Babulal Ghule's Blog

How to configure notification workflow to notify if assigned to user is empty or Incident is not assigned

Babulal Ghule — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:54:00 GMT

In this blog post, I will walk you through the steps to configure the notification workflow to notify if assigned to user field is empty for Incident/Service Request.

We get frequent requests from customers on how to create notification workflow to notify if assigned to user filed is empty for Incident or Service Request. Currently this is not possible out of the box but this can be done using XML magic.

For this blog post, I'll create the notification workflow which will notify helpdesk every 10 mins until the Incident/Service Request is assigned.

So lets start,

For detailed steps on creating notification workflow in Service Manager, please refer this TechNet link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh519719.aspx

Step 1: Create notification template.

Refer this TechNet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh519719.aspx

Step 2: Create notification workflow (periodic subscription)

I selected the target class as Incident but if you want to notify for Service Request then select Service Request.

Add 'First assigned date' in the criteria. This field will be updated with the date time when Incident/Service Request is assigned to user. So if this field is empty then incident is not assigned to any user yet. So we need to check if this field isNull or isEmpty but we don't have these operators in the UI. Add any temporary criteria here like "is less than or equal" to '05/05/2013' as UI will not allow to click next until we specify something here. We will modify this MP and add isNull operator from XML.

We can also add additional criteria's here based on the requirement, like if you have multiple helpdesks (ex. Network, SQL). make sure that you add all the criteria that you need here along with first assigned date as we will not be able modify this workflow form UI after we do the changes in XML.

In recurring notification section, specify the criteria that suits your requirement for recurring notifications. For this scenario, I want to notify helpdesk every 10 mins until the incident is assigned to analyst. If you want to notify once then you can set 'End after number of occurrences' = 1. This workflow will run every 10 mins if criteria is true. This criteria will be false when incident has assigned to user.

Select the notification template and add required recipients on the next screen.

So we are done with creating notification workflow from UI, now its time to modify it from XML. Export management pack and open it in XML editor.

Locate the <Criteria> section in the MP for "First assigned date" as below.

<Expression>
       <SimpleExpression>
               <ValueExpressionLeft>
                <Property>$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItem']/FirstAssignedDate$</Property>
               </ValueExpressionLeft>
                <Operator>LessEqual</Operator>
                 <ValueExpressionRight>
                <Value>2013-04-27T18:30:00</Value>
                </ValueExpressionRight>
          </SimpleExpression>
</Expression>

</Criteria>

We need to replace the lines between the tag <Expression> </Expression> with below code.

<UnaryExpression>
       <ValueExpression>
            <Property>$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItem']/FirstAssignedDate$</Property>
       </ValueExpression>
       <Operator>IsNull</Operator>
</UnaryExpression>

So this will look like as below.

<Criteria>
  <Expression>
      <UnaryExpression>
        <ValueExpression>
              <Property>$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItem']/FirstAssignedDate$</Property>
        </ValueExpression>
           <Operator>IsNull</Operator>
      </UnaryExpression>
   </Expression>
</Criteria>

Save the management pack and re-import it back and you're done with XML code changes.

Note: Once you modify and re-import the MP, do not modify it from the UI as it will break the XML code.

I have attached sample MP with this post.

Hope this helps!

How to configure notifications for assignment/re-assignment, action log/user comment updates for Incident/Service Request

Babulal Ghule — Sat, 04 May 2013 17:31:00 GMT

In this blog post, I will walk you through the steps to configure the notification for assignment/re-assignment, action log/user comment updates for Incident/Service Request.

In SCSM 2010, we used xml mp to create notification for action log/user input updates but in 2012 we have new classes which we can use for the notifications.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2010/08/30/notifying-the-affected-user-when-the-analyst-has-updated-the-action-log.aspx

In this post we will cover below scenarios.

1. Notify Analyst when user adds comments from portal on the Incident or Service Request.

2. Notify End User when Analyst updates the action log from console on the Incident or Service Request.

If you are using Exchange connector to create and update incident from emails.

3. Notify Analyst when end user reply to email notifications with comments (or provides new information) for incident or Service Request.

4. Notify End User when analysts reply to emails requesting more information (reply to assigned to user notification or analyst notification which will be logged as Analyst
comments on the Incident or Service Request)

5. Service Request assignment/re-assignment workflow

We will modify assignment/re-assignment management pack to notify for assignment re-assignment of Service Request.

Let’s start with the process of creating notifications.

For detailed steps on creating notifications in Service Manager, please refer this TechNet link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh519719.aspx

This is a good blog post on creating Notification templates http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2009/09/28/creating-notification-templates-in-system-center-service-manager.aspx

A) Scenario 1 & 3

This notification workflow will cover both the scenarios for Incident and Service Request.

