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System Center 2012–using a common SQL backend database (#SYSCTR, #SCOM, #SCSM)

Cameron Fuller — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:05:36 GMT

Now that System Center 2012 is one “product” we’re seeing a heavier focus towards using a common back-end for the products. Microsoft has done a good (not great) job on providing a consistent set of back-end database requirements so that a single version of SQL 2008 R2 SP1 CU6 should be sufficient for all of the System Center components.

<Start disclaimer here>

Before really getting into this let me state up front – this is not the approach that every environment will want to take. Some environments will require more dedicated resources including breaking down separate System Center components onto different database servers. Other environment (such as a lab) may be small enough that all of the databases could be configured to run in a single instance (if reporting services conflicts between the components was not a constraint).

<End disclaimer here>

In terms of database sizing, the largest databases we are seeing in our labs (and those requiring at least the most disk resources) are Service Manager, Operations Manager and Configuration Manager. Based upon lab testing up to this point, the following is the breakdown of database size for a lab environment which includes 25 servers, no workstations and a small number of users.

System Center Service Manager (ServiceMgr): 25 GB
System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr): 12 GB
System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr): 6 GB
System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM): 1 GB
System Center App Controller (App Controller): < .1 GB
System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM): .2 GB
System Center Orchestrator (Orchestrator): .1 GB

What about IOPS? (Input/output Operations Per Second)There is a lot of discussion on the number of IOPS required for various System Center components, do they really require the number of IOPS specified in the sizer? Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. The next picture shows the IOPS for a database server with about 2000 agents that has LUNS shared for the OperationsManager database and the OperationsManagerDW.

So… That 1000 IOPS estimation (mentioned later in this article) on the data warehouse for OpsMgr doesn’t seem so far fetched now! (total hovering around 1000, primarily write but with a significant amount of read)

The following is IOPS for the same environment (approximately 2000 agents) just for the OperationsManager database: (total hovering around 400, primarily write)

And the IOPS for the same environment for just the OperationsManagerDW: (total hovering around 200, primarily write)

What about SQL Collation? A blog post was recently added on this topic which is available at:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2012/05/24/clarification-on-sql-server-collation-requirements-for-system-center-2012.aspx

Can System Center components share an instance? There is not documented requirements to have a separate instance for each component of System Center. As long as the requirements for each database are met they can share but you need to take scale and performance into consideration. SRS is the one exception to this rule that I am aware of, requiring separate instances of reporting services for each component of System Center that uses SRS.

Case Studies:

For this blog article we are showing two similar case studies.

Case Study #1:

As a first case study example we installed a single two-node cluster to provide System Center back-end database functionality for ConfigMgr, OpsMgr, ServiceMgr and DPM. The client has approximately 200 servers that they are monitoring, and they have approximately 3000 workstations that they are managing and there are 5000 users in the environment. They are interested in potentially deploying all of the System Center components off of this back-end database. The following are the key pieces of the proposed back-end database:

Installing two physical servers on Windows 2008 R2 which are running a quad core with 32 gb of memory.

The two servers are connected to a SAN infrastructure to store all of the database and log files.

Instances are created on a per-component basis:

ConfigMgr
OpsMgr
ServiceMgr (2x)
DPM

Each instance is configured with separate spindles on the SAN for that instance’s database and log files.

Creating a separate reporting instance for each component that requires it (OpsMgr, ConfigMgr, Service Manager)

This cluster will only be for System Center back-end functionality.

Disk Sizing for Case Study #1: (based upon the Microsoft sizers)

ServiceMgr: 225 GB
OpsMgr: 160 GB
ConfigMgr: 100 GB
Total: 341 GB

Case Study #2:

As a second case study example, speaking with a client recently, we came to the consensus of creating a single two-node cluster to provide all System Center back-end database functionality. The client has approximately 2500 servers that they are monitoring, and they have approximately 6500 workstations that they are managing and there are 3500 users in the environment. They are interested in potentially deploying all of the System Center components off of this back-end database. The following are the key pieces of the proposed back-end database:

Installing two physical servers on Windows 2008 R2 which are running two socket/six core with 96 gb of memory.
The two servers are connected to a SAN infrastructure to store all of the database and log files.

Instances are created on a per-component basis: (gathering smaller sized databases into a single instance)

ConfigMgr
OpsMgr
ServiceMgr (2x)
DPM, App Controller, VMM, Orchestrator

Each instance is configured with separate spindles on the SAN for that instance’s database and log files.

Creating a separate reporting instance for each component that requires it (OpsMgr, ConfigMgr, Service Manager)

This cluster will only be for System Center back-end functionality.

