SCOM 2012 has some nice new dashboards.   The average IT user or application owner often doesn’t want to learn the SCOM console.  They just want to know that state of their application.  With 2012 we now have the ability to create dashboards for these users and show the state of their application in SharePoint.

I start by looking over the TechNet instructions here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212924.aspx#bkmk_howtodeploytheoperationsmanagerwebpart

Then I create a basic dashboard that I want to show in my SharePoint site.

Next I copy the SharePoint folder from the installation media d:\Setup\amd64\SharePoint over to my SharePoint server c:\Temp.

The user I am logged on as is a Farm Administrator so I have all the SharePoint permissions I need.

On my SharePoint server I open the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell as an Administrator

I navigate over to the temp location where my files are located and type the following command.

.\INSTALL-OPERATIONSMANAGER-DASHBOARDVIEWER.PS1 “C:\Temp\SHAREPOINT”

*Note: If you get an error you may have to run “Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted”

It prompts me for a Siteurl.  I just click enter so that it install into all my sites.

*Note: In a large environment I would put in a specific Siteurl.

It takes about a minute to install in my environment.

Now I need to configure SCOM in my SharePoint Environment.

First I open up a web browser from my SharePoint server to my Operations Manager environment.

http://scomms1/OperationsManager/default.aspx

It prompts me to install Silverlight so I go ahead and install it.

Now I open up the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration site.  Under Site Actions I select View All Site Content

Under Lists I select Operations Manager Web Console Environments.

Then I select Operations Manager on localhost.

A dialog box opens and then I select Edit Item

Where it says HostUri I type in the web address of my Operations Manager Web console but I leave off the default.aspx

http://scomms1/OperationsManager/

I click Save.

Now I browse to the actual SharePoint site where I want to display my dashboard.

Under Site Actions I click Edit Page

I Check Out the page

Under Insert I select Web Part.  Then I select Microsoft System Center, then Operations Manager Dashboard.  Then  I click Add

I see the web part is on the page.  Now I have to edit it.

I hover over the text and then select the down arrow on the right side.  I select Edit Web Part

Over on the right hand side I see Operations Manager Dashboard Viewer Web Part

I now need the URL for the Dashboard that I want to display. Leaving the SharePoint site open, I open up another web browser and type in the URL of my SCOM Console.

Then I browse to the dashboard I want to display.  I copy the URL of my dashboard.

http://scomms1/OperationsManager/default.aspx#/dashboard(type=Tim!UIGenerated_6658ef51239849e4ac681226c0522df4_Perf)

Back to my SharePoint site browser window I paste in the dashboard location and click OK

I now see the dashboard open in the SharePoint site.

I check in my changes and I am done.

Another thing to note is that I could also setup this site to used shared credentials.  What this means is that instead of controlling permissions from SCOM I can setup one user ID so that anyone who wants to see this dashboard can view it using a common ID.  Instructions are here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212924.aspx#bkmk_howtodeploytheoperationsmanagerwebpart

Customers often have Management Servers in remote locations.  It seems like a logical decision as they have AD and File servers in their remote locations.  But with Operations Manager 2007 R2 and 2012 this is a really bad configuration.  Management servers write directly to the DB and DW and the data is not compressed.  Even with a large fast pipe there are be a latency issues and it is generally not recommended. 

With a remote location you have two options

1.  Have the remote agents report directly to a management server.  While this may seem a little scary the agents were actually designed for this.  If the connection goes down the agents will queue alerts and performance data. 

2.    The second option is to setup a gateway server.  Gateway servers were originally designed for DMZs but are often used for remote locations, even if the servers are on the same domain. 

Using a gateway server for a remote location has these benefits.

• The agents send data to the Gateway server and the data gets compressed before it’s sent over the wire to the management server.
• Firewall Port 5723 will only need to be opened up between the remote Gateway and the Management server.
• If the connection goes down the gateway server will also queue alert and performance data, giving you extra buffer time.
• When Cumulative Updates are pushed to agents in the remote location they will be pushed from the Gateway server and not over the wire.

But there is also a downside to using a gateway sever for a remote location. 

• It becomes a single point a failure for servers in the remote location.
• It is recommended to setup two gateway servers in the remote location.  PowerShell scripts can be use to set the agents to failover between the two gateway servers.
• It’s another manual component to manage and update.

So at what point does it make sense to setup a Gateway server for a remote location?

# of Server in Remote location

0-20 servers – Gateway not worth implementing

20-50 servers – Gateway possibly worth implementing (depends on what is monitored)

50+ Servers – Gateway definitely worth implementing

I personally have used the R2 Sizing helper with great success so I would think the 2012 version would be on par.

Download: http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-components-postattachments/00-03-48-96-45/System-Center-2012-Operations-Manager-Sizing-Helper-Tool-v1.xls

The March 2012 revision of the Monitoring Pack for Active Directory includes the following changes:

• Corrected some Publisher names (for example, changed from PublisherName=KDC to PublisherName=Microsoft-Windows-Kerberos-Key-Distribution-Center)
• Updated rules to generate Alerts and not only go to the Event Viewer
• Removed unnecessary check for Event Source Name for all NTDS rules (for example, removed EventSourceName=”NTDS General”)
• Corrected event parameter validation
• Updated queries to search for correct event IDs
• Fixed spelling errors
• Added missing descriptions to rules
• Fixed problems with Health Monitoring scripts
• Removed user name checks from Userenv rules

Looking at the logs I see this

[10:30:32]:           Info:      :GetSqlVersion: Collecting SQL Instance information for vscomsql1
[10:30:34]:           Error:     :GetSqlVersion(): Threw Exception.Type: System.Management.ManagementException, Exception Error Code: 0×80131501, Exception.Message: Invalid class
[10:30:34]:           Error:     :StackTrace:   at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode) at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext() at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Setup.Common.SetupValidationHelpers.GetSqlVersion(String sqlServerInstance)
[10:30:34]:           Always:                :Current Version of SQL=0.0   Required Version=10.1.0.0

Looking at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh205996.aspx I found this note

You might receive a message about having the wrong version of SQL Server, or you might encounter a problem with the SQL Server Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provider. To resolve this problem, open a Command Prompt window, select Run as administrator, and then run the following command. In the command, replace the <path> placeholder with the location of SQL Server:

mofcomp.exe “<path>\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof”.

