Help Me Manage

HASMUG Lives again!

2010-06-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Please join us July 14 for the 1st meeting of HASMUG in three years!

http://fyrsoft.spaces.live.com/

Your invited to the July HASMUG meeting for System Center professionals!

System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 (Release Candidate) Ready for Download

2009-03-26T10:15:00.001-07:00

Operations Manager 2007 R2 introduces key new and enhanced functionality, including:

Enhanced application performance and availability across heterogeneous platforms

Delivers monitoring across Windows, Linux and Unix servers-all through a single console
Extends end to end monitoring of distributed applications to any workload running on Windows, Unix and Linux platforms
Maximize availability of virtual workloads with integration with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

Improved management of applications in the data center

Delivers on the scale requirements of URL monitoring of your business
Meet agreed service levels with enhanced reporting showing application performance and availability
More efficient problem identification and action to resolve issues

Increased speed of access to information and functionality to drive management

Faster load times for views and results
Improved and simplified management pack authoring experience

For those who are evaluating the Beta release, this Release Candidate offers a number of enhancements over the Operations Manager R2 Beta, including:

-New Power Management MP template (Monitored system must be Windows Server 2008 R2 or Win7)
-Updated branding across all User Interfaces
-Improved trace configuration tools on the CD to help support issues escalated to Customer Support (where applicable)
-Improved Run As Account Distribution Configuration
-Ability to run inline tasks for non-Microsoft servers
-Support for upgrade from Beta deployments to the Release Candidate
-New and updated documentation, including the Usage Guide, Design Guide, Deployment Guide, Upgrade Guide, Security Guide and Operations Guide

Apply - to participate in the "Operations Manager Public Beta" - https://connect.microsoft.com/SelfNomination.aspx?ProgramID=2249&pageType=1&SiteID=446

Get it - System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 (RC) - http://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=446&DownloadID=17271

System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 (Release Candidate) Ready for Download

Houston Area Technology Consultants

2009-02-16T13:57:00.001-08:00

I recently worked with the guys at Rede Consulting on a project and wanted to recommend. Their website is http://www.redeconsultants.com

Title Deleted

2008-08-20T12:35:00.001-07:00

Source: ****Deleted****

Per the request of Microsoft Product team for System Center product not to be named, I have removed all details previously posted under the title ****Title Deleted****

Cross Platform Extensions Beta 1 Refresh

2008-08-19T10:15:00.001-07:00

Source: Microsoft

We are pleased to announce the release of the Cross Platform Extensions Beta 1 Refresh. This Beta Refresh is now available on Connect. We encourage you to promptly download, evaluate and provide feedback on this exciting new release.

To download, simply go to our OpsMgr site on Connect (https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=446) and click the Downloads link.

This Beta Refresh adds three new features to the product:


OpsMgr 64-bit Support


Gateway role support


AIX 5.3 support

To upgrade from the first Beta to this Beta Refresh:

1.
Uninstall the Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions Beta (no need to delete the imported Management packs).

2.
Install the new Beta Refresh.

3.
Import the Unix Library MP (and AIX if you need to monitor AIX Systems).

4.
Extract the UnixAgents Zip file to \Program Files\System Center Operations Manager 2007\AgentManaged (make sure it extracts into the UnixAgents folder).

Note: The upgrade instructions are outlined in the updated Quick Start document on Connect.

To provide feedback on the Beta 1 refresh utilize the Newsgroups on Connect.

Thank you, the System Center Cross Platform Product Team.

Tool to Remove Management Packs from SecureVantage Technologies

2008-03-28T08:00:00.001-07:00

Source: Secure Vantage Team Blog

Thanks to the guys at SVT for this!

How to remove Management Packs with references to unsealed MPs?

For the most part removing Management Packs (MP) is a quick administrative process done in the OpsMgr console, which is as follows:

1. In the OpsMgr Console

2. Administration -> Management Packs

3. For each XXXX MP -> Right Click -> Delete

However occasionally we have seen issues were people have setup references to other unsealed MPs and it can be time consuming to remove all the override references and you don't want to delete the entire Management Pack. We have released a tool that you can use to remove override references from the MP you are trying to remove. Please note this is a utility resource for general community use, we'd be glad to answer any questions or get feedback on improvements but this is not a supported solution.

Steps to delete an MP when you can't due to override references in unsealed MPs.

1. Download the InstallTool.exe provided by Secure Vantage Technologies

2. Run the InstallTool.exe -ea (Backs up all unsealed MP to C:\Program Files\System Center Management packs\MP Backsup\<MMDDYY>\* )

3. Run the InstallTool.exe -rr SecureVantage.Security (this example removes all references to Secure Vantage MPs from unsealed MPs, must use prefix of MP ID)

4. Review the log file created for details on next steps

Once the overrides are removed you are still be required to manually remove the MP manifest reference by editing the XML directly.

