Latest Blogs

Windows 2012 (Windows 8) agent installation and monitoring with Opsmgr 2012

Pete Zerger — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:12:39 GMT

There have been a few articles on how to install the Windows 2012 (Windows 8) agent for Operations Manager 2012 (Cameron HERE and Kevin HERE), though without a management pack, the agent is not going to do much. It's important to consider how to install the OpsMgr agent without disabling settings that make the OS secure (an area Kevin revisited a time or two it seems).

Some time ago, it was announced (and blogged by several) that Windows 8 Management Packs were available for download on Connect. I downloaded the package, and found that it contained much more than just base OS monitoring. This package contains Beta MPs for the following Windows 8 Server services and roles:

Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS)
Active Directory Directory Services (ADDS)
Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS)
DHCP (Core Networking)
Remote Access
DNS (Core Networking)
Cluster Management
File Services
Windows Deployment Services
IIS
MSMQ
Network Access Protection
Network Load Balancing (NLB)
Networking QoS
Power Management
Print Services
Remote Desktop Services (RDS)
Windows Backup
Windows Server Update Services
Windows Operating System

Download
This does assume you're logged into Connect.
Download at https://connect.microsoft.com/SC/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=42581

Chargeback Reporting for MS Private Cloud with Operations Manager 2012

Pete Zerger — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:36:58 GMT

This is a largely ignored topic that is fundamental to MS private cloud operation and management I think deserves some attention.

Since the Cloud Services Process Pack is not a solution that fits the bill for all (or even most) MS private cloud deployments, the need arises for an alternate method of calculating resource consumption for business units across one or more clouds as defined in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (VMM). As part of the ‘private cloud in the real world’ series, I am going to show you a few reports I leverage to answer the difficult questions around resource consumption and workload distribution in a private cloud deployment.

The most easily accessible reports actually come in System Center 2012 Operations Manager (OpsMgr) by way of the System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Management Pack for OpsMgr, which contains a number of reports for tracking the logical and physical consumption of resources in your private cloud fabric (the storage, network and compute). When leveraged appropriately, a good source of showback information for the business units subscribing to resources in your private cloud infrastructure. And with native SharePoint integration and flexible delivery options, they can become an easily accessible source of information for stakeholders in your cloud environment who need information, but are less familiar with the System Center tools.

The reports available in the VMM 2012 Management Pack for OpsMgr are pictured in figure 1. In this installment, we’ll take a look at the Chargeback report.

figure 1. Available reports in the VMM 2012 Management Pack

Report Parameters

The parameter header in the Chargeback report provides a number of fields that must be completed to provide meaningful results, including:

Date Range:The date picker is straightforward…I like ‘First day of previous month’ to ‘ last day of previous month’ as a nice rolling dataset of resource usage in the cloud.

Objects: This is where you can add your virtual machines that are (or were in the past) deployed to the cloud.

Billing Units: You can assign a cost to Memory, CPU, Base Cost for VM. It's easy to making things too complicated with this setting. I suggest that, at least in the first iteration, you pick one of these units is your billing mechanism for chargeback in order to keep the results meaningful. You can add multiple billing units as your organization progresses in their use the chargeback.

figure 2. Smart parameter header in the Chargeback report

Tip: I'd suggest creating a linked report (which will require some XML) in order to make this a dynamically populated report.

The result of a sample reporter shown below, which logically groups are infrastructure based on 1) Cloud and 2) Host Group, both of which are logical constructs defined in VMM 2012.

figure 2. Report content in the Chargeback report

Even if you don’t make this a dynamically populated report,You can say this report your favorites, making it a one click report with the occasional tweak for new infrastructure edit your cloud.

Additional Resources

Hopefully this info provides some food for thought when choosing your naming conventions for your template-based deployments in VMM 2012. Here are a few additional articles in the ‘private cloud in the real world’ series and related System Center articles you may find interesting.

ResearchThis! KB - Some Client Access test cmdlets failed to run

Pete Zerger — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:20:00 GMT

Here's an alert is raised for basically every exchange 2010 organization monitored in Operations Manager 2012.

Alert: Some Client Access test cmdlets failed to run

Management Pack Name: Exchange 2012 Monitoring

Management Pack Version: All Versions (as of May 2012)

Issue: The PowerShell cmdlet to configure Exchange 2010 synthetic monitoring tests has not been run. This is one configuration step that was unintentionally left out of the original MP guide.