Disk Sizing for Case Study #2: (based upon the Microsoft sizers)

ServiceMgr: 225 GB
OpsMgr: 1900 GB [Based on lab tests performed up to this point in time, it is reasonable to believe that the estimate from the sizer may be over-estimating for OpsMgr. We have one client with 2000 servers and a fully populated data warehouse in OpsMgr 2007 R2 has not crossed 500 GB yet, and another with about 1100 servers that has not crossed 1000 GB yet]
ConfigMgr: 100 GB
Total: 2225 GB

Sizing per Microsoft estimation methods for case study #2: (details on ServiceMgr, OpsMgr and ConfigMgr are contained in the appendix of this blog article)

ServiceMgr: 225 GB (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27850 or http://t.co/8ht9rAOQ)

OpsMgr: 1900 GB (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29270)

ConfigMgr: 100 GB (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846235.aspx#BKMK_ReqDiskSpace)

DPM: .9 GB (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh757757.aspx)

App Controller: 1 GB (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg696060.aspx)

VMM: 150 GB (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610574.aspx)

Orchestrator: 1 GB (http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/11/02/orchestrator-2012-deployment-amp-configuration-step-by-step-part-2-system-requirements.aspx)

In terms of database sizing from the Microsoft sizing estimates, the largest databases (and those requiring the most resources) are Operations Manager, Service Manager, Virtual Machine Manager and Configuration Manager which represent the statistically relevant database sizes.

Common System Center 2012 Database Recommendations:

Limit each SQL Instance memory where the SQL total memory setting allows a minimum of 1 GB and preferably 2 GB of free memory after all services are running.
SQL Server will need to be Standard or Enterprise edition (Datacenter in some situations)
Install dual gigabit network adapters teamed with full duplex
Disks should be formatted to a 64K allocation unit size
Disks should be configured to allow 20% free space after all calculations for monitoring and set growth upper limits to not exceed this space limit.
The SQL Cluster should be running Active-Passive unless resources are proved to be insufficient
Common objections to sharing databases is contention for resources resulting in bottlenecks – processors, memory, and especially disk spindles. Use Operations Manager to identify these potential bottlenecks.
OpsMgr will not support SQL dynamic ports which is the default SQL setting, change each SQL instance dynamic port to a TCP port.
If OpsMgr will be providing monitoring for network devices, increase the size of the SQL temp in that instance.
Set the SQL Database Engine Domain Account(s) to auto register the SQL SPN values which occurs every time the service starts up
If you are using heart beat and iSCSI connections – make sure to remove all connection options except IPv4 and remove any DNS and Gateway entries as well.

Summary: Do you want to use a common SQL server for multiple components of System Center 2012? You can, but be sure to consider the requirements of each component and see the guidance above for sizing, instance details and general recommendations.

Special thanks on this one to: Travis Wright from the Microsoft product team for his second perspective, Louis Oliver for his help with the IOPS statistics, Chris Ross for his assistance with this from a Service Manager perspective!

Appendix: Sizing for OpsMgr, Service Manager and ConfigMgr from the Microsoft sizing estimators.

OpsMgr 2012 sizing:

In terms of currently available tools, there is a sizer for OpsMgr available at: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29270.

For the OpsMgr database in an organization this size the results are:

(Bolded Red items below are showing the Case Study #2 example with approximately 2000 OpsMgr agents)

DB Estimated Random IO Per Second for Maximum Load Configuration [80% Write, 20% Read]
# of Agents	Estimated IOPS
1-500	250
501-1000	500
1001-3000	750
3001-6000	1125
6001-10000	1250
10001-15000	1500

OpsMgr DB: Number of Days for Data Retention	7
Number of Server Computers	2500
Number of Network Devices	50
Number of APM-enabled Computers	0
Total Size (MB)	42276.18
Total Size (GB)	41.29
Total Size (GB) with 50% Buffer	61.93

For the OpsMgr DW in an organization this size the results are:

DW Estimated Random IO Per Second for Maximum Load Configuration [80% Write, 20% Read]
# of Agents	Estimated IOPS
1-500	500
501-1000	875
1001-3000	1000
3001-6000	1500
6001-10000	2000
10001-15000	2500

OpsMgr DW: Number of Days for Data Retention	365
Number of Server Computers	2500
Number of Network Devices	50
Number of APM-enabled Computers	0
Total Size (MB)	1707732.56
Total Size (GB)	1667.71
Total Size (GB) with 10% Buffer	1834.48

ServiceMgr 2012 sizing:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27850

Service Manager database Size
Retention for Work Items (days)			90
Number of work items for computers/month	6150
Total Size (GB)			6.84
Suggested Space Allocation
with 50% buffer (GB)			10.26

Service Manager data warehouse Size Note: The details below for each database include the recommended 50% buffer.
			We also recommend placing each database on a separate physical drive if possible to optimize performance.
Number of Days			1095
DWStagingandConfig			20.53
Repository			61.58
DWDataMart			61.58
TempDB			51.32
DWASDataBase			18.47
		Note: The DWASDataBase size approximation is based on the default aggregation level set by Service Manager.

