Running a customized Report – Dell Unmanaged Servers

The Dell MP ‘Dell.WindowsServer.Scalable’ doesn’t contain a lot of reports (just one to be accurate). And that report doesn’t do that much as well.

I have found myself in situations when importing the new Dell MP (only the first two as I blogged about) that some or many Dell Servers aren’t properly recognized. These servers are to be identified in the OpsMgr Console.

Go to Monitoring > Discovered Inventory. Right click in the middle pane and select ‘Change Target Type’. Here one selects ‘Dell Unmanaged Windows Server’ and clicks OK. Now all the servers which the Dell MP doesn’t recognize properly are being shown.

These servers need attention. Sometimes OMSA is indeed outdated (older than 5.3) or needs to be (re)installed. When those actions have been done and the server is still not recognized than the OpsMgr Agent needs a kick in the butt (excuse my French :) ).

Just stop the HealthService on a Dell Server where OMSA is OK, rename the folder ‘~:\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager 2007\Health Service State’ and restart the Health Service. Now the server should be recognized properly. This trick has helped me already on many of these occasions.

But suppose, there are a LOT of servers not being properly recognized? Copying the list of servers is an option but not really a good idea. Screen dumps are a way to go but a bit unprofessional. Why not use the Report functionality of OpsMgr?

I know, the Dell report(s) won’t do this, but just follow this little procedure and you end up with a nice report showing all ‘Dell Unmanaged Windows Servers’ with also the reason why those servers aren’t recognized, which can be easily exported to pdf, html, xls and so on.

How to built my own Dell Unmanaged Servers Report?

1. Go to Reporting > Microsoft Generic Report Library > Custom Configuration report. Double click it.
   
   
2. The Report Parameter area will be displayed. Select for From: ‘Yesterday’. Click the Add Group button.
   
   
3. Type ‘dell unmanaged’ and hit the Search button. The Dell Unmanaged Windows Servers Group will be found. Click Add > OK.
   
   
4. For Report Fields select Display Name and Device Description (Beware: the list of Report Fields isn’t set in alphabetical order..)
   
   
5. Hit the Run button and soon a report will be shown, containing all unrecognized Dell servers, including the name of the server AND the reason why the server isn’t recognized.
   

Now you can schedule this report, using an offset. More about that to be found here.

Happy Reporting!

I know there is a lot to be said about Reporting of OpsMgr. But when one starts to understand the inner workings of it, it is a very powerful tool! It certainly pays off to spend time experimenting with it.