Pete Zerger

Blog: System Center OpsMgr X-Plat Providers source code available

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:39:41 GMT

Cellfish: So today we published some of the code for the cross platform implementation as open source. It's the code that implements the providers getting all the things needed for monitoring Solaris, Linux, AIX, HPUX etc.

The fact that we were going to release this code as open source has been communicated for a long time but I think it kind of got lost in the whole cross platform message since it is kind of rare that Microsoft releases code as open source. Especially code for products and not just examples and frameworks.

Visit: System Center OpsMgr X-Plat Providers on Codeplex

Blog: Handy URLs for System Center Central

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:46:40 GMT

Just as we had on System Center Forum, there are shortcut links to the Community Toolbox, Community MP Catalog for SCOM 2007, as well as Kevin’s hotfix page”

Community Management Pack Catalog – http://www.systemcentercentral.com/mps

OpsMgr Community Toolbox – http://www.systemcentercentral.com/tools

SCOM 2007 Hotfixes – http://www.systemcentercentral.com/scomqfe (redirects to the SCOM hotfix page on Kevin Holman’s blog).

Blog: Internet Tethering for iPhone 3G

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:05:48 GMT

If you upgrade your iPhone to the v3.0 software, you will find a
number of new. Features, including" Internet Tethering", which allows
you to connect your laptop to the Internet via USB or Bluetooth.

To configure, browse to the following page on your iPhone http://help.benm.at, then select
your country and mobile provider.

Blog: SCOM: Query SQL Database for Value Script(for 2-state monitor)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:07:34 GMT

In yesterday’s sample, we were querying the Pending Actions count and logging an event if the count was greater than zero. In this sample, the script has been adapted for use in a 2-state monitor.

In this sample, we actually run a query to retrieve the 'Pending Actions' count from the SCOM 2007 Operational database. Since the name and server location are up to the administrator, this script actually retrieves the server and database name from the registry (when run on Mgmt Server or RMS), and runs the query.

Where to get it

Download link and description available here: Script: Query Value from SQL Database (for 2-state monitor)

If the count of Pending Actions in your OperationsManager is greater than your user defined threshold, the Property Bag value for State = BAD. This could be easily used in a 2-state monitor. Detailed steps for doing this can be found in How to create a Script-based 2-State Monitor.

Sample MP

To see how to target a script like this to run once at a defined interval on your Ops DB, see the sample OpsMgr 2007 Extensions MP, which will raise an alert when you have pending actions waiting for your attention in the Operations Console.

Blog: Management Pack University is live!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:01:28 GMT

Microsoft have released a set of webcasts focused on the MP authoring. This is the best info yet from what I’ve seen so far. I’ve only been through the first couple of webcasts.

Check it out at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/cc671407.aspx

Blog: SCOM: Query SQL Database for Value in Monitoring Script

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:31:04 GMT

This sample monitoring script illustrates how run a T-SQL query on a database and log an event based on value returned. This is a good example of how to dynamically create the connection string when database server & database name must be discovered at runtime.

Where to get it

Download link and description available here: Script: Query Value from SQL Database and Log Event

If the count of Pending Actions is greater than your user defined threshold, an event is logged. This could be used with an alert-generating rule to create an alert.

Sample MP

To see this script in action, try the sample OpsMgr 2007 Extensions MP, which will raise an alert when you have pending actions waiting for your attention in the Operations Console.

Blog: Some Configuration Manager SP1 hotfixes have been re-released for Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:01:43 GMT

The Configuration Manager Sustained Engineering team has re-released a number of Configuration Manager SP1 hotfixes due to a problem with the hotfix installer's ability to detect Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2. This will cause Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 hotfixes to fail to install on those operating systems even though they are applicable.a(continue at source)

Blog: ResearchThis! KB – The service could not bind the database.

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:33:50 GMT

Alert: The service could not bind the database.

Issue: The service could not bind instance 3. The data is the error code.

Resolution: SMTP was non-functional on the system due to an error as the TCP port was being used by another program (IIS was using port 443 in this case, and the SMTP server also wanted to use port 433). Moved the SMTP to run on a different port number (444 in this case).

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller (MVP)

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Script Based Test Failed to Complete

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:24:12 GMT

Alert: Script Based Test Failed to Complete

Issue: AD Remote Topology Discovery is failing on the domain controller. Failed to CreateObject ‘OOMADs’. Validated that the domain controller did not have the Active Directory Management Pack Helper Object (OOMADs) installed via checking the add/remove programs content.

Additional script failures include:
-AD Database and Log failed to create object ‘McActiveDir.ActiveDirectory”.
-AD DNS Verification failed to CreateObject ‘OOMADs’
-AD Lost And Found Object Count failed to create object ‘McActiveDirectory’

Resolution: Installed OOMADs from the MOM cd in the SupportTools directory on the domain controller.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller [MOM MVP]

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Disk Read Latencies 25 msec

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:23:37 GMT

Alert: Disk Read Latencies 25 msec

Issue: Exchange 2003 server: C Drive, Disk Read Latencies greater than 25 msec. (PhysicalDisk: Avg Disk sec/Read: _Total). Part of the Exchange management pack. On the Z drive for this particular system.

Resolution: Last event occurred two months prior. Tracked the physical disk counter and validate that the values were less than 25 msec for the data available within the Operations manager console. Used the performance history report for the server, (ObjectName = PhysicalDisk), (Counter Name = Avg. Disk sec/Read), (Instance Name = _Total) to validate that these numbers are no longer in issue.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller (MVP)

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - AD Client Side - Script Based Test Failed to Complete

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:23:05 GMT

Alert: AD Client Side - Script Based Test Failed to Complete

Issue: Domain controller failing on ‘AD Client GC Availability’

Resolution: The action account on the system (found by logging into the system, opening c:\program files\microsoft operations manager 2005 and running the setactionaccount -query) was running on an account where the password had been changed. Uninstalled the MOM agent and re-installed the MOM agent.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller [MOM MVP]

Blog: Operations Manager 2007 Web Console Part 4: Customizing the Web Console URL in alert notifications

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:50:03 GMT

Previous Installments:

Part 3 - Publishing the Web Console through ISA 2004

In our first 3 installments, in varying degrees of detail, we stepped through installation of an SSL certificate to our Web Console instance in IIS, configured forms authentication, branded our Web Console login screen and securely published the console to the Internet.

In part 4, we will answer the question "What can you do if the FQDN of your Web Console belongs to a DNS domain that cannot be resolved from the Internet?" For example, if the FQDN of the server hosting the Web Console is rms01.momresources.int, then the alert link in the notification presents a a URL that is unreachable from the Internet, like so:

https://rms01.systemcentercentral.int?DisplayMode=Pivot&AlertID={2c7cea36-fe84-4db1-b499-be53b9ccef8e}

This end result is that the Alert view link is worthless if you are not on or connected to your internal corporate network. Fortunately, we can work around this problem.

The Workaround:

To update the URL to reflect the publicly available FQDN (that we added to DNS, added to the SSL certificate and published via ISA), we'll need to update the string under the Alert view link: text in the default notification format.

Where you update this value determines how the fix is applied. You can update this string on the formats screen of an individual notification subscription, or you can update this string in the default notification format in Global Settings to update this in all subscriptions using the default notification format.

Customizing URL in SCOM Alerts

By default, the Web Console link value is represented by the following XPath string:

$Target/Property[Type="Notification!Microsoft.SystemCenter.AlertNotificationSubscriptionServer"]/WebConsoleUrl$?DisplayMode=Pivot&AlertID=$UrlEncodeData/Context/DataItem/AlertId$

The “$Target/Property[Type="Notification!Microsoft.SystemCenter.AlertNotificationSubscriptionServer"]/WebConsoleUrl$” portion of this string represents the server name of the machine hosting the Web Console. So by hard-coding this portion of the string with the URL representing the published name we entered in DNS, we'll be able click this link and access alert information from anywhere we have Internet connectivity.

So our new Web Console link value would be updated to look like this:

https://webconsole.systemcentercentral.com?DisplayMode=Pivot&AlertID=$Data/Context/DataItem/AlertId$

Now, your Web Console alert links are available anywhere you have Internet connectivity!

Blog: What’s new in the OpsMgr 2007 Service Level Dashboard 2.0?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:47:24 GMT

A good question came up in the forums this morning about service level reporting in OpsMgr 2007 R2. If you are using the original SLD in SCOM 2007 SP1, you were doing basic reporting from the DW. You would have to embed the 'AD Topology Root' distributed application model in the SLD template (see the guide that came with SLD 1.x). It basically looks and performed like a static report, even though the graphics and gauges were pretty nice.

Meet SLD 2.0

On SCOM 2007 R2, it's quite a bit nicer. While the SLD still reads from the OpsMgr data warehouse (see the diagram in the Solution Accelerator Guide), it returns availability data only a couple of minutes old (near real-time data). This version looks and feels much more like a dashboard…not just a static report. This solution leverages the new Service Level Tracking feature you’ll see in the R2 console, which allows administrators to configure service level goals for applications and groups. Note that the new version requires WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007

The new dashboard report several aspects of application availability, including:

Current status and health of all defined Service Level Objectives (SLOs)
Service Level Metrics
Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
Service Level Trends

It's much different in the new version to say the least, and a step in the right direction.

Resources, Examples and More Information

Rather than describe from scratch, let me point you to existing resources that will give you all you need to get started with the SLD 2.0 application.

Marnix Wolf has a review of the new SLD feature you should look at, which includes a quick how-to

http://thoughtsonopsmgr.blogspot.com/2009/05/scom-r2-service-level-dashboard-mp.html

Here you will find the new SLD Solution Accelerator

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630553.aspx

Blog: SCOM 2007 Notification Tips: How do I stop noisy rules and monitors during nightly maintenance & backups?

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:35:22 GMT

Here’s a good question that -has shown up in a couple of the forums and a mailing list:

Question:

How do I stop the alerts from noisy rules and monitors that are triggered when backups and other nightly maintenance are running?

Answer:

There are several ways to deal with this, but it is important to understand the negative repercussions of each.

Option 1: Maintenance Mode

Remember you can put any object class in maintenance mode, so find the target class of the offending rule or monitoring and schedule it for maintenance mode every night. The negative here is that tracking down target classes and configuring maintenance mode could be time consuming.

Option 2: Configure Alert to NOT Auto-Resolve

If the alert does not auto-resolve, you’ll only get one alert. The negative here is that after doing this, you now have a monitor-generated alert you have to resolve manually (or through a scheduled Powershell script) to clean this up so it can generate another alert during the remaining hours of the day.

Option 3: Set the Sample Period to a Longer Interval

If a runs at a one minute interval, configure it to run at a 3 minute interval. The negative here is, that as in option 2, you now have a monitor that will behave differently 24 hours a day. You want to be sure this will not affect your ability to identify a problem before your users do.

If you know the impact of each option, it should help you make an educated choice.

Sources: Self, The Great and Powerful OZ Kevin Holman, et al.

Blog: System Center WIKI feature at SystemCenterCentral.com now online

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:00:36 GMT

The System Center WIKI feature is now online at systemcentercentral.com. The Operations Manager section already has quite a good start, as we added a good deal of updated content (and consolidated some existing info from Maarten’s old WIKI). Other areas will grow as time goes on (I have quite a bit of SCE, Hyper-V and SCVMM material to upload).

All registered users are welcome to update the WIKI as well. Visit the System Center WIKI at System Center Central at the URL Below:

http://www.systemcentercentral.com/WIKIs/WIKIsDetails/tabid/146/IndexID/43/Default.aspx

Blog: Coming Soon: Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed (with coverage of R2! )

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:12:14 GMT

The Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed authoring team has announced their book complete and off to the printer. We hosted the lab environment used by the authors, so I can attest that the book must have been a MASSIVE undertaking. And from what I previewed, it’s going to be an essential reference, just like the Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed book.

Congratulations to the Kerrie, Byron, Greg and the entire Unleashed authoring team!

Pre-order your copy at Amazon.com by clicking on the picture below

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 Web Console Series Part 3: Publishing the Web Console through ISA 2004

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:08:17 GMT

Previous Installments:

In part 1 we configured our Web Console for forms authentication and installed an SSL certificate to support authentication across the Internet. In part 2, we branded the console with our corporate logo. In part 3, we're going to publish our Web Console through ISA 2004 so it is fully accessible from the Internet.

Steps below assume:

SSL Certificate: An SSL certificate with a publicly routable DNS name is installed on the Web Console web site.
Public DNS Entry: A DNS entry on your public DNS server for the FQDN on the certificate and a public IP address has been created.

If you've not completed either of these steps, you should complete these tasks before proceeding.

To publish the URL:

Open ISA 2004 Console. Right click Firewall Policy and select New --> Web Server Publishing Rule.

Settings on your Web Server Publishing Rule should appear as follows:

Tab \ Setting

General: Enabled should be selected.
Action: Action to take = Allow
From: Anywhere
To: FQDN of your Web Console. (When you ping this name from the ISA Server, it should resolve to the INTERNAL IP assigned to the Web Console web site.). Select the 'Forward original header' checkbox. Select the radio button 'Requests appear to come from original'.
Traffic: Rule applies to the following protocols: HTTP, HTTPS
Link Translation: Select 'Replace absolute links in web pages'.
Users: All Users group should be in the list.
Listener: Listener should contain the public IP in your DNS record, and be configured to listen on the same ports designated on the Bridging tab.
Bridging: The Web Server radio button should be selected. The Redirect Request to SSL Portcheckbox should be selected, and the appropriate listening TCP port on the Web Console web site (443 by default) listed in the text box provided.
Paths: /*
Public Name: This rule applies to requests for the following web sites: Click Add and enter the FQDN on the SSL certificate you installed on the Web Console web site (if you have an equivalent internal DNS entry) or the internal IP address of the Web Console.

NOTE: Since we only want SSL to be used, and with forms authentication enabled you really do not need to publish HTTP.

You’re done. Now you should be able to access your Web Console

In Part 4, we'll look at how to modify the Alert view link in your notifications to reflect the publicly reachable FQDN in the link to the alert.

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 Web Console Series Part 2: Branding the Web Console in Operations Manager 2007 R2

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:00:13 GMT

Now that we've made our Web Console accessible on or off the domain via a login page (See Part 1), let's consider branding. What if I want to put my corporate logo on the generic login graphic?

This is easily accomplished actually.

Simply drill down to the %programfiles%\System Center Operations Manager 2007\Web Console\Images directory.
Find the file named Log_in.png.
Make a copy of this file so you can revert back to the original image if necessary.
Add your logo to the upper corner of the file, and you're all set!

In the next installment, we'll publish our Web Console securely through ISA 2004/2006.

Blog: Part 1: Secure Publishing of the OpsMgr 2007 Web Console to the Internet

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:18:05 GMT

The web console has come a long way in the last release, so no doubt more administrators are using this tool. And the whole point is to bring some flexibility to our lives as OpsMgr administrators, so accessing the Web Console securely from anywhere is a fairly common need.

There are a couple of things to be aware of where the Web Console is concerned:

If your Web Console is not hosted on the Root Management Server, be aware of the Kerberos double hop issue. In short, this means that Windows will not forward impersonated credentials from the remote Web Console to the RMS. In short, impersonated credentials cannot be passed from the server hosting the Web Console to the Root Mgmt Server.
To see this in action, setup a remote Web Console and then access first remotely from your desktop, and then again locally from the console of the server hosting the Web Console. (More on the double-hop issue HERE).

Securing Credentials Traversing the Internet

Secondly, remember when accessing from the Internet, we don't have domain credentials that can be passed, so this will be a problem when exposing the Web Console to administrators on the Internet as well.

On the LAN, we'd use Kerberos delegation (or constrained delegation ) to work around this limitations, essentially configuring computers to be "trusted for delegation" in the Active Directory, allowing the forwarding of impersonated credentials. But in our case, we need to actually present a login UI to capture credentials from the user.

In the .NET and OpsMgr world, the means to this end is to configure the Web Console to use Forms-based authentication. Forms-based authentication is an ASP.NET authentication service that enables applications to provide their own logon UI and do their own credential verification. ASP.NET authenticates users, redirecting unauthenticated users to the logon page, and performing all the necessary cookie management. This sort of authentication is a popular technique used by many Web sites.

Like any .NET web application, this setting is actually controlled in the web.config file for the application. For the OpsMgr Web Console, you'll find this in the %programfiles%\System Center Operations Manager 2007\Web Console directory on the server hosting the Web Console.

You can easily uninstall and reinstall the Web Console, selecting Forms authentication on the reinstall, or you can simply edit your web.config file to enable Forms authentication. If Forms-based authentication is enabled, or if you wish to enable it, the section in your web.config file should be configured to look like this

You'll note here that requireSSL is set to true, which is the default when using Forms-based authentication with the Web Console. I would recommend against using Forms-based authentication without SSL, as it will result in Active Directory credentials traversing the Internet in clear text. So for the solution to be functional and secure, you'll need to secure the Web Console site in IIS with an SSL certificate from your certificate authority or purchase one from one of the many companies who issue SSL certificates (at a cost) on the Internet.