Total Size (GB)			213.49

Suggested Space Allocation			213.49
with 50% buffer (GB)

From download.microsoft.com/.../SC2012_ServiceMgr_Planning.docx

Service Manager database

Dual Quad-Core 2.66 gigahertz (GHz) CPU

8 gigabytes (GB) of RAM for 20,000 users, 32 GB of RAM for 50,000 users (See the Hardware Performance section in this guide.)

80 GB of available disk space

RAID Level 1 or Level 10 drive*

Data warehouse databases

Dual Quad-core 2.66 GHz CPU

8 GB of RAM for 20,000 users, 32 GB of RAM for 50,000 users (See the Hardware Performance section in this guide.)

400 GB of available disk space

ConfigMgr 2012 sizing:

from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846235.aspx#BKMK_ReqDiskSpace

Data usage	Minimum disk space1	25,000 clients	50,000 clients	100,000 clients
Operating system	See guidance for the operating system.	See guidance for the operating system.	See guidance for the operating system.	See guidance for the operating system.
Configuration Manager Application and Log Files	10 GB	10 GB	10 GB	10 GB
Site database .mdf file	75 GB for every 25,000 clients	75 GB	150 GB	300 GB
Site database .ldf file	25 GB for every 25,000 clients	25 GB	50 GB	100 GB
Temp database files (.mdf and .ldf)	As needed	As needed	As needed	As needed
Content (distribution point shares)	As needed	As needed	As needed	As needed

New Knowledge Base articles for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

Tommy Gunn — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:44:44 GMT

These KB articles do not represent bugs per se, but issues and tips from Microsoft based on their (and customer) experiences during the System Center 2012 betas.

KB Article List

2679005 - An App-V 4.5 package fails to run on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 in a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager environment

2683908 - App-V applications cannot be streamed from a Configuration Manager Distribution Point if the "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" option is set

2688244 - Old System Center 2012 Configuration Manager application Deployment Type source content remains in the client cache after the application is removed

2679653 - The lastLogonTimestamp attribute in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager may not be accurate

2681449 - Descriptions are not provided for the ResultDetail values in the "v_CH_EvalResults" view in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

2688238 - The Microsoft Network Inspection service started by System Center 2012 Configuration Manager may be stopped by Active Directory Group Policy

2688239 - Many warning messages for PolicyAgentInstanceProvider are logged when you install the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager client

2691080 - The Ccmexec.exe service is not automatically restarted after the WMI service is paused and restarted in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

2688287 - The System Center 2012 Configuration Manager console crashes when an item in a list view is moved to a collapsed group

2691547 - The "Computers with a specific virtual application" or "Computers with a specific virtual application package" reports in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager do not display data

2692920 - "In Progress" status is displayed in the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager console for the installation of a mobile app that requires the removal of another, unremoval application

2691543 - Deploying a non-English operating system using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager fails with Error 31: A device attached to the system is not functioning

2680765 - Changes made to Video Hardware Acceleration settings in a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Remote Control session are reverted when the session ends

2690414 - Keyboard shortcuts used in a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Remote Desktop session may be intercepted by a Remote Control viewer session

2678905 - The System Center 2012 Configuration Manager client installation fails when BITS is not installed

2680249 - A failure is reported if you remove a zero value from the Return Codes tab in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

2683900 - Changes to the Deployment Type in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager are deployed unexpectedly and cannot be rolled back

2688277 - The System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Application Catalog fails after reinstalling the Application Catalog Web Service Point using different install options

2688285 - The Apply button is unavailable after clearing the "Enable PXE support for clients" option on a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Distribution Point

2688288 - Changing the SQL Service Broker port while performing a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site recovery causes the site to remain in Maintenance Mode

2688242 - Clients are not updated with the latest definitions after installing the Endpoint Protection site role in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

2688247 - SQL Server cumulative updates must be manually installed on secondary System Center 2012 Configuration Manager sites that use SQL Server Express

2691550 - Multiple error messages are logged in the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Distmgr.log file when you update shared Distribution Points

2691875 - Different results are displayed for software updates when you use saved searches in non-English versions of System Center 2012 Configuration Manager

2691946 - You cannot reinstall a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SMS Provider on a server had the same provider previously uninstalled

