http://localhost/Reports:

When this screen is shown all is well. Otherwise fix any issues before continuing.

Before starting the installation first go through the steps mentioned in KB2425714. Otherwise the installation of SCOM Reporting won’t succeed.

Run the installation media of SCOM R2 with elevated permissions and an account which has admin permission locally on the SSRS server, within SCOM and permissions within the SQL instance hosting the Data Warehouse database. Otherwise the installation will fail…

Go through the setup wizard but don’t forget to DESELECT the Data Warehouse database:

Enter all the required information and later on SCOM R2 Reporting is installed successfully:

And:

Step 17
Checking the successful upload of data into the Data Warehouse on the RMS and MS servers:

Check the OpsMgr event log on these servers for this kind of events: Category: Data Warehouse, EventID: 31554 (there are others as well).

Events like these indicate successful uploads of data into the Data Warehouse.

Step 18
Recreating the custom folders in SSRS and uploading the RDLs of the custom reports:

Recreate the custom folders in SSRS by using the web interface for SSRS http://localhost/Reports. Create the required folders:

Upload the RDL files of the custom Reports into the correct folders. This is also done within the web interface for SSRS.

Conclusion
As you can see, migrating from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU#2 isn’t something to be taken lightly. However, it can be done and in a good manner as well.

Planning and preparation are key here. And don’t hesitate to practice it in a lab environment. No licenses are required since you can download all the required software as trial versions and have a go at it. Test it, document it and try it. So you get the hang of it and know what you’re doing.

This way you can migrate safely to SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU#2 for SCOM R2 without too much hassle.

In the last posting of this series I will describe the last steps, like cleaning up the ‘mess’ :).

SQL Clustering in a lab environment on a single pc…

2011-11-29T10:12:00.001+01:00

Hmm, I guess this posting is going to hurt some people, but rest assured, this isn’t the purpose of this posting. It’s just that I want to share some experiences.

Suppose you want to play around with a SQL Cluster, based on Microsoft Failover Clustering. In production environments this won’t do. There isn’t any space left neither in the test labs of your company so you need an alternative. However, at home you don’t have any more a real lab as well (when the first kid was about to arrive I emptied my own personal data center in order to restyle it into a baby room…).

All you’ve got is a pc with 8 GB RAM, some really fast disks and a quad core CPU. Nowadays a basic configuration. The system also runs Windows 7 since it’s the home pc as well. So installing Windows Server 2008 R2 for Hyper-V isn’t an option since some people, who’re also using the pc for their home stuff, won’t like that at all.

So now what? And YES, the SQL Cluster must be build. No matter what. Performance isn’t key here.

Hmm. Gladly enough I had a license for VMware Workstation 8.0. (I really love my own network :) ). So I downloaded it, installed it and now it was time for some good searching on the internet. Soon I bumped into these postings, all about creating a SQL Cluster based on VMware Workstation, 3 VMs (one of them DC and a virtualized iSCSI SAN based on Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3):

And guess what? It all works very well. One advise though: when creating the virtual iSCSI SAN, there is an additional Step required in order to make it work:

On the server hosting the iSCSI Target role one must open the Properties screen of the Target. The second tab enables one to add the iSCSI Initiators which are allowed to connect to the iSCSI Target. Without doing this the nodes won’t have access to the iSCSI Target. It took me some time to find this…

But now I can build my SQL Cluster:

It’s funny to see that the software of two companies who are fighting each other for market share can work so good together and produce very good results :).

New KB Article: How to gain access to SCOM after the SCOM Admin Group is deleted from AD

2011-11-29T09:50:00.001+01:00

This is a real nightmare scenario and I am glad I never bumped into it.

But suppose the SCOM Admin Group is by accident deleted from AD. How do you gain access again to your SCOM environment?

Microsoft has published KB2640222 article about this kind of scenario and how to solve it in most cases.

Preparing for migrating to OM12: Moving from SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 – Part II: Phase I – The Preparations

2011-11-23T16:06:00.011+01:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
Part I – Along came a theory
Part III – The Migration
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the second posting of this series I will describe in more detail Phase I. When you haven’t read the first posting of this series please do so now since otherwise you’ll be missing out the big picture here.
For the completeness here is the list of questions/steps which make up Phase I:

Is the new SQL Server going to be physical or virtual? Also check what Microsoft officially recommends here;
Is the new SQL Server going to be clustered or not? Involve management and let them tell you how they look upon Monitoring. Is it business critical or not?
What version of SQL Server are you going to use (Standard or Enterprise)?
Provisioning of the new SQL Server, installing it with the features AND correct COLLATION settings required by OM12;
Preparing the security of the new SQL Server so SCOM can access it;
Adjusting the Master Database with a special script so it understand typical SCOM messages, piped into the event log;
Enabling CLR on the SQL Server so Group calculation works in SCOM R2;
Export of all custom RDLs residing on the current SQL 2005 server, used by SCOM;
Make sure the SCOM environment is healthy. Check SCOM (in the Console and OpsMgr event logs on the RMS and MS servers) and solve any serious issues before moving on to Phase II;
DON’T deploy a SCOM R2 Agent on this server!!!!
Make a list with the SCOM service accounts and their passwords, required in Phase II.

As stated before, it won’t be a detailed step-by-step guide about how to install SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU#2, but I will highlight the most crucial steps in the processes. In the list above the steps which are printed in blue will be explained by me in more detail. Let’s start since there is a lot to share.

Step 4
When installing SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU#2 also install the SQL Feature Full-Text Search:

and select the correct Collation Settings, SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS:

Step 5
Logon to the SQL 2005 Server and open SQL Server Management Studio. Go to Server name > Security > Logins and look for the SCOM R2 Service Accounts (typically there are at least four of them: Action, SDK, Data Warehouse Write and Data Warehouse Read). It goes without saying all these accounts are AD accounts.

Write down the details. The most important ones here are the pages Server Roles (always Public, but check and double check!) and User Mapping. Make a screenshot of the latter page since it narrows down the margin of error compared to writing down the settings. Example:

Recreate the Logins on the new SQL 2008 R2 SP1 server. Of course, not all settings from User Mappings can be applied yet (the SCOM R2 databases aren’t there yet…) but at least the required Logins are in place. Example:

Step 6
Run this script against the Master database so it becomes aware of SCOM R2 specific events which can be logged in to the Windows Event log:

Step 7
Enabling CLR in order to have Group calculation working. Even though this must be run against the OperationsManager database itself, it’s good to have the required Stored Procedure already available:

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
sp_configure 'clr enabled', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO

Step 8 Now all custom made Reports in SCOM must be exported.
Mind you, these aren’t the Reports you have saved to Favorites nor the Published Reports. Reports like that are Linked Reports, like shortcuts which refer to other existing Reports. These Linked Reports won’t be exported but have to be recreated later on.

Another approach here could be running these Reports one by one and save them to a MP of their own. Also the Reports which are present in the MPs won’t have to be exported since the MPs will upload them automatically to the new SSRS instance.

What I mean with Custom Reports are the ones which are made with Report Builder or BIDS for instance. Identify those Reports and their locations. A tool will be used to export the RDLs. It requires .NET Framework 4.0. so when it’s not there we have to install it. The stand alone installer can be found here for both architectures. See this posting of mine about how to use the tool to export the Reports.

Since ALL Reports will be exported, delete the ones which are present in the MPs and keep the custom made Reports. These will be uploaded later on into the new SSRS instance.

Step 9
Check the health of the SCOM environment. Make sure all is OK and nothing amiss. Check the SCOM Console for the health of the MG and also check all OpsMgr eventlogs on the SCOM R2 MS servers. Only when all is well, it’s time to move on to Phase II.

Conclusion
As you can see, there is a lot to do. But with Phase I you can take your time and prepare it step-by-step. In the next Phase the move of the SCOM R2 databases and SCOM R2 Reporting will take place. And this is the Phase where it all happens. Nice! See you’ll next time!

OM12: Antivirus exclusions

2011-11-22T10:15:00.001+01:00

With SCOM one had to exclude certain files, folders and sometimes even extensions (be careful here!) in order to keep your SCOM environment in a smooth condition without being frustrated in its workings by antivirus software.

As far as I have seen this isn’t any different with Microsoft System Center 2012 – Operations Manager (OM12). However, with this version some folder locations are changed and when one is running SQL Server 2008 R2 the same issue is happening as well. Therefore this posting contains the updated folder locations, based on OM12 RC.

My personal guess is the folder locations won’t change in OM12 RTM but NEVER assume ALWAYS check and double check!

This posting is based on another posting, to be found here.

Processes
Before excluding any process from being scanned by your antivirus software know what you’re doing. As Kevin stated it on his blog (adjusted it to OM12 servers):

“…Excluding by process executable is very dangerous, in that it limits the control of scanning potentially dangerous files handled by the process, because it excludes any and all files involved. For this reason, unless absolutely necessary, we will not exclude any process executables in AV configurations for OM12 servers…”

For OM12 it’s still the same process: monitoringhost.exe. However, the location differs, per functionality:

OM12 Agent: ~:\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager\Agent;
OM12 Management Server: ~:\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager 2012\Server.

Folders
These folders are advised to be excluded from scanning by your antivirus software:

OM12 Agent: ~:\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager\Agent\Health Service State\Health Service Store;
OM12 Management Server: ~:\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager 2012\Server\Health Service State\Health Service Store;
SQL Server databases: ~:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA;
SQL Server log files: ~:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Log.

Extensions
These extensions are advised to be excluded from scanning by your antivirus software:

OM12 MS servers and Agents: EDB, CHK, LOG. These are the queue and log files of OM12;
SQL: MDF, LDF. These are the database and log files of SQL server.

