DNS MP: Where are my reports? Part I: Found them but they turn up empty…

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Postings in the same series:
Part  II: Lets build a report…
Part III: DNS Performance Report
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When one has loaded the DNS MP for monitoring DNS servers based on Windows 2003 or Windows 2008, the DNS reports will not show up in the Reporting Pane. However, there is a way to get around this. But having the reports in the Reporting Pane showing up is only the first step. Wouldn’t it be nice to have FILLED reports as well?

As it turns out, the reports included with the DNS MP (version 6.0.6480.0) won’t do the job for DNS servers based on Windows 2003/2008. In order to get filled reports about those DNS servers, one needs to take other steps.

This series tells you all about it. The first posting takes a dive into the MP itself and shows that having the DNS Reports showing up in the Reporting Pane is nothing but a cosmetic ‘trick’ because the reports themselves – when run against non Windows 2000 DNS servers – will turn up empty…

The second and third posting will show you how to create some customized reports about your DNS servers which shows valuable information.

So lets start with the first posting in this series.

Example:
In this test environment I have only imported the two DNS MPs for Windows DNS 2008 Server. The third contains the overrides for the DNS MP and has been made by myself:


When looking in the Reporting pane, no DNS reports are to be found:
 
And no, the OpsMgr event log shows no errors about not being able to upload reports contained within any MP. All is well.

Time to investigate:
Boris Yanushpolsky has made a great tool: MP Viewer. It enables one to take a deeper look into a MP itself. When running this tool against the DNS 2008 MP there are no Linked Reports to be found. The node Reports is empty as well:

When run against the DNS Library MP there are no Linked Reports to be found. The node Reports is empty as well:

The same goes for the DNS 2003 MP. But when run against the DNS 2000 MP, this is shown:

There they are!

Time to experiment:
I have imported the DNS 2000 MP:

Lets check the Reporting Pane:
 
Hmm. The DNS Reports are to be found. But… it shows DNS 2000 Server?

Would these reports also run against Windows DNS 2008 Server? Before a report gets filled it needs some time, at least a couple of hours. So I waited. And later on I ran one of the reports. This is what I got:

Hmm. Empty report!

No matter what DNS Report I took, they all ended up empty. And yes, I have selected a Group instead of an Object AND have even included the Group All Windows Computers. But still no data…

Lets take a look on the internet. This is what I found:

Time to remove the DNS 2000 MP since it has no added value in an environment where there are no Windows 2000 servers to be found. And as we all know, OpsMgr must be kept as tidy as possible so only the needed MPs must be loaded.

OK. That’s clear enough. Time to start with some customized reports. Nice! The next two postings in this series will be about just that. A sneak preview of a customized report: