xSNMP & Oracle Operations Manager Management Packs

Rob has just pointed out to me that Kristopher Bash, creater of the excellent xSNMP management packs for SCOM and the previously unreleased but eagerly awaited Oracle MP, is now working for Microsoft.

http://operatingquadrant.com/2010/11/23/announcements/

As well as being a major achievement for him personally (well done!) it also brings the news that he's handed over development of his MP's to the community via Pete Zerger and SystemCenterCentral.com

The MP's, Source Code & Documentation etc can now be found on CodePlex.
http://xsnmp.codeplex.com/

Getting Started with the ConfigMgr IP and Opalis 6.3

I'm planning to have a play with Opalis 6.3 today (assuming Rob gets the server installed quick enough) and then I'll be having a go with the new Integration Packs for System Center (SCCM, SCSM, SCVMM, DPM).

Until then, a post has just been put on the Opalis blog showing how to get started with the ConfigMgr IP.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/opalis/archive/2010/11/21/opalis-6-3-getting-started-with-the-configuration-manager-ip.aspx

Hopefully I'll be able to get some posts of my own on soon.

SQL MP - Case of the missing DB size information.

When a colleague nudges you and says "You got SCOM open?  Just check a DB Size as I'm not seeing any data..." I tend to either sigh and wonder what they're on about or worry that somethings gone wrong with SCOM.

Well one of my colleagues asked me that question today, so I checked the SCOM console, went into the performance view in the SQL MP and, hmm... odd.  I can show the DB Size data for SQL 2000 DB's, but not SQL 2005 & 2008.

Oh, the DB information is the same.

But it's fine for SQL 2000

Little bit of googling later, and I find the bit of information that wasn't communicated around the office when the SQL MP was upgraded to 6.1.314.36
http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2010/08/16/sql-mp-version-6-1-314-36-released-adds-support-for-sql-2008r2-and-many-other-changes.aspx

The following monitors and rules have been deprecated:

Monitors:

• DB Space Free (MB)
• DB Log File Space Free (%)
• DB Log File Space Free (MB)
• Disk Free Space

Rules:

• Collect Database Size (MB)
• Collect Transaction Log Free Space (MB)
• Collect Transaction Log Free Space (%)
• Collect Transaction Log Size (MB)

ARGH!!
Microsoft hardcoded the value to 0 to stop the high config churn this rule was creating.

OK, so it's not going to be a simple rule re-enable as they've been deprecated for a reason.  However, the perf counter exists natively so it should be a simple task to collect that data.

Well I was going to find some time to look at it over the weekend and blog to process of doing it, but while I was doing my usual RSS feeds check, I spotted this on Kevin Holmans blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2010/11/19/collecting-sql-database-size-as-a-performance-counter.aspx

Thanks Kevin, you've just given me my weekend back.  Talk about timing!

Opalis 6.3 is here!

Opalis 6.3 has just gone RTM!

You can find the announcement over on the Opalis Team Blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/opalis/archive/2010/11/19/announcing-the-rtm-of-opalis-6-3.aspx

Main features included in Opalis 6.3 are:

• New Integration Packs for Configuration Manager, Data Protection Manager, Service Manager and Virtual Machine Manager
• An updated Integration Pack for Operations Manager to support the Server 2008 platform
• Support for the Opalis infrastructure to run on the Server 2008 platforms

Opalis 6.3, SCCM and making it do more!

Robert Hearn has just posted an interesting article on the Opalis Blog regarding the "soon to be released" 6.3 version of Opalis and the new ConfigMgr 2007 Integration pack.

He basically goes into detail about, even though the new SCCM pack brings 11 really useful activites into Opalis, how to extend Opalis even more with PowerShell enabling it to do more with SCCM.

As an example he walks through how to create an update list on the fly as part of an Opalis workflow.
I can see Opalis totally changing the way we patch servers!

http://blogs.technet.com/b/opalis/archive/2010/11/18/making-custom-objects-amp-integration-packs-using-powershell-scripts.aspx

Opalis Terminology & Glossary

Pete Zerger over on System Center Central has blogged a very good post that pulls together a quick reference from various sources (blogs, conferences, webcasts, product documentation, etc) consisting of both Components and Terminology for Opalis.

http://www.systemcentercentral.com/BlogDetails/tabid/143/IndexID/82725/Default.aspx

Comparing Management Packs between Operations Manager and Service Manager

I've posted previously about the util Rob created to allow us to compare the versions of management packs in our different SCOM environments (Live, Pre-Production, Test) but also mentioned that I'd set him the task of adding Service Manager comparrisons as well.