New Base OS MP: Logical Disk Free space Alerts fixed by Kevin Holman & Larry Mosley

2011-11-18T07:29:00.001+01:00

The new Base OS MP has been revamped in such a way to reduce a lot of noise, which is good. However, one thing which changed as well are the Alerts for logical disk free space. They don’t show anymore how much free space (in MBs and percentage) is left. Which isn’t good since now one doesn’t know how critical an Alert is.

Kevin Holman and Larry Mosley have therefore written a couple of addendum MPs which address this issue. However, DON’T just download these MPs and import them. First READ the blog posting of Kevin from top to bottom in order to get a full understanding of the consequences and (perhaps) the additional work they involve.

Want to know more? Go here.

OM12: Unsealed MPs are still VERY important, so EXPORT them on a regular basis

2011-11-17T10:31:00.001+01:00

With OM12 Unsealed MPs still play a vital role, so it’s very important to export them and put them into the regular backup plan as well.

For SCOM there is a PS script available which enables one to create a Scheduled Task for it. It works great since it’s really Set & Forget. And every day one has a fresh export of all Unsealed MPs available.

I for myself use this script in every SCOM environment I bump into since it really adds so much value. And I run this script on ALL SCOM Management Servers, RMS and MS servers that is. This way – even when people forget to backup the export files of the Unsealed MPs – there are multiple locations where these files reside. And these files don’t take that much disk space so no issues there either.

But how to go about it in OM12? The good news is, this script still works! Even though one has to specify the RMS (duh!) it runs like clockwork. The only thing one has to take into account is that one targets the OM12 MS server which is installed first in the new OM12 MG. Since that server typically hosts the RMS Emulator role for backward compatibility with SCOM R2.

How the PS script works? Very straight forward. It consists out of two components: the PS script itself and a small cmd-file which contains the required parameters. I have attached the cmd-file and PS script at the end of this posting. This is how one can configure it:

Create a folder on the OM 2012 server, like C:\_Backup;
Create within that folder two sub-folders: Scripts and UnsealedMPs;
Copy the PS script and cmd-file into the folder C:\_Backup\Scripts;
Modify the cmd-file so it contains the correct OM12 server which hosts the RMS Emulator role (<FQDN RMS EMULATOR>);
Testdrive the cmd-file in order to see all is well and the Unsealed MPs are indeed exported to the folder C:\_Backup\UnsealedMPs’
When all is OK, save the cmd-file;
Create a Scheduled Task which runs on a daily basis early in the morning;

Select the SDK account for the Scheduled Task to run under so you’re sure it has the required permissions to access OM12.

Test the Scheduled Task in order to see all is well;
Repeat Steps 1 to 8 on every OM12 MS server and you’re fine;
Make sure the regular backups also take the folders C:\_Backup on all OM12 MS servers into account.

PS script and cmd-file can be downloaded from my SkyDrive.

Credits
I didn’t write these PS and cmd-files but found them years back on the internet. My guess is they came from SystemCenterForum.org so all credits go to them.

OM12 RC: Dude, how do I backup the Encryption Key? Answer: You don’t!

2011-11-16T15:25:00.001+01:00

In SCOM and SCOM R2 installations it was crucial to backup the Encryption Key of your RMS server and store it safe (which isn’t on the RMS…). Basically what this key does is decrypting secure data present in the Operational Database. Without it, no RMS. Period.

When disaster strucks and renders your RMS useless, there is a way to promote (temporarily) a MS server to RMS in order to have your SCOM environment back in working condition. For this the Encryption Key is crucial. Without it, no promotion of a MS to RMS. (Yes, I know, there are some workarounds since R2 but you don’t want to go there.)

So far so good.

Q: But how about it in OM12? Do you still need to backup the Encryption Key?

A: Well, the RMS is gone with OM12 (thank you Microsoft) since the RMS functionality is now shared among ALL OM12 Management Servers. Along with it the requirement to backup the Encryption Key as well. The tool to run a backup of the Encryption Key isn’t present anymore. So no more backups of the Encryption Key in OM12.

Q: But what if I only run a single OM12 MS server and it dies?

A: Never ever install ONE OM12 MS server. Install at least TWO of them. And in the same period of time. So when you install your OM12 environment, install at least TWO OM12 MS servers on the same day before you proceed any further. Of course, for lab environments one OM12 MS server could do, but even there, TWO are the way to go since pools of OM12 MS servers are used by OM12. So with a single OM12 MS server, your lab environment would be way off compared to normal production situations (perhaps it’s the time to ask for a better lab environment??).

McAfee 8.8 and SCOM/OM: Not a happy marriage…

2011-11-14T11:25:00.001+01:00

11-15-2011 Update
Yesterday evening McAfee released Patch 1 for McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.8:
- McAfee Downloads site - http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads
- ServicePortal - https://mysupport.mcafee.com

11-14-2011 Update:
Got this from a McAfee expert: This issues only occurs when you have VSE8.8 installed AND disabled scriptscan. When that component is enabled, the issue mentioned in this posting won’t occur. McAfee also published a workaround for it, to be found here: https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB71660,

Got this one from a respected colleague of mine:

McAfee 8.8 and SCOM/OM don’t mix well together. It turns out that almost ALL Discovery scripts run by the SCOM/OM12 Agent are blocked, even when you exclude the SCOM/OM Agent folders from scanning.

Because of that you will see screens like this in your OM12 RC environment:

However, in your SCOM environment you’ll see the same issue!

This issue will be solved with the release of Patch 1 which is available from today (11-15-2011). Or perhaps time to migrate to Microsoft Forefront :).

Operations Manager 2012 Release Candidate (OM12 RC) is publicly available

2011-11-10T20:33:00.001+01:00

Today Microsoft released the Release Candidate for OM12.

Much is changed AND improved, checkout the new LOOK:

Try OM12 RC now!!! But keep this in the back of your mind:

“Upgrades from RC to RTM in *any* scenario will not be supported by Microsoft support unless the customer is part of the TAP program for the specific product that they are trying to upgrade. Only TAP customers are licensed to run pre-RTM software in production.”

All documentation about OM12 RC can be found here.

Taken directly from the website where OM12 RC can be downloaded as well:

Feature Summary

Setup
Operations Manager 2012 has a new Setup wizard. For important instructions about how to install Operations Manager 2012, see Install Operations Manager 2012 Beta.
Highly Available Management Group Out of the Box
In Operations Manager 2012, all management servers are peers; there is no root management server. The workload is split among all management servers in a management group, which provides high availability without requiring a cluster.
Resource pools
A resource pool provides the ability to distribute workloads across multiple management servers, such as availability, network device monitoring, distributed monitor health rollup, and group calculation.
Agent Configuration
Operations Manager 2012 provides an easy method for configuring agents to report to multiple management servers by adding an Operations Manager Agent application to Control Panel on each agent-managed computer.
Operations Console
You will notice some subtle changes to the Operations console. The Actions pane is now the Tasks pane, and includes a new section called Navigation Tasks that makes it easy for you to open views for a selected object. The Tasks pane offers two tabs: one for actions and one for resources and Help links. The Navigation and Tasks panes can be hidden or revealed instantly by clicking the arrow in the title bar of the pane.
Web console
Operations Manager 2012 introduces a new Web console. In Operations Manager 2012, all Operations Manager views are available in the Web console.
Network monitoring
Operations Manager 2012 provides the ability to discover and monitor network routers and switches, including the network interfaces and ports on those devices and the virtual LAN (VLAN) that they participate in. You can also delete discovered network devices and prevent the deleted network devices from being rediscovered the next time discovery runs. For more information, see Monitor Network Devices.
Application monitoring
In Operations Manager 2012, you can monitor ASP.NET applications in server- and client-side environments to get details about application availability and performance. Configure monitoring settings, such as polling frequency and transaction threshold. Then use results, including how frequently a problem is occurring, how a server was performing when a problem occurred, and the distributed chain for a transaction in question to pinpoint problems and solutions. For more information, see Monitor a .NET Application.
Dashboard views
As part of the network monitoring and application monitoring capabilities, Operations Manager 2012 includes new comprehensive dashboard views that combine multiple panels of information into a single view. In Operations Manager 2012, you can add the new dashboard views to My Workspace.
Display dashboard views using SharePoint
The Operations Manager web part displays specified dashboard views and can be added to Microsoft SharePoint 2010 sites. For more information, see Add a Dashboard View to a SharePoint Site.
Creating dashboard views
Dashboard views have been significantly upgraded in Operations Manager 2012 from their capabilities in Operations Manager 2007 R2, including custom layouts and nested dashboard views. For more information, see Create a Dashboard View.
Operations Manager Module for Windows PowerShell
Operations Manager 2012 provides a Windows PowerShell 2.0 module containing a full set of new cmdlets. The cmdlets in this module are only compatible with Operations Manager 2012. You can recognize the Operations Manager 2012 cmdlets by the "SC" preceding the noun. For additional information about the Operations Manager 2012 cmdlets, open the Operations Manager command shell and type Get-Help about_OpsMgr_WhatsNew. For information about how the Operations Manager 2007 cmdlets map to the Operations Manager 2012 cmdlets, type Get-Help about_OpsMgr_Cmdlet_Names.To use the Operations Manager 2012 cmdlets, you must establish a connection to an Operations Manager management group. You can establish either a persistent connection in which you can run multiple cmdlets, or a temporary connection when running a single cmdlet. For more information about connections, open the Operations Manager Shell and type Get-Help about_OpsMgr_Connections.
UNIX- and Linux-based computers
In Operations Manager 2012, the Discovery Wizard is easier to use for discovering UNIX- and Linux-based computers. You can now use Windows PowerShell to manage UNIX- and Linux-based computers, for more information, see the UNIX and Linux section in the release notes. High availability is also supported.
UNIX/Linux Shell Command Template Management Pack
This Management Pack implements authoring templates that allow the creation of rules, tasks, and monitors based on execution of shell commands on UNIX/Linux agents.
JEE Management Packs
These management packs monitor JEE (Java Enterprise Edition) application servers. Management packs are available for IBM WebSphere, Oracle WebLogic, Red Hat JBoss and Apache Tomcat.

