@Laurent De Berti

Infrastructure Planning and Design document for System Center Operations Manager 2012

2012-08-16T10:27:00.000+02:00

A Beta version of the Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) document is available here

Contents :

The Planning and Design Series Approach
Introduction to the Microsoft System Center 2012 - Operations Manager Guide
Step 1: Define the Project Scope and Requirements
Step 2: Determine Number of Management Groups
Step 3: Design the Operations Manager Management Server Infrastructure
Step 4: Design the Operational Database
Step 5: Design the Data Warehouse and Reporting Server
Step 6: Design the ACS Database Server
Step 7: Design the Notification System
Step 8: Design the Network Connections
Conclusion
Appendix A: Job Aids
Appendix B: IPD in Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0
Appendix C: System Center 2012 - Operations Manager in Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization
Version History
Acknowledgments

Background Intelligent Transfer Service Integration Pack

2012-06-29T11:04:00.001+02:00

Now, you can transfert files using System Center Orchestrator and BITS

Background Intelligent Transfer Service Integration Pack for System Center Orchestrator allows you to transfer files or folders between servers over http using Background Intelligent Transfer Service. Unlike standard file copy, this type of transfer is efficient

link : http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Background-Intelligent-8a453d36

Opsmgr 2012 database schema

2012-05-19T09:35:00.001+02:00

Find here the schema :OpsMgr 2012 Database Schemas - OperationsManagerDW DB

New Management packs for the System Center Suite 2012

2012-04-02T20:36:00.002+02:00

Here’s the updated or new Monitoring Packs released:

But how to monitor SCSM 2012 ?

SCOM 2012 sizer tool

2012-04-02T18:36:00.001+02:00

Microsoft has released the sizer tool for SCOM 2012.

You will find all the MS best practice on :

Server information
High Availability
SQL information
number of agents per GW/MS
etc.

find it on http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2012/04/02/operations-manager-2012-sizing-helper-tool.aspx

th cloud trilogy

2012-02-19T21:54:00.001+01:00

watch on YouTube this funny video on the cloud "The Cloud Trilogy : Episode 1, "A New Cloud""

What do you think about Microsoft Management Packs?

2012-01-04T07:50:00.000+01:00

There are many MPs which are delivered by Microsoft and to be found into many (if not all) SCOM environments. What is your personal experiences with these MPs.

Participate to the survey :
http://booroo.com/app/rendersurvey.asp?sid=4ufdnwk8d1gs4ju20246

CSC Cloud survey of information technology (IT) decision makers around the globe

2011-12-12T06:39:00.001+01:00

CSC has made a survey of information technology (IT) decision makers around the globe

From this survey, here is what they have seen :

Few organizations downsized IT after cloud adoption.

Only 14 percent of companies downsized their IT departments after adopting cloud while 20 percent of organizations hired more cloud experts.

The majority of organizations save money with cloud, but savings are small.

82 percent of all organizations saved money on their last cloud adoption project.
23 percent of U.S. organizations and 45 percent of U.S. small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) reported no savings while 35 percent of U.S. organizations saved less than $20,000.
Brazilian organizations reaped the most cost benefit with 92 percent saving money, while 70 percent of Australian organizations saved money.

Organizations are into the cloud for the long term.

65 percent of companies choose cloud subscriptions lasting one year or more.

Cloud computing gives organizations a green boost.

64 percent of organizations say that adopting cloud has helped them reduce waste and lower energy consumption.

Nearly all businesses boost improvements in IT performance after cloud adoption.

93 percent of all organizations saw at least one area of improvement in their IT department since adopting cloud.
52 percent reported increased data center efficiency and utilization, while 47 percent of companies said they witnessed lower operating costs after cloud adoption.
80 percent experienced improvements within six months of moving to the cloud.

Small businesses face less workforce resistance to cloud adoption.

74 percent of small businesses say that no one in their company resisted the move to the cloud.

Data security concerns do not change significantly after adopting cloud computing.

25 percent of organizations expressed more concern about data security after adopting cloud services.
47 percent of organizations in Singapore expressed more concern about data security following cloud adoption, while 47 percent of Brazilian organizations said they are less concerned after switching to cloud.

CSC Cloud Survey Infografic

More..

Cloud Computing Best Animation

2011-12-11T20:42:00.001+01:00

[Updates] Start a System Center Orchestrator 2012 Runbook through its webservice

2011-11-26T17:55:00.001+01:00

I have updated the article Start a System Center Orchestrator 2012 Runbook through its webservice to fix a bug with the Csharp and Orchestrator parameters

Compare Management Packs version on 2 management groups

2011-11-25T05:54:00.001+01:00

The Following powershell script help you to compare management packs from 2 environments (like prod and preprod env).