Well he's released the new version, I just forgot to mention it!

 

Changes in this version:

• Added Service Manager support
• Change to grid views
• Clear grid option
• More compare options
• Colors changed to help visibility 
• Management group versions added

http://msopsmgr.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-version-management-pack-compare.html

It works well and I've litterally just finished using it to ensure all the MP's are sync'd up between SCOM & SCSM after Rob installed CU3 for SCOM the other week.

Service Manager 2010 Roadmap - SP1 & R2

Microsoft released some more details on whats to come for Service Manager on their engineering blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2010/11/16/service-manager-roadmap-update-what-s-coming.aspx
SP1 is, as expected, a collection of bug fixes and some additional languages.

R2 however is bringing:

• Release Management
• Service Request Fulfillment & Service Catalog
• Virtual Machine Manager Integration
• Reporting Analytics

And Improvements on existing features such as;

• Better incident SLA Support
• More customisable portal
• Parallel execution of activities
• Subscription infrastructure improvements
• Email lifecycle support

And much more....

MOMClean Resource Kit Tool - Updated version

An updated version of the MOMClean tool has been released.

If you've ever had a problem trying to uninstall an Operations Manager 2007 agent then try using this tool.

Full post can be found here on the Operations Manager Support Team Blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/operationsmgr/archive/2010/11/16/an-updated-version-of-the-momclean-resource-kit-tool-for-opsmgr-has-been-released.aspx

Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 Management Pack for Operations Manager

When we first implemented SCCM & SCOM one of the first things I jumped at a chance to try was the management pack to monitor the ConfigMgr infrastructure.

How disapointed I was as for various reasons it just didn't live up to my expectations.  It was very very noisy, didn't generate the topology diagram and had too many niggling setup requirements.

However, since we've finally gotten around to implementing a SCOM gateway to monitor our "Public Network", a separate AD forest & domain with no trusts behind a firewall with very limited ports open, which contains our SCCM primary child site, I thought it was time to re-vist the OpsMgr management pack.

Firstly here's the link to download the MP:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8443173-46c2-4581-b3b8-ce67160f627b&displaylang=en

Secondly, RTFM!  Seriously, read the manual.  There's an awful lot in it, with most of the important bits in the first dozen or so pages, but it goes into depth regarding what's monitored etc.

Before you even think about going near SCOM, there's a few bits you're going to have to complete first.
1) Map out your ConfigMgr infrastructure.  You'll need to know every server that has a role installed.  That's every Distribution Point, Management Point, Reporting Point, PXE etc.  This also means any Branch DP's as well.
A good util for this is SMSMap - http://www.tondtware.com/

2) Ensure that all the servers you've mapped out have the SCOM agent installed and healthy.  If you miss a server from SCOM that's in your SCCM infrastructure then it will fail to monitor the heirarchy and the topology diagram won't build correctly.

3)  Use the SCCM console and check the properties of the site system role on each server to ensure the Fully Qualified Domain Name is present.

4) On each site server add the following system variable: SMS_INSTALL_DIR_PATH with the value set to the SCCM Install dir

5) Use the SCCM console to check the system status state messages and try to resolve all issues first.  If you're trying to use the SCOM MP to help you do this then fine, skip ahead.  But it's always advisable to have as few problems as possible to start with due to the noise this MP can make.

6) Use the SCOM Console in Administration>Agent Managed to ensure the SCCM Primary Site Servers and any Providers have agent proxy enabled.

Once the above is done, now you're ready to import the management pack into SCOM.

Use the link at the begining of the post and install the MSI to get the management pack and it installs to C:\Program Files (x86)\System Center Management Packs\SCCM 2007 MP for OpsMgr 2007 R2 - ENU\ as default. (tip - once installed, copy the files in this folder to somewhere safe, preferably a repository of all your SCOM MP's and then you can uninstall the MSI).

In the Operations Manager console go to Administration> Management Packs and choose the Import Management Packs task then click add from disk.

Browse to where you have the ConfigMgr MP saved and open it then click install.

Go and make a coffee.

