Optional configuration for the DFS Replication Management Pack

My previous blog post explained how to configure the DFS Replication management pack. The backlog monitoring feature of the management pack is disabled by default and requires some additional configuration. This blog post explains how to enable backlog monitoring using the DFS Replication management pack and also describes how to override some of the default configuration settings in the management pack.

Configure the DFS Replication monitoring profile

In Operations Manager 2007, Run As Profiles and Run As Accounts are used to select users with privileges that are needed to run rules, tasks, and monitors. The backlog monitoring discovery script included in this management pack queries the DFS Replication WMI provider on all monitored computers. To do this, it needs to run in the context of a privileged monitoring account. This management pack includes a privileged monitoring profile called DFS Replication Monitoring Account. You need to add a Run As account to this profile to monitor the replication backlogs.

The first step is to create a Run As account that has the requisite privileges to connect to the DFS Replication WMI provider on all monitored computers. The WMI provider does not allow non-administrative access and therefore, you need to ensure that the Run As account has at the very least local administrator privileges for each of the monitored computers.

• To create a Run As account on System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, perform the following steps:
• Open the Operations console with an account that is a member of the Operations Manager 2007 Administrators role.
• Select the Administration view.
• In the Administration view navigation pane, right-click Accounts, and then select Create Run As Account.
• In the Create Run As Account Wizard, on the Introduction page, click Next.
• On the General Properties page, do the following:
  • Select Windows in the Run As Account type list.
  • Type a display name in the Display Name text box. Choose a descriptive name such as DFS Replication Monitoring Users.
  • You can also type a description in the Description text box. Adding a description helps other users know why you set up this account and the privileges associated with it.
  • Click Next.

• On the Credentials page, type the user name and password of the account with administrative privileges that you want to use, select the appropriate domain, and then click Create.
• On the Distribution Security page, select More secure – I want to manually select the computers to which the credentials will be distributed, and then click Create.

After the Run As account has been created, right click on the Run As Account in the Accounts pane and select its properties. In the Run As Account Properties – DFS Replication Monitoring Users dialog, select the computers to which these credentials are to be distributed.

The next step is to associate this Run As account with the privileged monitoring profile included in the DFS Replication management pack. This configuration step ensures that the replication backlog discovery script has the required privileges to connect to the WMI provider for DFS Replication on monitored computers and retrieve replication backlogs. To add the Run As account you just created to the DFS Replication Monitoring Account Run As Profile on System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, perform the following steps:

• Open the Operations console with an account that is a member of the Operations Manager 2007 Administrators role.
• Select the Administration view.
• In the Administration view navigation pane, click the Profiles container.
• In the list of available Run As profiles, right click DFS Replication Monitoring Account, and then select Properties.
• In the Run As Profile Wizard, on the Introduction page, click Next.
• Click Next on the General Properties page.
• On the Run As Accounts page, click Add.
• In the Add a Run As Account dialog box, select the Run As account you created from the list of available Run As accounts, for example DFS Replication Monitoring Users.
• Select the All targeted objects option to manage all monitored computers by using this Run As profile, and then click OK.
• Click Save to update the Run As Profile.

Enable backlog monitoring

This feature enables administrators to keep track of replication backlogs on monitored computers. Backlog tracking is performed by a discovery script that queries the WMI provider for the DFS Replication service on monitored computers. This discovery script is disabled by default, thereby disabling the monitoring of replication backlogs by default. This section provides instructions for enabling backlog monitoring. After backlog monitoring is enabled, the Backlog Monitoring dashboard view will be populated with replication backlogs that are retrieved from all monitored computers.

To enable backlog monitoring for the DFS Replication Management Pack, perform the following steps:

• Log on to the computer with an account that is a member of the Operations Manager Advanced Operator role for the Operations Manager 2007 management group.
• In the Operations console, click Authoring.
• In the Authoring pane, expand Management Pack Objects, and then click Object Discoveries.
• In the Object Discoveries pane, completely expand Replication Connection.
• In the results pane, select the discovery rule titled Discover replication backlogs on monitored computer.
• On the Operations Manager toolbar, click Overrides, and then point to Override the Object Discovery. You can choose to override this monitor for objects of a specific type or for all objects within a group. We recommend that you create an override with the scope ‘For all objects of type: Replication Service’.

• After you choose the objects for which you would like to override the default settings, the Override Properties dialog box opens, which enables you to view the default settings that are configured for the backlog discovery rule.
• Click to place a check mark in the Override column next to each setting that you want to override. When you complete your changes, click OK.
• As shown in the following example, to enable the backlog monitoring discovery script, select the parameter Enabled, and then set its Override Setting to TRUE. The example also shows how you can configure the default frequency with which the script is run.

• You can also configure the frequency with which the backlog monitoring discovery script runs by overriding the value of the Interval in seconds parameter. The script is set to run with a default frequency of 14,400 seconds (4 hours). By changing the value of this parameter, you can configure the backlog discovery script to run at a desired frequency.
• At the bottom of the Override Properties dialog box, you can select the management pack in which to store the override settings. We recommend that you create a separate management pack to store override and custom configuration settings that are specific to the DFS Replication Management Pack. Remember to name the separate management pack clearly so that you can easily find it and keep a backup of that management pack.

Note: We highly recommend that you store all override settings in a separate management pack. By default, if you do not choose to store settings in a separate management pack, all overrides and custom configuration settings are stored in the Default Management Pack.

• Click New. The Create a Management Pack Wizard appears. Choose a name for the management pack in which to store the override settings. Optionally, if you have already created a new custom management pack to store the override settings and other customizations for the DFS Replication Management Pack, select the name of that management pack in the Override Properties dialog box.
• After you finish, click Apply, and then click OK to create the custom override and to enable backlog monitoring for the DFS Replication Management Pack.

Note that it will take some time before the Backlog Monitoring view is populated with replication backlogs that are retrieved from the monitored computers.

Configure how often discovery rules are run

The following table lists the default frequency with which various discovery rules that are included in the DFS Replication Management Pack are run. Evaluate these default settings to determine whether the configured default frequencies are appropriate for your environment. If a configured default frequency is not appropriate for your environment, consider overriding the corresponding discovery rule and tuning the frequency as appropriate.

To tune the configured default frequency for discovery rules that are included in the DFS Replication Management Pack, perform the following steps:

• In the Operations console, click Authoring.
• In the Authoring pane, expand Management Pack Objects, and then click Object Discoveries.
• In the Object Discoveries pane, completely expand any of the following discovered types:
  • Replicated Folder
  • Replication Member
  • Replication Service
  • Replication Volume
• Select the discovery rule that you would like to tune.
• On the Operations Manager toolbar, click Overrides, and then point to Override the Object Discovery. You can choose to override this monitor for objects of a specific type or for all objects within a group.
• After you choose which group of object types to override, the Override Properties dialog box opens, which enables you to view the default settings that are configured for this object discovery.
• Click to place a check mark in the Override column next to each setting that you want to override. When you complete your changes, click OK.

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Mahesh Unnikrishnan