In argument of the script:

RMS Name of the 1st Management Group
RMS Name of the 2nd Management Group
Name of the csv file

Here is the script:

param([string]$ref, [string]$diff, [String]$csvfile)

function Connect-OpsMgr ([string] $rootMS ) {

#Initializing the Ops Mgr 2007 Powershell provider
 if ( (Get-pssnapin | where {$_.Name -eq "Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client" }).Name -ne "Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client" ) {
  add-pssnapin "Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client" -ErrorVariable errSnapin; }
 Set-Location "OperationsManagerMonitoring::" -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
 $CS = Gwmi Win32_ComputerSystem -Comp "."
 
 #$cred=get-credential $CS.Username
 
 $mg=New-ManagementGroupConnection -ConnectionString:$rootMS -Credential:$cred -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
 Set-Location $rootMS -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
 
 #Checks to see if it failed or succedded in loading the provider
 if ($errSnapin.count -ne 0)
  {   
   Write-Output "OpsMgr 2007 PSSnapin failed initialize!"
   Write-Output "Please verify you are running this script on a computer that have the console installed" 
   Write-Output "Instance Maintenance Mode failed due:`nPowershell was not able to connect to OpsMgr platform.`nImpossible to put in mainteance mode the object [$Computer]::$object.`nContact SP Windows to reinstall the powershell and the OpsMgr console" "MaintenanceMode" "Error" 1000
  
  }
}

#Set-Location "OperationsManagerMonitoring::" -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
$cred = get-credential 
"Getting Management Group information for "+$ref
Connect-OpsMgr $ref
"Retreiving Management Packs from " + $ref
$mp1=get-managementpack

#$mg1=(Get-ChildItem . |where {$_.managementservername -eq $ref }).PathName
#"Path" + $mg1
"Getting Management Group information for "+$diff
Connect-OpsMgr $diff
# $mg2=(dir |where {$_.managementservername -eq $diff }).PathName
"Retreiving Management Packs from " + $diff
$mp2=get-managementpack
$MPREF = New-Object System.Collections.Hashtable
$mp1 | % { $MPREF[$_.Name.Tostring()] = $_.Version.tostring() }
$MPDIFF = New-Object System.Collections.Hashtable
$mp2 | % { $MPDIFF[$_.Name.Tostring()] = $_.Version.Tostring() }
$CompareMP = @()

foreach ($mp in $mp1) {
 $count=0
 $mp.Name
 $MPDIFF[$mp.Name]
 
 $record = New-Object System.Object
 if ($MPDIFF[$mp.Name] -eq $null) {
 
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Name -Value $mp.Name
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name $ref -Value $mp.Version
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name $diff -Value 'Missing'
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Sealed -Value $mp.Sealed
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name "Status" -Value "Need to be installed"
  $CompareMP+=$record
 } elseif ($MPDIFF[$mp.Name.tostring()] -ne $MPREF[$mp.Name]) {
    
    $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Name -Value $mp.Name
    $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name $ref -Value $MPREF[$mp.Name]
    $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name $diff -Value $MPDIFF[$mp.Name] 
    $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Sealed -Value $mp.Sealed
    
    $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Status -Value "Diff"
    $CompareMP+=$record
    }
}
foreach ($mpd in $mp2) {
 if ($MPREF[$mpd.Name.tostring()] -eq $null) {
  $record = New-Object System.Object
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Name -Value $mpd.Name
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name $ref -Value 'Missing'
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name $diff -Value $mpd.Version
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Sealed -Value $mpd.Sealed
  $record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name "Status" -Value "Need to be installed"
  $CompareMP+=$record
 }

}


"Exporting results to " +  $csvfile
$CompareMP | sort -property Name | Export-Csv  -noTypeInformation -Path $csvfile

Inside Central 13 - MS Private Cloud and System Center 2012

2011-11-11T12:36:00.001+01:00

OpsMgr2012 powershell cmdlets

2011-11-11T11:56:00.001+01:00

With OM2012, we couple of new cmdlets has been introduced and other has been removed. You will probably have to rewrite some scripts...