Preparing for migrating to OM12: Moving from SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 – Part I: Along came a theory

2011-11-09T14:09:00.001+01:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
Part II – The Preparations
Part III – The Migration
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As stated before a new series of blog postings would come out, all about moving from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 in order to prepare for migrating from SCOM R2 to OM12 RTM (expected in 2012).

In the first posting of this series I will go discuss the theory behind it, all about the required steps and procedures in order to make it a smooth transition with an absolute minimum amount of downtime for your SCOM R2 environment.

The Lab

Especially for this series I have build myself a new SCOM R2 CU#5 environment, based on two W2K03 SP2 servers.

One server is a DC for the AD and hosts the RMS Role. The second server is the SQL Server and hosts – besides both OpsMgr databases – the Reporting Server role for the SCOM MG as well.

Some basic MPs (Server OS, IIS and SQL) are imported and tuned and also some customized Reports are created which aren’t saved into a MP of their own but saved directly to the SSRS instance itself.

The Mission
The SQL 2005 Server will be replaced by a SQL 2008 R2 SP1 server, running on W2K08 R2 SP1. And of course, the SCOM R2 databases will be moved to this new server along with the customized Reports and their special folders.

The Theory, all about TLA and KIs
Basically this move to SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 has three different phases. Each phase has its own characteristics, challenges and potential pitfalls. So preparation is key here.

A typical case where usage of the Traffic Light Approach (TLA) comes in handy. TLA is really simple. Per phase some Key Indicators (KIs) are defined. And per KI there are three different states (sounds almost like Monitors in SCOM and believe me, the similarity doesn’t end here) :

Green: All is well and a go ahead;
Yellow: Warning. Some issues require additional attention, but on itself no show-stopper (yet!);
Red: Something is not OK and must be taken care of before moving on to the next phase.

And yes, a couple of Yellow’s might end up as a single Red. So beware.

Phase I
This phase is a nice one since it doesn’t touch the SCOM R2 MG in any kind of way. So one has time to plan, discuss, design, install and tune. This phase is all about provisioning a new SQL 2008 R2 SP1 Server based on W2K08 R2 SP1. Yes, the latest technology is being used here, all because this server will be used for some years so it’s better to start with the latest RTM/GA technology instead of using technologies which are already a few years old.

On the other hand, this phase has some challenges of its own as well. The installation of SQL 2008 R2 SP1 on itself isn’t that hard. But more of a challenge will be what type of SQL server will be provided, like: stand-alone, clustered, VM or physical? Your SCOM R2 environment is based on decisions take a few years ago and nowadays other decisions might be taken. So make sure the correct type of SQL Server is provided.

This list of questions/steps do make up Phase I:

Is the new SQL Server going to be physical or virtual? Also check what Microsoft officially recommends here;
Is the new SQL Server going to be clustered or not? Involve management and let them tell you how they look upon Monitoring. Is it business critical or not?
What version of SQL Server are you going to use (Standard or Enterprise)?
Provisioning of the new SQL Server, installing it with the features AND correct COLLATION settings required by OM12;
Preparing the security of the new SQL Server so SCOM can access it;
Adjusting the Master Database with a special script so it understand typical SCOM messages, piped into the event log;
Enabling CLR on the SQL Server so Group calculation works in SCOM R2
Export of all custom RDLs residing on the current SQL 2005 server, used by SCOM;
Make sure the SCOM environment is healthy. Check SCOM (in the Console and OpsMgr event logs on the RMS and MS servers) and solve any serious issues before moving on to Phase II;
DON’T deploy a SCOM R2 Agent on this server!!!!
Make a list with the SCOM service accounts and their passwords, required in Phase II.

This phase has these five KIs:

The correct collation settings;
The correct SQL Features (required by OM12);
The correct security settings for SCOM;
The script run against the Master Database;
CLR enabled on the SQL Server.

Only when all KIs are green, it’s time to move on to Phase II.

Phase II
This is the phase where things get real. The SCOM databases and Reporting functionality are moved from the current SQL Server to the one provisioned in Phase I. So this touches your SCOM R2 environment BIG time!

This list of steps do make up Phase II:

Backup of your SCOM environment (SQL, RMS, MS servers and databases). This is step enables the fall-back scenario and not Step 5 since the SCOM R2 environment is already affected by then;
Removal of the SCOM Reporting functionality (we KEEP the Data Warehouse of course!);
Stopping of the Health Service on RMS and all MS servers;
Stopping the Configuration and SDK service on the RMS;
Backup the SCOM databases, including OpsMgr, OpsMgrDW and Reporting (because no more data comes in these backups are the most current ones and won’t be outdated in any kind of way);
Stop the SQL Server service (and all other related SQL services) on the old SQL Server;
Restore of the SCOM databases OpsMgr and OpsMgrDW on the new SQL 2008 R2 SP1 server;
Adjustment of the registry keys on the RMS, so the new SQL server is used;
Adjustment of the registry keys on all MS servers, so the new SQL server is used;
Adjustment of some entries on both SCOM databases on the new SQL Server so the new SQL server is present in the database;
Starting all SCOM services on the RMS;
Checking the OpsMgr event log for any error;
Launching the OpsMgr Console on the RMS to see whether all is OK;
When all is well, starting the Health Service on the MS servers, one by one and checking the OpsMgr event logs on those servers whether all goes well;
Installation of SCOM Reporting on the new SQL server;
Installation of CU#5 on that SQL Server as well;
Checking SCOM Reporting;
Checking the successful upload of data into the Data Warehouse (OpsMgr event logs of the RMS and MS servers);
Restore of exported RDLs (Phase I, Step 8);
Checking whether all Reports show up again in SCOM (this might take an hour or so).

This phase has different KIs where every single KI is capable of creating a RED traffic light, thus stopping the whole Phase II in total…

Step 1: these backups MUST be validated! Otherwise no fall back scenario is in place;
Step 5: these backups MUST be validated as well. Otherwise no move to the new SQL Server can be made;
Step 6: The restores must be successfully and give you healthy databases;
Steps 8, 9 and 10 must be OK otherwise SCOM won’t work;
Step 13: SCOM Console must be running OK otherwise SDK has having issues with the database connectivity;
Step 14: Are the MS servers OK and in working condition;
Step 16: Is Reporting successfully installed?
Step 20: Is SCOM Reporting functioning properly?

Phase III
This phase is the wrap up. All is OK and running smoothly, otherwise TLA would have stopped you and kept you in Phase II. But since you’re here I presume you’re in a good shape.

This list of steps makes up Phase III:

Push a SCOM R2 Agent to the new SQL Server;
Run the SCOM R2 environment with its new SQL 2008 R2 SP1 server for a week and check it for any glitches;
Run some tests, like creating Reports, building Groups based on dynamic population (are these Groups properly populated afterwards) and so on;
Talk with the end-users of the SCOM environment in order to get an idea how they see it, ask open questions.

When all is well in these Steps, it’s time for some cleaning and sharing:

Decommission the old SQL server;
Make a high-level report for Management so they know what has been done with what results.

And now it’s time for a beer or glass of wine!

In the next posting I will write about preparing the new SQL server as described in Phase I. No, it won’t be detailed step-by-step guide but it will highlight the most important steps and referring to the sources, like where to get that script to be run against the Master database and so on. So stay tuned and see you all next time!

Third Party Management Packs: How Expensive They Can Get…

2011-11-08T11:12:00.001+01:00

Wow! Bumped into this one today. A customer of mine is running a couple of F5 Load Balancers and wants them to be monitored by SCOM. Which is nothing but a normal request.

There are multiple ways to get this on the road:

Customization: build the required monitoring yourself based on SNMP, OIDs and the lot;
xSNMP Suite: Does not cover F5 out-of-the-box so additional customization is required;
Jalasoft: Covers F5 out-of-the-box. Doesn’t come cheap but offers really deep network monitoring, adding much to any SCOM environment;
F5: Delivers a MP as well.

Since budget is really something to reckon with, the Jalasoft solution seemed to be out of range. So Options 1,2 and 4 remained. However, time to deliver is short as well, so a quick-fix is required. Which left us with Options 2 and 4. Even though I like the xSNMP MP Suite, it doesn’t go deep enough for F5 LBs. So at the end – we thought – the MP from F5 remained, Option 4.

And to my knowledge F5 delivers this MP for free. So I started to search the internet and found it. At least, that’s what I thought. But when I wanted to download the MP I ended up with an Access Denied error:

Hmm, strange. Time for some more investigation. And soon I found the reason why the MP wasn’t to be downloaded anymore, at least for FREE that is:

Mind the sentence: ‘…The price of the Management Pack will be $10,000 US plus support and is shipping now….’

Say what?! A MP which was available fro FREE has gotten a price tag of 10K? Really incredible, also when one looks at the current economical situation. Companies are on tight budgets and some how somewhere in F5 there are some persons who think they can ask prices like these and SELL it as well.

Therefore I have advised my customer to abandon Option 4 and to take another look at Jalasoft when they want monitoring-out-of-the-box. Agreed, Jalasoft doesn’t come cheap, but won’t hit the 10K that fast AND adds more capabilities besides F5 monitoring as well, where as the F5 MP only offers F5 monitoring and stops there and you with empty pockets…

This really makes me wonder what some companies are thinking. Perhaps along these lines: ‘Hmm. The company has already spend some money on SCOM. So they have much more of it. Let’s ask ridiculous prices and see how many companies fall for it…’.