The result is a login UI rather than the Web Console being launched directly without a prompt for credentials (see image below). And when deployed with SSL, you can enjoy secure, anywhere-access to your Operations Manager 2007 deployment.

In a future post on this topic, we'll cover how to publish the Web Console through ISA 2004/2006.

Blog: Instant Software Deployment in Essentials 2007 - When wuauclt /detectnow just is not fast enough

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:05:33 GMT

I had a customer in need of truly instant gratification related to a small software component. This trick will work in OpsMgr 2007 as well, but is not something I encourage.

Scenario:

Support engineer is required to uninstall and reinstall a small software component prone to failure on demand. In the past, this required the engineer to login as local administrator (users do not have local admin rights), uninstall, reinstall and logoff with the user waiting on the phone.

Given this has to be performed on demand, several times a week, using the normal software deployment functionality with the wuauclt /detectnow task really just did not meet support the need for instant gratification.

Workaround:

Create uninstall and installation tasks using the Windows Installer (msiexec), which provides well known command line parameters to silently install uninstall. This can can easily be accomplished using the msiexec -x (uninstall) and /qn (silent) flags.

As long as the package does not run beyond the task timeout limit specified when creating the task, it works well, and reports success or failure in the task window.

The Uninstall Task

Here's how you'd configure the task. Notice the software package is located on a network share with Everyone READ permissions. FYI- This was not the point from which the package was originally installed.

The Install Task

This looks much like the Uninstall Task, just minus the -x flag.

Hope you find this tip useful! Please post feedback via comments on this post

Blog: SCOM 2007 R2: How to test Cross-Platform Monitoring without purchasing a RHEL license

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:13:47 GMT

I’ve had a couple of questions on this in the last week, and wanted to post the how-to here:

Q: How can I demonstrate or test cross-platform monitoring in SCOM 2007 R2 without purchasing a RHEL (RedHat), Suse or other license?

A: In truth, both of these distributions have a trial download (60 days in each case I think), but there is also a way you can setup a long-term demo with no license purchase at all using CentOS. We’ll simply change the OS caption…Read on for details on the process and why CentOS looks so much like RHEL.

This scenario is very real to me, as we do have a couple of VM hosts running CentOS 5 and VMware Server in my organization. So while it may not be supported, by one method or another,monitoring our CentOS systems is something we have to do

While unsealing and modifying a copy of the RHEL 5 MP is possible as has been alluded to in the blogosphere, I wanted to point out a much faster method for testing monitoring of CentOS 5.x when you are learning and experimenting in your non-production scenarios. Truly I hope MS is someday able to provide support for CentOS and OpenSolaris in particular, as I think these platforms are widely used by developers and somewhat more predictable in their similarities to their commercial counterparts.

How Similar are Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 and CentOS?

For anyone that may not be aware, Red Hat releases all source code for the product publicly under the terms of the GNU General Public License and other licenses. CentOS developers use that source code to create a final product that is very similar to RHEL; the logos must be changed, because Red Hat does not allow them to be used for redistribution. If you look at the release dates, you will notice CentOS releases come very quickly behind their Red Hat counterparts, generally within 4-5 weeks, as shown HERE. In short, while there is no guarantee of their ultimate similarity, Red Hat and CentOS are in the end very similar at present.

Discovering and Monitoring CentOS

As mentioned, I've seen posts on unsealing management packs, etc., and wanted to point out the "easy button" method for this. If you look at the Microsoft.Linux.RHEL.5 MP, you'll see the discovery for RHEL systems involves a simple query to the CIM Namespace root/scx to find the "Caption" of the operating system (basically a display name), as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 - OS Discovery for RHEL Systems

Clearly this will be very different on a CentOS server versus a Red Hat server. However, this is easily changed for testing purposes, with no ill effects that we have yet been able to identify after several days.

Changing the OS Caption on a CentOS Server.

This value is stored in the /etc/redhat-release file. In fact, this Caption is the only value stored in this file. So, first make a backup of this file. The value present on a CentOS system will be something similar toCentOS release 5 (final). If you change this value to reflect the value on a standard RHEL 5 or 5.1 system. I used Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.1 (Tikanga), which I pulled straight from the redhat-release file on an RHEL 5.1 system. This changes the value returned for the OS Caption when the root/scx namespace is queried by the object discovery, as well as how the Unix and Linux Computer Management Wizard identifies the target computer.

Results

After making this change, I ran the Unix and Linux Computer Management Wizard and successfully pushed an agent to the server. Within a couple of hours, the same discovery, monitoring and performance collection data present for my RHEL 5.1 server also seemed to be working for my CentOS server - another testament to the similarity of the two. As for production scenarios, I am taking a wait-and-see attitude in hopes that we'll see some unofficial guidance from the product team at some point down the road.

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 Health Check – Finding rules and monitors targeted to groups

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:16:13 GMT

We’ve been talking about the Requirements for a SCOM 2007 Health Check script that is freely available, and amongst the list is identifying rules and monitors targeted to group. I’ll put a bulleted list together based on the results of this thread, so if you have any thoughts on requirements for determination of a healthy SCOM 2007 installation, add them to the list HERE. This could be a really useful tool for periodic checks, and perhaps the only option if you do not have a Premier support contract. (Premier customers can get the full exam as part of a professional services engagement)

Here is some T-SQL for identifying Rules and Unit Monitors targeted to a GROUP in error. This doesn't get us to an absolute list of culprits, but does return a very small result set (including name, target and MP) very quickly in which we can easily identify mistakes. You will find a couple of singleton classes targeted by rules which are not groups in some internal MPs, but these queries get us very very close in tests I conducted in the lab.

If we were to query a level deeper to identify base class, we could be 100% accurate (assuming we correctly identified all base classes for a group), but stopped here due to time constraints.

I tried to identify the same information with Powershell and successfully did so, but found it took much longer to execute, thus the move to T-SQL to minimize impact to MG resources. (PoSh took a couple minutes to execute, T-SQL took only a couple seconds). T-SQL seems a bit easier to put together for these types of checks than PoSh in some cases.

For Unit Monitors

SELECT * from dbo.ManagedTypeView.DisplayName AS Target, dbo.MonitorView.DisplayName AS MonitorName,
dbo.ManagementPackView.DisplayName AS MP, dbo.ManagedTypeView.Singleton
FROM dbo.MonitorView INNER JOIN
dbo.ManagementPackView ON dbo.MonitorView.ManagementPackId = dbo.ManagementPackView.Id INNER JOIN
dbo.ManagedTypeView ON dbo.MonitorView.TargetMonitoringClassId = dbo.ManagedTypeView.Id
WHERE (dbo.ManagedTypeView.Singleton = 1) and dbo.MonitorView.IsUnitMonitor = 1
ORDER BY Target

For Rules

SELECT TOP (100) PERCENT dbo.ManagedTypeView.DisplayName AS Target, dbo.RuleView.DisplayName AS RuleName,
dbo.ManagementPackView.DisplayName AS MP, dbo.ManagedTypeView.Singleton
FROM dbo.RuleView INNER JOIN
dbo.ManagementPackView ON dbo.RuleView.ManagementPackId = dbo.ManagementPackView.Id INNER JOIN
dbo.ManagedTypeView ON dbo.RuleView.TargetMonitoringClassId = dbo.ManagedTypeView.Id
WHERE(dbo.ManagedTypeView.Singleton = 1)
ORDER BY Target

Let me know if you have anything to add to the discussion as a comment to this post or by joining the forum discussion mentioned above.

Blog: SCOM: Report Models for Operations Manager 2007 SP1 (and how to install and use)

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:25:16 GMT

Using Report Builder with Operations Manager 2007 SP1 has not been as widespread as it might have been otherwise because there are no report models included with this version of SCOM. Do you want an answer to this issue? Simply look on the OpsMgr 2007 R2 media

On the R2 product media in the “Report Models” folder, you will find two report models that can be used with the OpsMgr 2007 SP1 release as well! Look in the Report Models –> Other and you’ll the following:

The bottom line – if there are no schema changes in the DW (or you take care to use Views in your reporting components), it’s definitely possible

To Install These Models in SQL Reporting Services for use with SCOM 2007 SP1

With these models, you will need to upload the model and then update the datasource it is pointed to so it will function.