70 cmdlets added

Get-SCClass
Get-SCDiscovery
Get-SCManagementGroupConnection
Get-SCManagementPack
Get-SCOMAccessLicense
Get-SCOMAgent
Get-SCOMAgentlessManagedComputer
Get-SCOMAgentManagementServerSetting
Get-SCOMAlert
Get-SCOMAlertHistory
Get-SCOMClass
Get-SCOMClassInstance
Get-SCOMCommand
Get-SCOMConnector
Get-SCOMDiagnostic
Get-SCOMDiscovery
Get-SCOMEvent
Get-SCOMGatewayManagementServer
Get-SCOMGroup
Get-SCOMMaintenanceMode
Get-SCOMManagementGroupConnection
Get-SCOMManagementPack
Get-SCOMManagementServer
Get-SCOMMonitor
Get-SCOMNotificationAction
Get-SCOMNotificationEndpoint
Get-SCOMNotificationRecipient
Get-SCOMNotificationSubscription
Get-SCOMOverride
Get-SCOMOverrideResult
Get-SCOMPendingManagement
Get-SCOMRecovery
Get-SCOMRelationship
Get-SCOMRelationshipInstance
Get-SCOMResourcePool
Get-SCOMRMSEmulator
Get-SCOMRule
Get-SCOMRunAsAccount
Get-SCOMRunAsProfile
Get-SCOMTask
Get-SCOMTaskResult
Get-SCOMUserRole
Get-SCRelationship
Get-SCRelationshipInstance
Import-SCManagementPack
Import-SCOMManagementPack
Install-SCOMAgent
New-SCManagementGroupConnection
New-SCOMManagementGroupConnection
New-SCOMResourcePool
Remove-SCManagementGroupConnection
Remove-SCManagementPack
Remove-SCOMAgentlessManagedComputer
Remove-SCOMDisabledClassInstance
Remove-SCOMManagementGroupConnection
Remove-SCOMManagementPack
Remove-SCOMResourcePool
Remove-SCOMRMSEmulator
Set-SCManagementGroupConnection
Set-SCOMAgentlessManagedComputer
Set-SCOMAgentManagementServerSetting
Set-SCOMAlert
Set-SCOMMaintenanceMode
Set-SCOMManagementGroupConnection
Set-SCOMResourcePool
Set-SCOMRMSEmulator
Set-SCOMRunAsProfile
Set-SCOMUserRole
Start-SCOMMaintenanceMode
Start-SCOMTask

List of cmdlets removed (replaced indeed) :

Get-MonitoringObjectGroup
Get-MonitoringObjectPath
Get-MonitoringObjectProperty
Get-NotificationAction
Get-NotificationEndpoint
Get-NotificationRecipient
Get-NotificationSubscription
Get-OperationsManagerCommand
Get-Override
Get-PerformanceCounter
Get-PerformanceCounterValue
Get-PrimaryManagementServer
Get-Recovery
Get-RelationshipClass
Get-RelationshipObject
Get-RemotelyManagedComputer
Get-RemotelyManagedDevice
Get-ResultantCategoryOverride
Get-ResultantRuleOverride
Get-ResultantUnitMonitorOverride
Get-RootManagementServer
Get-Rule
Get-RunAsAccount
Get-State
Get-Task
Get-TaskResult
Get-Tier
Get-UserRole
Install-Agent
Install-AgentByName
Install-ManagementPack
New-CustomMonitoringObject
New-DeviceDiscoveryConfiguration
New-LdapQueryDiscoveryCriteria
New-MaintenanceWindow
New-ManagementGroupConnection
New-MonitoringPropertyValuePair
New-Tier
New-WindowsDiscoveryConfiguration
Reject-AgentPendingAction
Remove-ConnectorFromTier
Remove-DisabledMonitoringObject
Remove-ManagementGroupConnection
Remove-RemotelyManagedComputer
Remove-RemotelyManagedDevice
Remove-Tier
Resolve-Alert
Set-AlertDestination
Set-DefaultSetting
Set-MaintenanceWindow
Set-ManagementServer
Set-ProxyAgent
Start-Discovery
Start-Task
Uninstall-Agent
Uninstall-ManagementPack

New Virtual labs

2011-11-11T11:19:00.001+01:00

Source http://technet.microsoft.com/nl-be/gg636841

First Look at Microsoft System Center
Data Protection Manager 2012

This lab is your first chance to work with Data Protection Manager 2012, including the new centralized console and Operations Manager integration, as well as the new workload features in the next generation of data protection from Microsoft.

OM12 : Monitoring key Microsoft
workloads : Microsoft Exchange
Server, SQL Server and
Windows Server with OpsMgr 2012 beta

In this lab we will look at the new features in Microsoft Operations Manager 2012 that are specific to monitoring Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008.

