The New MP Authoring Tools are RELEASED!

At MMS 2012 Microsoft announced TONS of new stuff. Among them a new set of MP authoring tools. However, the release date wasn’t clear back then.

So it’s good news that the new MP Authoring Tools are finally released:

1. System Center 2012 Visio MP Designer
   The System Center 2012 Visio MP Designer—VMPD—is an add-in for Visio 2010 Premium that allows you to visually design a System Center Operations Manager Core Monitoring Management Pack.
   
   To be downloaded from here.
   
   
2. System Center 2012 Visual Studio Authoring Extensions
   The System Center 2012 Visual Studio Authoring Extensions—VSAE—is an add-in for Visual Studio 2010 Professional provides Lifecycle Management Tools to support Management Pack Authoring.
   
   To be downloaded from here.

Michel Kamp, a Dutch fellow MVP has written a good posting about VSAE and why NOT to use it …

Exchange 2010 MP version 14.3.38.2 Issue: Mailboxes on a database are Quarantined

The Exchange Team has published an issue they recently found in the latest version of the Exchange 2010 MP, version 14.3.38.2.

This issue is serious and has forced the Exchange Team to pull this MP from the catalog.

It shows that a MP can do harm as well. Therefore EVERY MP has to be tested before put into production. However, this issue is hard to detect and when it happens, it’s already a bit late since the end users are affected by it and will start calling your support staff. Only then you’ll know something isn’t OK.

When you are using this version of the Exchange MP in your SCOM R2/OM12 environment check this posting of the Exchange Team. It tells you what issues you might encounter and how to work around them.

Of course are they working on a fix for this unwanted behavior.

OM12 Network Monitoring: The Basics & How To Extend It

As we all know in OM12 network monitoring is totally rewritten, from the ground up. Why? Let’s take a look in the history of OM12 and network monitoring.

The Dark Ages 
Network monitoring in SCOM (R2) wasn’t that good. It wasn’t even basic, it was outright wacky. When ‘too’ many network devices were being monitored by a single instance (like a SCOM R2 Management Server) it could seriously wreck that server. The Health Service would ‘consume’ all resources like CPU and RAM, no matter how beefed that server was, causing that very same SCOM R2 Management server to stop functioning.

MPs which depended on that ‘functionality’ too much (like the earlier versions of the Dell MPs) could wreck the SCOM environment without being the direct cause of it. All because of the wacky network module in SCOM (R2).

Gladly there were multiple third party solutions on the market which solved that problem. Some free (xSNMP MP Suite) and others paid (OpsLogix and Jalasoft Xian Network Manager). Every single product had it’s own audience so every product had its market share.  I have used them all in different scenario’s.

Back to the Future (and present)
Even though the network monitoring module in OM12 is totally new and way much better compared to the SCOM (R2) version, it’s still a basic module. But there are multiple reasons for it:

1. Let’s get a good foundation first
   Microsoft wanted to get network monitoring good in OM12. So therefore they decided to rewrite it from the ground up and get it right from the start. Therefore they made sure the foundation of network monitoring in OM12 is good and will fit the bill for the time to come. Because without a good foundation, nothing will hold.
   
   When you ask me, they succeeded here for a full 100%.
   
   
2. OM12 is NOT a full bred network monitoring tool
   This basically means  when you want to monitor your network deep down to the bone, OM12 out-of-the-box won’t deliver that. Instead it will deliver enriched monitoring of your whole environment, including the network devices. It will show how the monitored servers relate to your network topology with the vicinity dashboards. OM12 will do that automatically for you.
   
   Also it will show detailed information about the monitored network devices themselves, using some good dashboards. For me a dashboard is only good when it shows relevant information with a single glance. And IMO, Microsoft succeeded here big time.

So network monitoring is growing up in OM12 and delivering a platform for future extensions. I’ll bet more and more network devices (brands, models etc etc) will be supported in the near future. Which is a good thing for sure.

I have OM12 and need REALLY deep network monitoring
So this is your situation. You have OM12 in place which is the primary monitoring tool. All other monitoring tooling (if any at all) will be phased out. Now you want deep network monitoring and OM12 won’t fit the bill here. Is there any way to solve this ‘puzzle’? The OpsLogix and xSNMP MPs won’t do here anymore.

Based on the information I have (and please let me know when I am wrong here) at the moment there is ONE solution available which will integrate perfectly with OM12 and deliver really deep network monitoring: Xian Network Manager for OM12. This tool is also rewritten in order to work seamlessly with OM12. On top of it new features are added, like (but not limited to) monitoring NetFlow.

Price Tag & Seeing is Believing
Jalasoft Xian Network Manager for OM12 is a 3rd party solution which comes with a license model of it’s own. So it’s up to you to decide what additional investments are justified to get to that level of deep network monitoring. However, other (non OM12 integrated) network monitoring solutions also come with a price tag. Nothing is for free any more these days :).

The good news is however that you can put Xian Network Manager for OM12 through it’s paces: you can test it for free for 60 days with full functionality. During that free trial period you can monitor (and report upon) 10 network devices.

This way you can see whether Xian Network Manager will deliver what you ask for. And you have all the time to get a good quote based on your requirements and specifications.

Want to test drive it yourself? Go here.

Windows Server 2012 Jump Start Videos Available!

On June 20-21 Microsoft delivered the Windows Server 2012 Jump Start: Preparing for the Datacenter Evolution.

Even though I couldn’t attend I’ve heard this Jump Start was really good. Therefore it’s good news that the HD-quality video recordings are available on TechNet Video now.

Some information:

• Targeted audience:
  Microsoft Partners, early adopters, and experienced IT Pros/ITDMs familiar with Microsoft server technologies.
  
• Tracks
  All 12 modules are under an hour and packed with engaging discussion and real-world demos.