2693104 - Migrating objects to System Center 2012 Configuration Manager fails with "Could not find the specified instance"

2693122 - A System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Distribution Point contains no deployment package after using the Download Software Updates wizard

2683915 - Installing a secondary System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site fails when using the default SQL instance name

2687393 - A System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Windows Installer-based Deployment Type with a malformed command line fails with an MSIExec error

MS Community Ninjas Website (feedback for TechNet Wiki and other MS resources)

Tommy Gunn — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:14:17 GMT

Microsoft has announced a new site as a place to provide feedback on the TechNet Wiki, PowerShell, System Center and other resources. Check it out at

http://communityninjas.uservoice.com/forums/155543-general-site-feedback

Alternatively, you can send mail to smsdocs@microsoft.com, momdocs@microsoft.com to name a couple.

QMX and Cross-Platform Support for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (#sysctr)

Tommy Gunn — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:07:27 GMT

A new whitepaper has been published on the Quest site detailing cross-platform support in QMX for System Center Configuration Manager 2012. From the Quest site:

“System Center MVPs Colin Smith and Pete Zerger have joined forces to create this informative whitepaper on managing heterogeneous environments with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and Quest Management Xtensions (QMX)….”

Read and Download

at http://www.quest.com/whitepaper/qmx-and-system-center-configuration-manager-2012817153.aspx

FAQ: Is PowerShell supported in software deployment in ConfigMgr 2007?

Tommy Gunn — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:15:42 GMT

We had an interesting question in the forums which was answered by ConfigMgr MVP Jason Sandys:

Question:

I am wondering if PowerShell is supported in ConfigMgr 2007 software deployment? I am having trouble getting it to work in my test deployment.

Answer:

Any valid command-line is supported in ConfigMgr.
You of course have to take into account execution context (runing as local System or the currently logged on user depending upon your settings), the fact that the ConfigMgr client agent is 32-bit, and the PowerShell execution policy also: http://www.iislogs.com/steveschofield/using-sccm-to-publish-a-powershell-script-via-a-package-program-advertisement.

Inside Podcast Networks #MMS2012: Summary for Geeks (#SYSCTR, #MMS2012, #CATMMS)

Cameron Fuller — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 01:32:05 GMT

Inside Podcast Network did a two hour special live from MMS 2012 on Thursday which I was glad to be able to be a part of. This podcast is available here!

People involved in the podcast: (in order that they joined the discussion)

Dan Kregor
Pete Zerger
Cameron Fuller
Marcus Oh
Marnix Wolf
Bob Cornelissen
[Some unknown Microsoft person who briefly stopped by]
Doug Hazelman
Raymond Chou
Arie De Hann
Adam Hall
Brian Wren
Matthes Derdack

The following is the summary of the discussion from my perspective: (in order of discussion)

Discussion on the new terms at MMS and around System Center:
- Discussion on the new pod sections in the Microsoft booth at MMS – no longer is their an Operations Manager pod it’s now “Infrastructure Management”.
- Cloud and Datacenter Management as the new MVP section encompassing all system center products other than Configuration Manager.
From the end of the keynote on day two they announced the MMS 2013 location & we discussed the impacts of what announcement – “Microsoft World in June 2013?”
Windows Server 8 is now Windows Server 2012.
System Center 2012 release announced.
InTune – where is it and what does it mean now? What does this mean to Mobile Device Management?
The Cloud and System Center.
Licensing and System Center 2012.
Impacts of System Center solutions and how they work in the small business world.
Podcast logistical challenges and how we ended up with a single longer podcast.
Vendor capabilities demonstrated at MMS – what are the coolest integrations with System Center?
MMS 2012 as a deja-vu of MMS 2011.
Doug announced 10 sockets for free on the Veeam MP – fully functional non-expiring and including the first 12 months of support.
Favorite sessions of the week at MMS and what sessions did and did not get accepted at MMS 2012.
Labs at MMS – the good and the bad.
Discussion on the keynotes – it was special because we didn’t do anything special. It was just System Center 2012.
Brian Wren’s session on Orchestrator and OpsMgr and “just in time public speaking”.
Booth babes at MMS and marketing trends at MMS.
Derdack and their products at MMS and launching a new product in a few weeks.
What is the future of System Center Universe in this new “MMS 2013” world?

Other humorous points during the podcast:

We introduced the word “complified” which someday I hope will be in the dictionary.
Most of the bloggers on the discussion blog because they can’t remember things otherwise.
Parties at MMS and side-discussion on stereotypes about Texas and cowboy gear.
Marcus and his style and insights on management.
Arie as the “dinosaur”.
How to create an unscannable badge at MMS.
Re-introduction of the siesta at MMS?
The real reason why I tweet as CFullerMVP.