Forefront Online Protection
for Exchange (FOPE) with Office 365

In this lab, learn about the new hosted messaging security service from Microsoft. The lab explores the administration, reporting interface and capabilities of Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE), and the integration with Office 365. You also learn how to set up email rules and policies with FOPE

System Center Orchestrator Extensibility

Learn about the extensibility of the System Center Orchestrator Beta. Take some powershell and turn it into an IP. Create a simple runbook out of it. Drive that runbook with powershell provide. Finish with creating a sharepoint web part that drives the runbook through the web service.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack:
Microsoft Application Virtualization,
Configuring Read-Only Shared
Cache for VDI and RDS

In this lab, participants will learn how to configure and maintain the App-V Read-Only Shared Cache for VDI and RDS environments. Scenarios include populating the Read-Only Shared Cache with applications, configuring App-V clients to use a Read-Only Shared Cache, updating applications, and updating the Read-Only Shared Cache on shared storage.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack:
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop
Virtualization 2.0 Overview

In this lab participants will review the new features of MED-V 2.0. MED-V 2.0 allows customers to break "last mile" compatibility barriers between Windows XP and Windows 7 by running legacy applications, including Internet Explorer 6-based applications inside a Windows XP workspace. You'll learn how to create a MED-V workspace and see how MED-V provides seamless access to legacy applications and websites, along with host documents, and printers, and eliminates the need for a dedicated MED-V management infrastructure.

OM12: Application Monitoring
in OpsMgr 2012 beta

In this lab, we will see how .Net monitoring technologies are now part of OM 12.

Deploying Applications in Windows Azure

In this hands-on lab, you will learn how to deploy your first application in Windows Azure. The lab walks through the process using a simple application named myTODO, which is a simple list creation and management application built using ASP.NET MVC. The lab shows the steps required for provisioning the required components in the Windows Azure Developer Portal, uploading the service package, and configuring the service. You will see how you can test your application in a staging environment and then promote it to production once you are satisfied that it is operating according to your expectations.

Deploying the Core
Optimalized Desktop with MDT 2010
and SCCM

The Optimized Desktop enables flexibility of provisioning and managing by benefitting from integration between Windows 7, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), Forefront and Office 2010. In this lab we will use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and System Center Configuration Manager to automate the installation and configuration of the core Optimized Desktop technologies - including the Application Virtualization client, the Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset recovery image, Forefront client, BitLocker and Office 2010 virtual application cache. As a result, the desktops you install will be ready for Optimized Desktop management. This lab is intended as a brief overview to the Optimized Desktop and operating system deployment tools - for deeper training on the individual components, additional labs specific to each technology and product are available.

Diagnose the Application Errors
and Performance Issues with AVIcode

In this second part of two labs, we use AVIcode to diagnose common application problems and performance issues, using the latest member of the Microsoft System Center family.

Advanced Deployment Scenarios
Using the Microsoft Deployment
Toolkit (MDT) 2010

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 Update 1 offers a configuration database that allows methodological automation of deployment configurations based on a number of criteria. With the configuration database, you can configure the automatic assignment of properties based on the target computer Location, Make and Model, and Computer values as well as assign Roles to those methods that contain further configurations. The MDT allows users to create linked deployment points in their organization. Linked deployment points allow Administrators to migrate deployment assets between deployment points through the use of custom selection profiles. The MDT Deployment Wizard can be customized to provide functionality beyond the standard deployment process and further customize specialized workspaces.

OM12 : Network Monitoring
in OpsMgr 2012 beta

In this lab, we will take a closer look at the new network monitoring features in OM 2012.

DirectAccess and Unified Access Gateway
(UAG) SP1: Better Together

UAG is Microsoft's next generation SSL-VPN solution to allow access to internal applications and Web sites from trusted and untrusted client computers on the Internet. One of the new features in UAG is the integration with Direct Access (DA) to allow seamless remote access to servers on the internal network. In this lab, explore how to configure UAG with DirectAccess, and how to set up user authentication, end-point validation and application control.

Exploring Windows Azure Storage

In this lab, examine each of the foundation storage capabilities of Windows Azure, Blobs, Tables and Queues. Discover how to create storage accounts; upload and retrieve blobs and blob metadata; create, update and query tables; and create a simple service that uses a message queue for communication.

Introduction to Windows Azure

In this hands-on lab, you will explore the basic elements of a Windows Azure service by creating a simple GuestBook application that demonstrates many features of the Windows Azure platform, including web and worker roles, blob storage, table storage, and queues.

Getting Started with
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012

In this lab you will be introduced to System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012. You will explore the new interface including concepts such as Clouds, Fabrics, and Services. You will explore concepts such as user roles, RunAS Accounts, Services, and perform basic setup and deployment tasks.