Links to every track of this Jump Start:

1. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (01): Core Hyper-V
2. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (02a): Virtualization Infrastructure, Part 1
3. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (02b): Virtualization Infrastructure, Part 2
4. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (03a): Storage Architecture, Part 1
5. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (03b): Storage Architecture, Part 2
6. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (04): Continuous Availability
7. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (05a): Multi-Server Management, Part 1
8. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (05b): Multi-Server Management, Part 2
9. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (06a): Security and Access, Part 1
10. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (06b): Security and Access, Part 2
11. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (07): Remote Connectivity and Networking
12. Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (08): IIS, DHCP and IPAM

SC 2012 Licensing, Let’s Complify. Part IV: Time To Do Some Math

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
Part I   – Teaser
Part II  – Let’s meet Contoso!
Part III – Know What You Have
Part V  – Some Q & A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the fourth posting of this series I’ll do the calculations about the System Center License costs. Before I start however I want you take note of the following:

The prices as stated in this posting are based on the ones used in the System Center 2012 Licensing Datasheet.pdf and the System Center 2012 Licensing FAQ.pdf which uses the Microsoft Volume Licensing Open License No Level (NL) U.S. Estimated Retail Price (ERP). Of course when your organization has an Enterprise Agreement (EA) and/or Software Assurance (SA) in place, the prices will be way lower. Please contact your VAR or Microsoft representative in order to obtain the valid prices for your organization.

Some background information is still needed though before I start with the real calculations for Contoso. This information is needed so we’re all on the same line here.

From 200+ SKUs down to only two!
Phew! That’s a HUGE improvement. For the previous System Center products there were over 200+ different SKUs, which made a real challenge to get the correct licenses for the correct prices. Microsoft realized this was no good and that with System Center 2012 the suite or stack was gone as well. Instead System Center 2012 became ONE product. And selling a single product with 200+ SKUs won’t fit the bill.

Therefore Microsoft decided to drop the 200+ SKUs and to introduce only two editions of licenses for System Center 2012, differentiated by virtualization rights only: Standard and Datacenter (more about those later on). On top of it Microsoft introduced some new and important things as well:

1. Only managed endpoints require System Center 2012 licenses.
   So no more licenses for SC 2012 Management Servers nor for SQL server technology. That is when SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard Edition is being used. For Enterprise editions you still have to obtain the proper licenses. And by endpoints Microsoft means servers being managed by any System Center 2012 component, like OM12 or Orchestrator for example.
   
   
2. Consistent licensing model across editions
   The licensing model for server management is mostly based on a per processor basis for the Server Management License (Server ML), unless you use Standard System Center 2012 license. In which case you can either use the number of Operating System Environments (OSEs) being managed or the number of physical processors in the server, whichever is greater.
   
   For client management (devices which run non-server OSEs) are Client Management Licenses required.
   
   
3. Same ‘flavor’ for both editions of System Center licenses
   No matter what edition of System Center 2012 license you purchase, your entitled to EVERY component AND functionality of the System Center 2012 product and all of its components:
   - Operations Manager 2012
   - Configuration Manager 2012
   - Service Manager 2012
   - Virtual Machine Manager 2012
   - Data Protection Manager 2012
   - Orchestrator
   - App Controller
   - Endpoint Protection 2012
   
   As stated before: The two System Center 2012 license editions are differentiated by virtualization rights only.

Another thing which is important to know: a single System Center 2012 license covers ALL System Center 2012 products. So when a server is being managed by OM12, Orchestrator, SCVMM and SCCM, a single (*) System Center 2012 license will do. (*: Of course, when that server contains more than two physical processors, additional licenses must be purchased.)

Standard and Datacenter. What are the differences?
There are multiple ways to describe it, so let’s try a couple of them:

1. Standard: For lightly or non-virtualized private cloud workloads.
2. Datacenter: Maximizes cloud capacity with unlimited Operating System Environments (OSEs) for high density private clouds.

Hmm, doesn’t really clear things up. Let’s make it a bit easier in order to understand it better:

1. Standard: For environments with a low virtualization density, let’s say less than 7 to 8 VMs per host. Also good for standalone physical servers.
2. Datacenter: For environments with a high virtualization density, let’s say 8 or more VMs per host.

Also take look at this table, showing the differences between both editions. The differences between both editions are in red:

The Datacenter edition allows you to manage an unlimited edition of OSEs per licensed server. So when you run a Windows Hyper-V HA cluster node with many VMs on it, all those VMs (OSEs) are covered automatically by the System Center 2012 licenses when you purchased the right amount of Datacenter licenses for the host. When those VMs are migrated to another Hyper-V HA cluster node and that node is also covered by the Datacenter edition and proper amount of System Center 2012 licenses, you have nothing to worry about.

With the Standard edition however, you would have to count the total amount of physical processor present in the Hyper-V host and count the number of VMs running on that host. Divide both numbers by two and whichever number is the greatest represents the total amount of licenses which must be purchased. And you can start this all over again when one or more VMs are live migrated to another Hyper-V HA cluster node…

It’s clear you don’t want to end up in that scenario since it’s way to easy to be in breach of contract. Ouch!

Contoso and System Center 2012 licensing math
Wow! It took me almost 3,5 postings to get here, so let’s start. A quick break down of what Contoso has in place:

1. Production environment based on 4 Hyper-V HA Clusters
   1. Each HA Cluster has 4 nodes;
   2. Per node 4 physical CPUs (2 cores per CPU, Hyper-Threaded, thus 16 logical CPUs per node);
   3. A total of 16 physical Hyper-V servers is used for all 4 Hyper-V HA Clusters;
   4. A total of 64 VMs are hosted by these 4 Hyper-V HA Clusters.
      
      
2. Test environment based on 1 Hyper-V HA Cluster
   1. This HA Cluster has 2 nodes;
   2. Per node 4 physical CPUs (2 cores per CPU, Hyper-Threaded, thus 16 logical CPUs per node);
   3. A total of 2 physical Hyper-V servers is used for this Hyper-V HA Cluster;
   4. A total of 16 VMs is hosted by this single Hyper-V HA Cluster.
      
      
3. Domain Controllers, non-virtualized
   1. 2 physical servers;
   2. Per server 1 physical CPU (2 cores per CPU, no Hyper-Threading, thus 2 logical CPUs per node).
      