This was a great discussion and I was glad to have been invited to participate and it summarizes most of what happened at MMS!

(P.S. – My specific callouts during this podcast included Wally, Trevor, Kevin Holman and my marketing department colleagues)

MMS 2012 Keynote 4/18: Summary for Geeks (#SYSCTR, #MMS2012, #CATMMS)

Cameron Fuller — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:53:45 GMT

The second keynote of MMS 2012 focused on users and their connected devices. Specific points from the keynote include the following items:

Announcements:

MMS 2013: New Orleans in June
Brad Anderson said Microsoft will be providing “Deep integration with Windows, IOS and Android”
Windows InTune Pre-Release announced

GeekNotes:

InTune: All lab systems at MMS 2012 are being managed by Windows InTune.
InTune: Still does not support server OS’s (via twitter feed not directly in the Keynote)
InTune and Self service on user controlled devices:
- Connected devices should be managed from the cloud.
- InTune supports Windows, Android and IOS devices.
- Devices can be trusted based on your active directory credentials.ConfigMgr:
An updated version of ConfigMgr 2012 around the timeframe of Windows Server 2012 release will include “DeepLink” functionality:
- Application deployment in ConfigMgr 2012 considers not only successful deployments but also those that are already compliant (such as a condition where the application has already been deployed to a system).
- Siloing of applications – Load applications without having to go through the primary store.Demo discussed an end-user remote wipe for devices discussed using “My Devices”
- The beta for ConfigMgr 2012 was managing 500,000 devices in production and 307,000 endpoint protection agents were deployed as part of the TAP.
From a bring-your-own device perspective control and governance are key concepts across all devices.
Regarding Windows InTune and ConfigMgr Brad Anderson “as we go forward we are going to bring these two closer together”.
New MDOP component: User experience virtualization (UEV). User state virtualization product to separate your user state from the image and allows you to run in a pool model where you have one OS that everyone launches from.
VDI: Focusing on Fast and Easy. Showed the setup of VDI live in a demo in less than a minute using the add roles and features wizard (this starts the process to run these steps in the background after the wizard is completed).

(Shout-out to the ConfigMgr MVP’s – good job on the video guys!)

ConfigMgr and DPM Q&A from recent meeting in San Antonio

Cameron Fuller — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:36:22 GMT

During a recent meeting on System Center 2012, there were several good questions which were asked that I didn’t know the answer to. So to share with the community, here’s the questions asked and their answers from our Catapult team!

Question: Does Endpoint Protection provide any client encryption management? Anything to manage Bitlocker?

Answer: Microsoft MDOP provides tools in this area (Bitlocker Administration and Monitoring): http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/products-and-technologies/mdop/mbam.aspx

Question: When migrating from SCCM07 to 2012, does history of what applications or packages have already been deployed or tried to be deployed move over as well?

Will advertisements rerun after they are migrated? No. Clients that you upgrade from Configuration Manager 2007 will not rerun advertisements that you migrate. System Center 2012 Configuration Manager retains the Configuration Manager 2007 Package ID for packages you migrate and clients that upgrade retain their advertisement history.

Answer: The applications and packages can be moved over but I do not believe that history would be moved over. The following a link from Wally on migration from ConfigMgr 2007 to ConfigMgr 2012: http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/2012/01/09/what-wally-said-migrating-from-configmgr-2007-to-configmgr-2012/. The migration tools will retain the 2007 package IDs. This keeps the clients from rerunning the advertisement if they already have done so.

Question: Can you still have WSUS outside of SCCM and does allowing SCCM to manage it limit the reporting capabilities? How about 3rd party updates? Does ConfigMgr 2012 support 3rd party updates?

Answer: Yes, but there should not be a reason to keep an upstream WSUS server. Unless, it will be used to patch non ConfigMgr clients. Third party updates still requires SCUP which is a free download from MS.

Question: Do you still have to follow the Exchange guidelines for DPM (Data Recovery Group) for recovery using DPM? Exchange 2010 SP1.

Answer: There does not appear to be a change to how this functions in DPM 2012, you would still need to perform the restore the same way as it occurs in DPM 2010 or use AppAssure for User Mailbox Message item level restoration.

Thank you to David Jaffe and Paul Johnson for their help on these questions!

MMS 2012-Birds of a Feather sessions: New to Microsoft System Center 2012 (#SYSCTR, #MMS2012, #MMSBOF12, #MMSBOF13)

Cameron Fuller — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:05:33 GMT

I just finalized on planning to moderate two sessions on “New to Microsoft System Center 2012” at MMS 2012. With all of the new features coming to the System Center 2012 stack these should be great discussions!