Getting Started with
System Center Orchestrator

Take the System Center Orchestrator Beta for a spin, install, create a Runbook, and use the Orchestration Console.

iSCSI Software Target 3.3 enabling
Hyper-V storage on Windows Server 2008 R2

Storage Area Network (SAN) architecture offers great performance in return for perceived complexity and expense. Many IT pros incorrectly equate SAN with Fibre Channel, but the IETF-standard iSCSI protocol offers an alternative that is widely available. Microsoft offers a software alternative (iSCSI Software Target 3.3) that is now available for Windows Server2008 R2 and can be used in production! It turns a computer running Windows Server into a storage device which provides shared block storage:

Provide shared storage for Hyper-V to enable high availability and live migration
Consolidate storage for multiple application servers (i.e. Microsoft SQL Server)
Provide shared storage for applications hosted on a Windows failover cluster
Provide block storage for embedded devices
Hosting iSCSI boot OS image, support iSCSI boot

In this ILL you will get to cover: Exercise 1: Configure iSCSI Software target and manage the iSCSI LUNs Exercise 2: Using iSCSI Target in Hyper-V environment Exercise 3: Booting diskless Servers using iSCSI Software Target Exercise 4: Deploying a Highly-Available Microsoft iSCSI Software Target

Advanced Windows PowerShell Scripting

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 bring scripting and automation to new levels through a set of production-oriented features included with Windows PowerShell 2.0, such advanced functions, modules and debugging. After completing this lab, you will be able to work with Windows PowerShell and WMI to perform systems management tasks, work with COM objects and manipulateText, XML and CSV files.

SCVMM Self-Service Portal 2.0
Business Unit/Infrastructure Requests/
Approvals and VM Provisioning

This is the second in a series of 3 labs focused on SCVMM Self-Service Portal 2.0. This lab shows you how to perform the business unit requests, and the )configured. You should have completed Lab 1 before beginning this lab.

MTC Live: Envisioning Your Private Cloud

2011-11-11T11:08:00.001+01:00

Watch this informative and interactive virtual event to see a scenario-based demonstration of Microsoft's Private Cloud computing solutions.

Learn how Microsoft and its partners can help your organization achieve its private cloud and integration objectives, with the help of Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) experts.

http://www.microsoft.com/business/events/en-us/MTCLiveCloud/default.aspx#fbid=Uzhfavm7Zpi

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Beta 2 - Now Available

2011-11-11T07:20:00.001+01:00

Another Microsoft product is available, you can register on Microsoft Connect to download this beta version
https://connect.microsoft.com/site14/Microsoft%20Deployment%20Toolkit

New features and enhancements make large-scale desktop and server deployments smoother than ever! For System Center Configuration Manager customers, MDT 2012 Beta 2 provides an improved, extensible wizard and designer for customizing deployment questions. MDT 2012 makes full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment. MDT 2012 integrates with configuration templates from the Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool to ensure a secure Windows installation from the beginning of the deployment.

Prerequisites

For Lite Touch Installation (LTI) deployments, MDT requires the following components, regardless of the operating system being deployed. Install these components only on the computer on which you install MDT:

Microsoft Management Console (MMC) version 3.0
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Windows PowerShell® version 2.0
Windows AIK for Windows 7 (with or without the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement)

For Zero Touch Installation (ZTI) deployments, MDT requires the following components:

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Release Candidate (RC) 1
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 for the site system servers and computers running the Configuration Manager console for Configuration Manager 2012
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1
Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2
Windows PowerShell version 2.0

For User-Driven Installation (UDI) deployments, MDT requires the following components:

Configuration Manager 2012 RC1
Configuration Manager 2007 R3
Windows PowerShell version 2.0
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 for the site system servers and computers running the Configuration Manager console for Configuration Manager 2012
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with SP1
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 with SP2 and Cumulative Update 6

SCOM 2012 RC available

2011-11-10T21:01:00.006+01:00

System Center Operations Manager 2012 provides deep application diagnostics and infrastructure monitoring that can help you ensure the predictable performance and availability of vital applications and offers a comprehensive view of your datacenter, private, and public clouds.

Download : http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27974

Export runbook or Opalis policies to visio or word

2011-10-29T14:10:00.001+02:00

A good codeplex project. Have a look

System Center Orchestrator Community Project - Download: Orchestrator Visio and Word Generator v1.3

Orchestrator 2012, runbooks and powershell

2011-10-09T10:13:00.000+02:00

Another method to start runbooks using powershell and a webservice.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/scorch/archive/2011/06/17/fun-with-the-orchestrator-2012-beta-the-web-service-and-powershell.aspx

Start a System Center Orchestrator 2012 Runbook through its webservice

2011-10-08T15:11:00.000+02:00

Article updated the 26/11/2011 (to fix a bug with the Csharp and Orchestrator parameters)

With System Center Orchestrator 2012, you have the ability to connect to it through a web service.
Jakob Gottlied Svendsen is showing how to access to it:

to create an excel report
or to create a webpart for sharepoint 2010

I would like to show you how to write a simple C# application to access to this web service and execute a runbook with parameters.