Resolution:

Run the PowerShell cmdlet to configure the synthetic monitoring tests present in the Exchange 2010 Management Pack. There is actually an alert raised that tells you to run the new-testcasconnectivityuser.ps1 script from Exchange Command Shell. Do a search for this file, as it's well down into the directory structure. Configuring synthetic transaction monitoring requires running the New-TestCASConnectivityUser.ps1 PowerShell script from the Exchange 2010 Command Shell. You will be prompted for a one time password. From that point on, the Exchange 2010 MP will handle the process for you. It is located in the c:\program files\microsoft\exchange servers\v14\scripts folder on the Exchange 2010 Server.

Stats on Cloud Computing [Infographic]

Tommy Gunn — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:30:21 GMT

Cool infographic designed by the Cloud Hypermarket team which shows some interesting stats about cloud computing, such as adoption, benefits of using the cloud, budgeting, and the top users of cloud computing. Interesting to see how Windows 2012 impacts these numbers in a couple of years. Check out the full graphic below:

How big is the Internet? [Infographic]

Tommy Gunn — Wed, 30 May 2012 06:59:05 GMT

This infographic (from webcooltips.com) presents the size of the Internet in pretty interesting ways. Look at number six, which shows how long kids and spend online in the average week. It’s crazy!

Creating and Using Custom Properties in VMM 2012 in PowerShell (and a gotcha)

Pete Zerger — Tue, 29 May 2012 06:45:26 GMT

Custom properties, introduced in Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (VMM), consist of a user-defined name / value pair. They can be used in a variety of circumstances including

VM placement (or use of matching properties on host groups),
Reporting (by using custom properties to tag VM's and services with various bits of owner information)
Lifecycle Management (through the addition of a custom property to store expiration date)
Customizing View in the VMM Admin Console (more on this in a minute)

While you can add custom properties in the UI, I like adding them to PowerShell, which I can incorporate into Orchestrator runbooks to automate the VM and service provisioning, tagging by virtualization assets to support all of the possibilities mentioned above. Below is a sample script demonstrating how to tag a service instance with information to support virtualization lifecycle management, specifically owner information (a RequestedBy property) and an ExpirationDate property to store the retirement date for the newly deployed asset.

Sample Script

PowerShell snow below intended for use in a VMM script, presumably as part of an Orchestrator runbook. The only thing you need to do make the sample work for you is define is the value of a variable called $SvcName, intended to represent the display name of the newly deployed service (from a service template)

#-------------------------------------------------------------

#Set Custom Properties on Service Instance

#-------------------------------------------------------------

$MySvc = get-scservice | where {$_.Name -like $SvcName}

$customPropRequestedBy = Get-SCCustomProperty -Name "RequestedBy"

Set-SCCustomProperty -AddMember @("ServiceInstance") -CustomProperty $customPropRequestedBy

Set-SCCustomPropertyValue -InputObject $MySvc -CustomProperty $customPropRequestedBy -Value "$RequestedBy"

$customPropExpiry = Get-SCCustomProperty -Name "ExpirationDate"

Set-SCCustomProperty -AddMember @("ServiceInstance") -CustomProperty $customPropExpiry

Set-SCCustomPropertyValue -InputObject $MySvc -CustomProperty $customPropExpiry -Value "$VMExpiration"

Exposing Custom Properties in the UI

As alluded to earlier , in the VMs and Services pane of the VMM 2012 Admin Console, custom properties can be exposed by right-clicking on the title bar and selecting the appropriate properties. below is a screenshot the results of the sample PowerShell snippet shown above use as part of a runbook to deploy a service with VMM 2012.

Something to be aware of (Gotcha)

Custom attributes do not accept special characters, such as apostrophes, which I witnessed firsthand recently. There is a bug in VMM 2012 that presents itself when certain special characters are used in custom attributes throughout the UI, causing the console to crash. The fix should you encounter this problem is to remove the offending value via PowerShell or direct database edit, (through Microsoft support would recommend the PowerShell method).

