Recently I ran into an issue of agents not showing up in Pending Management after installing SP1 UR2 at a customer.  I had installed the files using and elevated command prompt and the files on the Management Servers were updated to the correct version. The installer didn’t return any errors on the screen.

I tried rebooting the MS servers and that didn’t help.  So I tried the update again and no change.

Looking through the event logs I ran across this error.

Log Name:      Operations Manager
Source:        DataAccessLayer
Date:          5/31/2013 10:42:34 AM
Event ID:      33334
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      ms04.scom2k7.com
Description:
Data Access Layer hit the maximum number of retries on SqlError:
Request: SqlConnection.Open
Class: 14
Number: 229
Message: The EXECUTE permission was denied on the object ‘fn_ManagedTypeId_MicrosoftSystemCenterHealthServiceCommunication’, database ‘OperationsManager’, schema ‘dbo’.

Resolution:

The user doing the install was an admin on the Server and the SQL server but didn’t have SA rights to the DB. When installing SP1 UR2 make sure the user has SA rights to SQL.

This would be a pretty sweet setup.

• ThinkPad W530 with Windows 8 Pro and 32GB of total memory
• ThinkPad Battery 28++
• Lenovo USB 2.0 Port Replicator with digital video
• ThinkPad USB 3.0 750GB portable secure hard drive
• Lenovo Slim USB portable DVD burner

Click here to enter.

Here are some great links to building dashboards in SCOM 2012 from Basic to Advanced

Basics

Introducing Operations Manager 2012 Dashboards

Operations Manager 2012 Dashboards – The Performance Widget

Creating SCOM 2012 Dashboards using Visio 2010 or Visio 2013

How to view SCOM 2012 Dashboards in SharePoint 2010

Adding SCOM 2012 Visio Dashboards into SharePoint 2010

How to Configure 360 .NET Application Monitoring Dashboards in System Center 2012 SP1

Microsoft Virtual Academy: System Center 2012 SP1 Extensibility: Operations Manager: Dashboards – Part 1

Microsoft Virtual Academy: System Center 2012 SP1 Extensibility: Operations Manager: Dashboards – Part 2

Product Specific

Windows Server OS – Task Pane Dashboard

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

SharePoint 2010 Dashboard Views for OpsMgr 2012

Exchange 2010 Dashboard Views for OpsMgr 2012

Active Directory 2008 Health Dashboard View for OpsMgr 2012

Advanced

How to boost the performance widget performance

Creating a map with server locations in OpsMgr 2012

Creating Dashboards with Excel Power View

Extend the OpsMgr 2012 Dashboarding capabilities

StatePlus Sample Widget for System Center 2012 Operations Manager

Creating a Widget for Operations Manager Dashboard – Walkthrough #1 – Custom UI Control

The data SCOM collects and Business Intelligence tools fit well together, but there can be a significant barrier to combining them.  Power View lowers that barrier a lot.  Users can move quickly between performance counters and go from an enterprise view down to a single server without much effort. 

Here is an example where I filtered the view to look at four Windows servers to see general data for the past week.  Each chart is filtered to a specific object and counter:

I can analyze the data, too.  For instance, I popped out the Memory chart and highlighted a server in the legend.  Then I hovered over a low point to get the time and value:

The SQL 2012 reporting services feature, Power View (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh213579.aspx), is included with Excel 2013.  It provides quick and dynamic access to data from the SCOM Data Warehouse.  This post describes how to setup Excel 2013 with a PowerPivot model and Power View reports using SCOM performance data. 

Overview

A.      Setup Excel 2013

B.      Create a data source for the SCOM Data Warehouse

C.      Add datasets

D.      Create relationships

E.       Make a view

Step by step

A.      Setup Excel 2013

1.       Install Excel 2013.  I use the 64-bit version, because it can make use of more physical memory.  Select File à Account à About Excel to check the bitness.

2.       Load the add-ins for PowerPivot and Power View.  Select File à Options à Add-Ins

3.       Select COM Add-ins from the Manage: pulldown and click Go…

4.       Check the boxes for Microsoft Office PowerPivot for Excel 2013 and Power View then click OK

5.       Accept the prompts to install Silverlight if necessary.

B.      Create a data source for the SCOM Data Warehouse

1.       Click the POWERPIVOT tab

2.       Then click Manage

3.       Select From Database  then select From SQL Server from the pulldown

4.       Enter a name like SCOM_DW in the Friendly connection name: field

5.       Enter the SCOM Data Warehouse server name (with instance and port, if necessary) in the Server name: field

6.       Select the name of the SCOM DW (OperationsManagerDW by default) from the Database name: pulldown

7.       Click Next

8.       On the How to Import the Data dialog select Write a query that will specify the data to import

9.       Click Next

10.   In the Friendly Query Name field type Perf Data

11.   Copy and Paste in the following query (Simple Perf Queries):

SELECT     PERF.ManagedEntityRowId

,PR.RuleRowId

,PERF.DateTime

,PERF.AverageValue

,PERF.MinValue

,PERF.MaxValue

,PERF.SampleCount

,PR.ObjectName

,PR.CounterName

,PRI.InstanceName

FROM Perf.vPerfHourly PERF

INNER JOIN vPerformanceRuleInstance PRI ON PRI.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId = PERF.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId

INNER JOIN vPerformanceRule PR ON PR.RuleRowId = PRI.RuleRowId

WHERE PERF.DateTime > (GETUTCDATE() – 7)

/*WHERE PERF.DateTime > (getutcdate() + 1) — Dummy condition to return no rows*/

12.   Click Finish

C.      Add Additional datasets

1.       Click Existing Connections in the Ribbon

2.       Select SCOM_DW from the PowerPivot Data Connections

3.       Click Open

4.       Select Write a query that will specify the data to import and click Next >

5.       In the Friendly Query Name type Perf Entities and Types

6.       Copy and Paste in the following query:

select distinct

ME.ManagedEntityRowId

,ME.Name

,ME.DisplayName

,ME.Path

,MET.ManagedEntityTypeDefaultName

from Perf.vPerfHourly PERF

inner join vManagedEntity ME on ME.ManagedEntityRowId = PERF.ManagedEntityRowId

inner join vManagedEntityManagementGroup MEMG on MEMG.ManagedEntityRowId = ME.ManagedEntityRowId

inner join vManagedEntityType MET on MET.ManagedEntityTypeRowId = ME.ManagedEntityTypeRowId

where PERF.DateTime > (GETUTCDATE() – 7)

order by MET.ManagedEntityTypeDefaultName

7.       Click Finish

8.       Repeat steps 1-7 to create another dataset

9.       Name it MPs and Rules

10.   Use the following SQL Query:

SELECT distinct RU.RuleRowId

,MP.ManagementPackDefaultName

,MP.ManagementPackSystemName

,RU.RuleDefaultName

FROM vManagementPack MP

inner join vRule RU on RU.ManagementPackRowId = MP.ManagementPackRowId

inner join vPerformanceRule PR on PR.RuleRowId = RU.RuleRowId

where PR.LastReceivedDateTime > (GETUTCDATE() – 7)

D.      Create relationships

1.       Click Diagram View in the Ribbon

2.       Click ManagedEntityRowID in the Perf Data dataset and drag a line to ManagedEntityRowID in the Perf Entities and Types dataset

3.       Click RuleRowID in the Perf Data dataset and drag a line to RuleRowID in the MPs and Rules dataset

4.       Close the PowerPivot window

E.       Make a view

1.       Click the INSERT menu

2.       Click the Power View icon

3.       Rename the tab to SCOM Perf

4.       Expand the Perf Entities and Types dataset in the Power View Fields pane

5.       Drag the ManagedEntityTypeDefaultName to the Filters area

6.       Check the boxes for managed entity types of interest

7.       Expand the Perf Data dataset in the Power View Fields pane

8.       Check the box for ObjectName

9.       Click Slicer in the ribbon

10.   Click in the empty space of the view to deselect the slicer

11.   Check the boxes for AverageValue and DateTime in the Perf Data dataset

12.   Select Other Chart à Line

13.   Change the AverageValue field to be averaged instead of summed

14.   Drag CounterName into the TILE BY field

Note: The managed entity will determine the values for DisplayName, Name and Path.  For top level entities, the path is null.

15.   Select the chart

16.   Drag the Path to the Legend

17.   Save the workbook

Here is my example:

Sample Files: http://www.scom2k7.com/downloads/PowerPivotExample.zip

Veeam has released V6 of their Management Pack for monitoring VMware with SCOM.  More info about the new MP is located here.

http://www.veeam.com/vmware-microsoft-esx-monitoring.html

New Features of the MP are:

Capacity Planning Reports

Dashboards using SCOM 2012

Correlation built into their Monitors

New platform support for:

• VMware vSphere 5.1
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012
• Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1

I was recently working with a customer that was trying to install SCOM 2012 and leverage Application Performance Monitoring.  After pushing the SCOM 2012 agent the customer told they had previously installed AVIcode 5.7 on the server.  To install APM, it requires the Avicode 5.7 agent to be removed.  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh543998.aspx

Using Add/Remove programs, we tried to uninstall AVIcode 5.7 and we were presented with the following error.  Intercept Agent is using files that need to be updated by this setup.  Please stop AVIcode Intercept Studio monitoring.

Locked Files:

PerfMon64.dll
StubProfiler64.dll

We removed all monitored applications using the Intercept Management Console, but we still couldn’t uninstall Avicode 5.7 as we kept getting the same error. 

We checked the processes using sysinternals process explorer but it didn’t show the files were in use.

So the simple solution. 