1. Generating Custom Class from the web service

To be able to use the web service in .net, you will have to create a class file, containing the format and content of what the web service has to offer.

This is done by using a console application in .NET framework 3.5 called “DataSvcUtil”

Open a commandprompt
Run this command. The command creates a .CS file in the format of the web service.

“%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\DataSvcUtil.exe” /dataservicecollection /version:2.0 /language:CSharp /out:ScorchEntities.cs /uri:http://orchestrator.server.com:81/Orchestrator.svc

Copy or move the file to the project folder

Add the file to the project (add>Existing Items)

2. Let's use the class to access to the web service

Ok, now you are ready to access to your class and so the webservice.
1. Connect webservice context using
Microsoft.SystemCenter.Orchestrator.WebService.OrchestratorContext
2. Retreive the runbook It is a generic method to access to a web service. You can have some help from the microsoft website http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc668796.aspx
var runbooks = from runbook in ScorchSVC.Runbooks

where runbook.Name == runbookname
select runbook;
3. You need to retreive the also all runbook's parameter.
var runbookparamaters = from runbookparamater in ScorchSVC.RunbookParameters
where runbookparamater.RunbookId == runbooks.Single().Id
select runbookparamater;

4. Create a job

var job = Microsoft.SystemCenter.Orchestrator.WebService.Job.CreateJob(System.Guid.NewGuid(), runbooks.Single().Id, "user1", DateTime.Now, "user1", DateTime.Now);

5. Pass the parameter to job. I think it is the hardest thing. You need to know the format. In the step3, we have retreived the runbookparameterid and we will use it. The parameter Name is not enough, you need to have the id...

<Data>

<Name>Parameter Name for example arg1 </Name>

<Id>Guid of the parameter so guid of arg1</Id>

<Value>the value :)</Value>

</Parameter>

etc.

</Parameter

</Data>

6. Last step is to passe the job created to the context and apply the change.

ScorchSVC.AddToJobs(job);

ScorchSVC.SaveChanges();

Here is the full source code. Let me know if you want more information...

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace SCO_Runbook
{
class Program
{

public void ExecuteRunbook(string webserviceuri, string runbookname, List<string> parameters)
{
var ScorchSVC = new Microsoft.SystemCenter.Orchestrator.WebService.OrchestratorContext(new Uri(webserviceuri));
ScorchSVC.Credentials ) new System.Net.NetworkCredential();
// You can specify som custom credentials.
// ScorchSVC.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("user", "password", "domain");
var runbooks = from runbook in ScorchSVC.Runbooks
where runbook.Name == runbookname
select runbook;
var runbookparamaters = from runbookparamater in ScorchSVC.RunbookParameters
where runbookparamater.RunbookId == runbooks.Single().Id
select runbookparamater;

var job = Microsoft.SystemCenter.Orchestrator.WebService.Job.CreateJob(System.Guid.NewGuid(), runbooks.Single().Id, "user1", DateTime.Now, "user1", DateTime.Now);
int count = 0;
string strParam = "<Data>";
foreach (var item in runbookparamaters)
{
strParam += "<Parameter><Name>" + item.Name + "</Name>";
strParam += "<ID>{" + item.Id + "}</ID>";
strParam += "<Value>" + parameters[count] + "</Value></Parameter>";
count++;

}
strParam += "</Data>";
job.Parameters = strParam;
ScorchSVC.AddToJobs(job);
ScorchSVC.SaveChanges();

}
static void Main(string[] args)
{

List<string> myParameters = new List<String> { };
// in the example below, you would like to start the runbook called rbk1
// The runbook rbk1 has 1 parameter
// called arg1 and we would like to affect 5
// So we run rbk1 with arg1=5
myParameters.Add("5");
ExecuteRunbook("http://orchestrator.server.com:81/Orchestrator.svc/", "rbk1", myParameters);
}
}
}

WSUS Administrator Powershell Module

2011-09-01T06:33:00.000+02:00

I have just discovered a very useful module to manage and maintain WSUS.