Additional Resources

Tuning the System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager management pack

Cameron Fuller — Sat, 26 May 2012 20:54:21 GMT

Based upon my experiences with the SCVMM management pack, I added several ReSearch This! KB’s on this topic which are linked below:

Tuning for the System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager management pack: (alert name, URL for the ReSearch This KB)

VGS Not installed: http://www.systemcentercentral.com/BlogDetails/tabid/143/indexId/93620/Default.aspx

Host has exceeded the supported maximum number of running VMs: http://www.systemcentercentral.com/BlogDetails/tabid/143/indexId/93621/Default.aspx

Host Memory Utilization is high: http://www.systemcentercentral.com/BlogDetails/tabid/143/indexId/93622/Default.aspx

OM Agent Proxy not enabled: http://www.systemcentercentral.com/BlogDetails/tabid/143/indexId/93623/Default.aspx

ReSearch This! KB - OM Agent Proxy not enabled

Cameron Fuller — Sat, 26 May 2012 20:52:57 GMT

Alert: OM Agent Proxy not enabled

Management Pack Name: System Center Virtual Machine Manager Monitoring

Management Pack Version: 3.0.5007.0 and earlier

Issue: Bug in the management pack. OM Agent Proxy is already enabled on the system.

Resolution: Disabled as this is appears to be a bug in the management pack as OM agent proxy is enabled for the server generating the alert.

ReSearch This! KB - Host Memory Utilization is high

Cameron Fuller — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:09:37 GMT

Alert: Host Memory Utilization is high

Management Pack Name: System Center Virtual Machine Manager Monitoring

Management Pack Version: 3.0.6005.0 and earlier

Issue: Memory is more than 80% utilized on the Hyper-V host for a warning level, and critical at more than 90% utilized.

Resolution: We run the memory utilization on our Hyper-V servers at much higher levels, configured the warning level at 97% and the critical level at 98%. Configured this as an override for all objects of type Hyper-V host.

ReSearch This! KB - Host has exceeded the supported maximum number of running VMs

Cameron Fuller — Sat, 26 May 2012 20:37:28 GMT

Alert: Host has exceeded the supported maximum number of running VMs

Management Pack Name: System Center Virtual Machine Manager Monitoring

Management Pack Version: 3.0.6005.0 and earlier

Issue: This server is running 5 virtuals, but the alert should not trigger unless there are over 384 virtuals per the explanation of this monitor. It looks like this monitor may be only comparing the value of the first digit (3) versus the number of the virtual machines running (5 or 9 in my example) “The number of running virtual machines on the host has exceeded 384.” - Causes in the Product knowledge.

Resolution: Bug in the management pack. Disabled the monitor for the system it was occurring on as 5 < 384 or even 9 < 384. Leave this disable in place until either a CU or a newer version of the management pack fixes this issue, storing the override in the appropriate override management pack (Virtual Machine Manager Overrides as an example). After disabling this monitor, the alerts should close themselves automatically.

ReSearch This! KB - VGS Not installed

Cameron Fuller — Sat, 26 May 2012 20:35:57 GMT

Alert: VGS Not installed

Management Pack Name: System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager Monitoring

Management Pack Version: 3.0.6005.0 and earlier

Issue: This alert occurs on every virtual machine in the VMM environment including VM’s which are offline. It looks like the Error condition detection will always be ‘true’ because this property (VGS) is an IC version and will never be ‘Detected’.

Resolution: Bug in the management pack. Disable this monitor until either a CU or a newer version of the management pack fixes this issue, storing the override in the appropriate override management pack (Virtual Machine Manager Overrides as an example). After disabling this monitor, the alerts should close themselves automatically.

Cloud: Computer Name Scavenging, Reuse and Conflict Handling in VMM 2012

Pete Zerger — Sat, 26 May 2012 03:33:21 GMT

Here are some notes from the field as part of our “Private Cloud in the real world” series. In this installment, I’ll talk about System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (VMM) behavior when issuing names to VMs, reuse of names, conflict resolution (when no names are available) and the domain join process. I thought this useful info for those scenarios you may never have time to test for yourself, but for which the answers can prove very useful when known in advance.

Defining Available Name Values

When you design templates and provide naming conventions for VMs in VMM 20112, you can use wildcards (specifically, the # sign) in your templates as an indicator to VMM which characters it can assign unique numeric sequences to at deploy time. For example, a value of WEBAPP### would result in computer (NetBIOS) names of WEBAPP001 through WEBAPP999 being issued to to newly deployed VMs. This creates a range (or pool) of names that can be used (and re-used) in deployment.

VM Name Scavenging and Reuse

Default behavior (witnessed in deployment and deletion of more than 200 virtual machines this week) indicates that VMM scavenges names (returns names to the pool) when VMs are deleted and reuses them as soon as possible. For example, if you deploy 10 machines with the WEBAPP### convention using a service template (containing a single VM), they will be named WEBAPP001 – WEBAPP010. If you delete the service containing WEBAPP005, the next VM deployed will be named WEBAPP005.