Step 1: Create notification template

Select the target class “Trouble Ticket Analyst Comments” (Click on Browse and Select All Basic classes), this contains the analyst comments for Incident and Service Request class.

If you are sending notification for incidents,

To get incident ID: Select ‘Has Analyst Comment ‘-> WorkItem ->ID

If you are sending notification for Service Request,

To get SR ID: Select ‘Work Item Has Comment Log‘-> WorkItem -> ID

Same way you can get the Title, Status fields from respective classes as mentioned above.

To get the Assigned to user for Incident/Service Request

To get the Analyst comments for Incident/Service Request. (Note: This will only include latest comment)

Do not forget to select “Send as HTML”

Step 2: Create Notification workflow (subscription)

Select “When Object of selected class is created” and Target class as “Trouble Ticket Analyst Comments”

Select the template that we created.

Add related Recipients

For Incident

For Service Request

We are done with the creating the subscription/template for an action log update.

B) Scenario 2 & 4

Same way we can create the notification subscription/template but target class will be “Trouble Ticket User Comments”

C) Scenario 5:

This blog provides the instruction to create the notification workflow for Incident assignment/re-assignment

http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2009/12/15/custom-notification-workflow-on-incident-assignement-or-re-assignment.aspx

We will modify this so that it will notify for Service Request assignment/re-assignment.

First let’s understand how this MP works.

This MP has two main sections that we need to understand before we make modification.

1. When to notify (criteria section)

  <Rule ID="IncidentAssignmentChanges" Enabled="true" Target="SystemCenter!Microsoft.SystemCenter.SubscriptionWorkflowTarget" ConfirmDelivery="false" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100">
<Category>Discovery</Category>
<DataSources>
<DataSource ID="DS" TypeID="SystemCenter1!Microsoft.SystemCenter.CmdbInstanceSubscription.DataSourceModule">

</AddRelationship>

</RelationshipSubscription>

Only change will be SourceType.

  <Rule ID="ServiceRequestAssignmentChanges" Enabled="true" Target="SystemCenter!Microsoft.SystemCenter.SubscriptionWorkflowTarget" ConfirmDelivery="false" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100">
<Category>Discovery</Category>
<DataSources>
<DataSource ID="DS" TypeID="SystemCenter1!Microsoft.SystemCenter.CmdbInstanceSubscription.DataSourceModule">

</AddRelationship>

</RelationshipSubscription>

2. Whom to notify.

This will decide whom to send the notification. This we can change based on the requirement.

<Item>$MPElement[Name='WorkItem!System.WorkItemAssignedToUser']$</Item>

</WorkflowArrayParameter>

</WorkflowParameters>

I have attached 2 MPs with this blog for all 5 scenarios.

Have fun!

How to install Service Manager 2012 SP1 with a SQL 2012 AlwaysON Availability Groups?

Babulal Ghule — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 05:16:00 GMT

In this blog post, I walk you through the steps to install Service Manager 2012 SP1 with a SQL 2012 AlwaysON Availability Groups.

First, let’s understand the two scenarios for using SQL AlwaysON availability Groups for Service Manager.

Service Manager is already installed.
New installation of Service Manager.

In first scenario, we need to create availability group for already installed Service Manager Database and follow the Service Manager Database movement process (link) and use availability group listener as new SQL server name.

For second scenario, create availability group and use availability group listener name as SQL server name for installing service manager.

Here are the high level steps:

Install two node windows server 2012 cluster.
Install SQL Server 2012 on both the nodes.
Create and configure AlwaysON Availability Group.
Pre-requisite for Service Manager 2012 SP1 install on SQL AlwaysON.
Install Service Manager.
Test failover.

Let’s start with brief overview of SQL AlwaysON Availability Groups

An availability group supports a failover environment for a discrete set of user databases, known as availability databases that fail over together. An availability group supports a set of primary databases and one to four sets of corresponding secondary databases. Availability groups leverage Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) functionality and enable multiple features not available in database mirroring.

Please refer this (link) TechNet for the details on SQL AlwaysON Availability Groups.

Step 1:

Setup windows Server 2012 cluster, I recently wrote a blog on installing windows cluster on virtual machines.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/babulalghule/archive/2013/02/16/how-to-configure-two-node-windows-server-2012-cluster-on-virtual-machines-for-testing.aspx

Step 2:

Install SQL Server 2012 on both the nodes with SQL Service running on domain account.

For detailed pre-requisite for SQL AlwaysON Availability Groups refer this link.

Step 3:

Enable SQL alwaysON feature on both the nodes.

SQL Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Server Services -> Open properties of the SQL Service
Click on “AlwaysON High Availability” tab and check “Enable AlwaysON Availability Groups” and restart SQL Service for changes to take effect.