Abstract: “The long-awaited System Center 2012 product release is here! In this Birds-of-a-Feather discussion we will have an open forum focusing on new features available in System Center 2012 components including Configuration Manager/Endpoint Protection, Operations Manager, Service Manager, Data Protection Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, App Controller and Orchestrator. Additional topics include how the System Center 2012 stack works better together and how we can automate common processes using workflows in System Center.”

If you are attending MMS and interested in System Center please stop by and join this discussion (BOF12, BOF13)!

Thanks you to both Microsoft and one extremely cool colleague of mine out there (you know who you are!) for inviting me to moderate these sessions!

Tablet-a-day giveaway at MMS 2012 courtesy of System Center Central and the Inside MMS Podcast

Pete Zerger — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:15:55 GMT

I wanted to take a minute to let you know a bit about what we have planned for MMS 2012… whether you are attending or not.

Tablet-a-Day Giveaway

First, as a way of thanking our great community supporters and our rock star founding sponsors Quest and Veeam,, We’re going to be giving away a Kindle Fire every day of the conference!

For those of you who couldn’t make it, the Friday drawing is for you!. We’ll be sharing details of how you can enter to win the final Kindle Fire drawing without getting out of your chair!

Winners will be announced every day on the Inside MMS podcast, which will be broadcasting live from the Venetian bringing you a daily recap of big announcements, interviews with Microsoft Program Mangers and MVP subject-matter experts.

Big Tech Book Giveaway

Second, as a community with authors on multiple System Center and related technical books, we’ll be giving away more than 20 technical books, including the PowerShell 2.0 Bible, Opalis Unleashed and others.

Details

Stand by for contest details and more announcements as the conference approaches. Thanks again to our founding sponsors Quest and Veeam and to you, the System Center community. We look forward to talking to you in (or remotely from) MMS 2012 in Las Vegas!

Are you looking to participate in the System Center community via Twitter?

rorymccaw — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:27:43 GMT

If so, consider using the following hash tags to have your content followed by the greater System Center community at large.

Component	Hashtag
System Center all up or broad awareness (should be included in every tweet related to SC)	#sysctr
These are only included in tweets that are specific to a particular component:
Virtual Machine Manager	#scvmm
Service Manager	#scsm
Operations Manager	#scom
Data Protection Manager	#scdpm
Orchestrator	#scorc
Advisor	#scadvisor
App Controller	#scappctrl
Configuration Manager	#configmgr

Have fun, learn System Center. www.infrontconsulting.com/training.php

How to create query-based collections dynamically in Configuration Manager 2007

Tommy Gunn — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:55:30 GMT

One of my admins asked for a script not only to create a Configuration Manager collection, but a query-based collection. I saw plenty of examples on the Internet, but found they mostly used AD or a list of some sort to create a directly populated (static) collection.

I did a search and found my way back to the ‘Master List of System Center PowerShell’ I maintain here on System Center Central where I found two scripts created by Microsoft MVP Pete Zerger. And not only did I find a script to create a query-based collection, but a script to create an entire collection hierarchy!

Downloads

The scripts I am referring to can be found at the links below:

Additional Resources

You can definitely find a lot of great System Center PowerShell samples on back to the ‘Master List of System Center PowerShell’. And I have a major update planned soon!

System Center 2012 Technical Documentation Downloads

Pete Zerger — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:35:01 GMT

Here’s the full collection of System Center 2012 documentation available on TechNet, which as of this minute includes all but App Controller, Configuration Manager and Data Protection Manager.

System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6346

System Center 2012 - Service Manager: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27850

System Center 2012 - Operations Manager: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29256

System Center 2012 - Orchestrator: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29258

System Center 2012 - Unified Installer: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29257

System Center Virtual User Group Meeting #18 recordings available

Scott Moss — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:54:52 GMT

We had a great meeting Friday!

I would like to thank the speakers, Ken Galvin from Quest, Alec King from Veeam and Baelson Duque from Microsoft for taking time out from their busy schedules to take part in our user group.

I would also like to thank your Sponsor http://SystemCenterCentral.com

I’ve edited the live meeting file and sliced it up into three files for easier downloading.

I look forward to the next meeting which will be in a month or so.

Thank you,
Scott Moss

Microsoft MVP (Service Center Cloud and Datacenter Management)
Vice President Atlanta SMUG http://www.atlsmug.org
President System Center Virtual User Group http://systemcentercentral.com/scvug
New Blog! http://om2012.wordpress.com

Great demos coming in today's System Center Virtual User Group meeting!