5. Export the Management Pack in question and open the file in a text editor

6. You will need to remove any reference in the manifest, here is an example of what you will be removing in the case of Secure Vantage MPs.

     <Reference Alias="SVT">
        <ID>SecureVantage.Security.Base.Library</ID>
        <Version>3.0.6200.0</Version>
        <PublicKeyToken>60b527b13d975a39</PublicKeyToken>
      </Reference>

7. Save the file and import into OpsMgr

Xobni Outlook add-in

2008-03-14T03:32:00.001-07:00

Useful Outlook add-in that I have been testing – sign up to receive below.

Operations Manager 2007: List of Resource Kit Tools

2008-03-12T12:15:00.001-07:00

Source: J.C. Hornbeck

Looking for the complete list of Resource Kit tools for System Center Operations Manager 2007? Here you go:

Name: Sample Vista Gadget

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0f5a060b-635d-4355-b0ac-32ee2943bfd9&DisplayLang=en

Description: A Vista Gadget that enables you to view the active alerts and health states for a specified set of objects from a computer running Windows Vista.

Name: Operations Manager Inventory

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10e79763-6906-4f44-86c6-fbabb0bf1b9f&DisplayLang=en

Description: A command-line utility that captures the configuration of your Operations Manager 2007 Management Servers and stores it in a .cab file that can be sent to Microsoft support to assist in problem analysis.

Name: Operations Manager Cleanup Tool

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=14ff7073-c71b-4ad0-805a-a8e458d2c9e0&DisplayLang=en

Description: A command-line utility that enables you to remove any or all of the components of Operations Manager from a local computer in cases where the normal method of uninstallation has failed.

Name: AEM Validation

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=db979eb5-b423-4b14-8664-b16dc8157e8d&DisplayLang=en

Description: A command line utility that will allow you to perform end-to-end validation of Agent-less Exception Monitoring to verify that AEM is properly configured and operational.

Name: AEM Management Pack

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6f0ba772-8521-4717-ab54-80ecd1f75aec&DisplayLang=en

Description: A Management Pack that enables you to identify generic errors sent by Windows Error Reporting (WER) clients to Management Servers that are AEM-enabled. Without this mapping function these errors appear in Operations Manager as "unknown application" and "unknown version".

Name: Active Directory Integration Sample Script

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b3aa2d5a-b56c-40e8-8b63-139865a1749b&DisplayLang=en

Description: A sample script that enables you to extract a list of computer names from your custom SQL Server database and add them to an Active Directory security group. The security group can then be referenced in the Agent Assignment and Failover Wizard to automate agent assignments to Management Servers.

Name: Effective Configuration Viewer

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a9db4dca-6716-478d-89b9-42f27ebc76a8&DisplayLang=en

Description: A tool that displays the set of rules and monitors that are running on a computer, distributed application, or any other managed entity after any configured overrides have been applied.

Name: Action Account Tool

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1d9a8d81-0e42-4076-88a9-8e6c08993054&DisplayLang=en

Description: A PowerShell script that allows you to set the action account on groups of computers.

The Wait is over! System Center Operations Manager Cluster MP is now available!

2008-03-06T13:49:00.001-08:00

If you have installed Operations Manager 2007 SP1, there are no prerequisites to be met before loading the System Center Operations Manager Cluster Management Pack.

If you have not yet upgraded your SCOM installation to SP1, apply the KB945312 QFE ON EACH Management server prior to installing the Cluster management pack.

Download the Cluster Management Pack from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ac7f42f5-33e9-453d-a923-171c8e1e8e55&DisplayLang=en.

Operations Manager SP1 RTM command shell requires Powershell scripts to be digitally signed

2008-02-26T09:56:00.001-08:00

After installing SP1 RTM, I noticed that Powershell scripts that I frequently run will no longer run unless I digitally sign them or modify the execution policy. For those who do not have code signing certs and want to modify the execution policy, run the command set-executionpolicy unrestricted.
This is not a suggested setting!, but will allow you to run scripts whilst you work through the procedure to buy or create your own authority. For details on creating your own signing certificate, run get-help about_signing

Operations Manager 2007 Agent upgrade from SP1 RC to SP1 RTM

2008-02-26T08:37:00.001-08:00

It was brought to my attention this morning that the upgrade documentation shipped with SP1 RTM failed to call out a change in the upgrade method of SP1 RC agents (6246) to SP1 RTM (6278). An update to the upgrade guide and release notes are pending, but below is the proper procedure to follow if you are upgrading from RC to RTM – do NOT use the approval method from pending management.