Conclusion
At the end of the day companies trying to sell MPs with prices like these make it only harder for themselves. Because nowadays customers don’t just buy hard- or software anymore. They also look at the costs of manageability of that hard- and software, thus taking it into account as well. And when it costs 10K (!) to monitor some hardware, even when it’s F5 LBs, customers will look for alternatives which are way cheaper ending up with LBs from other vendors. Don’t know where this fits into the business model of F5…

Coming Soon: A Way To Migrate From SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 (or higher) for SCOM

2011-11-03T18:14:00.001+01:00

With OM12 being available as a public Beta, I get many questions about how to migrate from SCOM R2 to OM12 when it goes RTM (expected in 2012).

One of the requirements is that SCOM R2 runs its databases on SQL Server 2008 or higher. Many times however, people run SCOM R2 based on SQL Server 2005. Which is OK on itself, but a show stopper when migrating to OM12 RTM.

So I have given it good thoughts. And came to these conclusions:

There is another caveat to reckon with:

Many times these SQL 2005 servers are running Windows 2003 server as well which isn’t supported by OM12 either. This introduces new challenges:
- Updating Windows 2003 Server to Windows Server 2008 R2 isn’t possible, only like this: W2K03 > W2K08 > W2K08 R2. This is a scenario you don’t want to go into, at least I don’t. It’s too prone to error.
- Some times these servers run a x86 version of the OS and SQL. However, x64 is the way to go these days. The time x64 was unreliable is long gone. And there isn’t an upgrade path from x86 to x64.

Other things which come into play and require serious thinking and answers are:

Many times these SQL 2005 servers are physical entities. Which means they’re there for some years now. Is it really worth it to use this hardware again (think about support contracts and the like) or is this THE time to replace them;
With OM12 the RMS is gone, so that SPOF is taken care of. But what about SQL server? When you run it now as a single server it’s a SPOF. Perhaps there were good reasons for it when SCOM was installed, but do those same reasons still apply today? Or has monitoring become more business critical, thus requiring a High Availability solution like a SQL Cluster?
- Don’t decide this yourself. Involve management into it and let them make a (written) statement. This way is has been given proper attention.
When SCOM was installed, virtualization was only starting. Now it’s much more common. Perhaps you can virtualize your SQL server for OM12? Of course, proper investigation is required, like:

What does Microsoft say about it?
What does your SAN administrators tell you about the IO and so on?
What does your Hyper-V (duh!) administrators tell you about the performance of their VI?
How many Objects are you going to monitor with OM12?
And so on…

So based on these questions above, many times simply (NOT!) upgrading your current SQL 2005 Server to SQL Server 2008 (or higher) isn’t the way to go. Instead, another scenario comes into play, one where a NEW SQL server (or cluster!) is provided and uses as the new SQL server for your current SCOM R2 environment, thus paving the way to an upgrade to OM12 RTM.

And seriously, even when you don’t want to upgrade your SCOM R2 environment to OM12 but start fresh, there are still some good reasons to move to SQL 2008 (or higher), like better performance and the lot.

Therefore in a new series of postings I will take you all by the hand and move SCOM R2 databases from a SQL 2005 Server to SQL Server 2008 R2. So stay tuned!

Building Monitors: Why not to use ‘Critical’ status change all the time…

2011-11-03T17:47:00.001+01:00

When people are using SCOM to build their own Monitors, they tend to use the ‘Critical’ status change too easy. It’s better not to use that status too often or without giving it much thought.

Why? I know, of course, when people start to build Monitors of their own they deem something important enough to monitor it with SCOM. That goes without saying.

However, SCOM has a certain Health Model to reckon with. In that Health Model three different Health Statuses are present:

Healthy

Color: Green. All is well and running smoothly. Server/Application/Service is functioning as expected.
Warning

Color: Yellow. An issue has occurred. Something is not OK. However, the overall functionality nor availability is directly affected. Action is required though in order to prevent real outage/downtime.
Critical

Color: Red. A server/application/service is down and outage is happening. Functionality is severely affected. Immediate action is required.

This is the WHY…
Keep the last Status (Critical) in the back of your mind. For SCOM this is looked upon as REAL downtime (Critical State = Unavailable for SCOM!!!). So when you create a Monitor, targeted against a certain Class (like SQL Server for instance) and the Monitor raises an Alert and triggers a Critical State, SCOM will look upon it as the targeted SQL Servers being UNAVAILABLE.

So when you run a Report about the availability of your SQL servers, this Critical Alert will have a negative effect on the total percentage of the Availability of those SQL Servers… Which is a bad thing, especially when you only wanted to monitor something which is important but not CRITICAL to that SQL Server.

Conclusion
Be careful when creating Monitors and assigning Critical statuses to them. Think about the consequences when running availability Reports against those servers. Many times a Warning condition will do the trick as well without having a negative side-effect on the overall availability of those servers.

Tim McFadden Strikes Again

2011-11-02T12:27:00.001+01:00

Tim McFadden, the one who created the awesome tool Remote Maintenance Mode Scheduler, has created a new tool which every SCOM admin should have: MP2XMLPRO Management Pack Conversion Tool.

Even though the name sounds very complicated for non-English native speaking people, the tool itself is very straightforward: it’s UI based and allows one to convert sealed MPs to XML files. On the FLY!

Screenshot taken directly from Tim’s website.

Want to know more? Go here.

SNMP, OIDs and Jalasoft Xian Network Manager Io

2011-11-02T12:19:00.001+01:00

The last few weeks I am very busy with SNMP, IODs and SCOM. And as stated before, a whole new world has come into my reach.

Today I had the opportunity to combine it with Jalasoft Xian Network Manager Io. This network monitoring solution for SCOM is very powerful – out of the box – but also has the capabilities for creating custom rules, based on OIDs.

Even though it took me some time to master it, it’s very intuitive and straight forward. And the sky is the limit. These are the high level steps when creating custom Rules with Jalasoft (FIRST of all: Test the OIDs with a tool like GetIf):

Open the Console, go to Rules > Add Custom Rule;
Select the Plugin (basically, the type of network device the Rule is meant for);
The <PLUGIN> custom rule wizard is started;
The first tab, General allows one to add a name, title and description. I my case I used the OID description as the description for the Rule as well;
Rule Type (Performance, Incremental performance Rule or Status Rule) has to be selected;
The second tab Performance Parameters, allows for much tweaking and tuning. In my case I skipped it;
The third tab, Expression, requires the correct OID and a custom OID name;
The fourth tab, Alert data, allows to create your own Product Knowledge.

When all is well the Rule can be saved. Now the network device against which this Rule will be targeted must be opened. The Rule you created earlier must be added, configured and started.

In order to get everything up & running, the Rule must be exported as a MP. The Jalasoft Console enables this feature very nicely: go to Rules > Export Custom Rules. And a MP containing the custom Rule is created on the fly. Import it into your MG and you’re in business!

When you’ve created other custom Rules earlier, those will be exported as well into the same MP. So the MP is an aggregation of ALL the custom Rules you’ve created. Since it’s an unsealed MP it can be imported without any issues like running the same version number.

Conclusion
What strikes me most here, is the easiness to get things on the road and the possibilities of customizations. Really awesome. Again, when you have the OID – and tested it in order to know it really contains information(!) – you can monitor anything! And Jalasoft adds more possibilities to it, without requiring really deep knowledge of SNMP and OIDs. The UI of Jalasoft makes it really easy. Compliments to Jalasoft!

SCOM R2 Web Console based Health Explorer issue: Only the buttons are shown, rest is grayed out

2011-10-28T12:00:00.001+02:00

Bumped into this strange issue at a customers site.

Issue
SCOM R2 in place with the Web Console, hosted by the RMS so Windows Authentication was being used. Web Console ran like clock work. Only the Health Explorer gave some issues. Ran fine on the RMS but outside that server, it didn’t run good. Only the buttons were shown but the rest of the screen was grayed out, like this:

Also the RMS showed this error in the OpsMgr Event Log: EventID 10, source: Web Console. Description: bla bla bla Unhandled asynchronous postback error occured…

Things I tried to remedy it
No matter what I tried, nothing helped:

Recycled App pool;
ResetIIS cmd;
Rebooted RMS;
Tried the Web Console with NetBIOS names and later with FQDN;
Repaired ASP.NET Ajax (required for running web based Health Explorer).

But all to no avail.

What finally worked
Time for another approach. When more sophisticated measures don’t seem to land it was time for a drastic approach: the REMOVAL of the Web Console and afterwards, a new installation.

This can be done easily. Just run setup, select Modify and deselect the Web Console. Within a few minutes the Web Console is gone. Rerun setup and select Modify again. Now select the Web Console, the required type of authentication and a few minutes later a new Web Console is present, all without requiring a reboot of the RMS :).

And now the Web based Health Explorer runs like clock work again, from any server or workstation:

Even though I don’t like approaches like these (I still don’t know what caused it) sometimes measures like these are required. Fix it and move on to another more interesting issue :).

SCOM R2: Monitoring non-Windows servers and the WS-MAN 1.1 maze

2011-10-20T11:23:00.001+02:00

When one wants to monitor non-Windows servers (like RHEL and SLES for instance) one requires the presence of WS-MAN on the SCOM R2 Management Servers, or at least on the SCOM R2 Management Servers to which these monitored non-Windows servers report to.

But what is WS-MAN? And where to find it? What version do I need? And does one need to install it on Windows 200x servers or not? In this posting I'll try to shed some more light on this topic. So let’s start.