This is a clear indicator that VMM is paying attention and making efficient use of available names based on the naming pattern provided.

VMM Behavior in Naming Conflicts

There are a couple of scenarios to consider here. Conflicting names and also poor choice in naming pattern that results in a limited pool of available names, in which case we may actually run out of available names for new VMs.

First, when you attempt to deploy from template and provide a name that is already in use, VMM will throw an error and block the attempt, which is predictable I think.

For the second scenario, let’s look at an example. I define a slightly different naming pattern in my template, this time WEBAPP#. This provides a pool of exactly nine names…WEBAPP1 – WEBAPP9. So what happens when the pool of available names is exhausted and you attempt to deploy a service (via service template) that contains the 10th machine?

VMM will actually launch the service deployment, but when the deployment attempts to provision the VM, the following error is thrown and the deployment fails.

Error (630). The computer name must be a valid IP address or name containing letters and numbers. The computer name cannot contain spaces or any of the following characters….

The takeaway here is simply that you want to consider how many VMs may be deployed simultaneously in your environment and choose a pool larger than you will need. Using the example above:

WEBAPP## gives you 99 unique options (WEBAPP01 – WEBAPP99)
WEBAPP## gives you 999 unique options (WEBAPP001 – WEBAPP999)

Domain Join with Name Reuse

My VM and service templates are configured to join the computer to the domain at deployment time. In a Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory domain, I found the domain join process was seamless, even with frequent name reuse. DNS could be an issue if security is tight (and not just anyone can update an A record), so I am running with a less stringent DNS security configuration in my environment. The most common issue I have encountered in conditions of frequent name reuse (not uncommon in a lab environment where lots of deployment testing goes on) is actually DNS cache on the Hyper-V host. I have seen connection to the VM after deployment fail, causing application deployment to fail, requiring the job to be restarted. Not an everyday occurrence, but something to consider.

Additional Resources

Orchestrator Jumpstart Series

SCOM 2007 R2 Console - Alert View-The program cannot display the webpage when viewing Details

Andreas Zuckerhut — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:21:46 GMT

So today I logged in as usual on my SCOM Console server, wanted to check an Alert I received Ticket for and then I get this:
This program cannot display the webpage
Most likely causes:
- You are not connected to the Internet.
- The website is encountering problems.
- There might be a typing error in the address.

Never seen that one before I was like

Let’s restart the console with /clearcache – nothing.

Googling around a bit I stumbled across this solution here pointing out it may be an issue with the Temporary Internet Files - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ta/operationsmanagergeneral/thread/da7713fd-7f21-4265-be48-1cb5bb85daa0

Tried to delete temporary internet files, nothing.

What solved the problem at the end was deleting the entire profile folder of my user which took several hours as there were some 1.4M files in it.

Orcehstrator 2012: Six more “must read” articles from Robert Hearn

Tommy Gunn — Fri, 25 May 2012 01:17:46 GMT

This guy is on fire writing some great articles covering the lessor known (or completely unknown) points within Orchestrator 2012. Check these out…especially the ‘Understanding IP Installation”….great stuff!

Cool Tool: New Command Line Utility to Start a Runbook

Quick Tip: Understanding Multi-Value Data and the Databus

Automating Builds of Orchestrator Integration Packs

Community Spotlight: Putting a “Send Popup” Activity Back in Orchestrator

Using Windows Task Scheduler to Invoke Scheduled Runbooks

Understanding IP Installation: What Does Register/Unregister/Deploy/Undeploy Really Mean?

SCOM 2012 – Side-by-Side Migration Phase 7.1 – Installing additional roles: Web Console

Andreas Zuckerhut — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:46:05 GMT

Table of Contents
- Intro
- Preparations for Web Console setup
- Installing the Web Console
- Post Setup Tasks

Intro
Maybe it’s just me but the documentation for the Web Console appears to be quite chaotic with a truckload of notes and cross-references to other articles. Reading through it kinda felt as linear as Skyrim with Sidequests all over the place.

Once I was done setting up the Web Console including SSL Support, etc. I launched it and… it didn’t really work. It loaded but every view was stuck in Loading. Therefore I thought I had made a mistake somewhere along the way or I have missed a step.
Turns out though, once you have clicked a few views it works just fine. Give it time.