      
4. System Center 2012/Private Cloud based on 1 Hyper-V HA Cluster
   1. This HA Cluster has 2 nodes;
   2. Per node 4 physical CPUs (2 cores per CPU, Hyper-Threaded, thus 16 logical CPUs per node);
   3. A total of 2 physical Hyper-V servers is used for this Hyper-V HA Cluster;
   4. A total of 17 VMs is hosted by this single Hyper-V HA Clusters;
   5. One physical server for DPM 2012;
      1. This server has 2 physical CPUs, quad cores and Hyper-Threaded, thus 16 logical CPUs.

Let’s do some math now and break it down in some numbers.

• Production Environment
  Let’s take a look at item 1, the production environment based on 16 physical servers with 4 physical CPUs each, in total 64 physical CPUs.
  
  These 16 physical servers run 64 VMs in total, which is 4 VMs per physical server. When covered by the Standard edition of the System Center 2012 license, we must look at the total amount of physical CPUs (and divide it by two) or at the total number of managed Operating System Environments (OSEs) per physical server.
  
  At a first glance we could count 4 OSEs per physical server. But how about failover, maintenance and future growth? A VM is provisioned in no time. And when the Private Cloud is in place, you bet their will a growth of VMs (OSEs) per physical server. Also a Standard license doesn’t have the unlimited managed OSEs feature compared to the Enterprise edition of the license. This means EVERY physical server must have enough Standard edition licenses in place when this edition of the license is chosen.
  
  Therefore 4 OSEs per physical server won’t cover it here. When there is a failover 4 OSEs will be Live Migrated to the 3 remaining nodes. Since a node can’t run a part of a VM, there will be a node which runs at least 6 VMs (OSEs). On top of it future growth must be taken into account, let’s say an additional 6 VMs, which is 12 VMs (OSEs) per node. This way future growth is properly covered.
  
  
  For Standard edition we have to purchase licenses for the highest number (physical CPUs either managed OSEs) so in this case we have to purchase 96 Standard SC 2012 licenses.
  
  For Datacenter edition we have to purchase licenses for number of physical CPUs divided by two so in this case we have to purchase 32 Datacenter SC 2012 licenses.
  
  Now we have all the information we need for the production environment so let’s do some math:
  
  The Datacenter edition licenses for the production environment costs less. Also no matter how many VMs will be added in the future, or where the VMs reside, they’re always properly licensed. So no headaches.
  
  This calculation is based on future growth. Without taking future growth into account (which is unrealistic and unwished for since for every new VM a new license has to be purchased which can be easily forgotten thus causing a breach of contract) the math looks like this:
  
  6 VMs per node (failover remember?), 16 nodes: 6*16 = 96, divided by two is 48 Standard edition licenses and 32 Datacenter edition licenses:
  
  Now the Standard edition licenses cost less. However, future growth isn’t taken into account. Whenever VMs (OSEs) are added (and in a Private Cloud changes are there will a growth in VMs) soon you’ll need additional Standard edition licenses. Let’s look at the difference in costs between Standard edition and Enterprise edition licenses and divide that by the costs of a single Standard SC 2012 license:
  
  So we’re talking here about 78 extra VMs (OSEs). Even though it might sound as a huge number, don’t forget in a Private Cloud scenario VMs will come and go. When you have to keep track of the total amount of VMs, where they reside and whether they’re all covered by proper licenses, much of the gains from the Private Cloud will be wasted due to the effort it takes to stay on top of things. At this point you’ve got to ask yourself whether the costs of 78 additional VMs is worth all the extra administration for the coverage of licenses.
  
  
• Test Environment
  Let’s take a look at item 2, the test environment based on 2 physical servers with 4 physical CPUs each, in total 8 physical CPUs.
  
  These 2 physical servers run 16 VMs in total, which is 8 VMs per physical server. When a node fails, the remaining node will host 16 VMs in total. Since it’s a test environment, VMs come and go. Taking some future growth into account as well, in total there might be about 26 VMs, which is – in case of a failover – 26 VMs (OSEs) per node.
  
  
  For Standard edition we have to purchase licenses for the highest number (physical CPUs either managed OSEs) so in this case we have to purchase 26 Standard SC 2012 licenses.
  
  For Datacenter edition we have to purchase licenses for number of physical CPUs divided by two so in this case we have to purchase 4 Standard SC 2012 licenses.
  
  Now we have all the information we need for the production environment so let’s do some math:
  
  Even in this scenario the Datacenter edition licenses for the test environment costs less. Also no matter how many VMs will be added in the future, or where the VMs reside, they’re always properly licensed. So no headaches.
  
  This calculation is based on future growth. Without taking future growth into account (which is unrealistic and unwished for since for every new VM a new license has to be purchased which can be easily forgotten thus causing a breach of contract) the math looks like this:
  
  16 VMs per node (failover remember?), 2 nodes: 2*16 = 32, divided by two is 16 Standard edition licenses and 4 Datacenter edition licenses:
  
  The Datacenter edition still costs less. So this one is another a no-brainer.
  
  
  
• Domain Controllers
  Let’s take a look at item 3, the DCs.
  
  There are two of them based on physical servers, with 1 physical processor each. Since any edition of the System Center 2012 license can’t be divided among multiple physical servers, we need to to purchase 2 licenses, no matter what edition we choose.
  
  So in this case the Standard edition is the best way to go (less costs):
  
  Also a no-brainer.
  
  
• System Center 2012/Private Cloud
  Let’s take a look at item 4, the System Center 2012/Private Cloud solution based on 2 physical servers with 4 physical CPUs each, in total 8 physical CPUs.
  
  These 2 physical servers run 17 VMs in total, which is 9 VMs per physical server (I took the highest number here). When a node fails, the remaining node will host 17 VMs in total. Even though it’s a System Center 2012 environment and pretty static, it’s likely VMs will be added in the future. In total there might be about 24 VMs, which is – in case of a failover – 24 VMs (OSEs) per node.
  
  
  For Standard edition we have to purchase licenses for the highest number (physical CPUs either managed OSEs) so in this case we have to purchase 24 Standard SC 2012 licenses.
  
