Useful SCOM Wikis

Got this one from the blog of Graham Davies, a much respected UK based fellow SCOM MVP. When you’re a regular visitor of the official OpsMgr TechNet Forums, you certainly know him since he is one of the top moderators who has answered tons of questions. Without him the Forums would be a lot more quiet.

(I have never met the guy and this is the picture he has put on the ‘About me’ page of his blog. I am about to meet him with MVP Summit 2011 and I promised him some beers. But when he even slightly resembles the picture I think I will offer him a banana instead…)

But this posting isn’t about him (although he deserves it when you ask me) but about two useful SCOM wikis. One I already knew but the first is new to me AND very very welcome:

1. Management Pack Wiki
   ’Centralized knowledge about most usable publicly available Management Packs for System Center Operations Manager’ as the wiki advertises itself. What it does? It shows the inner workings of every Microsoft MP like Files, Rules, Unit Monitors, References, Versions, Classes, Discoveries and Run as Profiles. On top of it all, it also shows a clickable ‘map’ of the MP, like this one of the System Center Library:
   
   Really awesome! So whenever you want to know the inner workings of a MP, go to this Wiki and you’ll know!
   
   
2. SCOM Wiki
   This wiki is already around for some time and becoming more mature every day. It does not cover every aspect of SCOM but it contains tons of good information. Top notch MP author Brian Wren has contributed many good articles to this wiki.

As you can see, there are many good resources about SCOM on the internet and these two wikis are really awesome!

EventID 21405: The process started at x failed to create y, no errors detected in the output. The process exited with 1

Bumped into a server which couldn’t run any SCOM MP script at all. The OpsMgr event log was almost painted yellow by all these warnings about not being able to run any script coming from SCOM.

First unsub was the anti-virus software. But further investigation showed it wasn’t the case here. So time to take a deeper look. So the server group took over since I stated the SCOM R2 Agent wasn’t the cause here but something on the server platform itself.

After a some time they came back and reported that they found a DEP issue: it was set in a restricted mode, allowing only certain processes. This setting wasn’t default so they corrected it. After the reboot of the server the SCOM Agent run like clockwork again.

So whenever you bump into a server which experiences issues with running scripts coming from SCOM MPs and the OpsMgr eventlog is almost yellow with many EventIDs 21405, check DEP on that server. It might be the culprit.

Missing Performance Counters

Sometimes a managed server will generate performance counter related errors in the OpsMgr event log. First an error with EventID 10102 is logged, soon to be followed by a warning with EventID 1103. These events will be shown many times in the OpsMgr event log.

These events have nothing to do with SCOM but everything with the monitored server itself. Some perfmon counters are missing or corrupt. In rare cases, all the perfmon counters are missing or corrupt. For both cases are solutions. However, when you are experiencing the last situation, it will take some time to get things working again.

First you have to check out to what level perfmon is damaged. The first EventID (10102) gives in its description the exact name of what perfmon counter is missing or corrupt. Sometimes multiple perfmon counters are missing. Therefore checkout all events with EventID 10102 which were written to the event log in a certain time range.

1. Write down the name(s) of the mentioned perfmon counters.
2. Start Perfmon and check whether it is showing any counters. When it does, only the mentioned counter(s) in the EventID 10102 is/are missing. Are all counters missing, you have to check out a certain KB article, which will be mentioned later on.
3. Check in Perfmon whether the perfmon counters written down at step 1 are present. Most of the times these won't be present.

When the missing perfmon counter is about ASP.NET look here for how to fix it. Are there any other missing perfmon counters or are all perfmon counters missing? Checkout this KB article for how to fix it. The only disadvantage is that it can take a long time to get everything OK. So it is something which has to be scheduled in advance. And do not forget Change Management…

A quick and dirty workaround are the steps mentioned below, but be careful! They are to be performed at your own risk... They also work only on a Windows 2003 based server!

1. Follow steps 1,2 and 3 in the earlier mentioned KB article, section ' To rebuild the base performance counter libraries manually'
2. Follow steps 4 and 5 only for the perfmon counters involved
3. Rebuild all perfmon counter by typing this command at the command prompt: c:\windows\system32\lodctr /R (Note: R is uppercase.)

It can take some time (minutes) before this command is completed. After a while all should be OK and perfmon is showing all counters again. If it is not, the only way is the long way: follow all the way through the KB article without using any shortcuts.