Create SQL AlwaysON Availability Group

Pre-Requisite:

Need minimum one database to create availability group.
Any databases that you are planning to add to availability groups should have “Full” recovery mode.
Take the full backup of database which you are adding to the availability groups.
Need shared network location which is accessible to both the nodes.

We will create sample database in order to create availability group for Service Manager Installation.

Create Sample database with full recovery mode and take the full backup of the database.
Create shared network location

I’m using same windows cluster setup which is described on this blog post.

Created share (\\iSCSITarget\SQLAlwaysON) on my iSCSI target server from Server Manager -> File and Storage Services -> Shares.

Create Availability Group (Refer this link for details)

Open SQL Management studio on any of the SQL Server node.
AlwaysON High Availability -> right click on Availability Groups and select “New Availability Group Wizard”.

Specify Availability Group Name.

Select SampleDB on databases selection tab.

Add secondary SQL node on Specify Replicas tab.

Select the options on each of the four tabs (Replicas, Endpoints, Backup preferences and listener) which suit your requirement. This TechNet link has very good explanations on all four tabs and options available.

On Listener tab select Create an availability group listener.

Listener DNS Name: Specify the network name of the listener. This name must be unique on the domain and can contain only alphanumeric characters, dashes (-), and hyphens (_), in any order. When specified by using the Listener tab, the DNS name can up to 15 characters long.

This DNS Name will be used as SQL Server Name for Service Manager Installation.

Port: Specify the TPC port used by this listener.

This port will be used as SQL Server port for Service Manager Communications with database.

On Initial Data Synchronization page, select option (Full, Join Only and Skip initial data synchronization) which suits your requirement. This TechNet link has very good explanations on all three options available.

On Validation page, see if all success.

Click on Finish on Summary page and then click on Close to finish the availability group creation.

In SQL Management studio, this availability group and listener will look like as below.

On Failover cluster Manager, it will appear under Roles.

Now, it’s time to install Service Manager

Follow the planning and deployment guides for all the standard Service Manager installation pre-requisite.
During the installation specify the Database server as Availability Group listener DNS name.

And complete the installation steps as per the service manager deployment guide.

Configure Service Manager Database for Availability Groups

Service Manager Installation using the SQL availability group listener does not configure Service Manager Database in availability groups.
To configure Service Manager database in availability group, change the recovery model (refer this link for details on Recover Model) from Simple to Full
Take full backup of Service Manager Database.
Right click on Availability Databases -> Add Database wizard and follow the instruction on wizard to add Service Manager Database to the Availability Databases.

Verify that if you see the Service Manager database on secondary node.

Now, it’s time to test Service Manager Database failover

Open failover cluster manager and verify the owner node.

Right click on availability group and move to secondary node.
If you are using immediate failback option then this will immediately failback to primary.

In my case I’m using prevent failback.

Open Service Manager Console and verify if everything is working fine after failover.
After failover I got few errors in the OpsMgr logs, first thing I provided permission for Service Manager SDK service account on SM database on secondary node.
Restarted the SDK restart and got the below error.

Log Name: Operations Manager

Source: DataAccessLayer

Date: 16-02-2013 12:37:17

Event ID: 33333

Task Category: None

Level: Warning

Keywords: Classic

User: N/A

Computer: SCSMSP1.monlab.com

Description: Data Access Layer rejected retry on SqlError: Request: ObjectTemplateByCriteria --
(LanguageCode1=ENN), (LanguageCode2=ENU), (TypeID0=4b1e00f8-1f3d-ad95-acdb-5587b3cf7147), (LastModified0=16-02-2013
19:43:53)

Class: 16

Number: 6263

Message: Execution of user code in the .NET Framework is disabled. Enable "clr enabled" configuration option.

Executed below query on secondary node

sp_configure 'clr
enabled', 1

reconfigure

I forgot to run this SQL query on secondary node before attempting to failover.

Now everything works as expected.

Hope this helps!

How to configure two node Windows Server 2012 cluster on Virtual Machines for testing?

Babulal Ghule — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:44:00 GMT

In this blog post, I walk you through the steps to quickly setup windows server 2012 cluster on virtual machines in test lab.

To start with, we need 3 windows server 2012 virtual machines. Out of 3, one will be used as an iSCSI target (details on iSCSI target) and other two will be part of the two node windows cluster.

Step 1: Configure iSCSI target

Pre-requisite

Created Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2012 OS
Joined to my test lab domain
Added extra virtual hard disk (100 GB) to this machine which I will use as shared storage

Install the iSCSI Target Server feature

Add Roles and Features Wizard -> Server Roles -> File and Storage Services -> File and iSCSI Service
Select iSCSI Target Server and then click on Add Features

Restart the virtual machine to complete the feature installation.

