Vital Signs – Part II: The Installation

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Postings in the same series:
Part   I – Teaser/Introduction
Part III – Sherlock Holmes is back!
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In the second posting of this series I will describe the installation and its prerequisites. So let’s start.

Prereqs:
These components are required for the server running Vital Signs:

• .NET Framework 4.0;
• Visual C++ 2010 Runtime libraries, (x86 or x64).

Good to know: When the two above mentioned components aren’t in place, the Vital Sign installer will detect it, download them and start the installation:

Nice!

For the web based Console these IIS components are required:

• IIS 7
  • Web Server Role
  • Web Server Static Content Role Service
  • Web Server ASP.NET Role Service
  • Web Server Anonymous Authentication Feature
  • Web Server .NET Environment
• .NET Framework 3.5.1

Also, the server hosting this software must be a member of the Domain. The user installing the software must be local admin and a member of the Domain.

Installation:
The installation is straight forward, especially when the requirements are met. This screen is very important and requires some planning. In bigger organizations it might require input from the folks responsible for all IIS instances:

Also a screen to note is this one:
  
It makes the difference between being able to access Vital Signs or not…

Post Installation Tasks:
When Vital Signs has been installed some additional tasks are required in order to get it all Up & Running. Start the Vital Signs console after installation. In the Home screen these Configuration Tasks will be displayed, Required, Recommended and Optional:

By clicking on one of the Tasks, the appropriate screen will be opened.

When the licenses (one can contact Savision for a fully functional trial license) are in place it’s time to run the Recommended Configuration Tasks. Only after having completed these tasks Vital Signs can run and show what’s it made of. No time to waste! :)

As an Optional Configuration Task one can add a connector – to SCOM or SCSM – as well:

As stated before by Savision, the SCOM connector ‘…will read alert and incident data from SCOM and SCSM and display them in context of the affected system. Additionally, tasks are created in SCOM for launching Vital Signs in context of the selected system…’.

User Roles can be added as well, as required.

Now Vital Signs is in place and operational.

Conclusion:
Vital Signs is a product with a good installer. It’s intuitive and helpful as well: when some basic requirements aren’t in place, it will download them automatically and install them, under your supervision. So you’re at all times in the driver’s seat, like driving a car with a luxury kind of cruise control. It’s evident Savision has put a lot of time and energy in the interface/gui/console of Vital Signs. It’s straight forward and working with it is a walk in the park. But that statement will demonstrated in the third posting of this series.

Next posting in this series will be all about my experiences and a look behind the scenes / under water.