To upgrade agents from Operations Manager 2007 SP1 RC (build 6246) to Operations Manager 2007 SP1 (build 6278) using the Operations Console

1. Log on to the computer hosting the Operations Console with an account that is a member of the Operations Manager Administrators role for the Operations Manager 2007 management group.

2. In the Operations Console, click Administration.

Note

When you run the Operations Console on a computer that is not a management server, the Connect To Server dialog box appears. In the Server name text box, type the name of the Operations Manager 2007 management server to which you want to connect.

3. In the Administration pane, expand Device Management, and then click Agent Managed.

4. In the Agent Managed pane, select the agents that are listed as version 6.0.6246.0, right-click them, and then select Repair.

5. In the Repair Agents dialog box, select the appropriate agent action account, and then click Repair.

System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 RTM

2008-02-23T08:33:00.001-08:00

After much anticipation from the Ops Mgr community, Microsoft has made System Center Operations Manager SP1 RTM available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ede38d83-32d1-46fb-8b6d-78fa1dcb3e85&DisplayLang=en.

What's new (Source: What's New in Ops Mgr 2007 SP1)

Operations Manager 2007 SP1 addresses critical customer-initiated issues, including improved deployment, performance, reporting, and enhanced support.

Highlighting some of the key new features and enhancements:

New capability to export Operations Manager 2007 diagrams to Microsoft Visio VDX file format.
New ability to publish reports to multiple locations, such as Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Web sites.
Improved performance and reliability across the product, such as when working with alerts, overrides, and searches.
Enhanced "advanced search" by improved the ability to search across monitors and rules by their overrides.
Simplifying the creation of new management packs by allowing users to copy views from existing management packs to an unsealed management pack.
New ability view performance data through the Operations Manager Web console, and setup filters for desired performance counters to ease searching and navigation.
New discoveries and views added to the Audit Collection Services (ACS), along with new monitors and alerts to track the health of ACS collectors.
Enhanced backup and recovery with the introduction of an easier-to-use Secure Storage Backup Wizard.

SCCM SP1 and R2 Betas are open

2008-02-12T10:50:00.001-08:00

Visit the Microsoft Connect site for more information regarding the SCCM SP1 and R2 beta.

https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=16

Windows Server 2008 Released to Manufacturing!

2008-02-04T09:26:00.001-08:00

Windows Server 2008 was released to manufacturing today and will be available for purchase to new customers on March 1. MVL customers with active SA coverage or an EA will be able to download the software by the end of February.

Vista SP 1 RTM

2008-02-04T09:24:00.001-08:00

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing today and will start being available to customers in March, starting with Microsoft Volume Licensing customers. Read more at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-04VistaSP1MA.mspx

MMS 2008 - SR41 - Demystifying Regulatory Compliance with System Center

2008-02-01T08:28:00.001-08:00

I just learned that Jeremiah Beckett from Secure Vantage Technologies will be providing the above breakout session at MMS 2008 in Las Vegas. For those who have not had the chance to speak with Jeremiah, you will not want to miss this opportunity!

Jeremiah also announced that SVT is a MMS 2008 GOLD sponsor this year. Hopefully, this will allow them to create a dedicated section for the SVT angels, their groupies, and the bar! Still no word on the rumored Secure Vantage VIP program – am I the only one hearing the whispers.

Read more at the Secure Vantage Team Blog and learn more about Secure Vantage Technologies' products and solutions.

Exam 70-400

2008-01-30T12:12:00.001-08:00

In order to keep my other Microsoft certifications with company, I decided to take exam 70-400 to obtain a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): System Center Operations Manager 2007, Configuration certification and passed with a 960 score!

The exam adequately covered skills that are essential in configuring Ops Manager.

Secure Vantage Team Blog

2008-01-21T12:21:00.001-08:00

It was brought to my attention that Secure Vantage Technologies has started a team blog. Read it at http://securevantage.spaces.live.com/

I have heard several rumblings of late about a Secure Vantage VIP club!? Possibly the team will use the blog to enlighten us...

System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 Training Videos

2008-01-21T12:01:00.001-08:00

The first wave of OpsMgr 2007 Sp1 training videos are now live on TechNet.

There are 9 different OpsMgr 2007 Sp1
videos available on the link below:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/bb986763.aspx

Install ACS Forwarder on RMS or Management Server

2008-01-03T09:50:00.001-08:00

Below is a quick and dirty procedure to install and enable ACS Forwarding on a System Center Operations Manager RMS or Management Server.