Pete Zerger — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:08:03 GMT

The latest installment of the System Center Virtual User Group kicks off today! Today you’ll see demo heavy sessions on the new MP authoring tools in OpsMgr 2012, how to extend ConfigMgr 2012 to manage your 3rd party devices (iPads, iPhones, MAC, etc. etc.), as well as the latest release of the Veeam nworks MP for monitoring VMware ESX / vSphere. Should be a great show…details below.

Registration

Registration for the System Center Virtual User Group Meeting #18

http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=159955

Agenda

The planned agenda shown here (all times EST)

Sponsor

This installment of the System Center Virtual User Group is brought to you by SystemCenterCentral.com

Speaker Bio's

Ken Galvin

Ken Galvin is the Program Manager of the QMX – System Center unit of Quest Software. He has been with the QMX product for over six years in a number of roles including project, operations, product and product marketing and business development – primarily in the international and public sectors. Before Quest, Ken worked at AT&T for 20 years in operations, sales operations, sales management and project management. He lives near the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia with his wife and four children and is very active in music and youth ministry in his community.

Alec King

Alec King is a Director of Product Management at Veeam, and the original author and architect of the hugely successful ‘nworks Management Pack for VMware’. An expert in monitoring, management and automation, Alec has been developing MPs in Microsoft Operations Manager since MOM 2000. Alec regularly delivers presentations at technology trade shows such as Microsoft Management Summit, Tech-Ed and VMworld.

Baelson Duque

Baelson Duque started at Microsoft a Systems Engineer and shortly thereafter, became a Tools Engineer building tools for Microsoft Game Studios Operations team that managed zone.msn.com. There he owned the Monitoring Infrastructure where Baelson pioneered MOM 2000 as the Operations Monitoring Platform. Baelson is now a proud member of the System Center Operations Manager Program Management team bringing with him over 5 years of Operational Expertise from many levels in the IT Operations stack. Baelson has been with the OpsMgr PM Team for over 8 years designing many features from core modules in the Infrastructure, many Management Packs, Distributed Application Designer, Synthetic Transactions, and various MP Templates. Baelson is currently a Sr. Program Manager responsible for the Next Gen UI Framework to support Dashboards in OpsMgr 2012 and the Authoring Tools for Management Packs.

Inside MMS: Get the MMS 2012 events highlights live each and every day from MMS 2012

Pete Zerger — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:38:18 GMT

A note from friend and community colleague Dan Kregor…..

MMS 2012 has SOLD OUT! And I mean completely sold out. Unless you already have a ticket, or are lucky enough to win one, then you have zero chance of attending. Sure, you can watch the keynotes, but as we all know MMS is far more than just the Keynotes.

Have no fear dear friends. This year you will be able to stay up to date with all the happenings at MMS. System Center Central and Insidepodcastnetwork.tv are happy to announce that we will be broadcasting “Inside MMS” live each and every day, bringing you the news, views and atmosphere from the biggest conference on the System Center calendar. Broadcasting live from 17:30 PST (01:30 GMT) each day, you will have the opportunity to see and hear from the top contributors on System Center Central, together with MVPs, conference speakers, System Center Product Managers and a plethora of other special guests.

Not only will we provide you with great coverage and content, we also want to bring you into the conversation. You’ll be able to ask questions or comment via the Twitter hashtag #InsideMMS, and with plans for a Google+ hangout you’ll be able to immerse yourself in the discussion.

As MMS draws closer, we will release details on how you can not only watch but also get involved. In the meantime, make sure you head to http://insidepodcastnetwork.tv for your fix of System Center podcasts, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our Facebook page.

Our goal is to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Inside Central Podcast: Skilling up on System Center 2012

Cameron Fuller — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:21:31 GMT

Inside Central posted the podcast I had done last week on skilling up on system center 2012 including topics like:

Building home lab environments for all of System Center 2012
Tricks to use when lab testing Operations Manager 2012

Check it out and I also owe a shout-out to Eric Morrison who started me on the specs to build out my lab environment!

Inside Central Podcast

Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2007 Client Management Pack for OpsMgr

Pete Zerger — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:28:11 GMT

Here’s a new community-developed management pack from Tao Yang worth checking out. Find other great management packs from the community in the Community MP Catalog or on Tommy’s Community MP Catalog Cheat Sheet.

Management Pack Overview

The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Client Management Packs not only provides various out-of-box preconfigured monitors / rules, but also provides some custom modules / workflows which allow you to build your own monitors to suit your System Center Configuration Manager 2007 environments. These management packs extends what Microsoft System Center Minotoring Pack For Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 v6.0.6000.3 has to offer for SCCM client monitoring. This includes:

Recreated the SMS Agent Host service monitor and included diagnostic and recovery task to automatically restart the service when it has stopped.