  For Datacenter edition we have to purchase licenses for number of physical CPUs divided by two so in this case we have to purchase 4 Standard SC 2012 licenses.
  
  Now we have all the information we need for the production environment so let’s do some math:
  
  The Datacenter edition licenses for the System Center 2012/Private Cloud environment cost less. Also no matter how many VMs will be added in the future, or where the VMs reside, they’re always properly licensed. So no headaches.
  
  This calculation is based on future growth. Without taking future growth into account (which is unrealistic and unwished for since for every new VM a new license has to be purchased which can be easily forgotten thus causing a breach of contract) the math looks like this:
  
  17 VMs per node (failover remember?), 2 nodes: 2*17 = 34, divided by two is 17 Standard edition licenses and 4 Datacenter edition licenses:
  
  Even now the Datacenter edition still costs less.

Hopefully this example shows it pays to sit down and to some math. Only this way you get a good insight in the licensing costs of System Center 2012. Even though the Standard edition of the System Center 2012 license might seem the most interesting one, many times you end up with the Datacenter edition. This edition also removes future headaches when wondering there isn’t a breach of contract when a cluster node fails and all VMs are hosted by the remaining nodes of that HA Cluster.

In the last posting of this series I’ll do some interesting Q & A. So see you all next time.

2012: Year of the Dragon or the Year of Microsoft?

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2012 is the Year of the Dragon.

However, when looking at the pace Microsoft brings out new technologies this year, like but not limited to:

• Windows Server 2012,
  
• Windows Client 2012,
• System Center 2012 Product,
  
  • Orchestrator;
  • VMM 2012;
  • SCCM 2012;
  • OM 2012;
  • SCSM 2012;
  • DPM 2012;
  • AppControl
• Surface Tablet
  
• Windows Phone 8,
  
• New versions/editions of
  • Windows Azure,
  • Office 365,
  • Windows Intune
• And new versions of these products about to come out as well:
  • Exchange
  • Lync
  • Office

I personally call 2012 The Year of Microsoft!

It’s really awesome what they bring out. Guess Google and Apple are blown totally out of the water just by the sheer volume of new products Microsoft brings out this year. Compared to Apple who releases a couple of ‘new’ products every year, Microsoft shows them their tail lights and what REAL innovation is all about…

And it’s not only just the new products it goes way much further. It’s more about the vision and long term strategy behind it all. Sometime ago almost every Microsoft employer signed their e-mail with the slogan ‘We’re all in’, referring to the cloud.

And this time it wasn’t just marketing mumbo jumbo! No way! Microsoft is transforming from a pure software developing/selling company to a cloud service provider model (simply look at Office 365, Azure, Windows Intune, System Center Advisor) combined with an ‘Apple’ taste (Surface Tablet, even though a CEO of a certain company says it’s just a marketing stunt, IMO Microsoft is really going to pull this one off).

I wouldn’t be too surprised when Microsoft will also bring out their own Windows phone built on Windows Phone 8 technology, just like the Surface Tablet and Xbox, a pure 100% Microsoft product.

Overnight Microsoft became sexy! And this year has still more then six months to cover. Makes me wonder what Microsoft is going to announce in the months to come…

MVA Private Cloud Track: New content soon available

Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) is a huge collection of FREE online trainings all about the latest Microsoft technologies. It doesn’t replace class room trainings, but extends the total range of available training resources to a huge extend.

One of the advantages of MVA is that one can follow online training based on his/her own pace. So whenever you have an hour or so to spare, you can surf to MVA and extend your knowledge on Microsoft technologies. And for me being Dutch there is another HUGE advantage: it’s FREE!

For a few months now MVA offers a Private Cloud track as well.

Even though this track already offers a lot of knowledge to obtain, it will be soon extended:

And on top of it, I expect to see stuff about Windows Server 2012 in it as well. Don’t know the time frame but my personal guess (based on nothing but just a feeling) is that it will be rather sooner then later.

So whenever you work with any System Center 2012 component, go to MVA Private Cloud track and LEARN!

Microsoft Private Cloud Guided Labs

Microsoft offers 14 guided hands on labs, all about to use System Center to deliver IT as a Service using a Private Cloud.  The demos span across the three pillars of System Center – Application Management, Service Deliver and Automation, and Infrastructure Management.

Taken directly from the website:

Core Capabilities Addressed in the Guided Labs:

• Provide resources through self-service requests
• Drive consistent Service Delivery
• Provision additional cloud infrastructure
• Delegate cloud resources
• Create consistency through service templates
• Perform a standardized application deployment to test
• Stage application resources
• Self-service deployment of an application to a production environment
• Gain insight and visibility through reporting
• Monitor infrastructure
• Taking corrective actions in the infrastructure
• Reduce time to resolution with application performance monitoring
• Deploy an update to service instance
• Explore creating dashboards

Want to know more? Go here.

New Component for OM12: GSM!

In this case GSM means: Global Service Monitor.

What it does? Good question! Let me explain (taken directly from the website):

’…Global Service Monitor is an Azure-based service that extends SCOM 2012 capabilities into the cloud. It allows you to schedule synthetic transactions from geo-distributed locations to monitor availability, performance and reliability
of your externally facing web applications….’

Still not totally clear? Don’t blame you! Let me ‘translate’ it for you in plain ‘French’:

GSM enables one to monitor the company’s most crucial websites from the OUTSIDE. Suppose your company has websites hosted in Europe which are also visited from the US. Wouldn’t it be great to monitor these websites from the US as well? So you REALLY know whether the websites are available from the US as well and responding in a timely manner? And to run synthetic transactions against those websites from the US as well? GSM does just that!

Awesome isn’t it? At MMS 2012 I attended a special closed session about GSM. Really impressive it is.

For now there is a Consumer Preview available through Connect. All you have to do is to sign up and you’ll receive all the required materials for GSM. As far as I know GSM will be GA when SP1 for System Center 2012 is RTM.

Want to know more?

• Operations Manager Engineering blog posting about GSM;
• Connect website for GSM.

As you can see, OM12 isn’t work done but evolution in progress :).