What is WS-MAN?
WS-MAN, aka WinRM aka Windows Remote Management is a new remote management standard, enabling people and processes to remotely manage and execute programs on remote (windows) systems.
OK, I see. But why needs SCOM WS-MAN?
Windows Servers and non-Windows Servers are two different worlds. In order to make them talk together, some enablers for this kind of communication need to be in place. One of these ‘enablers’ is WS-MAN which is present in both worlds. For clarification, look at underneath picture, taken from a slide deck used by Barry Shilmover with Tech-Ed Barcelona 2008 when he gave a presentation about SCOM R2 and monitoring X-plat:
What version do I need?
Depends on the Server OS you are running. When you run Windows Server 2003 WS-MAN 1.1 will do. When you run Windows Server 2008 or higher, WS-MAN 2.0 is required. When Windows 8 will come out it is to be expected to see a new version of WS-MAN as well.
Where do I find it and do I need to install it on all Windows 200x servers?
That’s a funny thing. When you run Windows Server 2003, you need to download it from here (make sure you choose the correct architecture!) and install it (Next > Next > Finish).

When you run Windows Server 2008 or higher, it’s already there! So no need to install it again. Open the Windows Services mmc and look for Display Name Windows Remote Management (WS-Management). The service name is WinRM :).

You only need to install it (when not running Windows Server 2008 or later that is!) on the SCOM R2 Management Server to which the non-Windows based servers report to. But as a best practice, it is advised to install it on all SCOM R2 Management Servers, so one can switch easily to another SCOM R2 Management Server for the non-Windows servers to report to.
Do I need to configure it in any kind of way?
Yes, for SCOM R2 you’ll need configure WS-MAN for allowing basic authentication by running this command from an (elevated) cmd-prompt:

winrm set winrm/config/client/auth @{Basic="true"}

When you don’t do this, the Discovery of the non-Windows Servers will fail.

Used Resources for this posting

WS-Man 1.1 requirement; http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd827187.aspx
Installation and config of WS-MAN on W2K03 servers: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384372(v=vs.85).aspx
What is WinRM? http://clintboessen.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-is-winrm.html

SNMP, OIDs and SCOM: Let’s start rocking!

2011-10-19T14:40:00.001+02:00

SNMP, OIDs and SCOM don’t seem to a very exciting mix at a first glance. However, when combined in a smart manner, they extend your monitoring solution in an awesome way. This posting is about just that. It will describe at a high level how to go about it and high light some potential pitfalls. And as an extra gift, it will show two short YouTube videos as a demonstration of the power of SNMP, OIDs and SCOM working together.

How about…
checking the UPS systems, whether they’re still powered, or the batteries are being loaded or not? And at what percentage the battery capacity is and having it displayed in a graph in the SCOM Console? Or how about getting an Alert when the temperature in your datacenter is too high? And having a graph plotted near real time in SCOM about the temperature as well? Or getting an Alert when there is water detected in the datacenter?

All of this – and much much more – can be realized with SCOM, some good equipment, good software for SNMP walks (available for free like GetIf) and testing.

Nowadays one can buy for not too much money a data center thermometer with Ethernet connection or ‘Industrial Ethernet Temperature, Humidity, Pressure Sensors With Relay Outputs’, like this one:

Many times these devices are white labeled, thus sold under different brands. One of the real manufacturers is Comet Systems, to be found here. In the Netherlands these devices are sold under another brand, like Atal. Even though this information seems trivial it’s very important. It has everything to do with the related MIB files, about which I will tell more later on.

SNMP Get vs. SNMP Trap
Any how, devices like these are really awesome since they contain a whole SNMP stack of their own which can be queried by SCOM, using a simple SNMP Get command. The advantage of this, compared to a SNMP Trap, is that a single Monitor can be build and targeted against a whole bunch of devices. With a SNMP Trap this won’t do and per device a Monitor has to be build. Besides that there are more downsides of SNMP Traps. So whenever I can, I stay away from SNMP Traps.

White label, other brands and the MIB mix-up
As stated before, many times these devices do come from a couple of factories all over the globe. Companies buy them in masses and rebrand it under a label of their own. However, it’s necessary to know exactly what type of device you’re using so you know exactly what MIB file to use. For instance, the device in the picture above is sold in the Netherlands under a totally different label and model.

However, the same MIB still applies which only matches with the brand and models as the ones from the real manufacturer. So this is the hardest part, to search for the original label and model type. Only then you know what part of the MIB file relates to your device. But when you have tackled this, the rest is – almost - a walk in the park.

Let’s walk SNMP, some high level steps
Place the correct MIB file into the directory where GetIf loads its MIB files from. Start GetIf, enter the correct ip-address, community string and connect to the device. Go to the MBrowser tab and go through the SNMP stack, and find the OID you’re looking for, like temperature:

Write down this OID (high lighted in yellow) since you’re going to need that in SCOM later on.

Another interesting OID in this case is for flood detection, which is an Ethernet thermometer with additional input. One of the additional inputs is the LG-12 Flood detector which works really simple and shows only two values: All is OK (no water detected) value 1 and ‘Houston, we’ve got a problem’, water detected: value 0:

Also write down this OID.

Let’s create a Flood Detection Monitor, some high level steps
Create this kind of Monitor: SNMP > Probe Based Detection > Simple Event Detection > Event Monitor – Single Event and Single Event.

Don’t forget to DISABLE the Monitor and enable it through using an override, targeted against the group containing all these devices! Of course, these devices need to monitored by SCOM as network devices.

Use for both SNMP Probes (First and Second) the same OID. And for Parameter Name (used in both Expressions, First and Second Expression) this entry: /DataItem/SnmpVarBinds/SnmpVarBind[1]/Value.

Configure the Health and Alerting and save the Monitor. Don’t forget to enable the Monitor by using an override targeted against a Group containing these devices.

Time for a test of the Flood Detector Monitor
Let’s say the Flood Detector Monitor is properly built and configured. So it’s time for some testing. In this case I have made two video’s and uploaded them to YouTube.

Water Alert
In the first video the flood detector is put into a paper cup with some water:

Now the circuit closes (OID gets value 0) and SCOM will raise an Alert

Water is gone, Alert as well
In the second video the flood detector is removed from the paper cup:

Now the circuit is open again (OID gets value 1, all is well in SCOM) and the related Monitor is set to a Healthy state again, thus closing the Alert:

Let’s create a Temperature Monitor
For this the same steps are used as for the Flood Detector Monitor.

Of course, a different OID and other values are at play here. Suppose you want an Alert when the temperature of your datacenter exceeds 25 degrees Celsius. The First Expression (situation is not OK) looks like this:

The Second Expression (situation is OK) looks like this:

Configure the Health and Alerting and save the Monitor. Don’t forget to enable the Monitor by using an override targeted against a Group containing these devices.

And now monitoring is in place and an Alert will be raised when the temperature of 25 degrees Celsius is exceeded.

Let’s plot the temperature in near real time
For this a Rule is required, using the same OID for the Temperature Monitor: Collection Rules > Performance Based > SNMP Performance:

Configure the SNMP Probe (nothing more than the OID and frequency of probing) and you’re done. Don’t forget to enable the Rule by using an override targeted against a Group containing these devices and you’re in business.

In the SCOM Console add a Performance View targeted against these SNMP Network Devices or targeted against the Rule you created earlier. Be patient and within an hour or so data starts getting in :).

Conclusion
Even though SNMP, OIDs and SCOM might seem boring, there are many possibilities to extend your monitoring solution into places which you didn’t expect. Many devices are available on the market which have a SNMP stack. When you have the related MIB file and it contains some good OIDs, you can build almost anything. Happy SCOMming!

Power of the Community and Microsoft: New Server OS MP 6.0.6958.0 released

2011-10-19T08:20:00.001+02:00

As we all know some weeks ago Microsoft released a new version of the Server OS MP, version 6.0.6957.0. But there were some issues with it. Some minor, some major.

So a good friend of mine, Bob Cornelissen and I started a joined effort in order to get them fixed, ASAP. For that we filed a bug on Connect and you, the community, joined in:

Gladly, Microsoft listened and one of them, Barry Shilmover, fixed many issues of the MP with the aid of Kevin Holman. I for myself can’t imagine a better team! Bob and I had the honor to test the fixed MP.

Kevin Holman also blogged about this new MP and what’s new. Taken directly from his blog:

New MP is to be downloaded from here.

Compliments to the Product Team for their fast response. Good job!

Introduction to OM12 Alert Widgets

2011-10-18T12:24:00.001+02:00

The System Center Operations Manager Team posted an article all about how to configure an Alert Widget in OM12.

This posting is a step-by-step guide about how to do just that.

Want to know more? Go here.

OLE DB Data Sources: Oracle and some potential pitfalls and false-positives

2011-10-13T19:41:00.001+02:00

There are many commercials out there how to get some hair back. I know, I am almost bald, but I don’t care. But sometimes there are issues which make you loose hair or – the hair one still got – to go grey.

Recently I had such an issue. All about monitoring an Oracle database, running on a Windows server. The customer wanted to monitor that database with SCOM without purchasing a MP for it.

With the OLE DB Data Source wizard one can connect to such a database, run a query against it and collect some performance counters as well. How nice! At least, this is what theory tells us. But real life is a bit harder as it turned out.

The Beginning Of It All
First I used Maarten Damen’s blog posting, to be found here. A really good posting it is since it contains really good information. However, while creating the OLE DB Data Source, I added a query and I decided to populate BOTH Run-as Profiles which are created by the same wizard. Both decisions turned out to be wrong. However, SCOM didn’t show that directly to me.

It took a while for the OLE DB Data Source to show up in the SCOM Console and even a it longer to enter a monitored status (Healthy! Yeah baby, I made it!) but all seemed to be well. After all, it got into a Monitored status and a GREEN one at that! Nice!

The Day After…
But in reality things weren’t that OK. For sure, the Monitor was OK and GREEN. But after a week or so, the Health Explorer didn’t show any state change. Nothing. The Monitor was green, but nowhere to be found since when. And that triggered me to take a look into the OpsMgr event log of the Watcher Node.