1. Copy adtagent.exe to C:\windows\system32

2. Run command adtagent -install

3. Edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\AdtAgent\Parameters

a. Ensure/Add DWORD key EventlogLoggingLevel is set to 2

b. Add DWORD key LocalConfig and set to 2

c. Add DWORD key NoCache and set to 2

d. Add Multi-String Value key AdtServers and enter name of the collector to

forward to.

4. In Services CP, set Operations Manager Audit Forwarding Service to Automatic and start.

5. Verify by running SELECT * FROM dbo.dtMachine on the OperationsManagerAC database and finding the management server name. Could also run SELECT * FROM dbo.dtMachine WHERE Description = 'DOMAINNAMEHERE\MACHINENAMEHERE$'

2007-12-13T12:43:00.001-08:00

J.C. Hornbeck describes how to backup, restore AND RECOVER a lost RMS key. Enjoy!

---From http://blogs.technet.com/smsandmom/

OpsMgr 2007: What if I lose my RMS encryption key??

So let's say I have a functional OpsMgr 2007 infrastructure in place and then for whatever reason have to reinstall/replace the Root Management Server (RMS), but I didn't backup my RMS encryption key. What are the exact ramifications of this and what would I need to do to correct it?

Prior to Service Pack 1 (SP1), if something happened to your RMS and it had to be replaced, and you didn't backup your key, you were basically out of luck. Your only recourse was to rebuild from scratch - not a pretty picture. That's why we always told people to make sure they backed up their key as soon as they installed:

Backing up your RMS encryption key: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb309563.aspx.

Now with SP1, we have a new CREATE_NEWKEY command line switch that can make recovering from a situation like this potentially much easier. We also made running the encryption key backup process a mandatory process of setup, just so you'll have a friendly reminder.

So let's take a look at a couple scenario's:

1. The Root Management Server is replaced or reinstalled and the key is not backed up or the password to the key is lost. There are no other Management Servers to promote.

Solution: Install a new Management Server (the RMS replacement) and be sure the computer name is the same name as the previous Root Management Server that is being replaced. Setup will detect that the machine name is same as the Root Management Server in the database so it will recreate a new key and register the licenses.

2. The Root Management Server is replaced or reinstalled and the key is not backed up or the password to the key is lost. There is at least one Management Server to promote to Root Management Server.

Solution: On the Management Server that will become the new Root Management Server, run MOM.msi with the CREATE_NEWKEY switch (msiexec.exe /i <Path to MOM.msi> CREATE_NEWKEY=1). Configure the account for SDK/Config services (this account should have permission to the database, the SDK service account should be added to the SDK_users role, and the config service account should be added to the configsvc_users role). Promote the Management Server to Root Management Server.

3. The registry on the Root Management Server got corrupted, thus the encryption key is lost.
Solution: Run MOM.msi with special switch (msiexec.exe /i <Path to MOM.msi> CREATE_NEWKEY=1)

So does this mean you don't have to worry about backing up your keys? No, you should always backup your keys and keep them in a safe place as doing so will potentially save you a lot of trouble down the road, but now if something happens there's possibly a way to recover without having to rebuild.

Ops Mgr 2007 SP1 RC

2007-11-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

Be aware before moving forward with SP1 RC that there is no rollback path from RC -> RTM

Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1

2007-11-05T06:34:00.001-08:00

Source: Stefan Stranger's Weblog

Release Candidate details:
· This will be publicly available release. Customers can download the Service Pack 1 RC from Microsoft Connect. Signup for this is public and available at http://connect.microsoft.com/systemcenter
· This release will be fully supported. Support options include:
o Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) – you can use your standard support options to get support on this edition
o Newsgroups – there will be a dedicated SP1 newsgroup
o Hotfixes requests that are accepted will be incorporated into the final RTM version
· This release is fully upgradable to the final RTM version of the Service Pack.
What's New in Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1
This topic describes some of the improvements and major changes in functionality that are included in Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Operations Manager 2007 SP1 is available in two ways. First, it is offered as a standalone executable file that you use to upgrade an existing Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 installation. Second, it has been "slipstreamed" into the Operations Manager 2007 installation media, which means that you can install Operations Manager 2007 from scratch and the final installed version will be Operations Manager 2007 SP1. Operations Manager 2007 SP1 is available for both x86-based and x64-based computers.
New Features
The new features that are in Operations Manager 2007 SP1 are:
· Improved performance and reliability when working with alerts, overrides, and searches.
· In all Alert views, performance has been increased through better fetching and yields alert row selection that is three times quicker. Actions and reports are fetched in the background, which further improves performance. Alert knowledge that is displayed in the Alert Details pane can be shown or hidden according to the user's preference.
· Operations Manager 2007 advanced search has been improved by enabling the ability to search across monitors and rules by their overrides.
· Support for the discovery and monitoring of both SNMP v1 and SNMP v2 network devices. Users can select which SNMP Community Version to search for in the Discovery Wizard.
· Support for exporting Operations Manager 2007 diagrams to Microsoft Visio VDX file format. Note that the Visio button is located on the toolbar when in a diagram view. Diagram layouts can now be saved and will be remembered when the diagram view is selected again.
· Support for copying and pasting (CTRL+C and CTRL+V) from the Alert details pane.
Setup and Recovery
The following are improvements in setup and recovery:
· To make backup and recovery easier, setup in Operations Manager 2007 SP1 starts the Secure Storage Backup Wizard at the end of setup, by default, to back up the RMS encryption keys. This is the same command-line tool used in the original version of Operations Manager 2007, but with an easier-to-use wizard interface. The wizard is actually started by using the command-line version of the tool when no parameters are passed to the tool or it is started from Windows Explorer. The Secure Storage Backup tool is located on the installation media in the Support Tools directory. The Secure Storage Backup Wizard can be started according to the user's preference.
· To make the recovery of a clustered RMS easier, Operations Manager 2007 SP1 enables the repromotion of the RMS cluster to the RMS role after it is fixed. This addresses the situation where a clustered RMS has failed and another management server in the management group has been promoted into the RMS role.
User Interface and Experience
The following are improvements in user interface and experience:
· To make the creation of new management packs easier, Operations Manager 2007 SP1 introduces the ability to copy views from any existing management pack to an unsealed management pack. This is done in the Monitoring view. For example, if you have created a management pack for SQL Server overrides and want to use one of the SQL Server management pack views in the SQL Server overrides management pack, you would simply select the desired view, right-click to copy it, and then paste it into the target management pack folder.
· In all Alert views in the Monitoring space and in the Web console, Operations Manager 2007 SP1 ensures that the Repeat Count value is incremented correctly.
· After you have created an override for any management pack object, you can look at the summary of overrides for the object type in the Overrides Summary box. Operations Manager 2007 SP1 ensures that the description of the override target is complete. For example, if you create an override for Logical Disk Free Space for the C:\ of Server1, the summary will display 'server1/c:'
Core Product
The following are improvements in the core Operations Manager 2007 product:
· SP1 ensures that when agents are uninstalled from a computer in the Administration space\Device Management container\Agent Managed node of the Operations Console, that they are also removed from the computer views in the Monitoring space.
· Scripts can now be used for diagnostic tasks.
· View names, data and, display strings in the Operations Console that have been collected from computers running different language versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems are displayed correctly.
Reporting
The following are improvements to reporting:
· When you are in a report, you can now choose to publish the report by selecting Publish from the File menu. This will allow you to publish reports to multiple locations, such as Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Web sites.
Web Console
The following are improvements in the Operations Manager 2007 Web console:
· The Operations Manager Web console provides access to performance data. Users can then select specific counters to graph. In Operations Manager 2007 SP1, it is now possible to construct a filter for the desired performance counters to ease searching and navigation. This ability is available when a performance view is selected and displays in the Performance legend pane. The search options available are All items, Items in the Chart, Items not in the Chart, and Items by text search.
· The Web console has been further improved so that the Favorite Reports container is now available in My Workspace.
Audit Collection Services (ACS)
The following are improvements for ACS:
· New discoveries and views have been added. These features detect and indicate which agents and servers are ACS-forwarding enabled.
· There are more monitors and alert generating rules to track the health state of the ACS collectors. For example, Operations Manager 2007 SP1 includes the ability to watch the DB Queue % full level against default thresholds, such as the back-off threshold or disconnect threshold.
· The ACS forwarder feature is now supported on the Management and Gateway Server roles. The ACS Forwarder is disabled by default. When enabled, it will allow the inclusion of security auditing data for these server roles.
· When using ACS, one of the most common tasks is to enable forwarding on ACS agents. In Operations Manager 2007 SP1, an Operations Manager Command Shell script can be used to enable forwarding for entire computer groups, thereby greatly easing the deployment and administration of ACS.
Agentless Exception Monitoring (AEM)
AEM now provides an improved appearance and functionality of AEM reports.