Updated MP: DNS 2003/2008/2008 R2 Monitoring

Yesterday Microsoft shipped the updated DNS MP, version 6.0.7000.0.

The changes in this MP are significant. Taken directly from the website:

Kevin Holman has written a posting about this MP which highlights some of the details. MP to be found here.

Since this MP contains major updates and changes as well, I personally advise to export and delete the MP containing the overrides for the DNS MP which is currently loaded in your environment, before importing the newest DNS MP. This way you start blank and use the newest MP to its fullest extend. Otherwise some overrides which have been set for the older DNS MP might interfere with the newest DNS MP.

Upgrading from SQL Server 2008 to R2 – Part I – The Beginning aka Preparation

Since the end of September 2010 SCOM R2 officially supports SQL Server 2008 R2. Originally this support was divided in two phases:

1. Phase One: Support for SQL Server 2008 R2 for new SCOM R2 installations;
2. Phase Two: Support for an existing SCOM R2 deployment upgraded to SQL Server 2008 R2.

When CU#3 came out only Phase One was supported. An upgrade scenario where SQL Server (2005/2008) is upgraded to SQL Server 2008 R2 wasn’t supported in 2010.

Time for Phase Two
With CU#4 this support statement has been changed and from that point on, one can upgrade the SQL server instance hosting the SCOM DBs and Reporting instance to SQL Server 2008 R2:

But how to go about it? How to deal with the upgrade? What are the do’s and don’ts? I already posted a series of postings about how to upgrade from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008, to be found here. Therefore I will not repeat myself completely and post a new series about how to upgrade from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2008 R2. Basically these are the same steps when you upgrade from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 R2.

But like any other upgrade, preparation is KEY. Which is more than obtaining the installation media of SQL Server 2008 R2. The first posting in this new series will be all about PREPARING the upgrade. So let’s start.

1. Health
   Any upgrade will only succeed when the product to be upgraded is healthy. GI>GO (Garbage In > Garbage Out) is definitely at play here. So make sure all is just fine. In this case, make sure SQL Server is running like clockwork. Check the DBs, check the event logs of the SQL server, check SCOM, the Reporting Tree (create some Reports in order to see all is just fine), open Report Manager (the url), check the SQL Server Logs in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. And only when all is OK, you are in the clear. Whenever you find something, fix it, run through the same list AGAIN and only when all is OK, move on to Step 2.
   
   
2. Backup Backup Backup and VERIFY…
   Make sure there is always a way back. No matter what. So a backup is required here. But not only of the DBs of SCOM but of all DBs (except for the Temp DB of course). But the system DBs like the Model DB needs to be backupped as well. Besides that, the whole SQL server needs to be backupped as well, including the System State. And some verification is needed as well.
   
   
3. SCOM > SQL > SCOM > SQL…
   Basically, what I am trying to say here is that SCOM is NOTHING without SQL. Without SQL no SCOM. Period. So when SQL gets hosed, so will your SCOM environment. So be sure to have all the service accounts of SCOM (Action, SDK, DW Read & DW Write) with their passwords at hand. Also a backup of the Encryption Key. I know, it might sound over estimated, but it is better to be safe than sorry. And again, this information should be at hand ALWAYS, so a good training and verification it is.
   
   
4. Change Management
   Many people just want to start, click > Next > Next > Finish. But ICT Shops who go like that are short lived in today’s world. So some good Change Management is needed here. Just go with the flow of your organization and be good. It can safe you a lot of troubles and even your job/position.
   
   
5. Testing, test, test…
   When  you have a test SCOM environment at hand, do not hesitate and USE it. Create your own walk-through document. Of course, you can’t cover everything but it will certainly help you out in most circumstances. So test it.
   
   
6. Software
   Besides the installation media, also download the CU#5 for SQL Server 2008 R2 since it fixes an annoying issue which could make you look stupid like: Look boss, I have upgraded successfully the SQL server to R2 and now… SCOM dies? Wow!
   
   
7. Compatibility
   When the SQL Server/instance to be upgraded only hosts the SCOM R2 DBs and Reporting instance for SCOM R2, there is no problem. But when you run a SQL Server which hosts other DBs/applications as well, ascertain your self that those DBs and applications are fully supported on SQL Server 2008 R2 as well. Otherwise: don’t do it! 
   