Browse to the http:///reports URL on your SCOM 2007 SP1 Reporting Server.
Click the View Details button, and then the Upload File link.
Click the Browse button, and then browse to the folder containing the files. Pick either one and click Open, and then OK.
On the Home page of the Report Manager page, click the Edit button

Click the Data Sources link, followed by the Browse button to update the data source.
Browse to “Data Warehouse Main” following by OK and then Apply.

To Use the Models

In the Operations Console, you can access these models from the Reporting space by clicking the “Design a Report” link to launch Report Builder.

If I’m able to design some compelling reports with the models, I’ll post them here.

Blog: Powershell Tip: Working with TRUE and FALSE Comparisons in Powershell

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:29:34 GMT

I posted an updated Powershell script for a client to resolve rule-generated alerts in SCOM 2007, but also to illustrate an example of TRUE and FALSE evaluation in Powershell.

The fact is, it’s really about $TRUE and $FALSE. Powershell has a more accurate notion of true / false than one might imagine. I just wanted to add a pointer to some clarifying information for the benefit of all who may not be familiar.

My client had written a script that attempted TRUE / FALSE evaluation using the –eq comparison operator as though “TRUE” and “FALSE” evaluation where strings, and they were getting an unexpected results, getting a true match when a false was expected, and vice versa. (Code snippet below)

get-alert | where-object { ($_.LastModified -lt $targetdate) -and ($_.ResolutionState -eq 0) -and ($_.IsMonitorAlert -eq“false”)}

This is actually a Boolean comparison, and using –eq $TRUE or –eq $FALSE will deliver the expected results.

So what are the potential consequences of using “TRUE” and “FALSE” strings in such comparisons?

Notes from “The Architect”

Powershell architect Jeffrey Snover has a great explanation if you’re not familiar. Jeffrey also explains why the unexpected results are returned as well.

http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2006/12/24/boolean-values-and-operators.aspx

Sample Script

I modified one of my old scripts to address rule-generated alerts only. For a “Close Rule-Generated Reports” that treats these as boolean values, click HERE.

Blog: SCOM Console Task: Finding currently logged on user from the Operations Console

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:18:33 GMT

Someone asked how to retrieve the currently logged-on user on agent-managed computers from the SCE Admin Console. I created a quick Console Task to do this, which could be done with equal success on the Operations Manager 2007 platform.

Start by downloading the PSLoggedOn command line utility from Sysinternals.com (now Microsoft). It can be downloaded HERE.
In the Authoring Pane select New Task --> Console Tasks --> Command line

Settings were configured as follows:

Application: %systemroot%\psloggedon.exe

Parameters: \$Target Property[Type="Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Computer"]/NetbiosComputerName$

I should note here that when I preceded this parameter with the -l (local only) and/or -x (dont show times) I got an InnerException Failure message. SCE didn't like something about those parameters.

Working Directory: c:\windows\temp

And DO check the box for capturing output.

For this example, I dropped the tool in the Windows directory. If you added a \tools directory of some sort to the Path environment variable for these types of tasks, it will make life easier in the long run.

Blog: SCOM: Dynamic Group to detect SQL 2005 with (or without) specific Service Pack

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:10:00 GMT

Recently, a user was asking about how to create a custom group to report all SQL servers without SP3 in their environment, so we new which servers needed the update.

Here is an example of how to do that using a dynamically-populated group in Operations Manager 2007.

Launch the Operations Console. In the Authoring space, right click on Groups and click "Create a new group".
In the Name field, enter the desired name of the Group and select the destination management pack. Click Next.
Skip the "Explicit Group Membership" by clicking Next.
On the Dynamic Inclusion step, click Create/Edit Rules.
Change the class from the default (Windows Computer) to "SQL 2005 DB Engine". Click Add.
In the Property box, select “Version”
In the Operator box, select “Not Equal”
In the Value box, you can input the following version: 2005.90.4035 (which is SQL 2005 SP3)
Click OK to close the Query Builder window and then click Next to move on to the next step.
Skip the "Add Subgroups" step by clicking Next.
Skip the "Exclude Objects" step by clicking Create.

Now you have a group that only includes SQL 2005 without SP3 and is dynamic so it will always include all SQL 2005 installations without SP3 found by Ops Mgr 2007.

For a list of SQL version numbers based on SP installed, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321185

Blog: How to convert management packs for OpsMgr 2007 (without a live MOM 2005 management group)

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:19:44 GMT

Q: Can I convert MOM 2005 management packs without having an active MOM 2005 Management Group?

A: Yes, this can be done with the MOM 2005 to OpsMgr 2007 Migration Wizard.

NOTE: The wizard does require that the MOM 2005 UI be loaded on the Ops Mgr management server where you run the tool.

The steps would be as follows:

Load the MOM 2005 UI (when prompted for a MOM 2005 Mgmt Server during install, simply leave that field blank).
Make sure the MOM 2005 MP akm files you wish to convert are available (converting MPs from file will be your only option with no MOM 2005 MG)
Launch the Migration Wizard and select Migrate MPs from file and click Next.
Select one or multiple MP akm files you wish to convert in the space provided, then click Next
On the next screen, select the Migrate to file radio button and select a target directory, then click Next.
On the next screen, click the Migrate button. MPs are converted to Operations Manager .xml format and ready for import.

Then, simply import into Operations Manager 2007 per the normal procedure.

One additional note here. Leave conversion of MS management packs to MS whenever possible. The need to convert MOM 2005 MPs should only be occasional at this point in the product cycle.

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - The Internet Information Service NNTP Virtual Server named NNTPSVC/1 is unavailable as the virtual server has been stopped

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:12:10 GMT

Alert: The Internet Information Service NNTP Virtual Server named NNTPSVC/1 is unavailable as the virtual server has been stopped.

Issue: On Exchange 2003 servers this service is required to install but it is not required after it is installed.

Resolution: If this service is disabled/not in use you can remove it. To remove the service, log into the server and use sc delete NNTPSvc. Or you can create an override to ignore this on Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server Group, as NNTP was required for the installation but can be disabled after the installation has been completed.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller (MVP)

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Auto Close Flag

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:08:12 GMT

Alert: Auto Close Flag

Issue: The auto close flag for database MSCUPTDB in SQL instance MSSQL SERVER on computer 123.abc.com is not set according to best practice.

Resolution: As this is a standard Microsoft application (patch Management for SMS and Configuration Manager) and a default configuration, created an override to exclude this database.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller (MVP)

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Auto Shrink Flag

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:05:28 GMT

Alert: Auto Shrink Flag

Issue: The auto shrink flag for database (DBNAME) in SQL instance MSSQL SERVER on computer 123.abc.com is not set according to best practice.

Resolution: This was found on a series of standard Microsoft applications including SUSDB, WSUS and MSCUPTDB. Additional databases found with the Auto Shrink Flag: Backup Exec, ItAssist, SOE, DSPre, XRXDBDiscovery (Xerox), XRXDBCWW (Xerox). Options available include contacting the vendor to determine if this flag can be changed safely (and changing the flag if it can) or to create an override to exclude this database from monitoring this configuration.

This is sometimes configured by design to minimize maintenance no 3rd party databases used for utility-type purposes.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller (MVP)

Blog: Windows Server Hyper-V MP for SCOM 2007 now available (ver 6.0.6633.0)

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:16:50 GMT

The Hyper-V management pack for Operations Manager 2007 (SCOM) has been released:

Overview

This management pack supports monitoring of Windows Server Hyper-V systems. This includes monitoring coverage of Hyper-V host servers, including critical services and disks, and Hyper-V virtual machines, including virtual components and virtual hardware.

Feature Summary

This management pack provides the following functionality:

Management of critical Hyper-V services that affect virtual machines and host server functionality
Management of host server logical disks that affect virtual machine health
Full representation of virtualization in a single Hyper-V host server, including virtual networks, virtual machines, and guest computers
Monitoring of virtual machine hardware components that affect availability’

Where to get it:

Download the MP from the Microsoft site at the URL below

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=502e7a26-2fea-4052-89fd-8f75142de4f2&displaylang=en&displaylang=en

Blog: Command Shell: Dumping all overrides in Operations Manager 2007

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:20:07 GMT

Want a quick way to view ALL overrides in your Operations Manager 2007 installation?

