HASMUG Lives again!

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

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

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****

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

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

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

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