Checks the availability of Management Point of which the SCCM client connects to via HTTP response. The SCCM Management Point HTTP Response Monitor runs hourly to check the HTTP response of the active MP for the SCCM client and generates alerts if HTTP error responses received over 2 consecutive times.

Checks the version of SCCM clients and generates alert if the version number is lower than 4.00.6487.2157 (KB977384, prerequisite for SCCM 2007 R3)

Checks SCCM Clients Advertisement Execution history every 30 minutes. If there were any advertisements have been executed over the last 30 minutes, trigger Hardware Inventory so any newly installed applications will be inventoried and stored in SCCM site database. Additionally, if any failed advertisement executions are found, a Critical alert is generated.

There are 2 separate sealed management packs (.MP) in this set:

TYANG System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Library

Custom Data Source, Probe Action and Write Action modules
Custom monitor types
SCOM console actions for SCCM clients
SCCM client object discovery

· TYANG System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Monitoring

Pre-Configured monitors and rules
Folders and Views

More information

The detailed guide for this MP can be downloaded HERE.

Management Pack Download HERE.

Windows Server 8 Beta–managing it with ConfigMgr 2012 RC (#SCCM) and backing it up with DPM 2012 RC (#SCDPM)

Cameron Fuller — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:05:51 GMT

II recently blogged on installing Windows Server 8 Beta as a guest operating system in my SCVMM environment, and attempting to monitor Windows Server 8 Beta with Operations Manager 2012 RC. The next logical step was to investigate backing up Windows Server 8 Beta with Data Protection Manager 2012 RC and managing it with Configuration Manager 2012. Results are listed below with screenshots of the steps required:

[Images are not uploading correctly for this blog post - please see http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/cfuller/archive/2012/03/02/windows-server-8-beta–managing-it-with-configmgr-2012-rc-sccm-and-backing-it-up-with-dpm-2012-rc-scdpm.aspx for the full blog post with images included]

Data Protection Manager 2012 RC & Windows Server 8 Beta:

An attempt to deploy the agent directly from the DPM 2012 RC failed but I’ve seen that happen before on some other agent deployment.

I logged into the Windows Server 8 Beta system, and ran the X64 installer from a remote share.

After the installer completed, I had to attach the agent to DPM but it was not communicating correctly after the attempt to attach (results shown below).

On the Windows Server 8 Beta system I next had to use the setdpmserver program to point this server to the appropriate DPM server (setdpmserver –dpmservername ) as shown below:

Once it was approved it started working as expected/shown below with updated unprotected status and the results of adding it to a protection group.

DPM result: For Windows Server Beta 8 and DPM 2012 RC we were able to install the agent but the DPM server cannot communicate with it.

Configuration Manager 2012 RC & Windows Server 8 Beta:

To test Windows Server 8 Beta and Configuration Manager, I deployed the Configuration Manager client by pushing it from the Configuration Manager console. I did end up having to start a Configuration Manager service (SMS Host I believe?) but that may have just been due to my own impatience. Below are the screenshots showing the Configuration Manager properties.

And the applications installed on Windows Server 8 Beta displayed the Configuration Manager 2012 Software Center program:

Even EndPoint protection appears to have deployed correctly as shown below!

Configuration Manager result: The agent installation appears to work like a champ!

Thank you to David Allen for his assistance with the DPM configuration and for Lukasz Rutkowski for his thoughts on this topic!

Summary: Initial tests of using Data Protection Manager 2012 RC to backup Windows Server 8 Beta and Configuration Manager 2012 RC to manage Windows Server 8 Beta look pretty positive at least from an agent deployment perspective!

SCCM 2012 Beta MP for SCOM 2007 R2 and Newer

rorymccaw — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 06:43:00 GMT

If you are looking to monitor your SCCM 2012 beta environment with SCOM 2007 R2 or 2012, have a look at https://connect.microsoft.com/ConfigurationManagervnext/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=39532.

Have fun with System Center!

Rory McCaw www.infrontconsulting.com

Nice article on Self Service Software Ordering (using SCSM, SCCM and SCO)

Tommy Gunn — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:56:19 GMT

The self-service sofware feature that disappeared in Service Manager 2012 I assumed was missing because of the features in SCCM 2012. Marcel, who blogs out of Switzerland at blogs.scmsfaq.ch has posted a great article on self-service software ordering using Service Manager 2012.

I think this is a great workaround for a feature that would be sorely missed. His how-to is quite straightfoward and can be found at http://blog.scsmfaq.ch/2012/02/27/self-service-software-ordering-using-scsm-sccm-and-sco/