MOM 2005 versus SCOM 2007 – A bandwidth utilization challenge

2007-10-23T05:59:00.001-07:00

Satya Vel has posted a good entry on the Operations Manager Product Team Blog concerning Network Bandwidth Utilization for the various OpsMgr 2007 Roles. As a follow-up to Satya's comments on bandwidth utilization, I have posted the below graphic illustrating bandwidth used by 150 agents of each MOM version (MOM 2005 and SCOM 2007). Excellent improvement to say the least. Now if they would only resolve the console performance....

http://helpmemanage.googlepages.com/MOMvsSCOMUsageovertime.JPG

TechEd IT Forum 2007

2007-10-19T14:34:00.001-07:00

I've completed registration for IT Forum in Barcelona. Drop me a line if you are attending and we can grab drinks!

jss

System Center Operations Manager Firewall Requirements

2007-10-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

I've recently had a few queries on firewall ports from SCOM. The following table describes the necessary firewall requirements for the Root/Management Server, Agent, Operations Console and Web Console components:

Point A	Point B	Port
Root/Management Server	Operations Manager Database	1433
Management Server	Root Management Server	5723
Agent	Management Server	5723
Operations Console	Root Management Server	5724
Web Browser	Web Console Server	51908

The following table describes the necessary firewall requirements when using Gateway Severs:

Point A	Direction	Point B	Port
Root Management Server	<->	Gateway Server	5723
Gateway Server	<-	Agent	5723
Management Server	<->	Gateway Server	5723
Gateway Server	<->	Gateway Server	5723

Windows Server 2008 RC0

2007-09-27T13:50:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has released Windows Server 2008 RC0. See below download locations.

Windows Web Server 2008 RC0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d977fde8-d3fb-4e6c-8a8a-352cf83111cc&DisplayLang=en

Windows Server 2008 RC0 Standard Edition - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d694d4cc-0681-41b5-b02e-012be18f8b71&DisplayLang=en

Windows Server 2008 RC0 for Itanium-based Systems - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=07ec6bea-b14e-4f73-98c6-eb7a92e76b05&DisplayLang=en

Windows Server 2008 RC0 Enterprise - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0818d425-cd47-4279-be8d-24aba14530a3&displaylang=en&tm

Windows Server 2008 RC0 Datacenter - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=95cc89a8-0076-4571-b379-4aa4f526b893&displaylang=en&tm

Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate: System Requirements and Installation Documentation - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1087a498-40ad-46ba-9ada-f32a58a94a85&displaylang=en&tm

Windows Server 2008 Media Services
Windows Media Services 2008 for Windows Server 2008 RC0

Windows Server 2008 Learning Portal

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/windowsserver2008/default.mspx

Windows Server 2008 Technical Overviews

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=46dc26d6-af47-43f0-b3de-521831fe09d6&DisplayLang=en

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/2008/default.aspx

Windows Server 2008 Technical Library

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/bab0f1a1-54aa-4cef-9164-139e8bcc44751033.mspx?mfr=true

Windows Server 2008 Step-By-Steps

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=518d870c-fa3e-4f6a-97f5-acaf31de6dce&DisplayLang=en

Windows Server 2008 Security Guild

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=FB8B981F-227C-4AF6-A44B-B115696A80AC&displaylang=en

Windows Server 2008 Component Posters

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C2B9E44E-0BBD-47CB-BC09-B3D48BE7F867&displaylang=en

Windows Server 2008 Virtualization

Release Notes: http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/8/e48d5cff-53d2-4eed-85bf-4af50e25b78c/relnotes.htm

Product Overview: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0fe4e411-8c88-48c2-8903-3fd9cbb10d05&DisplayLang=en

Installing (BLOG): http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2007/09/24/windows-server-virtualization-community-technology-preview-now-available.aspx

FTP7

Microsoft released the newest version of our FTP server for Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 0 (RC0)!

Listed below are the links for the download pages for each of the individual installation packages:

FTP 7 (x86) Installation Package
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=87847

FTP 7 (x64) Installation Package
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=89114

Operations Manager SP1 Update

2007-09-14T06:16:00.001-07:00

Source: Anders Bengtsson

"The Operations Manager team is making good progress on readying the first Service Pack for the OpsMgr 2007 product. Note that final (RTM) release of the Service Pack 1 release is targeted for mid-February 2008.

The high level themes of this service pack are:

More detail at the source.

