Month: October 2016

Software Update: VSAE Supporting Visual Studio 2015

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On 21-October-2016Microsoft released  an software update of the System Center Visual Studio Authoring Extensions (VSAE) to version: 1.2.0.1

Before installing this software update in your production environment make sure you test these software update in your test environment

SCOM 2016: Network Monitoring Management Pack generator Tool

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On 12-October-2016 Microsoft released the System Center 2016 sweet. With the release of System Center Operations Manager 2016 Microsoft created the “Network Monitoring Management Pack generator tool” which provides you with extended monitoring for your SNMP-enabled devices by generating your own custom Management Pack.

The following features are included:

  • SNMP_MpGenerator tool has a inbuilt MIB Browser. Users can load MIB files, search through the Object Identifiers (OIDs) of the component they wish to add workflows for and create rules and monitors
  • Users can add monitors and rules for device components such Processors, Memory, Fan, Temperature Sensor, Power Supply, Voltage Sensor and Custom device components
  • This tool would also support custom devices in addition to already supported devices like switch, Router, Firewall and Load Balancer
  • Users can define monitors and rules for multiple devices in a single project file and generate a single Management Pack for all of their devices.
  • As mentioned above, this tool would also include the command line executive NetMonMPGenerator.exe for users who wish to generate MP through command line interface.

The best part of the tool is that it’s free and that it is well documented. You can download the Network Management Pack generator tool form here

Monitoring Office 365 with System Center Operations Manager 2012

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In this blogpost I am going to take you true the steps that I took to implement the Office 365 Management pack for System Center Operations Manager. You can download the Office 365 management pack from here

I took the following steps to import and configure the management pack:

  • Configure a cloud user account
  • Install the Office 365 Management pack
  • Import the Office 365 Management pack
  • Configure the Office 365 Subscriptions

When you want to monitor the Office 365 we need to create a Office 365 user account with Global Administrator permissions. Take the following steps to create a Office 365 user

  1. Go to https://portal.microsoftonline.com 
  2. Login with a account that has the Global Administrator right.
  3. On the “Admin Center” page, in the “Users” block click “Add a user”
    Create Monitoring Account in Office 365
  4. In the “Create User Screen” enter the following data:
    • First name: Office365Monitoring
    • Display name: Office365Monitoring
    • Expand “Roles” and select “Global Administrator”
    • Expand “Product licenses” and select “Create user without product license”
    • Click “Add”
      Create Monitoring Account in Office 365
  5. In the “Create User Screen” enter the email address where you want to sent the user password to  and click “Send email and close”

When you create the above account login to office365 management portal to change the password. If you don’t change the password you can get the following error:

Authorization Failed

Before we can import the management pack we need to install the management pack

  1. Click “System Center Management Pack for Office 365.msi”
  2. In the “System Center Management Pack for Office 365 – Installer” wizard, on the “License Agreement” page, select “I accept” and click “Next”
    System Center Management Pack for Office 365
  3. In the “System Center Management Pack for Office 365 – Installer” wizard, on the “Select Installation Folder” page, select “Everyone” and click “Next”
    System Center Management Pack for Office 365
  4. In the “System Center Management Pack for Office 365 – Installer” wizard, on the “Confirm Installation” page, click “Install”
  5. In the “System Center Management Pack for Office 365 – Installer” wizard, on the “Installation Completed” page, click “Close”

After installing the Office 365 Management pack we need to import the management pack into System Center Operations Manager

  1. Start the "Operations Manager Console"
  2. In the “Operations Manager Console” click “Administration”
  3. Right click “Management Packs”, and the click “Import Management Packs”
    Import Microsoft Office 365 Management Pack
  4. The “Import Management pack wizard” opens. Click “Add”, and the click “Add from Disk”
    Import Microsoft Office 365 Management Pack
  5. The Select Management Packs to import dialog box appears. If necessary, change to the directory that holds your management pack file. Select the following files:
    • Microsoft.SystemCenter.O365.mpb 
      Import Microsoft Office 365 Management Pack 
  6. In the “Import Management Pack” wizard, Click “Install”
  7. In the “Import Management Pack” wizard, Click “Close”

Know that the Office 365 management pack is imported it is time configure the management pack

  1. Start the “Operations Manager Console”
  2. In the “Operations Manager Console” click “Administration”
  3. On the “Administration” page click “Office 365” Configure Office 365 Management Pack 
  4. On the “Office 365” page, click “Add Subscription”
    Configure Office 365 Management Pack
  5. In the “Add Subscription” wizard, on the “Subscription Configuration” page enter the following data “Subscription Name”, “User Name”, “Password” and click “Next”
    Configure Office 365 Management Pack
  6. In the “Add Subscription” wizard, on the “Server Pool” page, select the “All Management Servers Resource Pools” and click “Add Subscription”
    Configure Office 365 Management Pack
  7. In the “Add Subscription” wizard, on the “Completion" page, click “Finish”

The end result should look something like this:

Configuration Completed

Update MP: System Center Management Pack for SQL Server and Dashboards

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On 10-October-2016 Microsoft released update for the System Center Management Pack for SQL Server and Dashboards. The version is updated to 6.7.7.0

  • Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2016 The features and fixes that are included in this update:
    • Feature: Updated the visualization library
    • Fix: "Set DB offline" task does not work when the database is in Availability Group
    • Fix: Always On console task does not work
  • Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2014 Feature overview is the same as above
  • Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server The features and fixes that are included in this update:
    • Fix: SQL Server 2012 Always On discoveries fail after stopping WSFC service
    • Fix: “Set DB offline” task does not work when the database is in Availability Group
    • Fix: user policy discovery script fails with “Invalid namespace "ROOT\Microsoft\SqlServer\ComputerManagement12"’ error
    • Fix: Always On console task does not work
    • Feature:Updated the visualization library
  • Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server Dashboards The features and fixes that are included in this update:
    • Feature: Restored the correct group order in SQL Server Summary dashboard views
    • Fix: expanding “arrow” has low-contrast color when a health group is collapsed in Instance view (High-Contrast #2 color scheme)
    • Fix: In Web console, Dashboards continuously send requests to the database
    • Fix: not the first object gets selected in the object list after drill-down
    • Fix: on Web console, Dashboards crash when drilling down from Datacenter view to Instance view
    • Fix: horizontal scroll position resets after refreshing the Instance view
    • Fix: “No Data” message is displayed on some tiles after upgrading Dashboards management pack from version 6.7.2.0 to 6.7.4.0 or later version
    • Fix: on Web console, Dashboards crash when drilling down from Datacenter view to Instance view

Before installing in the updates in your production environment make sure that you test these updates in your test environment.