   
8. CU#4 for SCOM R2
   As stated before, an upgrade scenario to SQL Server 2008 R2 is only supported from CU#4 for SCOM R2. So when CU#4 isn’t in place or you aren’t running SCOM R2, do not upgrade. Upgrade to SCOM R2 CU#4 first, make sure all is fine and OK and then move on to SQL Server 2008 R2. And don’t run all these upgrades in one day! Take your time and consider weeks instead of days…
   
   
9. Read, read and RTFM
   Just clicking away isn’t the signature of an ICT Professional. Anybody without brains can do that. It is the signature of a potential natural disaster. So stay away from it. Read and inform yourself. When you have DBAs, talk with them. They are equipped with a mouth. And brains. So talk with them. Communicate. Share. Read. And LEARN. Some useful links:
   http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd789004.aspx
   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144267.aspx
   http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677622.aspx
   
   A small but important give away: CU#4 already contains some good information about the upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2:
   
   This tool is going to save you a lot of frustrations…

As you can see, preparation is key. And when that has been done, it is time for the upgrade. The next posting will be about that. So stay tuned.

Silence…

Next week this blog will be silent for seven days. Why?

I am going to attend MVP Summit 2011. It will be a very busy week with no time left to blog. And everything showed, told, demonstrated and showcased there is strictly under NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement).

So therefore, I will not blog, tweet, talk or whatever about it, ever.

But after that week, I’ll be back…

SCOM R2: What is being monitored by it?

Bumped into this question at a customers site. They wanted to know what exactly is being covered by SCOM and what not.

No, they didn’t want a dump of all Rules and Monitors contained by all imported MPs, but more an overview of what servers and workstations are being monitored by SCOM and to what extend. Like: server X is managed by SCOM R2 and has been discovered as an Windows 2003 based Server hosting the DC role, DNS and DHCP. Server Y is also managed by SCOM R2 which is a print- and fileserver. And server Z is also managed by SCOM R2, which is a SQL 2008 R2 box, running Analysis services and a DB engine as well.

Everything in an Excel workbook with some Filters on it would be great here. But that was the least to think about. First question was: How to go about it? Some good queries were required here. But targeted against what DB? And against what Objects? And yes, I know my way around in SQL, but I am not a SQL guru who builds all kinds of queries on the fly. So some manual labor was required as well.

So what to do? I thought it over for a while, discussed it with the rest of the team and we wrote down our list of ‘ingredients’ in order to create such an Excel workbook. These are the ‘ingredients’ we required:

1. List of Agents installed on the managed servers/workstations
   This will give us a great starting point for the list since it will show all managed servers and workstations. Of course, there are some Agentless managed systems but these aren’t really Windows systems, so no worries there.
   
   
2. List of Groups
   Groups are a great way to get an insight of the SCOM R2 environment. Why? Every MP contains many Groups of its own. These Groups are populated with the Discovered systems and then the rules/monitors are targeted against it and/or these Groups are used to contain Views in the Console. So when you know what Groups are present in your environment, you have basically a good idea what is being Discovered (and thus monitored) in SCOM R2.
   
   
3. Group Members
   When you know the members of the Groups present in SCOM, you know how the managed servers are looked upon/recognized/monitored by SCOM R2. A server which is a member of the Windows Server 2003 Computer Group and the SQL 2008 DB Engine Group, you know this server is being monitored based on the Server OS and SQL Server MP.

OK, now we had our list of ingredients. But where and how to get them? Time for some shopping. But just stepping in the car without knowing to what shopping centre to go to (Walmart or Stop & Shop) isn’t very smart…

Again, good thinking was required. At the end we decided to use the Data Warehouse and not the Operational DB. Why? First of all, the DW is better structured, thus the place to be. Secondly, looking at the Reports, this where they all tap into. And what we were about to create, was a Report after all. Even though it would be more work than a few mouse clicks…

Even though we decided to use the DW, for the first ingredient we did not require the DW nor any SQL query. Just a simple PS cmdlet would do here: Get-Agent| Select DisplayName would do here. Piping the output to a simple text file would do just fine, so the PS cmdlet became:  Get-Agent| Select DisplayName > C:\Temp\Agents.txt.

Nice.

Now it was time to address Items 2 & 3. Google is my best friend when it comes down to searching and soon I found the website of much respected Jonathan Almquist. I follow his blog already for a long time but somehow these two postings had eluded me:

• All groups (DW);
• Group members (DW).