Rename PerfMon64.dll and StubProfiler64.dll to a different name. Now were were able to run the uninstall of AVIcode 5.7.   After that we did a Repair of the Operations Manager 2012 agent which the successfully installed the APM service.

Lots of good Authors (and Technical Editors)

So I am sure it’s going to be a good book.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2799534

Assume that you try to install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 in a VMware environment that is running Windows Server 2012. You change the shared features and the instance root directory to be located on a drive other than the default drive C. In this situation, the installation fails, and you receive an error message that resembles the following:

http://www.2013mms.com

Here are a few of the many benefits.  http://www.2013mms.com/why

• 300-400 level training on the System Center Products Suite
• A chance to get some of your toughest questions answers by the people who created System Center 2012.
• Network with some of the top System Center experts like Kevin Holman, Marnix Wolf, Pete Zerger,  Cameron Fuller and many more.
• It’s in Vegas!

I just found out that I will be going as well, so hope to see you all there.

In my last blog post, I showed how to create a SCOM Dashboard using Visio.  http://www.scom2k7.com/creating-scom-2012-dashboards-using-visio-2010-or-visio-2013/

Now I am going to show how to add this Dashboard into SharePoint 2010.

To start I need the Microsoft Visio 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Extensions for System Center 2012 found here.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=29268

Part 1 – Installing SharePoint 2010 Integration Components

Here are the pre-requisites:

• System Center 2012 – Operations Manager console or Operations Manager 2007 R2 Authoring Console.
• SharePoint 2010 Enterprise with Visio Services enabled.
• The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, available from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=131605

First I install the Operations Manager 2012 SP1 console on my SharePoint Server

I also verify that the SharePoint 2010 Enterprise with Visio Services are enabled.

On my SharePoint server I go to the SharePoint Central Administration Page.

I click Configuration Wizards.

I click Launch Farm Configuration Wizard

I click Start the Wizard

I scroll down and verify that the Visio Graphics Service is Enabled.

It appears to be already enabled so I click Cancel.

I verify that Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed so I continue on.

Ok now I am ready.

First I need to install the Visio Services Data Provider.

I log on to my SharePoint server as the Farm Administrator so I have all the permissions I need.

Now I copy the Server folder over to my SharePoint 2010 server in the C:\temp\ directory from the Extensions I downloaded earlier.

Then I run setup.exe.  Click Next, Next, Close.

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

In the Command shell I change directories to

C:\Program Files\Visio Services Data Provider for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

Now I type in

.\InstallOpsMgrDataModule.ps1

I click enter and it installs

I run

get-spsolution

I see that it says that is is Deployed so I am good.

I also see that another one listed called microsoft.enterprisemanagem…  This is from when I installed the SCOM Dashboard Integration
http://www.scom2k7.com/how-to-view-scom-2012-dashboards-in-sharepoint-2010/  and is not required to make the Visio stuff work.

Part 2 – Configuring SharePoint 2010 Integration Components

Ok now I go back to the SharePoint Central Administration Console.  I click Configure service accounts from the Security Section

From the dropdown I pick Service Application Pool – SharePoint Web Services

I need to grant the SCOM2K7\spsvc access to read SCOM.  I double click on the Operations Manager Read-Only Operators and add my SharePoint service account to the Operations Manager Read-Only Operations user role.

Ok SharePoint is ready.

Part 3 – Adding your Visio Dashboard to SharePoint 2010

I get my SCOM Dashboard Visio document from my previous post.  http://www.scom2k7.com/creating-scom-2012-dashboards-using-visio-2010-or-visio-2013/

I open up the diagram document in Visio 2013

I click Configure to make sure my connection is correct.

I click File, Save As.  Then I click SharePoint and click Browse.

I type in the address of my SharePoint Web page in the address bar.

I choose Save as Type: Visio 2010 Web Drawing

Then I click Double Click on Shared Documents.

Now I hit Save.

I get a warning about some Compatibility issue.  I just click Continue.

I now go to my SharePoint page and click Shared Documents

I click on my Visio Document and it comes up in a web console.

I click Enable (always)

OK now that is done.

Part 4 – Configuring SharePoint 2010 to show your Visio Dashboard as a web part.

I want to add my Visio Dashboard as a Web part to my Original SCOM dashboard.

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

I put my cursor just below Shared Documents but above my previous dashboard.

I select Business Data.  Then I select Visio Web Access

Then I click Add on the middle right of the page.

I select Click here to open tool pane.

On the right hand side I pick the the … Next to Web Drawing URL

I then select Shared Documents and select my SCOM-Visio.vdw file.

I changed the Automatic Refresh Interval to 1 minute.

I also de-select Show Open in Visio

I click OK at the bottom of the screen

Next I click the Format Text tab at the top and Check In the changes and click continue.

I am finished.  I check out the finished product.

Now I just need to create some really cool looking SCOM Visio Dashboards.