SCOM Console Install on VMM Server Causes Service Crash

Had a strange one today.

Customer had tried previously to setup the connection between VMM and SCOM but made some mistake somewhere along the line and then uninstalled the SCOM console without removing the connection as they said the console was causing the VMM service to constantly crash.

Having not seen that behaviour before and slightly doubting it somewhat I re-installed the console and sure enough was prevented from accessing the VMM console as the service was crashing.

Just as an added check, I tried running some PowerShell commands to check it wasn't a GUI issue only to be created by error messages complaining that the VMM service wasn't running or accessible.

So I uninstalled the console again which allowed me access back to VMM and running the Get-SCOpsMgrConnection showed me the broken connection.  However attempts to remove via the console or PowerShell were both met by errors telling me I needed the SCOM console installed first in order to manage the connection.  Arh.. slight problem...

After checking everything I could think of (SPN's, SCP's, Service Accounts etc etc) and not finding anything that stood out (Including nothing useful in the event logs) I thought I'd try a timing trick.

So I opened up a SCVMM PowerShell window ready, kicked off the SCOM console install again and then repeatedly spammed Remove-SCOpsMgrConnection -Force and wouldn't you know it after a few messages saying the SCOM console must be installed, just before the install completed the command completed successfully and removed the broken connection.  More to the point the SCOM console installation completed and the VMM service didn't crash.

After recreating the connection everything remained stable, but even though the create connection job ran successfully, the following error was present in the connector details:

“Operations Manager discovery failed with error: “Exception of type ‘Microsoft.VirtualManager.EnterpriseManagement.common.discoverydatainvalidrelationshipsourceexceptionOM10’ was thrown.

This is because the SCOM connection was created with the PRO-Tips enabled but without a SCOM monitoring agent deployed to the VMM Server.
Easily fixable, just untick the PRO and Maintenance Mode connection settings, deploy a SCOM agent to the VMM server and once the agent is installed and reporting, re-enable the options.

Installing the SCVMM (Non SP1) console on Windows 8

If you find yourself running the new swanky Windows 8 OS on your desktop that you use for administration, you might run into a problem with trying to install the System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager console for remote admin purposes.

When Service Pack 1 is released (very soon) this isn't too much of an issue, except when you may want to administer a non-SP1 SCVMM setup.

So, there's a "hack" to install the SCVMM console, without SP1, on a Windows 8 machine.

** Firstly - disclaimer - This is in no way shape or form supported and you are to run this at your own risk, it's not my responsibility if it kills your infrastructure!!! **


Steps:

1. Grab the SP1 Beta install folder for SCVMM and copy it locally to a folder called VMMSP1
2. Copy the Non-SP1 install files locally to a folder too called VMMNONSP1
3. Rename the setup folder in either i386 or amd64 depending on your OS in the SP1 media to setupOrig.  In the screen shot below I've done this for the i386 folder.
   
   
   
4. Copy the setup folder for the relevant os (x86/x64) from the non-sp1 folder to the SP1 folder
   
   
   
5. Edit the PrerequisiteInputFile1033.xml in the setup folder copied across to the SP1 folder and look for the Win7 section below:
   
   <LogicDelegate LogicType="or" DelegateId="OSVersion-win7-Fail"
    DelegateNameSpace="Microsoft.VirtualManager.SetupFramework.BuiltInDelegates,SetupFramework"
   DelegateName="RequiredOperatingSystem">
   6.1.7600.0,6.1.9999.9999,Win32NT,WinNT,2
   </LogicDelegate>
6. Add this new section underneath the Win7 section:
   
   <LogicDelegate LogicType="or" DelegateId="OSVersion-win8-Fail"
    DelegateNameSpace="Microsoft.VirtualManager.SetupFramework.BuiltInDelegates,SetupFramework"
   DelegateName="RequiredOperatingSystem">
   6.2.9200.0,6.2.9999.9999,Win32NT,WinNT,2
   </LogicDelegate>
   
   
   
7. Go back to the root level for the OS "bitness" you're doing this for and run SetupVMM.exe
   
   
   
8. Don't worry when you see the splash screen as this will still say SP1, just click "Install"
   
   
9. This will then launch the Non-SP1 install and allow you to step through the options as normal to install the admin console.
   
   
   

As I said before, use this at your own risk and test fully in a lab environment first.  I will not be held responsible for what may go wrong, there's probably a reason Microsoft blocks the install, but I've always hated to be told no so had to try this.

Thanks to Dirk Flakowski for getting me side-tracked on this one today!
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/virtualmachinemanager/thread/07576dd4-bce2-442a-8af8-40213228406c