Also I remember that we had major issues with Integrated Authentication in the old console, not so in the new one, worked out of the box with the steps described below. In case it doesn’t work for you, there’s a guideline for enabling it – it was actually written for SCOM 2007 R2 but it’s linked in the 2012 documentation therefore I guess it still applies - http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2008/01/31/running-the-web-console-server-on-a-standalone-server-using-windows-authentication.aspx

Altogether, I’m a bit underwhelmed by the Web Console and don’t see it as a real alternative to the Operations Console. It’s generally a bit slow, you can’t personalize views and I don’t like Web Consoles anyway.
However, I guess it works fine for users that really only occasionally need to use SCOM for checking Performance or some specific Alert.

Preparations for Web Console setup
Supported Configurations - http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh205990.aspx#BKMK_RBF_WebConsole
Installation Documentation - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh298606
Web Console Security - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh467899
How to implement SSL in IIS - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh467901

I’ll be installing the Web Console on the same machine as the Reporting Services thus I’m good with the Operating System Requirements (2008 R2 SP1) and .NET. (4.0 and 3.5 SP1). However, I need to verify that all the required IIS Features are enabled.
Required Features:
- Static Content
- Default Document
- Directory Browsing
- HTTP Errors
- HTTP Logging
- Request Monitor
- Request Filtering
- Static Content Compression
- Web Server (IIS) Support (Note: I guess they mean the actual role with this as it’s not a sub feature)
- IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
- ASP.NET
- Windows Authentication

Enabling ISAPI and CGI Restrictions
In the IIS Manager double-click ISAPI and CGI Restrictions

Enable both ASP.NET v4.0.30319 versions. One is for 32, one is for 64 Bit assemblies.

Registering .NET Framework 4
In case IIS was installed before .NET Framework 4 it must be registered with IIS. Since the machine was set up by a different department including IIS and .NET Framework 4 I don’t know in which order they installed it.
I guess it can’t hurt to run the tool again, thus launch cmd as administrator and run %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe –r

Enabling SSL
In order for SSL to work you need a certificate for your server first of course. Since this is done by a different department I can’t say much about it.

In the IIS Manager select the Web Server and open Server Certificates

Right-Click somewhere and select Import (assuming you have already created the Certificate).
Locate your certificate and enter the password for it. Click OK.

Right-Click the Web Site you want to use for the Web Console and select Edit Bindings.

Click Add, switch Type to https and select your certificate.
Click OK and Close.

Open SSL Settings for the Web Site

Enable Require SSL and hit Apply

Installing the Web Console
Once done with the preparations, launch setup and hit Install.

In my case I have to select Add a feature

Select Web Console

Verify that the prerequisites were passed.

I will install it on the Default Web Site, and also I want to enable SSL.
It will run some checks against the Web Site, in case there are errors you’ll be presented with a Critical State icon, by hovering over it you’ll see what the issue is.

Use Mixed Authentication (recommended for INTRANET scenarios).

I’ll patch it myself

Review the summary and hit Install

Make sure the Setup completed successfully

The Web Console will not work as of yet.

Post Setup Tasks
Permissions Inheritance for the Web Console
Open the Security settings for the folder C:\Program Files\System Center 2012\Operations Manager\WebConsole\MonitoringView\TempImages
Open Advanced Security Settings and select Change Permissions.

Remove the System and Administrators Entry.
Enabled "Include inheritable permissions from this object’s parent
Apply – OK – OK – OK

Verify the Web Console works
Either access the Web Console through All Programs\System Center 2012\Operations Manager\Web Console or launch the browser, navigate to the website you used in the subfolder OperationsManager

You may be presented with a Certificate Error in case you browsed to https://localhost/OperationsManager – like me, as the certificate isn’t valid for localhost of course.
Just click Continue to this website

And, no credentials prompt, that’s great. And the console works.

In my case the first few views I’ve opened were stuck in Loading… …. … just click around a bit in different views, then it works just fine.
I guess it needs to cache some stuff first, be patient.

SCOM 2012 – Side-by-Side Migration Phase 7 – Installing additional roles: Reporting

Andreas Zuckerhut — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:22:55 GMT

NOTE! This is to be considered an experience report and not an official guideline.

Table of Contents
- Intro
- Preparations for Reporting Services Setup
- Installing SQL Server Reporting Services
- Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services
- Installing SCOM Reporting Services Role

Intro
Finally I’ve found some time again to continue with my migration and the first thing I want to do is setting up the other roles I need: Reporting Services, Web Console – starting with Reporting Services.
It’s a pretty straight forward process and mostly a next-next installation. However, it can’t hurt to document it.