Ouch!

SNAFU is paying us a visit
EventID 1102 all over the place. Descriptions like: Rule/Monitor "OleDbCheck_a28c517f4fdc4038b880b2ac02796256.NoConnectionMonitor" running for instance "XYZ Oracle DB Check" with id:"{F8C4A05D-AAD4-56CA-7CC4-9AC095323F83}" cannot be initialized and will not be loaded. Management group "XYZ"

When I recycled the Health Service cache, the error came back and the Health Explorer of the same OLE DB Data Source showed now a Healthy status with a date and time: exactly matching the same date and time the first EventID 1102 was logged!

So this is a real false-positive. Yes, all is OK sir! And all the while, nothing is OK! Like SNAFU…

What Caused it all
Deep and thorough investigation turned out this issue:

Used Run-as-Profile
When the OLE DB Data Source wizard has done it’s job, TWO Run-as-Profiles are created. And one must only configure ONE of them. Not both! While running the wizard one has the option to select Simple Authentication:

So now you only have to configure that Run-as-Profile and not the other! The Synthetic Transaction Action Profile is only used when Integrated Security is being used. But when one has selected the option to use Simple Authentication, one can skip this Run-as-Profile and only configure the Simple Authentication RunAs Profile.

Time For Another Error…
And yes, things got moving now. EventID 1102 went away and instead we got another EventID 11852: OleDb Module encountered a failure 0x80040e14 during execution and will post it as output data item. : ORA-00903: invalid table name. Because of this the Health Explorer for this OLE DB Data Source went into a critical state.

The Oracle DBA checked everything: yes, the account used by SCOM is OK and logged on to the Oracle DB. And yes, the query looked for an existing table and YES the account has enough permissions to run that query against that table. Tried many other queries, the DBA even created a table for that account and SCOM OLE DB Data Source check, but still the same error!

So somehow along the lines the query got garbled which caused Oracle to pull the plug.

However, we already had spend a lot of time in order to get rid of the first EventID 1102 (even by Microsoft CSS we were told to configure BOTH Run-as-Profiles so it was trial and error here…) so we decided to remove the query as a test.

And guess what? All became well now! So the presence of the data source is successfully tested but not the responsiveness by running a query. At the end the customer decided it to leave it at that. So only the presence of the data source is tested and not a single query is being used.

So after a long journey we came back to the posting of Maarten Damen (by removing all the fluff we had added by ourselves) and got it working.

Still it’s interesting to know what happens to the query fired from SCOM to the Oracle database. Guess it will be another time to check that one out.

He’s Back!

2011-10-13T19:02:00.001+02:00

A few years ago when I started with SCOM I bumped into many issues. Not only because I started out fresh but also SCOM was just RTM. And as we all know, there were a few ‘bumps’ in that road. Many of those got rapidly fixed.

But still, I was hungry for more knowledge and detailed information on SCOM and how to address certain issues. So I started to look on the internet for more information and found it in a few blogs about there. Those days there weren’t many blogs out there, but the few which were to be found were really good, like the ones from Pete Zerger, David Allen, Kevin Holman and Cameron Fuller.

Soon I started to mail those guys and you know what, I got answers from them! Wow! And then I started to grow and learn as well. Really fast, thanks to these guys who shared really good information. They inspired me to start a blog of my own.

To me these guys are really special. So when Cameron Fuller told some time ago he was about to stop his own blog and to continue blogging on SCC, it made me a bit sad. Don’t get me wrong. I deeply respect SCC, but people like Cameron need their own space as well.

So it’s good to see he’s back. He’s still blogging for SCC, but this guy doesn’t suffer a writer block, more like suffering from an overkill of inspiration :). Therefore he started to blog on a very regular basis on the site of the company he works for, Catapult Systems. Hopefully they have rented enough disk space and traffic bandwidth for their website since Cameron knows how to blog seriously :).

Want to know more? Go here:

(Even though he might look a bit dangerous on the picture, he’s really an OK guy.)

SP1 for SQL Server 2008 R2 officially supported

2011-10-12T11:57:00.001+02:00

Since today Microsoft officially supports SP1 for SQL Server 2008 R2:

In the weeks to come Microsoft will update the SCOM R2 Supported Configurations page.

Updated MP: Active Directory MP, version 6.0.7670.0

2011-10-09T15:53:00.001+02:00

For a few days now Microsoft has released an update for the Active Directory MP, version 6.0.7670.0.

Taken directly from the website:

And:

Kevin Holman also blogged about this updated MP.

MP to be downloaded from here.

How to Solve Web Application alert: Untrusted CA – Solution II

2011-10-09T13:53:00.001+02:00

When one creates a Web Application in order to monitor the availability and responses of a certain website, one might bump into this error: Untrusted CA:

Investigation taught me their might be two separate causes for this Alert, both related to the Watcher Node which run this Monitor. This posting will be about the second separate cause. For the posting about the first cause, go here.

Issue
Even when the Root Certificates are up to date on the Watcher Node, there might be another issue at play. In this case, a certificate is being used which isn’t present in the CA store of the Watcher Node.

How to solve it
Open a rdp-session on the Watcher Node generating the Alert Untrusted CA - log on with local admin permissions - and start IE. Surf to the website which creates these Alerts. Wait until the website is fully loaded and import the certificate for your account in to the Certificate Store Intermediate Certification Authorities:

The wizard Welcome to the certificate Import Wizard is started. Follow the instructions and when prompted what store to select, choose for the option Place all certificates in the following store > Intermediate Certification Authorities.

Finish the wizard. The Certificate is stored now.

Open a MMC > add Snap-in > Certificates > for Local Computer Account and My User Account. Export the certificate you just imported from the store Certificates – Current User\Intermediate Certification Authorities to a folder on your drive.

Import the certificate you just exported to the store Certificates (Local Computer) \Intermediate Certification Authorities:

Now all is well and the Watcher Node won’t throw the error Untrusted CA anymore.

Credits:
Thanks to this blog posting I was able to crack this issue.

How to Solve Web Application alert: Untrusted CA – Solution I

2011-10-09T13:41:00.001+02:00

When one creates a Web Application in order to monitor the availability and responses of a certain website, one might bump into this error: Untrusted CA:

Investigation taught me their might be two separate causes for this Alert, both related to the Watcher Node which run this Monitor. This posting will be about the first separate cause.

Issue
Sometimes I bump into environments where Windows Servers are installed and not patched on a regular basis. Many times because the people involved life by the credo ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Even though it might sound plausible there is too much to be said against it. But this posting isn’t about this approach, so I’ll refrain from it.

But whenever bumps into an issue like that there is a huge change the certificate store of the server involved is too old, thus missing out on renewed (and revoked!!!!) Root Certificates.

Servers like these are easily pinpointed. Open a rdp-session on the Watcher Node generating the Alert Untrusted CA - log on with local admin permissions - and start IE. Surf to the website which requires monitoring. When IE throws this error (or a similar one since the errors differs per IE version):

the Root Certificates require to be updated.

How to solve it
Open Control Panel go to Add or Remove Programs and select Add/Remove Windows Components. The Windows Components Wizard screen is started. Scroll down and select the option Update Root Certificates and click Next.

When the installation is finished the updated Root Certificates will be ‘installed’ on the server. Now the monitored website will be fine and the error will be gone.

However…
In some conditions the error will return. If so there is another issue at play. Go here about how to solve that issue.

Introduction to OM12 Performance Widgets

2011-10-05T20:19:00.001+02:00

The System Center Operations Manager Team posted an article all about how to configure a Performance Widget in OM12.

This posting is a step-by-step guide about how to do just that.

Want to know more? Go here.

OM12 Language Settings Are Solved! The true power of the Community, Connect & Microsoft

2011-10-05T20:11:00.001+02:00

In the beginning of September I posted an article about some strange language issues, found in OM12 Beta.

I already knew it before since other people bumped into the same issue as well, blogged about it and even filed a bug report on Connect. But somehow the bug report didn’t seem to land properly – the impact wasn’t fully understood – so it was closed without a fix.

So it was time to organize a new effort. A new bug report was filed on Connect and it was given exposure on my blog. And people started to vote on it, so it was brought again to the attention of Microsoft.

Because of this two things happened:

The first bug report was reopened and Microsoft told frankly they didn’t understand the impact at first;
A new effort at Microsoft was organized to FIX it!

And a few days I got the message the bug report was closed, simply because Microsoft FIXED it!!!

The yellow highlighted area is in Dutch so I translate it: Solved as in Repaired.

So THANK YOU Community and THANK YOU Microsoft for taking reported matters seriously.

Nice to know…

2011-10-05T15:44:00.001+02:00

for any one running SQL Server 2008 for their SCOM R2 environment and yet not very interested in the latest version of the Server OS MP BUT very interested in the two additional Reports which are very sharp looking and good as well (all credits go to Microsoft of course).

Nice thing about the MP containing these two Reports (Microsoft.Windows.Server.Reports.mp) is that it works perfectly together with the previous version of the Server OS MP! Tried it in one of mine SCOM R2 CU#5 test environment and the Report MP was imported quickly, Reports uploaded to SSRS as well and they work like a charm.

Of course, I tried this only in a SCOM R2 test environment so try it yourself in a test environment as well before moving to production but until now everything looks great!

And again, I tested it only on SQL Server 2008. I have heard rumors the Reports don’t work with SQL Server 2005.

Updating Proxy Agent for multiple SNMP-enabled devices in bulk

2011-10-05T15:37:00.001+02:00

Had to update the Proxy Agent for many (+200) SNMP-enabled devices in SCOM R2 CU#5.

