Updated Update Rollup 1 for System Center 2012

No sooner do I finish pushing out my SCOM agents do I then see that Microsoft have released Update Rollup 1 for Operations Manager.

Normally I'd be quite happy and plod along with getting the update installed, but hang on a second, this update looks very familiar.

The article that I saw referenced in the update announcement is KB2686249, the same one that I blogged about here a couple of weeks ago.

In fact, it is the very same update, just with Operations Manager 2012 added, along with the updated Virtual Machine Manager Management Packs.

Now I'm not one to moan (yeah, I'm not going to get away with that statement!) but updating an update without increasing the rollup/update number isn't exactly the best way to go about it in my opinion.  Does this mean when the ConfigMgr update is ready we'll see yet another addition to the Update Rollup 1 package but with no name change?

The only reason this probably half bothers me is that I'm in the middle of setting up my new testlab/customer experience center for work and having just updated VMM and App controller by using Windows Update for a change rather than pulling the file down manually and I'm now a bit perplexed as Windows Update is unable to find the SCOM update for the console that is installed on my VMM server (not that it finds it for the SCOM management server either via WU).

And then to make matters worse, there's a "known issue" with the update:

No updates items appeared in Control Panel ARP after installing Update Rollup 1 (UR1). After installing UR1 on server and all roles (except Agent and Gateway), no update item appears in Control Panel ARP list.

The version number of the console does not change after installing Update Rollup 1 in the UI. After installing Update Rollup 1 ,the version number of the console is still 7.0.8560.0 in the UI

Why is this a problem?  Well if you were planning to distribute the console update via ConfigMgr then you're going to have to fall back to file version checking for targeting and it makes it just that tad harder for verification checking when you can't just simply ask a user to check their console version by check "help about"

I'm not going to blog about the whole installation order/methodology as Kevin Green has already written this up nicely here:
http://kevingreeneitblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/scom-2012-deploying-cumulative-update.html

One thing he doesn't mention though is that after installing the Web Console fix, the following line requires adding to the web.config file.

From the KB Article:

Web console fixes will work after adding the following line to the %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\web.config file:

<machineKey validationKey="AutoGenerate,IsolateApps"
decryptionKey="AutoGenerate,IsolateApps" validation="3DES" decryption="3DES"/>

The line should be added under <system.web>, as described in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

911722 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911722/ ) You may receive an error message when you access ASP.NET Web pages that have ViewState enabled after you upgrade from ASP.NET 1.1 to ASP.NET 2.0

 

All in all, there are 17 core updates to SCOM, 3 for Unix/Linux Monitoring and a lovely new feature - Oracle Solaris 11 (x86 & SPARC) support included in this updated update so it's definitely one to go and install.

The VMM & App Controller update parts are available either through Windows Update or from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29679

The Operations Manager update packages can be downloaded from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c593536c-94f3-4c71-b963-5ab3b7fc05e1

Service Manager 2010 - CU3 now available

**UPDATED: See last line**

It's time to start testing a new update in your Service Manager test environments as Cumulative Update 3 for 2010 SP1 has just arrived.

The engineering blog has a post up here that has a summary, but unfortunately the link to the KB article is the wrong one.

Instead of KB2542118 it should be KB2588492

From the KB Article:
This update includes fixes for the following issues:

• Management Pack Import: When a data type is a decimal sometimes the decimal becomes an integer
• Corruption of the Type ManagementEntity table when importing a type extension
• Updates to properties are not brought forward to DW if updates to the instances happens in the same transaction or right before deleting the instance
• AD Connector not bringing in new updates
• When you create a new CR by using the new CR form, clicking the Apply button sometimes creates a duplicate record
• Console intermittently freezes when you update/creating incident and clicking apply
• HealthService does not stop at the end of SP1 DW update if previous start action takes too long
• When opening the SCSM console on client computers and server the Reporting Wunderbar does not appear
• High CPU in monitoringhost.exe when you create or updating an incident that triggers a notification workflow

You can download the CU update here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28159

This cumulative update applies to the following Service Manager components:

• Service Manager Management Server (SM Server)
• Data Warehouse Management Server (DW Server)
• Service Manager Console

As with any update, RTFM and make sure you fully test it in a pre-production environment first.


*** UPDATE: I failed miserably... I got the links wrong too!!!  Updated with correct links ***

SCOM 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 5 (CU5)

Now that the KB Article for CU5 is live we can now see exactly what's included in CU5:

Cumulative Update 5 for Operations Manager 2007 R2 resolves the following issues:

• Restart of non-Operations Manager services when the agent is updated.
• Updated ACS reports.
• TCP Port Probe incorrectly reports negative ping latency.
• MissingEvent Manual Reset Monitor does not work as expected.
• Drillthrough fails because of rsParameterTypeMismatch in the EnterpriseManagementChartControl.
• ACS - Event log message is truncated or corrupted in SCDW.
• UI hang caused by SDK locking.
• ACS Filter fails for certain wildcard queries.
• Edit Schedule button is disabled with SQL 2008 R2.
• Web console times out when you open the left navigation tree.
• Scheduled Reports view for Windows Server 2003 and for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services SP3 CU9 returns "System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array."
• Signed MPs cannot be imported when new attributes are added to existing classes.

