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.

VMM 2012 SP1 (Beta) with Server 2012 Hyper-V Issue

After migrating my 2008 R2 cluster across to Server 2012 I was having problems adding in the cluster/hosts to SC2012 Virtual Machine Manager SP1.

The cluster could be discovered and imported fine, but a few minutes later would report back that it could no longer be managed.

It turns out that because on the rebuild I didn't make the hosts DC's (it's a testlab before someone comments on best practise!!) so the computer accounts got placed into an OU along with the normal servers that had a Group Policy applying some WinRM settings.
Unfortunately doing a winrm /qc or allowing VMM to check that WinRM is enabled doesn't set/check all the required settings are actually in place.

Having a look around I found the following TechNet forum post from Wes Kroesbergen who listed a registry key that's advisable to have set, plus the winrm commands to set all of the required settings.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/virtualmachingmgrhyperv/thread/4bd9be4b-0ff9-46f3-bf32-1b7c1245c494


Wrap the below into a batch file (you can't use these commands via PowerShell before you try), run it on your Hyper-V hosts and you're good to go!

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{CredSSP='True'}
winrm set winrm/config/winrs @{AllowRemoteShellAccess='True'}
winrm set winrm/config/winrs @{MaxMemoryPerShellMB='2048'}
winrm set winrm/config/client @{TrustedHosts='*'}
winrm set winrm/config/client/auth @{CredSSP='True'}

SCVMM 2012 SP1 - Missing properties and unable to refresh VM

Giddy as a kid in a sweet shop I migrated my testlab cluster to Server 2012, migrated my VM's across and installed System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager SP1 to manage it.

Straight away I ran into some slightly strange issues.

1. Majority of the Auto Discovered VM's refused to see hardware configuration properties such as:
   Virtual Hard Disks and Controllers
   Virtual Network Cards
2. Majority of the Auto Discovered VM's left hardware configuration properties at defaults, such as:
   Processor Count and Memory Amount
   High Availability Status
3. Every time I tried to refresh a VM I would get the error:
   Error (2923)
   
   A malformed response was received while trying to contact the VMM agent on hyperv01.domain.local.
   Unspecified error (0x80004005)
   
   Recommended Action
   1) Ensure the VMM agent is installed and that the SCVMMAgent service is running.
   2) If the SCVMMAgent service is running, restart the service, and then verify that WS-Management is installed correctly and that the WinRM service is running.
   3) Check the manufacturers' Web sites to ensure that you have the latest drivers for your network adapters and other devices.

Looking on the Microsoft Connect site I found that someone called egilsk was having the same issues.

Thankfully, last Friday (05/10/12) Mark at Microsoft posted the following suggestion to try:

On the Hyper-V hosts run the following PowerShell commands

Import-Module Hyper-V

Get-WmiObject –Namespace “root\virtualization\v2” Msvm_PlannedComputerSystem | foreach{Get-VM –Id $_.Name} | Remove-VM –Force

Once this has been run on your hosts, refreshing the VM's should work successfully and all of the missing/default hardware config should be updated and displayed.

It looks like this is to do with the hosts having the VM stuck in a temporary state, even if brought across as a planned import or migration.

The problem is now at least known about and should be fixed/handled in the next release of the Service Pack.

System Center 2012 Update Rollup 1 - SCVMM & App Controller

Sneaking in quietly under the radar is the first update for the just released System Center 2012.

N.B. Don't be alarmed that there are updates available already for a product that has only been released, the development cycle and the aligning of the different System Center components mean that Virtual Machine Manager was slightly ahead in development which means they've been able to focus on updates and service packs already (a CTP Preview of SP1 is already available, see the bottom of this post)

This update focuses purely on Virtual Machine Manager, both server side and console as well as App Controller.

The knowledge base for Update Rollup 1 can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2686249

The downloads can be found on Microsoft Update or manually here:

Virtual Machine Manager Server Update (KB2663959)http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=2663959
Virtual Machine Manager Console Update (KB2663960)http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=2663960
Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal Update (KB2663961)http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=2663961
App Controller Update (KB2677596)
http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=2677596

In total we're looking at about 16 issues that have been fixed in this rollup.

It's also worth noting that after performing the server side update, the VMM agents on your hosts will also require updating.

To update the VMM agent on the managed computers, follow these steps:

1. Open the VMM Console.
2. Click Fabric, and then select Servers.
3. Under Managed Computers, select the servers, and then click Update Agent