When using the GUI for it this becomes a gruesome task, also because the list with available Proxy Agents (+400 in my case) isn’t sorted. Only the Management Servers are shown on top. And the remaining servers aren’t sorted at all, nor is any search function available…

So it was time to search the internet and gladly I found two postings from ‘Da Master of SCOM’, Pete Zerger. Together with Marco Shaw ‘Da Master of PowerShell’, they created a very good PS script. The first posting contains the first version of the script (without the aid of Marco Shaw) and the second is based on the input and knowledge of Marco Shaw.

Scripts can be found here (Part I) and here (Part II).

All credits go to Da Masters, Peter Zerger and Marco Shaw. Thanks guys!

Additional Comments on yesterdays posting

2011-10-05T09:29:00.001+02:00

Yesterday Bob Cornelissen and I started a joined effort in order to get the new Server OS MP improved since it contains some bugs which downplay the overall experience of that MP, which is bad since the promises in this MP are really good.

The response we got – and still are getting – is a bit overwhelming I must say. At this moment the counter of votes for this bug report is already on 44(!). Besides that we got on our blog postings many comments.

However, somehow some people misunderstood our effort and started bashing and flaming. Gladly I have to approve any comment before it’s shown on my blog. And some of the comments I got were really bad. So I removed them and only approved the good ones.

Therefore I want to clarify the objective of our joint effort:

NOT to flame or bash any person or company in any kind of way BUT to make SCOM/OM12 an even better product. And we strongly believe that the total quality of SCOM/OM12 is based upon the overall quality of the Management Packs. So the better the MPs become, the better SCOM/OM12 will become as well.

So whenever you’re looking for a way to flame or bash, go on and look further since my blog won’t be the stage for that kind of purposes!!!

And to the persons who gave solid and valid feedback: THANK YOU and know that I respect all of you.

More Than One: Let’s ask for a new improved Server OS MP! Yes We Can!

2011-10-04T08:50:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I posted an article about the new Server OS MP, version 6.0.6957.0.

At a first glance all seemed to be well. But the same day I saw many bugs related to the MP coming in, especially on Kevin Holman’s blog. So I decided to pull my posting about that MP and rewrite it. Which I did.

But frankly, that’s not enough. Like a restaurant, it can only become good or even better when it’s guests are giving good positive feedback. This analogy goes for the MPs as well. I don’t like bashing nor flaming. But giving good feedback instead is something else.

This morning I talked with Bob Cornelissen about it. He is a Dutch SCOM addict and knows his stuff inside and out. Both we felt something has to be done besides blogging about it.

Bob’s posting is to be found here: http://www.bictt.com/blogs/bictt.php/2011/10/04/asking-for-a-quick-fix

So therefore we have decided to post a bug report on Connect about the issues found in this MP and asking for a new version which fixes those issues:

By blogging about this bug report we hope that many of you will add their vote as well in order to get it top on the list of Microsoft. This way we can aim for a new MP containing all the required fixes.

Do YOU join us?

Bug report is to be found here and here and here :).

When these links don’t work, try this one: https://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgr/feedback/details/692944/new-server-os-mp-version-6-0-6956-0-has-some-bad-bugs

Windows Server OS MP updated to version 6.0.6956.0: Some things you should know

2011-10-03T21:44:00.003+02:00

Last Friday Microsoft released the newest version of the Windows Server OS MP, version 6.0.6956.0.

But hold your horses! Don’t import this MP right away since there are some issues with it.

You have to know these issues before you import this MP. So read this whole posting and don’t forget to visit Kevin Holman’s blog as well in order to get a clear picture about this MP.

None the less, this MP adds some new functionality which is good.

The Good News

Two new very cool Reports are added to this MP. These are THE Reports many customers of mine asked for.

Beware though, these two new Reports aren’t found in the MP Catalog accessed by the SCOM Console, but put into the msi-file containing the new MP, to be found here. When you run the msi-file, the MPs will be extracted, among them the MP containing these Reports:

Really, these Reports are MUST have! Finally, we see the performance of a server in a glance! And now we can add Groups as well which will be enumerated in the Report. So no more aggregation (all servers thrown together on a pile per graph like CPU) but PER server the performance overview, like this where I have chosen the Group Windows Computers and yet per server an overview is created:
Cluster Shared Volume Monitoring (amount of free space and availability) is added. Customers of mine who run Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2 will love this one!
BPA (Server Manager Best Practices Analyzer). Put into a MP of its own (Microsoft.Windows.Server.2008.R2.Monitoring.BPA.mp). So you can decide yourself whether or not to use that MP which is also a good move of Microsoft.

Personally I have a feeling this MP looks a bit like the Server OS MP used in SCA (System Center Advisor), a cloud based solution for companies who want to check whether their Windows based systems and enterprise applications like the Server OS, SQL, AD and Hyper-V are in line with the Best Practices as advised by Microsoft.
Noise is cut down. Many Rules/Monitors are modified in order to cut down on the noise they created earlier.
Performance Collection Rules are disabled by default. Which is good as well since too much performance collection was taking place with the old version of the MP. So this saves a lot of space in the databases of SCOM. And network bandwidth as well.

How many Rules are disabled you ask? The MP Guide lists them all in the appendix ‘Windows Server 2008 Rules and Monitors Disabled by Default’. I have counted about thirteen(!) pages…

The Not So Happy News

Well, check out Kevin Holman’s posting about this MP and don’t forget to read the comments. There are some issues (some minor, some a bit nastier) to reckon with. Until now it seems there are workarounds for it.

MP and the related guide can be found here.

New MP: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Appliance

2011-10-03T14:28:00.001+02:00

For a few days now Microsoft released a new MP which monitors the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Appliance.

Taken directly from the website:

MP can be downloaded from here.

Introduction to OM12 Dashboards

2011-10-03T14:24:00.001+02:00

The System Center Operations Manager Team posted an article all about the new dashboards present in OM12.

This posting covers the mechanism of the Dashboards, the distribution to the end-user (OM12 Console, Web Console or Web Part for Share Point) and how to create such a Dashboard.

Want to know more? Go here.

Integrating OM12 and SharePoint

2011-10-03T14:19:00.001+02:00

Ever wanted to integrate SCOM and SharePoint? Like many other wishes we had for SCOM they have come true for OM12.

For OM12 there is a web part available, the Operations Manager Web Part, which integrates View-Only OM12 dashboards into your SharePoint environment. So people can look, but not click or do anything else, like running tasks.

TechNet already wrote an article about it but it was missing many details, like screen dumps and WHY you would want to integrate OM12 with SharePoint. Gladly the System Center Operations Team has posted an excellent article about it, covering all details INCLUDING screenshots.

Posting to be found here.

Updated MP available: SCCM MP, version 6.0.6000.3

2011-10-03T14:11:00.001+02:00

Last Friday Microsoft released the newest version of the ConfigMgr (SCCM) MP, version 6.0.6000.3.

Even though the version number itself doesn’t show major changes (the previous version of this MP was 6.0.6000.2) the most reported issues about this MP are resolved which is very good.

Any one who runs the ConfigMgr MP is strongly advised to read the article posted by Kevin Holman. This posting covers the changes in this MP in detail AND contains crucial information about cleaning up the localizedtext table.

MP can be downloaded from here.

VMware View MP Issue II: DA Health doesn’t rollup to top level entity

2011-09-29T17:55:00.001+02:00

Bumped into this issue. The VMware View MP was in place and functional. The Discoveries ran like clockwork: Objects and their related statuses were coming in. Also the Diagram View was getting its related Objects. Nice!

But after a few hours the top level entity of the DA still showed no status:

Cause
So time for a small investigation. First I ran Health Explorer against that Object. And with a single glance I knew why this Object didn’t get a status:

Exactly! Not a single Monitor is in place. Only the Parent Monitors, which are by default shown for any Object, but nothing else. So no matter what, but that Object will never ever get any status. Which is bad. Personally I don’t like DAs which have any component which are stateless.

Workaround
However, the second DA Component (View Connection Server Group (xxxxxx)) does have a status:

So why not borrow it by using a Dependency Rollup Monitor? The funny thing is with Monitors like these, they borrow/reflect the status of any other Monitor. So by themselves these Monitors aren’t monitoring anything. They just copy the status of any other Monitor.

How it was built
In the SCOM R2 Console: go to Authoring > Authoring > Management Pack Objects > Monitors. Hit the Change Scope option in the top level bar and select as Object VMware View Connection Server Groups > OK. Now the Object is shown. Collapse it by clicking on the plus signs and you have a view like this:

Right click on Parent Monitor Availability > Create a Monitor > Dependency Rollup Monitor. And follow these screen dumps:

Select as Monitor Target VMware View Connection Server Groups , as Parent Monitor Availability and empty the checkbox for the option Monitor is enabled > Next

For Monitor Dependency select the sub node Availability under the node VMware View Connection Server Group (All VMware View Connection Server Groups) > Next

For Health Rollup Policy nothing needs to be changed > Next

For Alertingnothing needs to be changed (we don’t want too many Alerts, only a Health State) > Create

When the Monitor is created, create an Override For all objects of Class: VMware View Connection Server Groups by setting Enabled on True and save the Override.

Now the top level DA component does have a valid Monitor and soon the DA will show the Health Status:

VMware View MP issue: VMware View version 4.6 not recognized by older version of MP

2011-09-28T12:03:00.001+02:00

Bumped into this issue on a customers location.

They have many different VMware solutions in place. Much of them is being monitored by SCOM, using the nWorks Veeam MP. Some weeks ago the customer introduced a new item to the VMware mix: VMware View.

Nice but not working…
This product is shipped with a Management Pack for SCOM. How nice! However, the MP (version 4.6.0.4914) didn’t land. No matter what we tried.

Failing Discovery Script
As it turned out, the primary Discovery script failed. The version of VMware View the customer has in place is 4.6 and this version isn’t properly discovered.