Cross Platform Cumulative Update 5 for Operations Manager 2007 R2 resolves the following issues:

• Performance data for LVM managed partitions is not available.
• Process monitor does not keep name if run by using symbolic link.
• AIX with large number of processes crashes with bad alloc.

Cross Platform Cumulative Update 5 for Operations Manager 2007 R2 adds the following feature:

• Support for Red Hat 6

Note The new agent for Red Hat 6 is included in Cumulative Update 5. You can download the management pack for Red Hat 6 by visiting the following Microsoft website:

System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Cross Platform Monitoring Management Packs

 

 

I'm a strong believer in not re-inventing the wheel, so rather than do a step by step guide on the install myself, I'll just recommend you check out Kevin Holman's post:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2011/08/03/opsmgr-2007-r2-cu5-rollup-hotfix-ships-and-my-experience-installing-it.aspx

 

 

 

Ramp up the Test Lab - SCOM 2007 R2 CU5 is here!

Cumulative Update 5 (CU#5) for SCOM R2 is now available for download from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26938

The Knowledge base article for the update (KB2495674) isn't presently live, but the download page does note that there are a number of manual steps are required to install, so this will definately need the guide reading in full.

With that being said, get it downloaded and the test lab ramped up ready, but wait for the full details before attempting an install!

**Edit 04/08/2011 - KB Article is now live **

Installing the Service Manager SP1 Web Portal AFTER CU1

** Before reading this please note this is UNSUPPORTED, and should NOT be used in production environments **

When setting up my test Service Manager environment I did a clean install of the SP1 release and then upgraded to CU1 shortly after.  When setting up I didn't have a requirement to install the Self Service Portal as we were still yet to deploy it in production.

Microsoft best practice states that the Portal should be installed on a separate server for performance considerations, but when testing it's sometimes easier just to stick it on the same server to save on resources.

However, if you've already updated to SP1 CU1 then you'll be greeted with this message when trying to run setup....

Arh.. slight problem.

I can't find it right now, but there is an article out there somewhere on doing basically an uninstall, then a re-install but connecting back to the databases by restoring the encryption keys which allows you to add the portal, but that seems a bit too long winded for a test environment.

(Again, remember I have no idea on long term impacts so do this at your own risk)

I tracked down the Registry key that gets queried by setup for the version installed:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\7C8A391A7EBCB3F488F7B630EE342A80\Patches

If you delete this registry key (Export a copy first!!!), and then re-run setup, it will proceed.

After install, re-import the reg key and you're good to go!

This "shouldn't" have any impact on a SP1 CU1 install as CU1 only updates the Service Manager & Data Warehouse components, not the Portal components, so I would NOT recommend trying it on the pre SP1 cumulative updates, or any future cumulative updates.

Again, this is unsupported and backup, backup, backup, test, test, test if you're going to try it.

Cumulative Update 1 for System Center Service Manager SP1 Released!

Not much to say on this one, so this is basically a cut and paste from the engineering blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2011/02/03/cumulative-update-1-for-system-center-service-manager-sp1-released.aspx

However, 2 things to note.

1. The KB 2484853 article referenced on the download page doesn't current;y work as someone's put a space in the URL, try this instead: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=2484853
2. This cumulative update applies to the following Service Manager components only, no console update:

• Service Manager Management Server (SM Server)
• Data Warehouse Management Server (DW Server)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first cumulative update for SP1 is now released.  This must be applied on top of a SP1 installation.  It fixes the following issues:

• Extending a large-volume class hangs the console indefinitely
• Adding 25th child item on a list results in an error
• DW data loss for relationship fact tables with properties

You can download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=82954fe2-2168-42cd-8456-762730ac37eb
There is also an Authoring Tool management pack library update with this so make sure you update the management packs in your library wherever you have the authoring tool installed.

Operations Manager Cumulative Update 4 - (SCOM CU4) Released

It's time for another cumulative update for SCOM 2007 R2, this time number 4!

We've not got it installed here yet, that will be Robs job next week, not that he'll know until he reads this ;)

You can download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=39a871e0-d996-4568-be5d-2edb6f539330&displaylang=en

And in the imortal words of Marnix, RTFM here, over and over: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2449679

Biggest fix this time round for me is the fixing of Pro Tips from SCVMM.

Kevin Holman has his always excellent installation guide and personal experience with CU4 blogged here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2011/02/01/opsmgr-2007-r2-cu4-rollup-hotfix-ships-and-my-experience-installing-it.aspx

Marnix Wolf has his views on it here:
http://thoughtsonopsmgr.blogspot.com/2011/02/cumulative-update-4-for-scom-r2-has.html

SCOM Cumulative Update 3 (CU3) & Cross Platform Management Pack Updates

Cumulative Update 3 for System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 has just been released.  You can find more details here.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2251525/

Also Microsoft have just released some updated Cross Plat MP’s

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=b7af6707-ce3f-4401-8b61-760facabcd54

Service Manager Cumulative Update 2 & Authoring Tool RTM

I actually missed this being released last Friday (13/08/2010), but here's the links for the RTM version of the Authoring Tool and the pre-requisite CU2 Update:

Cumulative Update for System Center Service Manager 2010 (KB 2193861)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=29ae66db-9178-4685-b973-b8be7c2c636f&displaylang=en#filelist

Microsoft System Center Service Manager Authoring Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=40b8f1b7-da63-46ae-9ca4-ef007fc3cb29&displaylang=en