These queries are grouped in a table on this webpage. Great queries they are. I tried them first in my test environment and they work like a charm.

So I used the same queries in the production environment. The first query gave me all the Groups present in SCOM. I exported the result to a csv file and copied it. I edited the copy, dumping all Groups which didn’t seem relevant to me. The groups about DNS, OCS, Exchange and the like were kept.

These Groups I used in the second query, one-by-one… Every time I exported the results as well.

Based on the csv-files I built an Excel workbook, depicting all monitored servers and their functionality. Cost me some serious time, but when this workbook is properly maintained, it will be a great help.

The Next Level
Duh! All the manual labor! But I knew that it would take too much time to build queries which create such a Report, because the Excel workbook was needed fast. But it is on my mind after having created this Excel Workbook. So I have to take a deep dive into SQL but I am going to look how far I will get by in order to create a Report like this:

So hopefully (when time permits), to be continued… And yes, any input is welcome. I know about the SCC Health Reports. One Reports shows all the Groups present in SCOM. It is a start…

New MP: Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Monitoring

Yesterday Microsoft released a new MP, which monitors the health of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2.

Taken directly from the website:

MP to be downloaded from here.

How To: Pull Company Knowledge And Send It To Email

Some time ago I got a question from my customer how to do just that. And this customer is really deep into PS and other kind of scripting as well, so when he bumped into all kind of issues, it was time for me to contact THE PS expert in SCOM, Stefan Stranger.

And guess what? Within a few days he cracked it! So the customer was really pleased AND impressed. Of course, I told him to say thanks to Stefan and not to me. I simply passed it along.

Today Stefan has posted his solution on his blog. And as always, his posting is spot on. Ever wanted to know how to pull Company Knowledge from a  MP and send it to Email by using PS? Go here.

Of course, all credits go to Stefan Stranger.

SP4 for SQL 2005: Not Supported for SCOM R2(yet)

Got a question from one of my customers. They run SQL Server 2005 for their SCOM R2 environment and wanted to know whether SP4 for SQL Server 2005 (went RTM in second half of December 2010) is supported.

But when checking the Supported Configurations webpage for SCOM R2 this is what it states about SQL Server support:

As one can see, SP4 isn’t listed (yet). By default, the support statement normally comes 90 days after it went RTM. Therefore, it is better NOT to install SP4 since it will make SQL Server 2005 unsupported for SCOM R2.

Updated MP: BizTalk 2010 server monitoring

A few days ago Microsoft released an updated MP, for monitoring the health of BizTalk 2010.

Taken directly from the website:

MP to be downloaded from here.

Keeping the SCOM Console Clean: How to Exclude the Override MPs From The Monitoring View

Update: Got a good comment telling me the folders can be deleted as well by right clicking them and choosing Delete. This is true but I have seen in bigger environment that sometimes there is small change that due to time outs in the Console, the change in the MP doesn’t land very well. By doing it manually (editing the MP directly as stated in this posting) one knows for sure the change lands properly in the MP.

Normally the MPs containing the overrides (like Overrides DNS MP, Overrides AD MP, Overrides IIS MP) are shown in the SCOM Console when using the Monitoring View:

Of course, one can deselect these MPs when using the option Show or Hide Views, but this works only for yourself and on the system you are running this option. On any other system where you the SCOM Console starts, or your colleagues start the Console, this exercise has to be repeated over and over…

Wouldn’t it be better to exclude the overrides MP for every one from the Monitoring pane? It only requires some very basic MP editing (not even authoring!) but it keeps the Console way much cleaner. Follow this procedure:

1. Create an override MP in the SCOM like Overrides ISA MP and export this MP to the desktop for instance;
   
2. Since the MP is created it will be shown in the Monitoring Pane, in the tree View:
   
3. Open the exported MP in Notepad (its an empty MP so no fancy stuff needed here) and look for the section which starts with <Presentation>;
4. Remove the whole section starting with <Presentation> up to </Presentation> and save it;
   
   
5. Import this MP into SCOM. Since its an empty MP it will be imported in a couple of seconds;
6. When the MP is imported go to the Monitoring pane and check out the Monitoring tree (sometimes it needs to be refreshed) and the MP won’t be shown anymore:
    
7. The MP won’t even be shown anymore in the Show or hide Views screen since its relevant section has been removed:
   

These steps can be done as well for the existing MPs containing the already set overrides. When you are not such a good MP editor, make a copy first of the exported MP so there is always a way back.

This procedure will help keeping the SCOM Console nice and tidy.

VHD Test Drive – System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2

Microsoft offers since a few days a VHD test drive for Operations Manager 2007 R2.

It allows external customers and partners to download and import a pre-configured, working OpsMgr environment allowing easy evaluation of all major product components while eliminating the need to have an evaluation environment available or deep understanding of the installation process and server components.

The download archive expands to two Hyper-V VMs (one DC and one RMS) that allow 180-day use after activation and include the following:

• OpsMgr 2007 R2 RMS
• Reporting Services
• Audit Collection Services
• Operator Console with PowerShell CmdLets
• Authoring Resource Kit + Tools
• Bulk URL Editor
• Service Level Dashboard Solution Accelerator
• Cumulative updates and management packs
• Ops Mgr + XPlat
• Windows
• SQL

The VHD test drive can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ef67ea4f-b8af-436f-80ae-33936f26f110

SCOM R2: Am I Healthy? – Part V – Let’s Use The Community

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
Part   I – The Introduction
Part  II – Know What You Have
Part III – Are the DBs OK?
Part IV – Is SCOM R2 Up-to-date or Outdated?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the fifth and last posting of this series I will talk about the Community for SCOM. You can ask yourself the question what the Community has to do with the Health of your SCOM R2 environment.

Actually a lot. I know when I first started with SCOM (RTM…) and the issues I bumped into. Soon I found the blog of David Allen, an UK based SCOM MVP. After that I found Kevin Holman’s blog and soon I was mailing those guys with all kinds of questions. And guess what? They even answered them! Wow! How nice and special it was.

Then a colleague of mine pointed me to the Big Orange SCOM Bible, SCOM Unleashed. It was liking finding an oasis after being in the desert for so long. All the questions I had were answered in that book!

Through that book I found the blogs of Pete Zerger, Cameron Fuller and even Belgium based SCOM MVP, Alexandre Verkinderen. Of course, I was already a regular visitor of Maarten Goet’s blog.

Thanks to effort of people like that I got up to steam with SCOM rather quickly and was taught the ropes. I gained more knowledge and experience in order to help out my customers in a better way.

I know for sure, without those blogs and their efforts to answer all the mails I sent to those guys, it would have been way much harder to get the job done. Therefore I want to share some good blogs and other Community based resources with you all hoping that it will aid just as much as it did (and still does for that matter) for me.

So let’s start. Here are the blogs which are really good.

01 – Premier Field Engineers
These people are a special breed. They bump into Enterprise environments and have direct contact with the team who build SCOM R2. So they have a broad experience and are deep into the product. When they blog, it is serious stuff.

These blogs I do follow:

1. Kevin Holman;
2. Steve Rachui;
3. Stefan Stranger (former MVP really into scripting, programming and the lot);
4. Jimmy Harper;
5. Russ Slaten;
6. Tim McFadden;
7. Anders Bengtsson (former MVP with a very good blog).

Some of them do not blog on a regular basis but the QUALITY is key here which is really good. So when you want to learn something about SCOM, visit their blogs.

02 – Fellow MVPs
Some of them blog a lot, some less. But again, QUALITY is key here. Here is a shortlist:

1. David Allen (WMUG);
2. Alexandre Verkinderen (SCUG);
3. Cameron Fuller (Go here to his old blog, still containing tons of good information);
4. Kerrie Meyler;
5. Graham Davies (Also an aggregator of topics from the official OpsMgr Forums);
6. Blake Mengotto;
7. Systen Center Central (A site where many MVPs write about System Center Products, tons of good stuff to be found there);
8. Marcus Oh;
9. Danielle Grandini.

03 – Microsoft, like the Product Teams, the OpsMgr Forums
Much good information is to be found there as well:

1. Operations Manager Team Blog;
2. Charles Joy (Opalis, Opalis and Opalis);
3. OpsMgr Forums (many RSS feeds to get from there and MUCH to learn);
4. Operations Manager Support Team Blog;
5. Micheal Pearson;
6. Nexus SC: The System Center Blog (about all SC products).