Secure Vantage Solutions for Operations Manager 2007

2007-06-26T13:17:00.001-07:00

After spending several months working with the gang at SecureVantage, I am pleased that we have selected them as our security solution for Operations Manager 2007. While a number of their management packs are in RC at the moment, the ACS reporting and archival has already proved to be extremely valuable to us. I have loaded many of their RC packs for testing and look forward with *great* excitement to their IIS and SQL auditor pack scheduled for release this summer.

http://www.securevantage.com/

SQL Failed Jobs report

2007-05-30T11:05:00.001-07:00

I went to pull a listing of failed SQL jobs from Operations Manager a while back and found that there is no report to provide this information. I wrote a quick report to gather this information from the Operations Manager data warehouse. Grab the rdl and/ sql script from the links below.

--SQL Failed Jobs SQL query (.sql)

--Failed SQL Jobs report (.rdl)

Jeff

Enable Detailed Logging for ACS Forwarder

2007-05-10T11:03:00.001-07:00

In order to troubleshoot various ACS issues this past week, I enabled detailed logging on the ACS forwarder. The below steps will write detailed log entries to C:\Windows\Temp\AdtAgent.log.

Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AdtAgent\Parameters
Create DWORD value = TraceFlags
Edit the TraceFlags entry and enter decimal value 524420
Restart the AdtAgent service

SMS 2003 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

2007-05-10T08:32:00.001-07:00

Microsoft released the SMS 2003 MP for Operations Manager 2007 on 5/9/2007. It may be downloaded here.

Feature Summary:

• Detects all SMS 2003 server computers and site systems.

• Monitors the starting and stopping of all SMS 2003 services, including critical dependent services such as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), Internet Information Server (IIS), and Microsoft SQL Server.

• Provides alerts for SMS service stops, service failures, performance thresholds, status messages, and site system status.

• Presents the state of all roles and computers in the SMS 2003 environment.

• Provides a topology diagram that displays site, site server and site system relationships along with health status.

• Monitors processing rates.

• Monitors backlogs of discovery data records (DDRs), software inventory, hardware inventory, status messages, and software metering on both primary site servers and management points.

• Monitors core system resource usage.

• Includes tasks that enable users of the Operations Manager Operations Console to diagnose and resolve problems on remote computers through the use of SMS Administrator Console.

• Configuration, availability and performance reports. Monitors the performance trends of many SMS performance counters.

Auditing events on untrusted computers – Audit collection Services (ACS)

2007-05-08T09:01:00.001-07:00

After having successfully deployed Operations Manager framework to our primary domain and a few untrusted computers in a workgroup, I ventured to enable ACS and begin collecting audit events. While the documented procedure works fine for those servers within the trusted domain (using Kerberos), the workgroup computers posed a bit of a challenge. Specifically, after enabling audit services on the workgroup computers, numerous security events 529 and 680 began appearing and the computers were refused connection to the collector.

Microsoft mentions in the ACS documentation that Kerberos is used by adtagent.exe to authenticate to the collector, by default, but offers no workaround for computers that are not joined to the domain. The document below steps one through the process of using certificate authentication with ACS. As you will see from the steps required this could be troublesome, from a management standpoint, when you have many untrusted agents forwarding events.

As time allows, I will publish a more through guide. This document, in the interim, should help those that are struggling with this issue. Feel free to contact me at jeff.skelton@gmail.com with any issues to validate that this procedure worked in your environment.

http://helpmemanage.googlepages.com/ACSCertificates.pdf

Jeff

WSUS 3.0 Released!

2007-04-30T12:12:00.001-07:00

Today, Microsoft released Windows Server Update Services version 3.0 to their website for download. Below are links to where you can get it as well as read more about it:

Download:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e4a868d7-a820-46a0-b4db-ed6aa4a336d9&displaylang=en&tm

Overview:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1b5eac37-bd48-41fd-869b-f9b06fa64a61&displaylang=en&tm

Readme:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=093f89c5-a887-4fcd-9b98-47d898b5295f&displaylang=en&tm

Step-by-Step Guide:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c8fa2fd1-72f6-4f19-a1b0-f689dae14be6&displaylang=en&tm

Operations Guide:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=66d250fa-670f-4a49-95ec-2ffda7691f55&displaylang=en&tm

Deploying Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=208e93d1-e1cd-4f38-ad1e-d993e05657c9&displaylang=en&tm

Citrix Management Pack for SCOM 2007

2007-04-26T13:41:00.001-07:00

The Citrix management pack for SCOM 2007 has been posted. It may be downloaded by logging into My Citrix.

Citrix Management Pack documentation for SCOM 2007

2007-04-23T13:21:00.001-07:00

While the actually binary is not yet posted to My Citrix for download, the new Citrix Management Pack guide is available for download here.