Here's a one-liner to dump all overrides in descending order by LastModified date to a spreadsheet, which should tip you off to recent changes enacted via override.

get-ManagementPack | where {$_.Name -like "*" } | get-Override |sort-object LastModified -descending | select-object name, displayname, xmltag, value, timeadded, lastmodified | export-Csv -Path "c:\overrides.csv"

While not perfect, the Name attribute provides some insight into the purpose of the override. Unfortuntely, not all overrides have a friendly name (DisplayName), and I didnt see any trace of who made the changes in the verbose output. The xmltag attribute does reveal if the override is applied to a rule, monitor, etc (values I encountered were RuleConfigurationOverride, MonitorConfigurationOverride, CategoryOverride). The value parameter the current value data for the given override.

In the future I'll look further into the potential of connecting overrides to their associated rules / monitors for inclusion in the output.

Blog: Command Shell: Retrieving Agent Count by Management Server

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:06:35 GMT

A recent request came for a Powershell script that would return a list of management servers along with a count of the number of agents reporting to them. This would be handy in large environments for validating that you are properly balancing the agent load across management servers.

Here's a sample script that will do just that.

$rootMS = "NOCMS01"
#Initialize the OpsMgr Provider
add-pssnapin "Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client";
set-location "OperationsManagerMonitoring::";

#set Management Group context to the provided RMS
new-managementGroupConnection -ConnectionString:$rootMS;
set-location $rootMS;

$agent = get-agent | sort Name

$agent | Group PrimaryManagementServerName -Noelement | sort Name | select Name, Count | export-Csv -noTypeInformation -path "c:\agents.csv"

Output

The output is a csv file with Management Server name and count, as shown below.

Name,Count
NOCMS01.noc.systemcenterforum.org,81
NOCMS02.noc.systemcenterforum.org,34
NOCMS03.noc.systemcenterforum.org,12
NOCMS04.noc.systemcenterforum.org,45

Blog: OpsMgr 2007: Updating Primary and Failover Mgmt Server settings for multiple agents

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:43:43 GMT

I had a question today regarding how one could update the primary and failover management server settings for a number of Operations Manager 2007 agent-managed computers. Powershell comes to mind as the easiest way to make this happen.

This sample script illustrates how to retrieve a list of agents based on a common search element, and then loop through these agents, updating the settings on each. Update setting as instructed in comments, then save with a .ps1 file. The script can be run on any computer with the Operations Console / Command Shell interfaces loaded.

#-------------Begin Sample Script--------------

#Update $rootMS variable with the name of your RMS

$rootMS= "opsmgr.contoso.com"

#Initializing the Ops Mgr 2007 Powershell provider and Connecting to Mgmt Group
     add-pssnapin "Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client" -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
     set-location "OperationsManagerMonitoring::" -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
     new-managementGroupConnection -ConnectionString:$rootMS -ErrorVariable errSnapin;
     set-location $rootMS -ErrorVariable errSnapin

# Retrieve a list of agents and assign to variable $agent
# In this example, all servers with server name starting with 'FS'

$agents = get-agent | where-object {$_.Name -like 'FS*'}

# set variables for primary and secondary management servers.
# make sure the WHERE clause in each one-liner below matches only 1 MS!

$PriMS = get-managementserver | where-object {$_.Name -eq 'ms1.contoso.com'}
$SecMS = get-managementserver | where-object {$_.Name -eq 'ms2.contoso.com'}

#Loop through list of agents and update primary and failover MS settings

ForEach ($agent in $agents) {
Set-ManagementServer -PrimaryManagementServer $PriMS -AgentManagedComputer $agent `
-FailoverServer $SecMS #| Out-Null
}

#-------------End Sample Script--------------

Hope this helps. Post any feedback as comments on this post.

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 (SCOM) v10 Wish List Wrap-up

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:36:35 GMT

For those of you that commented on the “v10 Wish List” for Opsmgr 2007, I just wanted to touch base and let you know your feedback has been channeled back to the product team.

Thanks to everyone who commented and special thanks to Brian D. for kicking off the discussion!

Blog: Provision/Deprovision entire Virtual Lab Environments with Visual Studio Lab Management 2010 [beta]

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:42:58 GMT

VMware has touted the abilities of their vCenter Lab Manager for provisioning, deprovisioning and taking snapshots entire lab scenarios including multiple virtual machines in a matter of seconds. The few vendors busy in the virtual lab automation space (which include VMware, Surgient, VMLogix, Skytap and the almost dead StackSafe) will soon have some fresh competition…Microsoft.

The product just entered the beta 1 phase and has the potential to become a huge hit in the .NET world. I was really wondering if MS was expecting us to duplicate Lab Manager using Powershell…I guess not!

Read the full story at the source (virtualization.info)

Blog: Tuning Items for New Essentials 2007 SP1 Installations

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:42:56 GMT

While Essentials 2007 monitoring settings are based on "smart defaults", there are some rules, monitors and discoveries not enabled by default deprive administrators of some information I believe most would be interested in. Some of these items are in several cases especially pertinent to MOM 2005 administrators, who are accustomed to receiving certain types of alerts by default. I'm going to point to a few items that are of particular interest ( at least in my opinion) for acceptable alert behavior in Essentials 2007. Of course most of the MP tuning advice you see for Operations Manager 2007 also applies to Essentials. Just bear in mind that with OpsMgr 2007 R2, the Essentials and OpsMgr monitoring functionality sets diverge a bit, most notably with cross-platform not being part of Essentials 2007 SP1.

Global Windows Service Monitoring

Some of the more generic service monitoring rules are disabled by default. I find I generally want to know anytime a service terminates abnormally or a service fails to start. To fix that, use an override to enable the following rules for the Windows Server 2000 and 2003 Operating System object types. You may also want to enable this for XP Client Operating Systems where an agent is deployed.

"The service or driver failed to start. and The service terminated unexpectedly."

Windows Update Roaming

This rule runs every 60 minutes on managed computers to verify that the computer can contact its WSUS server. The rule runs a script to verify that the computer is able to contact its WSUS server. If it cannot contact the WSUS server for 6 hours, then the script will configure it to use the Microsoft Updates site. Once the computer is able to contact the WSUS server again, the script configures it to use the WSUS server for updates.

If you require tight control of what updates are applied to a system, consider disabling this rule.

AD Topology Discovery

Find in: Object Discoveries

While the Active Directory MP requires some configuration, I found this setting particularly strange and potentially confusing for some users. You may find that the Active Directory Topology Diagram and distributed application are basically blank. This may be due to the AD Topology Object Discovery not being enabled. To get to this discovery, go to the Authoring space, and scope your view to Active Directory Domains (this is only visible when the View All Targets radio button is selected ) and in the Navigation (left) pane, select Object Discoveries. You see in the image below, Enabled by default = Yes

I have found that even though this discovery showed "Yes" under enabled by default, that the Effective Value = false, as shown below.

SQL 2000 / 2005

Object Discoveries

Discover SQL 2000 Agent Jobs - without this, you will not be able to override the “Job Duration” monitor for long running jobs on a per-job basis. However, you will receive alerts for failed agent jobs even without this.

Rules

Free Space (MB) counters - these are optional in my book, as they are of varying importance from one environment to the next for trend reporting. All the equivalent % free monitors are enabled, so just decide which works for you. If you have autogrow enabled on databases, then MB free can come in handy.

Windows 2000

The Object Discovery for Windows Physical Disks is not enabled by default (although the discovery of relationships between physical disks and the partitions is).

Network Monitoring

There are several rules disabled by default that definitely may be of interest in most environments. Data collection of inbound and outbound bandwidth utilization on routers and switches would be important, and critical on WAN interfaces for sure, especially to provide a view into the last few hours for troubleshooting purposes. Scope your view under Authoring --> Rules to show only network and SNMP components. Use overrides to enable any of these rules (listed below) for target devices.

Are there other settings disabled by default in Essentials 2007 you find critical in your environment? Leave a comment with your list.

Blog: Monitoring Database Blocking Through Rules and Alerts [Article and MP]

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:55:48 GMT

Blocking in SQL is handled by separate monitors for the SQL 2000 and 2005 engines. Blocking is watched in SQL 2000 by a monitor called:

Microsoft.SQLServer.2000.DBEngine.BlockedSPIDMonitor

For SQL 2005 Servers, this is handled by a monitor called Blocked SPIDs.

The alert descriptions on these monitors are NULL (and not overridable), so the resulting alerts of these monitors are not always straightforward. For customers concerned about blocking, I've heard some feedback about these monitors. They worry about 1) the accuracy of the monitors and 2) the lack of detail in the alert description. I suspect the lack of description in an alert can lead to concerns about accuracy of the condition identified, as no doubt the OpsMgr Test Team has tested this many times at this point.