Preparations for Reporting Services Setup
Preparations
The first thing I want to do is reading the official guidelines of course: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh298611

There’s absolutely no guideline here on how to set up the actual SQL Reporting Services therefore it’s pretty much a next-next Installation I would imagine.
According to the Supported Configurations what I need is:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 64-Bit
- Database and Reporting must be SQL Server 2008 SP1, 2008 R2 or 2008 R2 SP1
- Remote Registry service must be enabled
- Don’t use SharePoint integrated mode… well why would I do that anyway?
- .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and .NET Framework 4

Notes
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1
In case you are using Windows Server 2008 R2 you don’t need to install .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, you have to enable it in the Features relatively verify that it’s enabled.

Enabling Remote Registry service
In the services.msc make sure the Remote Registry service is running and set to Automatic Startup Type

Installing SQL Server Reporting Services
I’ll be using SQL Server 2008 R2 including CU6 for my Reporting Services.

Configuration Checker
Launch Setup, switch to Planning and run the System Configuration Checker.

Once it’s done you are presented with a list of checks and information on whether or not they passed.
Make sure it’s all green and in case there are Errors or Warnings, fix them.

Passed, passed, passed, passed whooops – a Warning

It complains about not being able to connect to the Internet – no problem. I don’t see why this would be a Security issue though.

Setup
Once done fixing any missing prerequisites, switch to Installation and select “New installation or add features to an existing installation.”

First screen is a prerequisites checker again, make sure it’s all green and fix any errors or warnings.

Next screen, enter Product Key

Carefully read and accept the License Agreement.

And finally hit Install – This is just for the Setup Support Files though.

The System Configuration Checker runs again.

Select new SQL Server Feature Installation

Select the Reporting Services Feature

Verify that all checks passed

Configure the Instance

Configure the Service Account

Select Install, but do not configure the report server

And AGAIN, verify all checks passed.

Hit Install

Done

Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services
Once setup is done, we need to configure the SQL Server Reporting Services.

Under All Programs\Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2\Configuration Tools launch the Reporting Services Configuration Manager.
Connect to your Instance

Web Service URL
Configure the Web Service URL and hit Apply. Wait for it to be finished.

Database
Select Change Database

Create a new report server database.

Connect to your Report Server – in my case I drop the database on the machine on which the DataWarehouse runs. It’s a beast, it can handle it ;)

Configure the Database Name and leave it in Native Mode

Configure the Account.

Review configuration, hit Next and wait for the configuration to be finished.

Finish.

Report Manager URL
Pick your Virtual Directory and hit Apply.

Scale-out Deployment
Verify that the Status is Joined

And that’s all I need.

Verify functionality
Verify that both websites load properly: Report Manager, Web Service

On the Report Manager URL, create a new folder.

Give it a name and hit OK.

Verify that the Folder is there, and then delete it again.

Installing SCOM Reporting Services Role
Setup
Launch Setup and hit Install.

Select Reporting Server Role.

Verify that the prerequisites are all passed.

Specify your Management Server Name.

Specify your SQL Server Reporting Services instance.

Configure the DWH DataReader account.

Just in case that machine ever has an Internet connection.

Nope, I patch that thing myself

Review the configuration and hit Install. It takes forever btw.

Verify that Setup is good.

Verify Functionality
In case you already have the Operations Console open, re-open it otherwise the Reporting tab won’t be available.

Switch to the Reporting tab and launch some random Report.

Verify that it works properly

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

SCOM 2012 uninstallation

Natalya — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:10:06 GMT

While everybody installs SCOM 2012 these days, today I've got experience to uninstall it
Spent a few seconds to realise that the "Install" word should be clicked to begin uninstallation process. Really liked the warning from the system which reminds to uninstall agents, disconnect databases, redirect traps, etc.
Manually cleaned the rest of SCOM folder under Program Files, as well user’s SCOM settings in registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager. Noticed that there are no other SCOM leftovers in the registry. Next installations\uninstallations are coming…

Cloud: Partitions on non-system VHDs in Hyper-V VMs deployed from template appear as ‘Uninitialized' [PCITRW]

Pete Zerger — Tue, 22 May 2012 05:52:08 GMT

Here’s a not-so-minor aggravation related to VM deployment and a workaround I wanted to share with you as another lesson in the “private cloud in the real world” series. It's not every day you create a VM templates with multiple logical drives, especially with specific configuration or partitions. Every now and again, when these come up I seen problems with the second VHD containing the application partition (or partitions) coming online in the disconnected state when the VM is deployed from the template. The potential cause of the issue may not be apparent until you get an error message saying:

"the disk is offline because of policy set by an administrator".