Updated MP: Exchange Server 2010 Monitoring MP, version 14.3.38.2

Yesterday Microsoft released an updated version of the Exchange 2010 Monitoring MP, version 14.3.38.2.

Changes in this MP aren’t very shocking. Major reason for this release is as stated in the MP guide, page 7:

Taken from the same guide:

Changes included in the Service Pack 2 Update Resolved ObjectNotFoundExceptions in correlation engine   The SP1 version of the Correlation Engine could encounter ObjectNotFoundExceptions on a regular basis. The number of exceptions of this type is significantly reduced in this update. Reduced load on RMS/MS   A number of improvements were made to reduce the load of the Management Pack on the RMS/MS. The following specific changes were made: Reduced the number of read operations the Correlation Engine makes to the SDK to get entity and monitor states Improved cache handling in Correlation Engine when Management Pack updates are applied Increased correlation interval time from 1.5 minutes to 5 minutes Reduced load due to discovery  The discovery interval was increased from 4 hours to 24 hours and improved handling of Domain Controller objects to decrease churn Improved Database Copy Health monitoring  Replaced KHI: Database dismounted or service degraded with One Healthy Copy monitor to decrease load on RMS Improved Performance monitoring  Non reporting Perf Instances are now enabled by default and some write operations were removed to decrease unnecessary writes to the database

The bullet ‘Reduced load on RMS/MS’ is an interesting one none the less.

The MP can be downloaded from here. Kevin Holman has posted an article all about this new MP and what’s new/improved. A must read for any one who’s going to use this MP since his posting contains information which isn’t present in the MP guide but is yet crucial.

So in this case: RTFM the guide related to this MP AND RTFM Kevin’s posting.

OM12 How To: Bring OM12 Dashboards into SharePoint

Tim McFadden doesn’t post that many articles. But when he does, those postings ROCK!

Now he has posted an excellent write up, all about bringing your OM12 Dashboards into SharePoint. It’s a detailed guide with some good screenshots. When you want to do just that, go here and read :).

All credits go to Tim who wrote this posting. Thanks Tim!

System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 CTP2 is AVAILABLE!

Since a few days Microsoft has released CTP2 of Service Pack 1 for System Center 2012.

Before you start to download and install it however there are some SERIOUS issues you need to reckon with though:

1. CTP1 cannot be upgraded to CTP2 and CTP2 will not be upgradable to Beta.
2. CTP builds are not supported for production use, even for TAP customers.
3. All components now support Windows Server 2012 RC and SQL Server 2012.

So think before you click.

CTP2 contains these improvements for OM12:

1. Support for installing the product on Windows Server 2012 for all components: agent, server, databases, etc;
2. Support for using SQL Server 2012 to host the databases;
3. Support for IIS8 / Windows Server 2012 RC in APM (this requires the monitoring packs for Windows Server "8" beta that are released to TAP customers);
4. Support Monitoring of Windows Services built on the .NET Framework with APM;
5. ASP.NET MVC3 and MVC4 applications are discovered automatically by APM;
6. New Transaction types in APM for MVC pages and WCF methods; it is also now possible to define transactions on WCF endpoints;
7. Enhancements in the way WCF parameters are displayed in APM events;
8. Monitoring of applications that make use of Azure Storage with APM is now aware of Azure tables, blobs, queues as SQL Azure calls;
9. Dashboard showing combined health and SLAs for an application monitored thru both Synthetic transactions as well as APM.

And it introduces GSM as well:
a new cloud enabled capability called “Global Service Monitor” (GSM) extends the application monitoring in System Center 2012 to enable you to add “outside-in” testing to incorporate a true reflection of users’ experience of your web site or web application. To evaluate System Center 2012 SP1 with GSM, sign up for the customer preview of GSM.

Reminders

• CTP builds are not upgradable and not supported for production use.
• Procedures not covered in the documentation might not work.

Downloads

1. Service Pack 1 CTP2 for all System Center 2012 components;
2. Technical documentation for Service Pack 1 CTP2.

Remark:
Much of this posting has been copied and pasted from this posting written by Daniele Muscetta. I don’t think he’ll mind but just for the records :).

System Center 2012 & Private Cloud: New Books!

For any one interested in System Center 2012 and the Private Cloud based on Microsoft technology there is a whole plethora of new books about to arrive or have arrived already. Some of them are really good and worth while your time and money, at least that’s how I think about it.

These are the books which give you the most bang for your buck:

1. Microsoft Private Cloud Computing
   Written by THE Real Experts themselves: Aidan Finn, Hans Vredevoort, Patrick Lownds and Damian Flynn. These guys rock and know their stuff inside and out. This book is going to be mine very SOON. For now it’s available in electronic format only (Kindle). However soon it will be released in paperback as well. All I can say is: GET IT NOW!
   
   
   
2. Microsoft System Center 2012 – Operations Manager Unleashed
   Everything you always wanted to know about OM12 but were afraid to ask. Cameron Fuller, Kerrie Meyler and John Joyner are the main authors for this book. But hey, there are some contributing authors as well, like Oskar Landman (Dutch MVP and THE MP Author of this globe) and me as well :). A MUST have as well for any one working with OM12 on a daily basis. The book isn’t available yet.
   
   
   
3. System Center 2012 Orchestrator Unleashed
   All about Orchestrator, the successor of Opalis and written by people who have so MUCH out-of-the-field experience with the product, like Anders Bengtsson, David Allen, Marcus Oh and Pete Zerger. And don’t forget about Kerrie Meyler as well. A MUST have as well and yes, this book will become mine… However, the book isn’t available yet. So I need to be a bit more patient I guess.
   
   
   
4. Microsoft System Center 2012 UNLEASHED
   This book brings all the System Center 2012 components together. I don’t know whether it will have the same depth as the first three books but yet, I have ordered it in order to stock pile my bookshelves :). And it’s available now in digital format and paperback.
   

As you can see, there are good books out there (or almost out there) all about System Center 2012. When you’re working with System Center 2012 products these books should be present in your department or private library. Enjoy!