Check : http://learn-powershell.net/2010/11/14/wsus-administrator-module/

Codeplex source : http://poshwsus.codeplex.com/

List of available commandlet :

Add-WSUSClientToGroup
Approve-WSUSUpdate
Connect-WSUSServer
Convert-WSUSTargetGroup
Deny-WSUSUpdate
Disconnect-WSUSServer
Get-WSUSChildServers
Get-WSUSClient
Get-WSUSClientGroupMembership
Get-WSUSClients
Get-WSUSClientsInGroup
Get-WSUSCommands
Get-WSUSContentDownloadProgress
Get-WSUSDatabaseConfig
Get-WSUSDownstreamServers
Get-WSUSEmailConfig
Get-WSUSEvents
Get-WSUSGroup
Get-WSUSGroups
Get-WSUSServer
Get-WSUSStatus
Get-WSUSSubscription
Get-WSUSSyncHistory
Get-WSUSSyncProgress
Get-WSUSUpdate
Get-WSUSUpdateCategories
Get-WSUSUpdates
New-WSUSGroup
Remove-WSUSClient
Remove-WSUSClientFromGroup
Remove-WSUSGroup
Remove-WSUSUpdate
Resume-WSUSDownloads
Resume-WSUSUpdateDownload
Set-WSUSEmailConfig
Start-WSUSCleanup
Start-WSUSSync
Stop-WSUSDownloads
Stop-WSUSSync
Stop-WSUSUpdateDownload
New-WSUSInstallApprovalRule
Set-WSUSInstallApprovalRule
Get-WSUSInstallApprovalRules
Remove-WSUSInstallApprovalRule
Start-WSUSInstallApprovalRule
Connect-WSUSDatabaseServer
Test-WSUSDatabaseServerConnection
Get-WSUSUpdateClassifications

Documentation for SCOM 2012 online

2011-07-20T18:26:00.000+02:00

The documentation for OpsMgr 2012 Beta is online

For the beta release of Operations Manager 2012, the following documentation is available online and for download.

Quick Start Guide for Operations Manager 2012 Beta

The Quick Start Guide provides a summary of what’s new in Operations Manager 2012, as well as step-by-step procedures for installing Operations Manager 2012 and exploring the new features.
Operations Manager 2012 Supported Configurations

Supported Configurations lists the hardware and software requirements for installing Operations Manager 2012.
Deployment Guide for Operations Manager 2012

The beta version of the Deployment Guide contains instructions for upgrading an Operations Manager 2007 R2 management group to Operations Manager 2012 and installation procedures for some deployment scenarios. Additional content on planning your deployment and maintaining your Operations Manager infrastructure will be included in later releases.
Operations Guide for Operations Manager 2012

The beta version of the Operations Guide includes some administrative, monitoring, reporting, and operating tasks typically performed by an administrator or operator. It follows the Deployment Guide in order of use during an Operations Manager implementation project, but does not assume that the administrator or operator participated in the installation of the Operations Manager infrastructure. Additional content will be included in later releases.

"Cannot login to database" SCOM alerts

2011-07-20T18:13:00.001+02:00

Today, J.C. Hornbeck has published a really good article on this common SQL alert 'Cannot login to database'

Usually, this issue is due to the rights of the Agent Action account (account used to run the SCOM agent) or SQL Monitoring Account (Account used to monitor the SQL database/runas account used by the SCOM agent). Most of the time, the account used does not have rights to the SQL database.

There is a property called 'Auto Close'. If :

If TRUE, the database is closed, and its resources are freed when no user connection accesses the database.
If FALSE, the server maintains the database in an open and ready state regardless of user activity.

( cf : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms135094.aspx)

Changing to False can solve the issue that you have

System center Operation manager 2012 Beta released

2011-07-19T23:16:00.002+02:00

System Center Operations Manager 2012 provides the solution to the challenges mentioned above by:

Delivering flexible and cost effective enterprise-class monitoring and diagnostics while reducing the total cost of ownership by leveraging commodity hardware with standard configurations to monitor heterogeneous environments.
Helping to ensure the availability of business-critical applications and services through market-leading .NET application performance monitoring and diagnostics plus JEE application health monitoring.
Providing a comprehensive view of datacenters, and private and public clouds.

Here’s what’s new

Rich application performance monitoring and diagnostics for .NET applications plus JEE application health monitoring
Support for monitoring heterogeneous environments
Integrated network device monitoring and alerts
Simplified management infrastructure
Common console across datacenter and clouds with customizable dashboards

System Center Operations Manager 2012 Beta is LIVE! - System Center Operations Manager - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Export the pinpoint MP's catalog into a single html page

2011-07-17T08:08:00.000+02:00

If, in your company, people asks you all the time is there any management pack for monitoring this or this application and you give them all the time the link to the pinpoint catalog (where you can find all provided MP by Microsoft or third party) but never take the time to click or search, than you are like me.... :)

You might need to publish this list on your sharepoint server (or any web server) or just send this list by mail.