Truth be told, this still doesn’t make the issue obvious. As it turns out this message is related to the default setting in Windows 2008 related to the San Policy.

SAN policy was been introduced in Windows Server 2008 to protect shared disks accessed by multiple servers. The first time the server sees the disk, it will be offline, but after being brought online once, should be online even after reboot.You can change the San Policy setting to OnlineAll setting to get around this, but it must be very clear that if the disks are shared among servers, this can lead to data corruption. Users are encouraged to use the proper SAN policy to protect data.

However, the VHD file in a highly available VM is not a shared disk in the same fashion, so in this case it should be safe. To avoid the issue newly deployed virtual machines, you'll need to implement the fix in the VM before you sysprep the OS (create a template). You can check the current setting of the San policy using the DISKPART utility as follows:

DISKPART.EXE

DISKPART> san

SAN Policy : Offline Shared

The Fix

The fix is to use the DISKPART utility (native to Windows 2008 OS) is to make a SAN policy change within the VM that will become the template. The steps are:

DISKPART> san policy=OnlineAll

DiskPart successfully changed the SAN policy for the current operating system.

That’s all there is to it. You’re now ready to turn this VM into a VM template.

Additional Resources

Here are a few additional resources related to the MS Private Cloud and System Center 2012

Orchestrator is AWESOME, but WHERE DO I START? [PCITRW]

OpsMgr: A 5 Step Plan for Developing an Effective LOB Application Monitoring Strategy (PCITRW)

[Series] System Center 2012 and the Private Cloud in the real world

Private Cloud in the real world: 5 lessons from the private cloud fabric

Cloud: A quick note on accurately measuring Hyper-V host performance and utilization

Orchestrator Jumpstart Series

Orchestrator 2012 Jumpstart: Day 1– Runbook Concepts, Components and Databus Rules

Orchestrator Runbook Automation JumpStart: Part 2 – Advanced Features and Functionality

Orchestrator Runbook Automation Jumpstart (Part 3)–Bridging Gaps, Extending Capabilities, Best Practices

Using Orchestrator 2012 to Schedule MMode for OpsMgr Groups

MGoedtel — Sun, 20 May 2012 01:11:13 GMT

With Operations Manager 2007 and 2007 R2, scheduling maintenance mode for a group of servers during a defined service window typically required using a custom PowerShell script, management pack, or custom program (just to name a few solutions/approaches readily available). With System Center Orchestrator and the Operations Manager 2012 Integration Pack, you have learned how we can leverage a single solution to automate maintenance mode for a single agent-managed system, or multiple systems depending on your requirements.

This solution is using a SQL query against the Operations Manager operational (OperationsManager) database. I decided to take this approach for two reasons – efficiency and simplicity. Sure I could have done this in PowerShell, but until recently I found there were challenges with running PowerShell scripts that invoke cmdlets from any one of the Microsoft products that leverage PowerShell for administration (there are multiple blog posts on this topic providing different guidance on how to approach this if you search on PowerShell and Orchestrator). Next posting I’ll share how this can be accomplished with PowerShell using a few lines of code.

The following example demonstrates how to start maintenance mode for all members of a group.

1. On the computer where the Runbook Designer is installed, click Start, point to All Programs, click System Center 2012 - Orchestrator, and then click Runbook Designer.

2. In Runbook Designer, in the Connections pane, click the Runbooks folder.

3. In the Connections pane, click the Create a new runbook icon

4. In the Runbook Designer Design workspace, right-click the Runbook tab, and then select Rename.

5. Enter a name for the runbook, such as “SchedMMode” and press Enter.

6. Create a Schedule (under Global Settings) and call it “Svc Window - Saturday 9PM-1AM” and set it so that it runs on any Saturday, and that the only hour permitted is from 9 pm to 1 am.

7. From the Connections pane in the Runbook Designer, expand the Global Settings folder, and click the Variables folder.

8. Right-click the Variables folder or a subfolder of the Variables folder, point to New, and then click Variable to open the New Variable dialog box.

9. Type a Name for the variable. This variable will represent the actual name of the group defined in Operations Manager that we will be querying for the members of the group to place into maintenance mode.

