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.

Operations Manager 2007: List of Resource Kit Tools

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!

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.