OM12x: MP Templates? Mind Naming Convention Or Get A Database Error Message…

When creating a Monitor based on a MP Template in SCOM 2012x there is one HUGE caveat to reckon with: DON’T USE BRACKETS IN THE NAME!

Issue
SCOM 2012x won’t throw any error while creating this Monitor using a name like Website Monitor For Google (Production). But when it’s saved the ‘fun’ will begin since you’ll see behavior like this:

1. The Monitor will never show up in the Console
2. The Monitor won’t show up in the MP you saved it to(!);
3. When trying to modify this Monitor you'll get errors like these ones:
   
   
   Or: Message: There was an error while applying the changes. : Verification failed with x errors
   Or: Processing the template failed. See inner exception for details.Verification failed with 4 errors
   Or: Database error. MPInfra_p_ManagementPackInstall failed with exception: Failed to validate item: ENU
   Or: Database error. MPInfra_p_ManagementPackInstall failed with exception:
   Failed to validate item: WebApplication_{GUID}.Discovery.Rule

Cause
After long searching and trying I found the culprit. And when I did I was really surprised.

All because I used brackets in the name of the Monitor it wouldn’t work! No errors when creating this Monitor but afterwards all kinds of alarming errors were thrown. 

When I deleted the defect Monitor and rebuild it with a name without brackets, like: Website Monitor For Google Production all was just fine and worked as intended…

Recap
In SCOM naming conventions are important and some of them undocumented. One of those is NOT to use characters like brackets and so on. Another one: keep the names as short as possible!