10. Type a Description that explains the purpose of the variable.

11. Type the Value of the variable, which is the actual name of the group in Operations Manager. This value replaces the placeholder in the Query Database activities where the variable is inserted.

12. Click Finish.

13. In the Activities pane, drag the Monitor Date/Time activity from the Scheduling category to the Design workspace of your runbook.

14. Double-click the Monitor Date/Time activity to open the Properties dialog box for that activity.

15. In the properties for the Monitor Date/Time activity, on the Details tab for the At setting, select an absolute time for the runbook to run that aligns with the start time of your scheduled service window. For example, if it is scheduled for 9:00 PM, select 9:00 PM for the value.

16. Click Finish.

17. In the Activities pane, drag the Check Schedule activity from the Scheduling category to the Design workspace of your runbook.

18. Double-click the Check Schedule activity to open the Properties dialog box for that activity.

19. Select the Details tab, and next to the Schedule Template box, click the ellipsis (...) button and in the Select a Schedule dialog box, select the Schedule that you created in step 6.

20. Click Finish.

21. In the Activities pane, drag the Query Database activity from the Utilities category to the Design workspace of your runbook.

22. Double-click the Query Database activity to open the Properties dialog box for that activity.

23. Select the Details tab, and in the Query text box, copy and paste the following query:

select TargetObjectDisplayName as 'Group Members'

from RelationshipGenericView

where isDeleted=0

AND SourceObjectDisplayName = ' '

ORDER BY TargetObjectDisplayName

24. Select the Connection tab, and select from the Database type drop-down list, SQL Server. For Authentication, verify the radio button for Windows Authentication is selected.

25. On the Connection tab, and next to the Server box, type in the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the SQL Server hosting the Operations Manager operational database.

26. On the Connection tab, and next to the Initial Catalog box, type in the name of the Operations Manager operational database, which by default is OperationsManager.

27. On the Security tab, provide a username and password of an account that has read rights to the OperationsManger database. By default, the service account associated with the Runbook service has not been granted this right to the database and this activity will fail by default.

28. Click Finish.

29. In the Activities pane, drag the Start Maintenance Mode activity from the SC 2012 Operations Manager category to the Design workspace of your runbook.

30. Create smart links between the Monitor Date/Time, Check Schedule, Query Database, and Start Maintenance Mode activities.

31. Double-click the Start Maintenance Mode activity to open the Properties dialog box for that activity.

32. Select the Details tab, and next to the Server Connection box, click the ellipsis (...) button and in the Item Selection dialog box, select the connection defined for the Operations Manager Integration Pack.

33. Next to the Monitor box, type the following: Microsoft.Windows.Computer: and then right-click and select Subscribe\Published Data.

34. In the Published Data dialog box, verify in the Activity drop-down list the Query Database activity is selected and in the middle pane select the published data – Full line as a string… and press the OK button.

35. Next to the Reason box, click the ellipsis (…) button and in the Reasons dialog box, select the appropriate reason from the list and press OK.

36. Next to the Duration box, enter a value representing the total number of minutes to place the monitored objects returned from the Query Database into maintenance mode.

37. Next to the Comment box, type in a comment to indicate why the maintenance mode activity is initiated for the monitored object.

38. Click Finish.

The other activities in the runbook are utilizing the Operations Manager Create Alert activity to handle errors that may arise and inform when the runbook completes successfully.

I can confirm from testing that the Start Maintenance Mode activity does place the object and all child objects into maintenance mode. Hopefully you experience the same results as I do.

Any questions, feel free to email me at mgoedtel@itcentric.biz.

New Video: QMX - Configuration Manager for iPad, iPhone, Android - Mobile Device Management

Heterogeniuses — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:28:02 GMT

New Video:

QMX - Configuration Manager iPad, iPhone, Android Mobile Device Management

QMX - Configuration Manager Edition - Now Supporting Android Mobile Devices (effective 4/20) in addition to iPads & iPhone.

View the videos on:

Quest TV: http://quest.com/tv/All-Videos/1558920731001/QXM---System-Center-Configuration-Manager-Brief-Feature-Overview/Video/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z-WU4i5E3Y

Check out the new Android extension: Security features include Remote Wipe, Lock and Reset Passcode; Inventory information showing installed applications and device/OS properties; set password requirements via profile distribution and more.

Check out the new iOS extension: All of the above and app deployment, too!