Seriously, give it a while to run it's discoveries, it all depends on the size of your environment.  Just keep an eye on the ConfigMgr Server State view and it should populate with all the servers in your ConfigMgr infrastructure (Check your SMSMap or similar documentaion to make sure they're all there!)

Once ALL the servers are discovered you should start to see some topology views like this:

However, even though the MP is much improved with the SP2 version, it's still very noisy.  This is down to the consolidation rules used and the fact it was converted from MOM 2005 as Kevin Holman kindly explains here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2010/09/01/want-to-drastically-quiet-down-your-configmgr-2007-mp.aspx



In short Kevin has fixed one of my biggest complaints of the management pack from when I first tried it, so I fully recomend visiting his blog and downloading the ConfigMgr MP Addendum he's created and get it imported into SCOM ASAP.

There's a lot more that can/should still be done with the management pack, but this post is long enough already and this has given enough information to get you started with the MP.  For now read the management pack guide about enabling performance rules and inbox monitors, I might follow up with another post if/when I get time.

It's also worth checking out the Microsoft Known MP Issues for this management pack:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc655729.aspx

**Updated to add step 6 - Agent Proxy **

How to backup Service Manager 2010 UnSealed Management Packs

We use a community management pack in Operations Manager to backup all of our unsealed MP's and the other day I thought "Wouldn't it be a good idea if we had one for Service Manager too?"

So....

The SCOM MP uses a powershell script to do the acutal backup so that was the first thing to look at.

param ($targetFilePath, $DeleteDate)

#Initializing the SCSM 2010 Powershell Snapin
add-pssnapin "SMCMDLetSnapin" -ErrorVariable errSnapin ;

#Create TargetDir if it doesn't exist
if (test-path $targetFilePath)
{
"Folder Exists"
}
else
{
md "$targetFilePath"
}

#Remove old backups
$xDays = (Get-Date).addDays($DeleteDate)
Get-ChildItem $targetFilePath -Recurse | where {$_.lastWriteTime -le $xDays} | Remove-Item -recurse -force

#Create new backup dir
md "$targetFilePath\MP_$((get-date).toString('yyyyMMdd'))"

#Backup unsealed MP's
Get-SCSMManagementPack|where-object {! $_.Sealed}|Export-SCSMManagementPack -Directory "$targetFilePath\MP_$((get-date).toString('yyyyMMdd'))"

Running this as so: "powershell.exe mpbackup.ps1 C:\MPBackup -30" (assuming the above code is saved as mpback.ps1) tells the script to backup all unsealed MP's to the C:\MPBackup directory in a dir called MP_currentdate and purge all dir's older than 30 days.

Really, if you wanted, this could just be setup as a scheduled task on the management server and left to run.  Functional, but boring.

So I thought I'd place it into a management pack as a workflow.
The only bit of the PowerShell I've changed is to remove the following:
param ($targetFilePath, $DeleteDate)
#Initializing the SCSM 2010 Powershell Snapin
add-pssnapin "SMCMDLetSnapin" -ErrorVariable errSnapin ;

The Param and the add-pssnapin isn't needed as I've used the script properties tab within the workflow designer of the authoring tool.

This ends up with a very simple (can it get simpler?) workflow that just runs the PowerShell script.

Benefits of doing it as an MP rather than a scheduled task?  Not much, but I wanted to have a play.  The only thing really is that you can now keep an eye on the workflow status from within the console.

I've attached the MP and related files, open it up in the Authoring tool and set the schedule, backup location and purge time to your preferences and have a play.

I'd liked to have setup some CI's and a view that could be used within the console to set the backup location and purge time, but it doesn't seem to want to let me choose a class property as a value.  Given some more time I might have another go, but this is just purely as a quick play for me.

One interesting thing to note however.  I noticed that after setting this up as a workflow the following is logged in the event log:



This is basically saying that the workflow service account doesn't have permissions to export the management packs, however... it works!!! So I'm not quiet sure what's going on there, an error to say it's denied and yet it succeeds.

*Update - 18/11/2010 *  The errors seen in the event log were actually a result of the workflow account not being in the Administrators group within Service Manager.  The account should be in this group as per Microsoft's documentation: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff461084.aspx

MP Files download here: http://cid-d130da82a6555249.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/BackupMP.zip

IT as a Service and "The Cloud"

We were discussing in the office this morning Marnix Wolf's post about TechEd day 3 and "The Cloud" as well as some of the videos of the sessions at TechEd that Marnix was blogging about.