As you can see the Community out there is really HUGE! Make use of it. And whenever you bump into a situation which needs additional minds to think it over, go to the OpsMgr Forums and post your question. You will definitively get an answer there.

So the health of your SCOM R2 environment is based on multiple pillars. I hope to have clarified that in this series of postings. But no matter what, YOU are in the middle of it all, so stay in CONTROL. When you take care of SCOM R2, it will take care of your ICT environment.

New MP: SQL Server Appliance Base Monitoring

A few weeks ago Microsoft released a new MP, which monitors the health of the SQL Server Appliance(s).

Taken directly from the website:

MP to be downloaded from here.

Microsoft lands as a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader thanks to SCOM R2!

In 2009 Gartner published the document ‘Magic Quadrants for IT Event Correlation and Analysis’ (ECA) which placed SCOM R2 in the Challengers Quadrant:

(Source: Gartner July 2009)

(Source: Gartner December 2010)

A year and some months later an new ECA Report has been published which shows us that Microsoft has landed in the Leaders Quadrant, all thanks to SCOM R2!

And let me tell you this: they haven’t seen SCOM vNext yet! So IBM, CA, BMC and HP beware! We are COMING!!!

How To: Access the Opalis Console Helpfile outside the Console

This morning a fellow MVP pinged me. He needed some information contained inside the Opalis Console Helpfile but had no access to an Opalis environment.

So I booted my Opalis test server, started the Console, opened the helpfile, looked for the information he needed, copied it and sent it to him by mail. Soon I asked myself the question whether there was a way to isolate the whole helpfile – outside the Console – so it could be used at anytime, any place.

It took me some time to get the job done but it works like a charm. So whenever you need information contained in the Helpfile of the Opalis Console, there is no need anymore to have an Opalis Console available.

Just download the help.zip file, unpack it, open the folder Help and run the file index.html. 

It does not work in IE 9 Beta, but runs flawlessly in Firefox:

Hotfix for SQL Server 2008 R2: 100% CPU utilization when there are configuration update requests in SCOM 2007 R2

The Operations Manager Support Team Blog posted an article describing a hotfix to solve the issue where the SQL server service may use 100% CPU when SCOM 2007 triggers configuration update requests.

Want to know more? Go here.

New MP: Business Intelligence Appliance Monitoring

Yesterday Microsoft released a new MP, which monitors the health of the Business Intelligence Appliance(s).

Taken directly from the website:

MP to be downloaded from here.

Sold Out: IPv4

Got this one from the blog of Aidan Finn, IT Pro: ‘…Mark Minasi posted on Facebook last night that the very last IPv4 address blocks were distributed to regional IP managers.  That’s it; the last of the IPv4 addresses are now in the control of your local IP managers…’

Time to beef up our knowledge about IPv6 I guess…

Unable to Edit Company Knowledge?

Hah! Bumped into this issue in one of my test environments and didn’t have time to take a deeper dive.

But while reading all about CU#4 for SCOM R2 I noticed this little entry:

Nice! I downloaded it (KB2458608), installed it (duh!) and YES! All is well again!

As you see, when RTFM, you even might find more treasures! Nice one!

Cumulative Update 4 for SCOM R2 has been released

Since yesterday Microsoft has released CU#4 for SCOM R2. And like the previous CU’s it resolves some issues and adds additional functionality/support as well.

What it resolves:

What it adds:

Like any other CUs, RTFM is absolutely KEY here! So visit this webpage (KB2449679) and read it, from top to bottom TWICE! Make yourself familiar with it, because when you don’t, you are about to wreck havoc in your environment.

On top of it, Kevin Holman has written an excellent posting about CU#4 and his experiences installing it. RTFM that posting as well, TWICE! And last but not least, TEST it. If you don’t have a test environment it is perhaps better to wait a few weeks in order to see whether the CU#4 is stable and doesn’t contain any ‘surprises’, like the previous CU#3 which causes some issues in conjunction with SCVMM and PRO Tips.

Here are the links to CU#4 and all you need to know. The order isn’t chosen at random here. RTFM Items 1 and 2 before even downloading it.

1. RTFM: KB2449679, describing CU#4 and instructions;
2. RTFM: Kevin Holman’s posting (and heed his warning!!!)
   
3. Download it from here.

Until now I haven’t downloaded CU#4 yet, (still doing the RTFM bit…). As soon as I have installed it in one of my test environments I will let you know what my experiences are.