Beefing up monitoring of blocking processes

It was past customer experience that peaked my interest when I saw this article from a SQL DBA community site of which I am a member - sqlservercentral.com. The Custom SQL Blocks MP, created by Marios Philippopoulos. Marios has created a workaround that has flexible configuration options - You can tune the frequency and logging verbosity. You definitely see the details in the event and alert descriptions, making identification of the affected processes easy, as shown below:

Alert: Custom - Persistent Blocking Detected in SQL Server Database
Source: compName.domainName.com
Path:
Last modified by: System
Last modified time: 8/24/2008 4:40:53 PM
Alert description:

Server\Instance: servr\instanceName

BLOCKING SPID(S)
----------------

Blocking SPID: 80
Database: TESTDB
Host: compName Program: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio - Query
Cmd: UPDATE Login: loginName

This is a nice improvement I think.

Implementation and Targeting

He also did a good job with targeting (to the DB Engine classes themselves) to ensure default and named instances alike are automatically picked up. He did use rules instead of monitors, so the health state of the SQL instances is not affected. However, if one wanted to convert these rules to monitors, it would be a relatively easy task.

Where to get it

You'll actually need to register (free) at sqlservercentral.com in order to read and download. You'll find Marios article and MP at the following location:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Blocking/64038/

While you're at it, there is a nice TechNet article on Minimizing Block in SQL Server by Cherie Warren. Get it at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc434694.asp

Blog: MS Exchange Server 2007 MP for OpsMgr (SCOM) 2007 R2 now available

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:32:29 GMT

The R2-only version of the Exchange 2007 MP is out. The marquee feature: a wizard-like interface for configuring synthetic transactions against Outlook Web Access (OWA), Exchange ActiveSync, Web Services, POP3, and IMAP.

DOWNLOAD URL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e9f3cd3f-9bc0-45cd-b10f-120e937ee4c4

The Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack is designed to monitor Exchange 2007 key health indicators, collect Exchange component-specific performance counters in one central location, and raise alerts for operator intervention as necessary. By detecting, sending alerts, and automatically responding to critical events, this Management Pack helps indicate, correct, and prevent possible service outages or configuration problems, allowing you to proactively manage Exchange servers and identify issues before they become critical. The Management Pack monitors and provides alerts for automatic notification of events indicating service outages, performance degradation, health monitoring, and centralized management.

Feature Summary

A number of synthetic transactions ensure the Exchange servers are available and responding in a timely manner. The synthetic transactions are maintenance-mode aware, so that if the target of a transaction is in maintenance mode, the source will not run the transaction, and not alert unnecessarily.
This Management Pack includes a Management Pack template that provides a wizard-like interface for configuring synthetic transactions against Outlook Web Access (OWA), Exchange ActiveSync, Web Services, POP3, and IMAP.
This Management Pack includes a Management Pack template that provides a wizard-like interface for configuring mail flow synthetic transactions between agent-managed Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers.
This Management Pack provides 30+ reports specific to Exchange 2007 that track availability and performance compared to service level objectives. For the list of reports and for more information about the reports, see the Management Pack Guide.
All the synthetic transactions in this Management Pack use an Operations Manager 2007 R2 hosting feature for Windows PowerShell technology that provides a performance improvement when running synthetic transactions.
A significant number of rules and monitors that are not actionable or may be noisy are disabled. Note that many of these rules are still in the Management Pack so that you can enable them if necessary.
Support for monitoring any number of Exchange organizations using a single Operations Manager 2007 management group.
Full support for Microsoft clustered configurations. For more details, see the Management Pack Guide.
Discovery of Exchange 2007 server roles is disabled by default, and no Exchange 2007 monitoring is applied by default. This allows you to discover and monitor your servers gradually, as well as tune the Management Pack as you bring more agent-managed Exchange 2007 servers into the Operations Manager environment.

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Core Service File Writing

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:41:54 GMT

Alert: Core Service File Writing

Issue: Alert created when a new reverse zone was added.

Resolution: This error will occur once after the new reverse zone is added. Logged into the servers reporting the error and verified that the new zone had been created and populated correctly. It can be closed out, and is not an issue unless it recurs.

Submitted By: Cameron Fuller (MVP)

Blog: Cross Platform Management Pack Authoring Guide for OpsMgr 2007 R2 (SCOM) Now Available

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:13:47 GMT

MS have released the Cross Platform MP Authoring Guide for R2

System administrators of Windows-based, UNIX-based, and Linux-based platforms can use this document as a guide to how to create and use management packs to manage their computer systems. Because Operations Manager 2007 R2 extends monitoring support to UNIX-based and Linux-based servers, organizations can monitor and manage their cross-platform environments from a unified management console. The key to how to configure and run Operations Manager is the management pack, an XML-based file that defines the objects that Operations Manager will discover and monitor and the information that will be collected about these objects.

By using Operations Manager 2007 R2, system administrators of UNIX-based and Linux-based servers can now monitor the health of key system attributes, including the following:

File systems and network interfaces.
Critical processes (for example, syslog, cron, and others).
Key configurations (for example, resolution of host name and correct configuration of Web Services Management components).
Core system attributes (for example, the health of system memory and processors).

Intended Audience for the Cross Platform Management Pack Authoring Guide: Describes the expectations and the minimum knowledge that are required to implement a cross platform management pack.

Getting Started with the Cross Platform Management Pack Authoring Guide: Provides information on the structure and workflow of a management pack.

Management Pack Tasks: Describes typical administrative tasks and how to implement those tasks by using a management pack.

Reference

Online Training

TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Operations Manager 2007- Introduction (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=152883)
TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Operations Manager 2007- Advanced Topics (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=152884)
HOW TO: Use XML to Create a Basic Management Pack with Discovery for a Windows-based Computer (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=150433)

Published Documentation

Operations Manager 2007 Management Pack Authoring Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=150417)
System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed. (includes CD-ROM), Meyler, Kerrie, et al., Sams, 2008, p. 1385

Online Resources

Operations Manager Cross Platform and Interop Solutions (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=144278)
Microsoft.Unix.Computer: Team blog for System Center Cross Platform and Interop (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=152885)
Operations Manager Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=108041)
System Center Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=118294)
TechNet Webcast: Successfully Monitor UNIX and Linux Alongside Your Windows Infrastructure with Operations Manager 2007 R2 (Level 300)(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=150435)

Blog: Powershell: Updating Proxy Agent for Multiple SNMP-enabled Devices (part 2)

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:23:37 GMT

In part 1, we demonstrated how to update the proxy agent for a group of managed SNMP-enabled devices. The difficulty in using the solution presented is part 1 is in using the get-agent cmdlet to retrieve the potential proxy agent to pass to set-proxyagent, which only returns agents; no management servers are presented. Using the get-managementserver cmdlet in it's place results in a failure because it does not return the right object to pass to set-proxyagent.

If I want to use a management server as the proxy for multiple network devices, the script below will allow you to submit a wildcard filter based on device IP address to update the proxy agent for all SNMP-enabled devices matching the filter, and assign a managment server as the proxy agent.

Thanks to Marco Shaw for a critical assist in working out the code to allow passing wildcard for the -deviceName parameter.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

Cut-and-paste the script below into Notepad, and save as updateproxyagentMS.ps1. Script should run from any computer with OpsMgr Console and Powershell installed.This script will load the OpsMgr Powershell snap-in and connect to your Management Group.

SYNTAX

The script accepts the following 3 required parameters. Run with no parameters to view syntax help.

-rootMS: FQDN of the root management server for the target management group.

Ex: 'RootManagementServer.fqdn.local'

-proxyAgent: Management Server that will serve as the proxy agent

Ex: ‘ms1.contoso.com'

-deviceName: IP address or IP wildcard range.

Ex: ‘192.168.1*’

SAMPLE SCRIPT

Here is the sample script. You should be able to cut-and-paste this one with no worries about line wrap.