Is there a newer version?
Time to look for another MP. Soon we found it here. The mentioned KB article is still locked, but the moderator attached the related MPs in his comment. The version of this MP is 5.0.0.5311 and works great with VMware View 4.6.

So whenever you have VMware View running at a version higher than 4.5, you need the latest MP (at the moment this posting was written version 5.0.0.5311) which can be found here. This MP can be imported while the older version is in place. They will be nicely overwritten.

The requirements for this MP are:

Presence of the SCOM Core MP;
Presence of the Base Server OS MP;
Agent Proxy enabled on the Windows Servers which host VMware View Connectivity roles.

Not a requirement, but nice to have:

The View Connection Server Group needs a proper name. In the SCOM Console it looks better compared to an empty string. The guide related to the MP describes how to achieve that.

Intelligent Service Monitoring – Part II: By Example

2011-09-26T22:08:00.001+02:00

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Postings in the same series:
Part I – The Deal
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In the second and last posting in this series I will demonstrate how to monitor Windows Services configured in active/passive mode as stated in the first posting of this series. When you haven’t read it, please go back and read it since otherwise you won’t fully understand this posting.

The Example
In this example I have taken a Windows Service which is present on two of my sandbox servers: Volume Shadow Copy. On server SV01 this service is set to start automatically and running:

On server SV02 this service is set to start manually and in a stopped state:

In this example these Windows Services are configured in Active/Passive mode: when the Windows Service on server SV01 stops, the underlying application will start the same Windows Service on server SV02.

So these Windows Services relate to each other and must be monitored as such. SCOM mustn’t raise an Alert when ONE Windows Service on both servers isn’t running because that is as it should be. When both Windows Services don’t run however, an Alert must be raised. Also, when the Windows Service isn’t running on one of both servers, the Health mustn’t be critical.

Lets build

Create a Group
First we need to create a Group containing both Windows Servers. This Group will be used for targeting the Monitors. Since we will put this Group into an unsealed MP and the Monitor as well, we need to put both of them in the same unsealed MP. Why? Unsealed MPs can only reference sealed MPs, not other unsealed MPs.

Go to Authoring > Authoring > Actions > Create a new Group. Here I have populated the Group explicitly with the Windows Computer objects (in bigger environments its better to populate the Group dynamically):
Run the Windows Service Wizard
Now it’s time to use the Windows Service wizard, located here: Authoring > Authoring > Management Pack Templates > Windows Service. Right click it and select Add Monitoring Wizard > Windows Service > Next.

Give the Monitor a proper Name so these Monitors can be differentiated easily from the others.

Next > click on the radio button (1) for Service Name and select one of the related servers > select the proper Windows Service (2) > OK (3) > back in the screen select the proper Group under Targeted Group by clicking the radio button (4) > back in the screen deselect the option Monitor only automatic service (5) > Next.

In this example we don’t want to collect any performance data, so leave this screen untouched

Next > a summary is shown.

Check it, when all is well > Create.
Let’s change some stuff…
Now the Monitors are created. Also the related Discoveries and Rules. The latter ones will be disabled since we don’t collect any performance data in this example. But the Monitors are in place and will become functional.

But the behavior won’t be good for these kind of Windows Services configured in Active/Passive Mode.

First we don’t want an Alert.

Like this one. Time to get rid of it…

Secondly we don’t want the health state affected negatively when only one Windows Service isn’t running, since that is how it should be in a Healthy state:

Duh! That’s as it should be. So this situation is Healthy. How to make this happen in SCOM R2?

So let’s start modifying SCOM R2 in order to make it work as we want it. Go to Authoring > Authoring > Management Pack Objects > Monitors and scope the View to Test – Volume Shadow Copy. Now the View will look like this when you expand Parent Monitor Availability:

Now here is a tricky part: there are TWO service Monitors: both are enabled by default but one is also DISABLED through an override. All done by the Wizard. Rule of thumb in order to select the proper Monitor (the one which isn’t disabled through an override) is looking at the MP: the correct Monitor which requires adjustment must reside in the MP you created yourself. So in this case I select the second Monitor by double clicking on it.

First we don’t want an Alert any more. Later on we will modify SCOM in such a way that only an Alert will be raised when BOTH Windows Services fail. Disabling an Alert can be done in two ways: by deselecting the option Generates an Alert for this Monitor, found under the tab Alerting. Another approach is to set it through an override. I myself prefer the latter option since it doesn’t change the original configuration in any kind of way, so there is always a way back.

Save the override > Apply > OK. So now this Monitor won’t raise an Alert any more. Time for step two. Now we don’t want to the Monitor to roll up to the Entity Health State. Stay in the properties screen of this Monitor and go to the tab General.

Change the Parent Monitor from Availability to Entity Health > Apply > OK.

As you can see, the Monitor is moved from Parent Monitor Availability to Entity Health:

Let’s check the Health Explorer for SV02 which was in a Critical condition first:

As you can see the related Windows Computer is Healthy now since the Windows Service Monitor isn’t shown any more. Don’t let the other Monitor fool you since that’s the one which is disabled through an override by the Service Monitoring Wizard.

So we’re getting close now: A Windows Service is being Monitored, no Alert is raised when the service doesn’t run AND the Health State isn’t affected as well. Almost feels like creating something and then killing it, doesn’t it?

But… how to bring in some intelligence? We want to monitor these Windows Services in an active/passive configuration and get an Alert when BOTH Windows Services don’t function anymore. This is where the Distributed Application comes in.

BEFORE WE CONTINUE: BUG ALERT!
I have noticed this behavior in SCOM R2 CU#5: When the Parent Monitor is changed, the Windows Service Monitor is set back to check only automatic Windows Services:

Whoops! We REMOVED that, didn’t we? And now when we remove it again, the Parent Monitor will be changed back to Availability. So don’t change it. Instead, create an override against the same monitor for which we changed the Alerting to none and changed the Parent Monitor. Now create an override for the Parameter Name Alert only if service startup type is automatic by typing (yeah, now typo here…) false in the column Override Value > Apply > OK.

Now the bug is elevated…
Let’s add some brains
Go to Authoring > Authoring > Distributed Applications > Actions > Create a new Distributed Application. Remember to put the DA into the same unsealed MP and select the blank template.

In DAD, search for both Windows Services > when found select them both > right click > Add to > New Component Group and give this DA Component a good name like Volume Shadow Copy Windows Services in Active-Passive Config:

OK > now you have this DA component:

Add other DA components if required. In this example I don’t add additional components. In real life however, sometimes I end up with DAs containing over 30 components. But that’s another story :)

> Save. The MP is saved now and the related Monitors and Objects in SCOM created. Close DAD.

Let’s change the default behavior now. This part will add the brains and make the DA work. Because when you open the DA in Diagram View this is what you’ll see, Health isn’t rolling up to the DA:

But that’s because we changed the Parent Monitor for those Windows Service Monitors from Parent Monitor Availability to Entity Health remember? So the Monitor related to the DA Component Volume Shadow Copy Windows Services in Active-Passive Config has to be changed as well…

Go to Authoring > Authoring > Management Pack Objects > Monitors and scope the View to Volume Shadow Copy Windows Services in Active-Passive Config. Now the View will look like this when you expand Parent Monitor Availability:

Double click on Monitor Component Group Health Roll-up for type Test – Volume Shadow Copy. The properties screen for this Monitor will opened now. Go to the tab Monitor Dependency and select the Parent Monitor Entity Health > Apply.

Let’s check the Diagram View again: Aha! Health is rolling up. Only not good since ONE Windows Service is running and one isn’t. So still we’re lacking the required intelligence:

So let’s go back to the properties screen of the Monitor related to the DA component (Component Group Health Roll-up for type Test – Volume Shadow Copy) and add some more changes as well. Now we go to the tab Health Rollup Policy and change it from Worst state of any member to Best state of any member > Apply:

Let’s check the Diagram View again (it might take some minutes, so be patient):

Tada!!!! So FINALLY some intelligence is coming in! Nice!

Now we want an Alert to be raised when BOTH Windows Services stop functioning. Normally the Monitor targeted against any DA Component, don’t raise an Alert. So let’s change that as well. Go back to the properties screen of the related Monitor (Component Group Health Roll-up for type Test – Volume Shadow Copy).

Go to the tab Alerting and select the option Generate alerts for this Monitor. Add a proper Alert Description (you can choose to add some parameters as well) and change the Priority and Severity as required.

> Apply > OK.

So now all is in place and the intelligence is added. Let’s test it and stop the service on server SV01:

And the Diagram View:

Nice! All is working as intended! Really sweet it is.

Conclusion
SCOM can add intelligence to Service Monitoring, even though it might seem overwhelming. As a matter of a fact, it isn’t since the approach as described in this posting is ALWAYS the same. So familiarize yourself with it and before you know it you create intelligent Monitors like these in the matter of minutes! Happy SCOMming!

Custom Reports: Using Groups in drop-down list

2011-09-26T14:09:00.001+02:00

When creating custom Reports it’s always nice to have a parameter area where one can enter things like a Start- / End Date. Many times the Report needs to be targeted against a Group as well.

And creating a Dataset for a parameter like that can be a challenge. Jonathan Almquist has posted an article about this particular dataset, which is great. Thanks Jonathan for sharing!

Want to know more? Go here.

New KB Article: Troubleshooting gray SCOM Agent states

2011-09-21T08:04:00.001+02:00

Even though this article looks almost the same as this posting, it isn’t :).

Yesterday Microsoft published a KB2288515, all about troubleshooting gray SCOM Agents. It contains tons of good information, starting from easy troubleshooting to taking a deep dive into your SCOM environment.

This posting must be the combined effort of CSS and the PFEs I guess. So whenever you have some troubled Agents go here and read.