That's why I have created this script to export the catalog in an HTML document to be shared in my organization.

The following script parse the pinpoint catalog and retreive the information in order to be exported in a simple HTML document.

Source script: here

###################################################################################
# Parsing and exporting the pinpoint systemcenter catalog to get it in one page #
# The purpose is to be able to distrib this catalog inside company's organization #
# #
# Author: Laurent De Berti #
# v1.0 - 17/7/2011 #
###################################################################################

# We need 2 Internet Explorer
# 1st one is to retreive the list of all MPs
# 2nd one is to retreive the description for each MP

$oIE=new-object -com internetexplorer.application
$oie2=new-object -com internetexplorer.application

#$count is the 1st page
$count = 1

$res=5
$baseurl="http://systemcenter.pinpoint.microsoft.com"
$mp=@()

# Looping for each page of Management Packs
while ($res -ne 1) {
"Page $count"

# Let's retreive all the page
$oIE.navigate($baseurl + "/en-US/applications/search/operations-manager-d11/management-packs-b200073?page="+$count+ "&sort=released&q=")

while ($oIE.busy) {
  sleep -milliseconds 250
}

# By using the HTML dl tag, we check how many MPs are return.

$res=0; $oIE.document.getElementsByTagName("dl") | % { $res+=1 }
$oIE.document.getElementsByTagName("dl") | % {
$HTMLPart= $_.IHTMLElement_innerHTML
$title = $HTMLPart| select-string -Pattern 'title="(?<hid>[ 0-9a-zA-Z-]+)'| select -expand Matches | foreach {$_.groups["hid"].value}

# if title is set as "Best Match", we skip this line 'headline of the table
if ($title -ne "Best Match") {

# start recording and parsing the web page for each MP
$record  = New-Object system.Object
$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name ManagementPackName -Value $title
"Adding " + $title
#$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Description -Value ($HTMLPart| select-string -Pattern '<DD class=description><SPAN>(?<hid>[ 0-9a-zA-Z-:,.®]+)...'| select -expand Matches | foreach {$_.groups["hid"].value})
$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Company -Value ($HTMLPart| select-string -Pattern '<SPAN>Plug-in by: <SPAN class="fn org">(?<hid>[ 0-9a-zA-Z-:,.®]+)</SPAN>'| select -expand Matches | foreach {$_.groups["hid"].value})
$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name ReleaseDate -Value ($HTMLPart| select-string -Pattern '<B>Release Date: </B>(?<hid>[ 0-9a-zA-Z-:,.®/]+) </DD>'| select -expand Matches | foreach {$_.groups["hid"].value})
$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Ver -Value ($HTMLPart| select-string -Pattern '<B>Version: </B>(?<hid>[ 0-9a-zA-Z-:,.®]+) </DD>'| select -expand Matches | foreach {$_.groups["hid"]value})
$downloadlink= $baseurl + ($HTMLPart | select-string -Pattern '="Application Details" href="(?<hid>[ 0-9a-zA-Z-:,./]+)"'| select -expand Matches | foreach {$_.groups["hid"].value})
$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name DownloadLink -Value $downloadlink

# opening another IE to get the description from the link page
$oie2.navigate($downloadlink)
while ($oie2.busy) {
  sleep -milliseconds 250
}
$desc=($oie2.document.getElementsByTagName("p") | ? {$_.classname -eq "appDetailDescription"}).IHTMLElement_outerText

$record | add-Member -memberType noteProperty -name Description -Value $desc

# Adding the record to the new mp system.object
$mp+=$record
}
}

# Let's go the next page.
$count++

}

# $mp contains all the MP
# printing out the result
$mp

# exporting in HTML to get the catalog.
$head = '<style> BODY{font-family:Trebuchet; background-color:white;} H1{font-size:1.3em;} TABLE{border-width: 1px;border-style: solid;border-color: black;border-collapse: collapse;} TH{font-size:0.8em; border-width: 1px;padding: 2px;border-style: solid;border-color: black;background-color:#CEE3FF} TD{font-size:0.8em;border-width: 1px;padding: 2px;border-style: solid;border-color: black;background-color:#F7FFE8} </style>'

$mp | ConvertTo-HTML  -body "<P><H1>Here the full list of management pack in the pinpoint catalog</H1><P>" -head $head -title "pinpoint - list of managementpack"| out-file c:\mp.html