#-----------Begin Sample Script--------------

param($rootMS,$proxyAgent,$deviceName)

#Echo syntax if -rootMS parameter is NULL
     if ($rootMS -eq $null) {

        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "-rootMS: FQDN of the root management server for the target management group.";
        Write-Host "Ex: RootManagementServer.fqdn.local";
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "-proxyAgent: Agent-managed computer that will serve as the proxy agent";
        Write-Host "Ex: ‘dc.contoso.com";
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "-deviceName: IP address or IP wildcard range.”;
        Write-Host "Ex: ‘192.168.1*’”;
        Write-Host ""
 exit;
     }

#connect to mgmt group
$ServerName=$rootMS
add-pssnapin  Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client ;
set-location  OperationsManagerMonitoring:: ;
new-managementGroupConnection -ConnectionString:$serverName;
set-location $ServerName;

$mg=new-managementgroupconnection $rootMS
$mgname=$mg.managementgroup
$admin=$mgname.getadministration()

#Retrieve management server that will serve as proxy agent
$crit=new-object microsoft.enterprisemanagement.administration.managementservercriteria("Name = '$proxyAgent'")
$server=$admin.getmanagementservers($crit)[0]

#Retrieve all our monitored network devices
$netdevices=$admin.getallremotelymanageddevices()

#Sets the proxy of all network devices to the specified proxy server
$coll= new-object "system.collections.generic.list``1[[Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Administration.RemotelyManagedDevice, Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager, Version=6.0.4900.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35]]"

for($i=0;$i -lt $netdevices.count;$i++){
  if($netdevices[$i].ipaddress -like "$deviceName"){$coll.add($netdevices[$i])}
}

$new_netdevices= new-object "System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection``1[[Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Administration.RemotelyManagedDevice, Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager, Version=6.0.4900.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35]]" (,$coll)

$admin.setproxyagent($new_netdevices,$server)

#-----------End Sample Script--------------

Conclusion

Hope you find this one useful. Please submit feedback as a comment on this post.

Blog: Powershell: Updating Proxy Agent for Multiple SNMP-enabled Devices (part 1)

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:17:38 GMT

As explained in part 3 of the SNMP in OpsMgr / Essentials series (still in progress), we explained that SNMP-enabled devices can be monitored from any management server OR agent-managed computer. The question we answer today is:

"How do I change the proxy agent for some or all of my network enabled devices?"

If I want to use an agent-managed computer as the proxy for multiple network devices, the script below will allow you to submit a wildcard filter based on device IP address to update the proxy agent for all SNMP-enabled devices matching the filter. Check back for the next installment in which we demonstrate how to specify a management server as the proxy agent for multiple devices.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

Cut-and-paste the script below into Notepad, and save as updateproxyagent.ps1. Script should run from any computer with OpsMgr Console and Powershell installed.

SYNTAX

The script accepts the following 3 required parameters. Run with no parameters to view syntax help.

-rootMS: FQDN of the root management server for the target management group.

Ex: 'RootManagementServer.fqdn.local'

-proxyAgent: Agent that will serve as the proxy agent

Ex: ‘dc.contoso.com'

-deviceName: IP address or IP wildcard range.

Ex: ‘192.168.1*’

SAMPLE SCRIPT

Here is the sample script. You should be able to cut-and-paste this one with no worries about line wrap.

#-----------Begin Sample Script--------------

param($rootMS,$proxyAgent, $deviceName)

#Echo syntax if -rootMS parameter is NULL
     if ($rootMS -eq $null) {

        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "-rootMS: FQDN of the root management server for the target management group.";
        Write-Host "Ex: RootManagementServer.fqdn.local";
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "-proxyAgent: Agent-managed computer that will serve as the proxy agent";
        Write-Host "Ex: ‘dc.contoso.com";
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "-deviceName: IP address or IP wildcard range.”;
        Write-Host "Ex: ‘192.168.1*’”;
        Write-Host ""
 exit;
     }

#connect to mgmt group
$ServerName=$rootMS
add-pssnapin  Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client ;
set-location  OperationsManagerMonitoring:: ;
new-managementGroupConnection -ConnectionString:$serverName;
set-location $ServerName;

#Retrieve all our monitored network devices
$netDevices = get-remotelymanageddevice | where-object {$_.Name -like $deviceName}

#Retrieve agent that will serve as proxy agent
$proxy = get-agent | Where-Object {$_.PrincipalName -like $proxyAgent }

#Sets the proxy of all network devices to the specified proxy server
Set-ProxyAgent -ProxyAgent $proxy -Device $netDevices

#-----------End Sample Script--------------

Conclusion

Hopefully some of you will find this one useful. Check back soon when we'll look at how to assign a management server as a proxy agent for multiple SNMP-enabled devices using Powershell. Please submit feedback as a comment on this post.

Blog: Powershell Tip: Finding the recipients on all enabled notification subscriptions in OpsMgr 2007

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:02:33 GMT

If you want to very quickly see the list of recipients configured to receive alerts for each of the enabled notification subscriptions in your environment, look no further than the get-notificationsubscription cmdlet in the Operations Manager 2007 Command Shell.

Here are a couple versions of a handy one-liner to dump this information to the console. I like the list version for easy reading on the screen.

Get-NotificationSubscription |where-object {$_.Enabled -eq $true}| Format-List DisplayName, ToRecipients OR

Get-NotificationSubscription |where-object {$_.Enabled -eq $true}| Format-Table DisplayName, ToRecipients

Blog: Windows Media Services (Server 2003 and 2008) Management Pack now available

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:01:46 GMT

Raphael Burri has written an OpsMgr 2007 management pack that discovers and monitors Windows Media Services 9.0 (Server 2003) and 9.5 (Server 2008). This is a native OpsMgr 2007 management pack.

It’s now available for download from the Community Management Pack Catalog at System Center Central.

Windows Media Services (Server 2003 and 2008)

Great work Raphael!

Blog: Troubleshooting Console Connectivity Problems in Essentials 2007

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:57:15 GMT

Good info from one of the group threads on troubleshooting SCE Console connectivity:

The SCE console actually attaches in three ways to the SCE server:

The first is SCE channel and that renders the main console data.
The second is the reporting data in the console which comes from an HTTP port 80 connection to the SQL 2005 Reporting Services component of SCE.
The third connection is to the WSUS 3.0 Server processes on the SCE server, using HTTP on port 8530 (HTTPS is on port 8531). To test this channel, browse to the following URL and verify it is available.https://SCEServer:8531/SimpleAuthWebService/simpleauth.asmx

This URL should render a SimpleAuth web page error-free. If you can't get to that web page you need to check out the IE/proxy/Windows firewall settings on your PC. If your PC produces a certificate error, it could mean that the "System Center Essentials All Computers Policy" (GPO) has not been applied to your PC. That GPO inludes the SCE Server certificate that is used on port 8531 of the WSUS portion on the SCE server. You need to apply that GPO to your Windows XP box or manually import the SCE certificates.

If your Windows XP box is already a managed computer of the SCE server that certificate should be already in the Trusted Root Certification Store on your XP box from the GPOs. Another route would be to manually install the WSUS 3.0 MMC (management MMC only) on your XP box and point the WSUS 3.0 MMC to the SCE server, see if you can attach to it.

Blog: Operations Manager 2007 R2 Management Pack Guide now available for download

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:54:18 GMT

System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 includes an updated management pack and associated MP guide for monitoring Operations Manager 2007 R2.

The Operations Manager Management Pack helps you manage your System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 infrastructure by monitoring the health of the Operations Manager components and services. The Operations Manager Management Pack alerts you to problems with components such as the management servers, the Operations Manager database, agents, modules used by workflows, and services so that you can continue to monitor the servers and clients that your business depends on. The management pack includes tasks that you can automate to get easy access to common diagnostic tools, such as restarting a health service or reloading an agent configuration.

This guide was written based on version 6.1.7221.0 of the Operations Manager Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 R2.

Where to get it

You can download the guide from the System Center Pack Catalog with the link below

Operations Manager 2007 R2 Management Pack Guide

Source: System Center Pack Catalog

Blog: Powershell Tip: Retrieving a list of Virtual Machines from OpsMgr 2007

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:04:38 GMT

How about a PowerShell snippet to determine if a particular system is a virtual machine?

get-monitoringclass|where{$_.displayname -eq "Windows Server"}| `

get-monitoringobject|where{$_.displayname -eq "Oxford.contoso.com"}| `

get-monitoringobjectproperty|where{$_.displayname -eq "Virtual Machine"}|foreach{$_.value}

The only issue with this info out of the box is that OpsMgr does not recognize VMware guests as virtual machines. You can change this with the Virtual Machine Discovery MP. This MP extends existing discovery of virtual machines by Operations Manager and Essentials 2007 to include VMware guests.

Blog: Powershell Tip: Parsing the Operations Manager Event Log [sample script]

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:35:43 GMT

One of the nice features of OpsMgr 2007 is that it logs virtually everything to the Operations Manager Event Log. Things like script failures, latency in writing data to the Operational and Data Warehouse, script failures, etc. What's not always so easy is determining when and with what frequency these events are occurring on an ad-hoc basis.