SC 2012 Licensing, Let’s Complify. Part III: Know What You Have

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postings in the same series:
Part  I – Teaser
Part II – Let’s meet Contoso!
Part IV – Time To Do Some Math
Part V – Some Q & A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the the third posting of this series I’ll take a (deep) dive into environment itself so we know how many System Center 2012 licenses we totally need. In the fourth posting of this series I’ll do the ‘math’ and share some interesting stuff as well, all about the System Center 2012 licenses.

What Contoso has in place
As stated before Contoso has 100 production servers in total, 50 per data center:

• 20 physical servers with 4 CPUs each all of them Hyper-V hosts;
• 80 VMs:
  • 60 VMs with 2 vCPUs each;
  • 20 VMs with 1 vCPU each.
• These VMs come and go. They have some VM sprawl which needs to be addressed as well.

Also they have two additional physical servers – one per data center – both are domain controllers for their domain and offer DNS and DHCP services as well. These two additional servers have one CPU each.

In-place upgrade or alongside?
After good and thorough investigation of their current environment, their requirements and the expected growth, Contoso has decided to build their Private Cloud on their current Hyper-V platform. All these servers are based on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and – the Hyper-V hosts that is – based on current hardware which is only 1,5 years old. When Windows Server 2012 goes RTM and becomes GA (General Available) they’ll upgrade the Hyper-V hosts to it since Hyper-V version 3 offers many new features which are very welcome. Later they’ll upgrade the VMs themselves. This way they get the most value for their money without pressing their IT department too much.

Also they have decided not to upgrade any System Center 2007 component they have currently in place (mind you, one can’t upgrade SCCM 2007 since it’s x86 based where SCCM 2012 is x64 based) but to build a brand new System Center 2012 environment and using the lessons learned from the past. And as they go, phase out the older System Center products, one by one. Until now they didn’t use SCSM but with the System Center 2012 licensing model AND the improvements in SCSM 2012, they have decided to retire their current third party CMDB and ticketing solution and replace it by SCSM 2012.

This way they have time to migrate to the Private Cloud and build it targeted at quality while maintaining their current environment in production without jeopardizing their current operations which are crucial to the company.

System Center 2012 placement
Since the current Hyper-V hosts aren’t overcommitted at all (they are underused actually since they’re relatively new and dimensioned for future growth and expansion), they decide to free up two of them and dedicate them purely to the System Center 2012 product.

These two Hyper-V servers will be reinstalled, provided with additional RAM (so it becomes 128 GB per node) and configured as a Hyper-V HA Cluster. CPU wise these servers are OK since they run 4 CPUs each, every CPU running 2 cores and Hyper Threaded, delivering 16 logical processors. This cluster will host the whole System Center 2012 product and all of its related components.

Their SAN is up-to-specs and also fairly new. So this SAN does fit the bill here and no additional costs are required here.

In order to make System Center 2012 even more HA they have also decided to provision two dedicated SQL HA clusters based on VMs running on the same Hyper-V HA cluster as well. The VMM 2012 Management Servers will be clustered as well. For now they have decided not to cluster the VMM Library server. Perhaps when Windows Server 2012 becomes GA, they’ll make such a move by using SMB version 3.

For their backup solution they decide to use a new dedicated physical server running SCDPM 2012 with it’s own storage and tape solution (for archiving).

Now they use as much as they can from their current hardware base and only need to buy one new server with additional storage and a tape solution. Based on this, their ‘shopping list’ looks like this:

• SAN storage is available. Not only the required TBs but also the required IOPs;
• 2 physical servers for hosting the Hyper-V server role (hardware is already present);
  • Since these servers will act as a HA Cluster, the Enterprise edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is required;
• 1 physical server for SCDPM 2012 and its own storage and tape solution. This one must be bought;
• The Hyper-V cluster for System Center 2012 will run 17 VMs in total:
  • 4 VMs for two dedicated SQL Server HA Clusters (Enterprise edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is required);
  • 2 VMs for OM12 (Standard edition of Windows Server);
  • 2 VMs for one dedicated SCVMM 2012 HA Cluster (Enterprise edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is required);
  • 1 VM for SCVMM 2012 acting as the VMM library server (Standard edition of Windows Server);
  • 2 VMs for SCSM 2012 (Standard edition of Windows Server);
  • 2 VMs for SCOrch (Standard edition of Windows Server);
  • 2 VMs for SCCM 2012 (Standard edition of Windows Server);
  • 1 VM for AppControl (Standard edition of Windows Server);
  • 1 VM for WSUS (Standard edition of Windows Server).

In a simplified drawing the System Center 2012 solution looks like this:

This System Center 2012 solution will enable Contoso to run their Private Cloud, all based on cutting edge Microsoft technology. As stated before in the last posting of this series I’ll do the math. I know, I could have covered some license calculations in a single posting. However, license calculations – even though they’re crucial – tend to be very boring. So in order to make it more vivid and alive, I decided to cook up an imaginary company with the exciting name Contoso…

So stay tuned and I’ll see you all next time.

Solid information about MP Windows Server OS MP version 6.0.6972.0

I already blogged about this MP. And told people not to import this MP right away since the latest version of this MP is really different compared to the previous versions. Especially in the way it discovers and monitors (logical) disks.

Therefore it’s good news that Kevin Holman wrote a good article about this MP and shares some solid information in that posting as well. IMO, a MUST read for anyone using that MP (which is practically everyone since this is almost a core MP for SCOM/OM12).

Want to know more? Go here.

Download all Microsoft TechEd North America 2012 Sessions Using PowerShell

TechEd North America 2012 has ended now. I didn’t attend it but there were certain sessions I would have attended when I was there.

However, Microsoft is very generous since ANYONE can download the slide decks and recordings of those sessions for FREE! Which is awesome. But there is even more great news! Some persons who attended TechEd North America 2012, made some cool PowerShell scripts enabling one to download those sessions with a single click of a mouse button. Since I am an efficient person I like those scripts very much and I want to share them with my readers as well:

1. SCOMfaq.ch: http://blog.scomfaq.ch/2012/06/13/teched-2012-orlando-download-sessions-offline-viewing/
   
   At this moment this script downloads 506 sessions.
   