That got us talking about just how far off "The Cloud" are we in our infrastructure.

So I finally got home from the office and thought I'd blog our discussion, but as I routinely do, I thought I'd check the other various blogs first and what do I see?

Only a post on the System Center Nexus blog that is almost a list of everything we discussed this morning!
http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2010/11/11/what-is-your-journey-towards-it-as-a-service-allow-microsoft-to-accelerate-your-journey.aspx

Basically we discussed this morning that we're not that far away from being considered to be running a cloud environment.

• Our infrastructure is already virtualised, apart from some key Tier 1 apps like Exchange and our SQL Clusters meaning we can rapidly commission servers as users request them.
• We deploy applications via Configuration Manager 2007 R3 meaning we can rapidly deploy applications to large volumes of users/devices as Service Requests come in and are looking forward to ConfigMgr 2012 and user targeting.
• We monitor our estate using Operations Manager 2007 R2 giving us that insight into the estate and how it's performing, along with using distributed application monitoring as we move our mind set towards monitoring applications and their performance as a service that we deliver so we can talk about Application Service SLA's rather than "This server had 99.9% uptime" which means nothing to the user.
• We've got Opalis that we're using to help us automate our common tasks, as well as the more complex and time consuming processes.  This also helps strengthen our ITIL implementation by ensuring things are in ITIL terms, Standardised, Repeatable & Auditable.
• We've started moving from 2003 Terminal Server with XenApp 4.5 to 2008 R2 Terminal Services with XenApp 6 and utilising App-V to isolate our applications on those servers.  This allows us to rapidly deploy corporate applications (Using ConfigMgr, App-V and the Citrix connector) to large numbers of users, both within our Intranet and remote users with no downtime.
• I was also asked the other day about user virtualisation.  Well we already re-direct the users documents, pictures etc to a central network store, enabling easier backup and security.  We don't really need to use roaming user profiles as the desktops are that locked down and most apps are published via Citrix that there isn't that many user settings left that we get asked why they don't follow the user, except Outlook signatures that I really need to get following users.
• I'm in the process of implementing Service Manager 2010 with pre-production working with our customisations etc and waiting to move into live production.  This will help by dragging all that data from AD, SCCM & SCOM and giving us not only a better insight into the CI's in our environment, but be able to finally relate them all together and see what changes affect what and automate/streamline our processes (We're also going LEAN at the moment).

So what are we missing?

Well really we're just missing the Self Service components.  There's some self serve features in Service Manager and some in ConfigMgr 2012, but these are around software deployment rather than the data center.

So we'll be taking a look at System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0

Now to enable this we really need to look again at Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2.
We've looked at it before, and even though we're a VMWare estate, we was impressed by it.  However we were really looking forward to the integration with Operations Manager, but hit a major fault/bug and had to shelf it as there was no way to fix it.

With those two additions we should have an estate that allows for quick provisioning of services in a streamlined process with monitoring and automation to provide for capacity increases on demand/response, erm, isn't that a cloud?

Moving forward from there, the 2012 roadmap of System Center products are only going to help make this even easier to achieve with even more integration and focus on "The Cloud". Add to that Azure and Server Application Virtualization that allow you to re-host or repackage your existing applications so they can run in Windows Azure and I can see exciting times ahead!

Microsoft TechEd 2010 videos now online

If you're interested in what's happening over in Berlin at TechEd 2010 then pop over to http://www.msteched.com/2010/Europe/ where you can watch videos on some of the presentations that have been happening this week.

You can also catch the session videos from the North American TechEd 2010 here: http://www.msteched.com/2010/NorthAmerica/

Service Manager Connectors - What information comes from where?

Anders Friborg asked a question over on the Service Manager Forums asking if any documentation was available showing what Computer attributes are imported from which connector.

Now I haven't seen anything documenting this yet so I thought I'd chip in with the bits that I know about so far.

This isn't an exhaustive list, and if something isn't correct on it, please please please do let me know so that I can update it.  I'll also keep adding to this list as I find other bits of information.