Start iSCSI Initiator on the two Cluster nodes

Server Manager -> Tools -> Click on the iSCSI Initiator
Click on yes to start the iSCSI service and then click on OK on iSCSI Initiator property window

Configure iSCSI Target Server

Server Manager -> File and Storage Services -> iSCSI

Click on “To Create an iSCSI virtual disk, start the new iSCSI virtual Disk Wizard”.

This disk will be used as a shared disk on the two cluster nodes.

Select the storage location and click Next

Provide the name for this iSCSI virtual disk
Specify iSCSI virtual disk size

Create the iSCSI target

Provide the suitable name for iSCSI target, I’m using server name as iSCSI target name
Add the servers who can access this iSCSI storage

Click Next on Enable Authentication
Click create on Confirmation tab and on successful completion, you will see below screen

Configure iSCSI initiator on both nodes

Server Manager -> Tools -> iSCSI initiator
Type the target server name and click on Quick Connect

If connection successful, you will see below screen

Configure the Disks on the iSCSI initiators i.e. Cluster Nodes

Server Manager -> Computer Management -> Disk Management
Select the disk and make it online and then initialize it.

Create the simple volume
Also on other node, make the disk online
Now this disk will be visible on both the nodes

Installing Windows Cluster

On Both the nodes install Failover Clustering feature from Server Manager -> Add Roles and Features -> Features
Login to one of the node and open the Failover cluster Manager (Server Manager -> Tools)
Click on Validate configuration
Add both the node names and run the validation test.

After validation tests are successful, click on finish to create the cluster

Provide the suitable name for your cluster

Click Next on Confirmation and Create New Cluster tabs and click on finish once the creation is complete.

Now cluster is ready to use, have fun!

How to create alternate URL for Service Manager Self Service Portal?

Babulal Ghule — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:16:00 GMT

In this blog post, I will walk you through the scenario where Web Content Server (WCS) and SharePoint web parts are on different servers.

First, let’s understand how self-service portal works.

The flow of data is as follows:

The client accesses the Self-Service Portal with a browser by specifying the URL for the SharePoint server.
The SharePoint server returns Silverlight code that creates a web page containing the basic framework of the Self-Service Portal and also the URL for the web content server computer. The URL for the web content server computer was defined when you installed the Self-Service Portal.
The client computer, which is now running the Silverlight code, makes a connection to the web content server computer using the URL in step 2.
The web content server computer reads and writes data to the Service Manager database. The computer name for the Service Manager Database was defined when you installed the web content server.
The web content server computer returns the data that makes up the center pane on the Self-Service Portal page.

If you install Self-Service Portal (SSP) with SSL, things to remember.

The certificates that you use for the Self-Service Portal must be issued from a Certification Authority that is trusted by the client.
The name on the certificate for the SharePoint website server must match the URL that your users enter into the browser. For example, if the user types the URL https://ServiceDesk/SMPortal, then the certificate must have been issued to ServiceDesk and not to FQDN, for example, ServiceDesk.woodgrove.com.
The name on the certificate for the web content server must match the name that you entered when you deployed the SharePoint website server.

If you are deploying both the SharePoint website server and web content server on the same computer, you need only one certificate. That one certificate will work for both ports. If you are deploying the SharePoint website server and web content server on different servers (which is recommended in a production environment), you will need one certificate for each computer.

Please refer these TechNet links for more details

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh914195.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh667343.aspx

Ok, let’s continue with our scenario.

I will install the WCS and SharePoint on two different servers and will use https://ServiceDesk/SMPortal as my portal URL and not the https://<ServerName>/SMPortal.

Step 1:

We need to create the DNS record for ServiceDesk and point it to Service Manager Portal Server (in this scenario to the server where we will install SharePoint web parts).

Step2:

Here, we need to create two certificates one for WCS and other for alias name (Sharepoint server)

1. Create the certificate for this alias name.

For our scenario, I’ll create it from IIS -> Server Certificates -> Create Domain Certificate

On next page you need to select CA.

When you create the certificate it will look like this

Note: Issued to name should be same as URL

2. I'll use same method to create the certificate for WCS server (this certificate issued to name will be same as URL in the application settings on the SharepointServer)

Sharepoint Server -> IIS -> Service Manager Portal -> Application Settings

Note : WCS certifcate issued to name and name in this URL should match.

Step 3: Install SSP

Install WCS, refer this link for details http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh524264.aspx

and then Install Sharepoint WebPart, refer this link for details http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh495676.aspx

Step 4: Configure the Alternate Access Mappings (AAM)

Alternate Access Mappings (AAM) allows you to modify results URLs based on the access URLs for a site. For SSP we are using the URL as ServiceDesk and not server name so to allow this in SharePoint we need to configure AAM.

Steps to configure it: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff679917.aspx

SharePoint Central Administration -> Application Management -> Configure Alternate Mappings -> Select the Service Manager Portal URL -> Edit Public URLs -> and update the alternate URL

Hope this helps!