   
2. Infoworks: http://infoworks.tv/2012/06/14/download-all-microsoft-teched-north-america-2012-sessions-using-powershell/
   
   At this moment this script downloads 415 session.

These guys take it very seriously: not only do they share their scripts but are working on improved versions as well! Awesome! Thank you guys!

I passed for exam 071-246!

Phew! While attending MMS 2012 I did two beta exams, 071-247 and 071-246.

071-247 was really a tough one and most questions were just too hard for me. I certainly need to study on those topics! And indeed, I flunked for that exam, as I expected. Yet it wasn’t good news. But now at home I have built myself a whole new test lab running OM12, SCOrch, VMM 2012 and AppControl. Combined with MVA, online videos and some books, I will most certainly pass for that exam as well.

Another approach is bribing Gordon McKenna, a UK based MVP for years now (way before I became a MVP) since he helped to create these exams. My guess is however that I don’t have that amount of money :) nor that he’s willing to share that information :).

071-246 wasn’t that hard at all and this morning the result came in:

Yeah! Got that one in the pocket!

Windows Server 2012 Readiness Program

Microsoft has released free training which is an introduction to Windows Server 2012.

This training program is targeted at different audiences:

• Executive-Business Decision Maker-Practice Manager
• Sales-Account Managers-Account Executives
• Tech Pre-Sales - Sales Engineers
• Implementer
• Architect

Want to know more? Go here.

OM12: How to remove the location association from an Agent/MS/Pool

Based on this blog posting of mine, all about associating a location with an Agent/MS/Pool I have some additional information.

As mentioned in the previous posting in item 1, there are other ways as well to remove the location association from an Agent/MS/Pool:

1. The commands below just remove the location association from Agent/MS/Pool. The actions don’t delete the location itself:
   Remove-SCOMLocation –Agent
   Remove-SCOMLocation –ManagementServer
   Remove-SCOMLocation –Pool
   
   
2. When we use –location parameter (Remove-SCOMLocation –Location), the location instance will be deleted and not exist anymore.
   For example, I created three locations with the same displayname “Amsterdam”. After I executed the following command, the locations were removed permanently:
   Get-SCOMLocation -DisplayName "Amsterdam" | Remove-SCOMLocation

Another advice
You can also define geo locations with the same displayname multiple times, which can be distinguished by property “ID” or “Name”.

Credits
Thanks to the Operations Manager Product Team and especially Daniele Muscetta, since they provided us (Cameron Fuller and me) with this information. Thank you guys!

MCSE Private Cloud exams are live now!

MCSE has a new meaning now: Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. The exams for the certification MCSE: Private Cloud are live now.

There are two exams for this certification:

1. Exam 70-246: Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
   This exam is designed to test the candidate's knowledge and skills on monitoring and operating a private cloud with System Center 2012.Candidates for the 70-246 exam have Windows Server, System Center 2012, security, high-availability, fault tolerance, and networking experience in an enterprise environment, candidates should also have basic Microsoft SQL Server and Windows PowerShell knowledge, and application configuration experience. Candidates are also familiar with ITIL and MOF concepts. These candidates might be the Active Directory Administrator, Virtualization Administrator, Enterprise Administrator, or System Center Administrator for their organizations.
   
   
2. Exam 70-247: Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
   This exam is designed to test the candidate's knowledge and skills on configuring and deploying  a private cloud with System Center 2012.   Candidates for exam 70-247 use System Center 2012 products to install and configure a private cloud solution. They design, configure, and deploy the underlying infrastructure fabric of networking, storage, and compute resources. They standardize and automate configuration and deployment of applications. Candidates for this exam have Windows Server, Active Directory, System Center 2012, security, high availability, fault tolerance, and networking experience in an enterprise environment, basic Microsoft SQL Server and Windows PowerShell knowledge, and application configuration experience. Candidates are also familiar with ITIL and MOF concepts.

I did both exams in beta while attending MMS 2012. Sadly I failed for Exam 70-247. The results for exam 70-246 aren’t in yet. So these are exiting times for me. Just contacted Bob Cornelissen and he passed for Exam 70-247! Awesome! Congrats Bob.

To schedule your exam, visit Prometric’s Web site.

System Center 2012 – Using a common SQL backend database

Ouch! I try to stay on top of things as much as I can in order to share the news with the readers of this blog.

However, I almost missed this one which is really a very good posting written by my much respected MVP buddy Cameron Fuller. I respect this man not only for his profession but also as a friend.

Some time ago he published an article all about using a common SQL backend database for System Center 2012. In that posting he writes about IOPS per System Center 2012 database (did you know that an OM12 Data Warehouse database with 2000 Agents has an IOPS hovering around 1000?) and the sizes as well. And whether or not to use a single SQL server for all your System Center 2012 components.

The article contains two case studies and a list of Common System Center 2012 Database Recommendations.

This posting is really gold and should be read by anyone involved in designing an environment for any System Center 2012 component. Want to know more? Go here.

All credits go to Cameron Fuller sharing this kind of information with the community. Awesome job man!

Updated MP: Windows Server OS MP version 6.0.6972.0

Some days ago Microsoft released an updated version of the Server OS MP, version 6.0.6972.0.

This MP contains some significant changes, most of them related to the monitoring of disks, taken directly from the related MP guide:

Updated the Cluster shared volume disk monitors so that alert severity corresponds to the monitor state. Fixed an issue where the performance by utilization report would fail to deploy with the message “too many arguments specified”. Updated the knowledge for the available MB monitor to refer to the Available MB counter. Added discovery and monitoring of clustered disks for Windows Server 2008 and above clusters. Added views for clustered disks. Aligned disk monitoring so that all disks (Logical Disks, Cluster Shared Volumes, Clustered disks) now have the same basic set of monitors. There are now separate monitors that measure available MB and %Free disk space for any disk (Logical Disk, Cluster Shared Volume, or Clustered disk). These monitors are disabled by default for Logical Disks, so you will need to enable them. Updated display strings for all disks to be consistent, regardless of the disk type. The monitors generate alerts when they are in an error state. A warning state does not create an alert. The monitors have a roll-up monitor that also reflects disk state. This monitor does not alert by default. If you want to alert on both warning and error states, you can have the unit monitors alert on warning state and the roll-up monitor alert on error state. Fixed an issue where network adapter monitoring caused high CPU utilization on servers with multiple NICs. Updated the Total CPU Utilization Percentage monitor to run every 5 minutes and alert if it is three consecutive samples above the threshold. Updated the properties of the Operating System instances so that the path includes the server name it applies to so that this name will show up in alerts. Disabled the network bandwidth utilization monitors for Windows Server 2003. Updated the Cluster Shared Volume monitoring scripts so they do not log informational events. Quorum disks are now discovered by default. Mount point discovery is now disabled by default.