---

AD Connector:
Active Directory SID
NetBIOS Computer Name
NetBIOS Domain Name
DNS Name
Display Name
Principal Name
Active Directory Site (but always sets it to blank!)
*To be added in SP1* - Operating System Version and Display Name

SCCM Connector:
Last Inventory Date
Active Directory Site
Offset In Minutes From Greenwich Time
Runs Windows Computer
Hosts Windows Logical Hardware
Has Software Installed
Has Software Update Installed
Hardware Identifier
Manufacturer
SMBIOS Asset Tag
SMBIOS UUID
Model
System Type
Chassis Type
Number of Processors
Serial Number

SCOM Connector:
Organisational Unit (AD OU)
Network Name
IP Address
DNS Forest Name
NetBIOS Computer Name
Virtual Machine (True/False)
Logical Processors
DNS Domain Name
Hosts Windows Computer Role
Hosts System Center Licence
Hosts Windows Local Application

Two articles on the SP1 Technet documentation that are useful:

Appendix B - Mapping Active Directory Domain Services Attributes to Service Manager Properties

Appendix C - Mapping Service Manager Properties to Configuration Manager Database Views

---

First posting - 10/11/2010
Updated - 08/12/2010

SCOM & SCSM Management Pack Compare Util

Rob has just uploaded his new version of our in house management pack compare util.
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Management-Pack-Compare-45acdccd

He's developed this util as we got fed up with trying to remember which packs we had in pre-production/test compared to live and if there was later versions available online.

Add into the mix my moanings about trying to work out which versions of the MP's in OpsMgr matched my Service Manager installation I'm in the middle of doing and Rob added that to shut me up!

Changes in this version:

• Added Service Manager support
• Change to grid views
• Clear grid option
• More compare options
• Colors changed to help visibility 
• Management group versions added  

System Center v.Next (SCOM 2012)

I'm kicking myself now for not being at the "War on Cost" event hosted by Inframon on the Friday just gone in "that there London".

Looks like some really useful information and demos was presented.

Both Ian Blyth and Steve Burkett over on The Windows Management USer Group have got some really good blog posts covering the event.

Ian Blyth - http://ianblythmanagement.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/v-next-2012/

Steve Burkett -
System Center v.Next... Errrrr.... 2012 on it's way
System Center Operations Manager 2012 : Hurry up already!
Opalis 6.3 : T-minus 17 days (or less)
System Center Mobile Device Manager: Not just for Windows Mobiles!

With TechEd Berlin 2010 having started this week, expect a lot more information on these next version to start flowing!

SCOM 2012

Useful Opalis Tool - UI Generator

Just noticed this blog post over on the System Center Nexus:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2010/11/07/an-incredibly-useful-tool-the-opalis-ui-generator.aspx

It's a shame it's just a web service that allows remote launching of a policy, looks like I'm still waiting on being able to remote launch from .net apps or powershell.  Still very useful though.

------------------------------------------------------------------

An incredibly useful tool–The Opalis UI Generator

One of our engineers from France, Bruno Saille has written a very useful tool, the Opalis UI generator.
The goal of the Opalis UI Generator is to let an Opalis administrator browse graphically through all policies with a custom start activity, pick one of them, and generate one of these two files, or both:

• A XML template that can be used by the Remote Policy Launcher executable – also provided in this package. This single executable adapts its UI to the XML file generated by the Opalis UI Generator
• A Web page that can be used on an IIS server running ASP.NET. The web page is crafted for the chosen policy, also enabling its remote launch

Note: This is not a tool that is supported by our CSS organization, so please exercise due care and test carefully.
You can download the tool and read more about it here.

Blackberry Management Pack for SCOM 2007

Rob has been at it again.

I know I'm tight when it comes to money, but I didn't expect him to develop a management pack for RIM's Blackberry Enterprise server for free!!  (Actually I lie, it's exactly like him...)

http://msopsmgr.blogspot.com/2010/11/blackberry-managemnt-pack.html

My hat goes off to him, and at last we might know what's wrong with the BES Infrastructure next time BEFORE someone rings and says "My Blackberry isn't working".

Comparing Management Packs between SCOM & SCSM

Rob has been working on a util for comparing the management pack versions used between our different SCOM groups (Live, Pre-Production & Test).

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Management-Pack-Compare-45acdccd

I gave him the challenge to also add in the ability to check the management pack versions on Service Manager in the same util and he's made some impressive progress.

Hopefully when he's finished you should be able to see all the management packs in use across all instances of both SCOM and SCSM with the ability to compare the versions to ensure that the environments are "in sync".  Rob has also added the ability to check against the versions available on the SCOM web service to help check that the latest versions are in use.