This is the problem we will tackle in this post.

An Example from the Real-world

What is not so easy is evaluating this data to determine the frequency of these events, many of which are not raised as alerts in Operations Manager. Let's consider event 2115 in the Operations Manager Event Log, which is frequently an indicator of Operational database latency. If I see 2 or 3 of these an hour, it's not a big deal. However, if I see 20 or 30 of these an hour, then I almost certainly have an issue worth investigating.

What if I could easily parse my Operations Manager Event Log and get an hourly count of these events?

I've posted the script syntax below. However, if you run the script with no parameters, syntax will be echoed to the screen.

SYNTAX (Example):

EventsByHour.ps1 -Log 'Operations Manager' -EventID 2115 -Hours 10

Sample Script

Cut-and-paste the script below into Notepad and save as events.ps1

#---------Start Sample Script----------------

param($log,$id,$hours)

#Returning Syntax on null $log parameter
     if ($log -eq $null) {
        Write-Host ""
Write-Host "Syntax:";
        Write-Host ""
Write-Host "-Log: Name of the NT Event Log to query. `n Ex: 'Operations Manager'";
        Write-Host ""
Write-Host "-id: The Event ID to report on. `n Ex: 2115";
        Write-Host ""
Write-Host "-hours: The number of hours of log history to parse. `n Ex: 12";
        Write-Host ""
exit;
     }

$current=get-date

$events=get-eventlog $log | `
where {
($_.timegenerated -lt $current) -and ($_.timegenerated -gt $current.addhours(-$hours)) -and ($_.eventiD -eq $id)
}

for ($a = 0; $a -lt $hours; $a++) {
$begin=$current.addhours(-$hours+$a)
$end = $begin.AddHours(1)
$cnt=@($events | `
    where {
      ($_.timegenerated -lt $end) -and ($_.timegenerated -gt $begin) -and ($_.eventiD -eq $id)
    }).count
write-host "Event count for event between $begin and $end - $cnt"
}

#---------End Sample Script----------------

Output

The output is an hourly count of occurrences of this event, allowing me to make a quick judgement of the problem. In this example, I was looking for event 2115 to identify the frequency the event was being logged. In this case, my problem started about 7 hours ago, so I am going to look back about 8 hours.

PS C:\temp\Powershell> .\events.ps1 -log 'Operations Manager' -id 2115 -hours 8

And the output is a tidy list showing the number of occurrences over each of the last 8 hours. In this case, I can see by the event count that something must have come up between 12:30pm and 1:30pm

Event count for event between 11/19/2008 08:29:23 and 11/19/2008 09:29:23 - 30
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 09:29:23 and 11/19/2008 10:29:23 - 29
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 10:29:23 and 11/19/2008 11:29:23 - 30
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 11:29:23 and 11/19/2008 12:29:23 - 26
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 12:29:23 and 11/19/2008 13:29:23 - 24
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 13:29:23 and 11/19/2008 14:29:23 - 4
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 14:29:23 and 11/19/2008 15:29:23 - 5
Event count for event between 11/19/2008 15:29:23 and 11/19/2008 16:29:23 - 2

Hopefully you'll find this useful in one or more scenarios in your environment. Let me know if there are any examples / scenarios with OpsMgr where you'd like some Powershell assistance.

------

Kudos to Powershell MVP Marco Shaw for his pointers on formatting the count output a bit more nicely.

Blog: Community Day.be is back!

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:19:35 GMT

Community Day is back again, are you ready for our Third Edition of Microsoft Community Day?

Eleven Microsoft User Groups combine their efforts to organize this unique networking and knowledge sharing event.

A unique opportunity to learn about Microsoft’s latest developments and technologies like Exchange
2010, Silverlight 3, Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008R2, Powershell V2, Forefront
Identity Manager 2010, XNA 3.1. and OCS R2.

Microsoft Community Day will take place on Thursday 25th June 2009 in Utopolis, Mechelen, where we will
bring together 300 IT Pro’s and developers.

The Microsoft Community Day 2009 is supported by BESUG, BIWUG, IT-Talks, MVUG, Pro-Exchange, SCUG, SQLUG, VBIB, Visug, WinSec, XNA-BUG.
Register now for free for this all day event!

Agenda: http://www.communityday.be/cd/tabid/130/Default.aspx

Source: Alexandre Verkinderen, MVP-OpsMgr

Pete Zerger

Blog: System Center OpsMgr X-Plat Providers source code available

Visit: System Center OpsMgr X-Plat Providers on Codeplex

Blog: Handy URLs for System Center Central

Blog: Internet Tethering for iPhone 3G

Blog: SCOM: Query SQL Database for Value Script(for 2-state monitor)

Where to get it

Sample MP

Blog: Management Pack University is live!

Blog: SCOM: Query SQL Database for Value in Monitoring Script

Where to get it

Sample MP

Blog: Some Configuration Manager SP1 hotfixes have been re-released for Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2

Blog: ResearchThis! KB – The service could not bind the database.

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Script Based Test Failed to Complete

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Disk Read Latencies 25 msec

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - AD Client Side - Script Based Test Failed to Complete

Blog: Operations Manager 2007 Web Console Part 4: Customizing the Web Console URL in alert notifications

Previous Installments:

The Workaround:

Customizing URL in SCOM Alerts

Blog: What’s new in the OpsMgr 2007 Service Level Dashboard 2.0?

Meet SLD 2.0

Resources, Examples and More Information

Blog: SCOM 2007 Notification Tips: How do I stop noisy rules and monitors during nightly maintenance & backups?

Blog: System Center WIKI feature at SystemCenterCentral.com now online

Blog: Coming Soon: Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed (with coverage of R2! )

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 Web Console Series Part 3: Publishing the Web Console through ISA 2004

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 Web Console Series Part 2: Branding the Web Console in Operations Manager 2007 R2

Blog: Part 1: Secure Publishing of the OpsMgr 2007 Web Console to the Internet

Securing Credentials Traversing the Internet

Blog: Instant Software Deployment in Essentials 2007 - When wuauclt /detectnow just is not fast enough

Scenario:

Workaround:

The Uninstall Task

The Install Task

Blog: SCOM 2007 R2: How to test Cross-Platform Monitoring without purchasing a RHEL license

How Similar are Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 and CentOS?

Discovering and Monitoring CentOS

Changing the OS Caption on a CentOS Server.

Results

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 Health Check – Finding rules and monitors targeted to groups

Blog: SCOM: Report Models for Operations Manager 2007 SP1 (and how to install and use)

To Install These Models in SQL Reporting Services for use with SCOM 2007 SP1

To Use the Models

Blog: Powershell Tip: Working with TRUE and FALSE Comparisons in Powershell

Notes from “The Architect”

Sample Script

Blog: SCOM Console Task: Finding currently logged on user from the Operations Console

Blog: SCOM: Dynamic Group to detect SQL 2005 with (or without) specific Service Pack

Blog: How to convert management packs for OpsMgr 2007 (without a live MOM 2005 management group)

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - The Internet Information Service NNTP Virtual Server named NNTPSVC/1 is unavailable as the virtual server has been stopped

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Auto Close Flag

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Auto Shrink Flag

Blog: Windows Server Hyper-V MP for SCOM 2007 now available (ver 6.0.6633.0)

Overview

Feature Summary

Where to get it:

Blog: Command Shell: Dumping all overrides in Operations Manager 2007

Blog: Command Shell: Retrieving Agent Count by Management Server

Blog: OpsMgr 2007: Updating Primary and Failover Mgmt Server settings for multiple agents

Blog: OpsMgr 2007 (SCOM) v10 Wish List Wrap-up

Blog: Provision/Deprovision entire Virtual Lab Environments with Visual Studio Lab Management 2010 [beta]

Blog: Tuning Items for New Essentials 2007 SP1 Installations

Blog: Monitoring Database Blocking Through Rules and Alerts [Article and MP]

Beefing up monitoring of blocking processes

Implementation and Targeting

Where to get it

Related Articles

Blog: MS Exchange Server 2007 MP for OpsMgr (SCOM) 2007 R2 now available

Feature Summary

Blog: ResearchThis! KB - Core Service File Writing

Blog: Cross Platform Management Pack Authoring Guide for OpsMgr 2007 R2 (SCOM) Now Available

Reference

Blog: Powershell: Updating Proxy Agent for Multiple SNMP-enabled Devices (part 2)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

SYNTAX

SAMPLE SCRIPT

Conclusion

Blog: Powershell: Updating Proxy Agent for Multiple SNMP-enabled Devices (part 1)