All these changes are really good improvements. But be careful with simply importing this MP into your production environment. Check all your overrides for the Disk Monitors/Rules in order to see whether they still apply with the new MP. Even better, test the MP in a lab environment first.

Also take notion of the notes as stated in the same MP guide, on page 9 and 10:

This version of the Management Pack consolidates disk monitoring for all types of disks as mentioned above. However, for Logical Disks, the previous Logical Disk Free Space monitor, which uses a combination of Available MB and %Free space, is still enabled. If you prefer to use the new monitors (Disk Free Space (MB) Low Disk Free Space (%) Low), you must disable the Logical Disk Free Space monitor before enabling the new monitors. The default thresholds for the Available MB monitor are not changed, the warning threshold (which will not alert) is 500MB and the error threshold (which will alert) is 300MB. This will cause alerts to be generated for small disk volumes. Before enabling the new monitors, it is recommended to create a group of these small disks (using the disk size properties as criteria for the group), and overriding the threshold for available MB.

As you can see, RTFM is still very important with any MP.

Not only BEFORE importing a MP, but also WHILE importing the MP and AFTER it, since the MP needs tuning.

MP can be downloaded from here.

How to crack EventID 21405 for any given monitored server

A key customer of mine had this strange issue. Almost ALL (Discovery) scripts were exiting so almost nothing of the Management Packs landed on a particular server.

Issue
EventID 21405 containing message ‘The process started at x failed to create y, no errors detected in the output. The process exited with 1’ was shown many times in the OpsMgr eventlog of that server:

CSS to the rescue
And no matter what we did and tried, like this solution, helped. So finally Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) was contacted and a case opened. It took some time since the server itself had to be traced and logged TOTALLY. Which couldn’t be done during production hours.

Cause & Solution
Finally a giant log file was created and sent out to CSS for thorough investigation. Soon the answer came in: ‘…changing the size of the desktop heap could fix it…’. CSS referred to two KB articles on how to do that, based on various OS types:

• For Windows 2008 and later: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947246/en-us
• For Windows 2003: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184802/en-us

After applying the fix as described in the KB article, all was well again.

So somehow somewhere the heap size wasn’t correct anymore which caused the scripts to fail. It turned out that it wasn’t a SCOM issue at all, but that the SCOM Agent made the issue with the server visible.

Using SCOM to detect heap size issues
The key customer has created a Monitor in SCOM which scans all servers for EventID 21405 and alerts upon it. So whenever a server is having heap size issues they’ll know it and know the fix for it as well.

Free tool to create your own Customized Dashboards in OM12

The OM12 engineering team released a nice tool which enables you to create your own Customized Dashboards in OM12.

This tool is aimed at three tasks which can’t be performed in the OM12 Console:

1. Generalizing console created Dashboards
   When one creates a nice and sharp looking dashboard in the OM12 Console and wants to use that Dashboard in another OM12 Management Group (MG) it won’t work because the MP containing the Dashboard contains MG specific parameters (aka GUIDs). This tool removes those GUIDs so the MP containing the Dashboard can be used in any other OM12 MG now.
   
   
2. Free placement of those Dashboards
   Provides the ability to have a custom dashboard show up under any Management Pack folder in the Monitoring view.
   
   
3. Create a Task which launches the Dashboard against any selected Object
   This is really awesome! One creates a Dashboard containing the most relevant Performance counters like CPU, Disks, Network and so on. And with this tool a Task is created which launches and populates that Dashboard for any selected Object! Of course, that Object must relate to that Dashboard but that goes without saying…
   

The tool involves some cmd line commands but these are very straightforward and therefore easy to use. The OM12 engineering team also provided a good explanation (PowerPoint based) which tells exactly how to use this tool. And as a showcase they included two Dashboards as well, just to show you the power of the tool.

The tool can be downloaded from here.

Free product for SCOM R2/OM12: Veeam Extended Generic Report Library (GRL)

Today Veeam released a new contribution for the SCOM R2/OM12 community: The Veeam Extended Generic Report Library (GRL).

This is a MP which contains the Veeam Extended GRL for SCOM R2/OM12. Reports to be found in this MP are:

• Veeam Alert Statistics Report
• Veeam Generic Performance Top (Bottom) N Report
• Veeam Performance Report
• Veeam Performance Details Report

Some people were allowed to test drive this set of Reports, I was among those lucky ones and I must say, these Reports are really good.

However, like the Generic Reports delivered by Microsoft, these Reports aren’t made for the ‘Single-Click-End-User’. In order to get filled Reports some interaction is required. So when you’re totally new to SCOM R2/OM12 Reporting, please read this series of postings of mine in order to get the idea and concept behind SCOM R2/OM12 Reporting. This way you’ll know how to use these additional generic reports.

When you’re already experienced with SCOM R2/OM12 Reporting the guide provided with the GRL contains many details and almost step-by-step explanations in order to get the most out those reports.

Want to try those Reports yourself? Go here. In order to download them registration is required. After that the Reports can be downloaded for FREE.

Two things to reckon with:

• These Reports work only in SCOM R2 or OM12. SCOM RTM or SCOM SP1 isn’t supported.
• These Reports work only from SQL Reporting Server Services (SSRS) based on SQL Server 2008 or higher.

A teaser:

(Screendump taken directly from the website of Veeam.)

All credits go to Veeam who brings out this awesome set of Reports for FREE! Thank YOU Veeam!