ACS Report - System_Integrity_-_Audit_Log_Cleared

2007-04-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

The ACS report System_Integrity_-_Audit_Log_Cleared displays any instance of the security event log being cleared. This reports displays the proper data when the audit log is cleared from the local machine. If the audit log is cleared by a remote machine, however, the remote machine name is displayed as having its event log cleared. For example, if I use computer management from workstation wrk101 to clear the security log from svr101, the report displays. The computer column should display srv101.

To workaround this, I've created a new report (from the existing report) and added the Computer field. The field used by the RTM report (labeled Computer) uses the Event Machine field.

RTM report

Computer

Cleared By

Date/Time

WRK101

Jeff

4/20/2007 1:29 PM

The report I created, displays the following:

Computer

Cleared By

Cleared On

Date/Time

WRK101

Jeff

SRV101

4/20/2007 1:29 PM

Operations Manager 2007 MP Catalog

2007-04-20T11:02:00.001-07:00

Until very recently, selecting Operations Manager 2007 from the Microsoft Management Pack catalog site returned no results. Searching for available management packs for OM 2007 now returns 10 results – albeit all included with the RTM version.

Hopefully, this is a sign that we will begin seeing additional MPs in the near future.

Jeff

Outlook 2007 Receives a Boost in Speed

2007-04-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

Thought I would pass this along to those running Outlook 2007. I have experienced the sluggish performance mentioned in the article and KB entry and applied this update last week. Performance has improved tremendously…

Outlook 2007 Receives a Boost in Speed

Computerworld - April 14, 2007

Microsoft on Friday released an update to Outlook 2007 that is designed to speed up the communication software, which has been criticized for being sluggish.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C262BCFD-1E09-49B6-9003-C4C47539DF66&displaylang=en

Error when saving a recorded web monitor

2007-04-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

I received an error when recording several web monitor sessions - "Array index out of bounds. Cannot fetch element with index=0 (Collection size=0)"

In each instance, the recorded session verified and tested, but would not save. In each of my recorded sessions, parts of the URL contained curly braces ('{' and '}'). By replacing any occurence of the curly braces with their corresponding escape sequences I was able to save and run the web monitor.

'{' = %7b
'}' = %7d

Jeff

ACS service fails to start - Access Denied

2007-04-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

After installing Ops Mgr 2007 RTM I decided to tackle an ACS installation. The ACS database and application install went smoothly, but the ACS service would fail to start explaining that "Access is Denied".

I recalled reading a post by TheTallest in the ACS beta newsgroup that spoke of a similar issue. The 'solution' was to rename the AcsConfig.xml within the C:\WINDOWS\system32\Security\AdtServer directory and create a new file entitled AcsConfig.xml. Simply copy the contents of the old AcsConfig.xml to the file you just created with the same name and viola! - the service starts without issue.

Hopefully, Microsoft will speak up/fix the issue in the coming weeks.

Jeff

What is MOMADAdmin.exe? Should I be scared?

2007-03-28T12:25:00.001-07:00

For those who have moved towards integrating Operations Manager 2007 with Active Directory, you have come across a new tool included in OM 2007 - MOMADAdmin.exe. For those hesitant to rouse the AD beast, let's examine what this tool does. First, let's be clear – MOMADAdmin.exe does NOT extend AD's schema! With this obstacle cleared, let's take a brief look at MOMADAdmin.

MOMADAdmin.exe syntax is MomADAdmin ManagementGroupName MOMAdminSecurityGroup PrincipalManagementServerComputerName Domain

ManagementGroupName is the name of the OM Management Group. For each management group to be integrated, you need to run this tool so that a separate container is created.

MOMAdminSecurityGroup is the name of your OM Admin Security Group

PrincipalManagementServerComputerName is the name of the primary management server for this group.

Domain is the domain name of the domain being prepared.

When you run the tool, the following occurs:

Creates an Operations Manager container under the root of the domain specified.
Creates a container under the Operations Manager container the tool just created with the name of the management group specified.
Within the management group container, the tool creates two service connection points (SCP) and one security group.

Jeff

OM 2007 RTM

2007-03-28T12:15:00.001-07:00

Microsoft met their goal of March 23, 2007 and released System Center Operations Manager 2007 to manufacturing (RTM).

For those that are running MOM 2000 or 2005, this version is a leaps and bounds improvement. Download the evaluation edition from Microsoft HERE.

Enjoy!

Jeff

Welcome!

2007-03-28T11:46:00.001-07:00

Hi, and welcome to my IT Management blog at Blogger.

I am an IT management professional specializing in System Center Operations Manager.

Much of my time is spent in the office dealing with day-to-day technology management of a Fortune 1000 company and thought I would blog about my experiences.

I hope you find my posts useful!

Jeff