I tried running the “mofcomp.exe” command on the SQL Server but it doesn’t even seem to execute correctly.

mofcomp.exe "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof

Finally I figured out what this issue was.  I was running the command using the wrong path.  Thinking it was a 64-bit OS and SQL 64-bit I assumed 64-bit path.  Turns out the command needs the x86 Path “C:\Program Files (x86)”

I ran the following command and this fixed my issue

mofcomp.exe "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof

It’s got a slick new look.  Check it out!

*Note prerequisites may change when SCOM 2012 RTMs

I need the Web Server (IIS) role with the follow server role services:  According to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh205990.aspx#BKMK_RBF_WebConsole

• Static Content
• Default Document
• Directory Browsing
• HTTP Errors
• HTTP Logging
• Request Monitor
• Request Filtering
• Static Content Compression
• Web Server (IIS) Support
• IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
• ASP.NET
• Windows Authentication

I could go to Server Manager and add the individual roles and features, but I am running Server 2008 R2 so lets make it super simple with PowerShell.

1. Launch the PowerShell command prompt

2. Run this command

Import-Module ServerManager

3. Press Enter

4. Run this command

Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core,Web-Static-Content,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Dir-Browsing,Web-Http-Errors,Web-Http-Logging,Web-Request-Monitor,Web-Filtering,Web-Stat-Compression,AS-Web-Support,Web-Metabase,Web-Asp-Net,Web-Windows-Auth –restart

5. Press Enter

I then see

6. If you already installed .net 4.0 then you will need to run this command from PowerShell to register IIS with .net 4.0

c:\windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -r

7.  Now I need to enable IIS to work with .net 4.0

c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd set config /section:isapiCgiRestriction /[path=`'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_isapi.dll`'].allowed:True

A quick check of IIS and its it looks like it’s ready to go.

MP2XMLPRO is a GUI based tool I created to export MP files to XML.

Currently you can do this with Boris’s PowerShell script or the MPDumper tool.  I only need to convert management packs once in a while and I often find myself wasting time trying to remember the correct syntax for these tools.  This new GUI based tool makes it simple.

Download: Link

There have been a few scripts and programs for doing this in the community but none were officially supported.  Now we finally have a supported method!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2626670

I recommend installing this in your test lab first to get familiar with how it works. 

So lets get started.  First I go to Russ’s blog and read the documentation and download the Management Pack.

Custom.Example.WebsiteWatcher.zip

I extract the files to see what’s in the zip file

There are two files in the zip package.  The first one is the management pack.  The second one is the CSV file for listing website to be monitored.

Now lets take a look at the management pack in MP Viewer

There are two classes.  The Website class and the Website Watcher Class

There are two discoveries.  One discovers which servers will be watcher nodes.  The other discovers what website to monitor.

There are three monitors. One “monitors whether a website is up or down”.  The second one “checks for a string in the response from an http request”.  The third one “Monitors the Performance of a Website”.  Seems easy enough

Also there is one relationship that ties the websites to the watcher nodes.

Let get this puppy installed.

I open the administration console and go Management Packs.  Right click and select Import Management Packs.

Then I go to Add and select Add from disk.  Click no to search for dependencies.

Now I browse to the folder that I extracted the files to and select the “Custom.Example.WebsiteWatcher.xml” file

I click Install,  and when its finished click Close

I have the Management Pack installed. Now I need to configure it for my environment. To keep it simple I am going to configure all my websites to be monitored from my RMS server.  This way I can avoid messing with run as accounts.

First I am going to copy the CSV file to a simple location on the RMS.  I created a folder on the RMS called c:\websitemonitoring and copied the “URLMonitoringList.csv” file there.

I open up the Operations Manager console and go to the Authoring Console and select Object Discoveries

Now I need to change my scope

I select Clear All at the bottom and then select View all targets.

Now I type in Website Watcher and click Select All then ok

As I seen before with the MP Viewer tool there are two discoveries in this management pack

I double click on the Discover Websites Discovery

I go to the configuration tab and I can see the discovery contains an interval on how often websites are discovered and a path to the file.

I click the edit button and copy and paste the location of my URLMonitoringList.csv which is “C:\websitemonitoring\URLMonitoringList.csv”

I am also going to change the interval to every 300 seconds for testing purposes.  Once I have my everything working I will change it back to one day or 86400 seconds

I click Ok and then Ok again.

Now I need to configure what server I will be monitoring the websites from.  In this case I will just be using the RMS.

I remote desktop into into the RMS and create a registry Key (not value) in HKLM\Software called “WebsiteWatcher”

I go the registry by typing regedit

Navigate to HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\Software

I right click and select New, Key

Then type in “WebsiteWatcher”

The discovery for this is set at once a day, while on the RMS I also cycled the System Center Management Services to speed up the discovery process. (I don’t recommend this in production)

Now I need to open the URLMonitoringList.csv and edit with excel. I set second column to my RMS server and save it.

Now I go to the Monitoring console and go to the Discovered Inventory view and select View All target and type in website.

I can see all the website have been discovered and are now being monitored.