You can get the paperback book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0672335913/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=06KDNZB3VZVMSN0TWRJH&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i...

  Way back in the day I wrote about this issue, where the SCOM agent in some cases can consume above typical resource levels of memory, handles, etc.  When this occurs – we will restart the agent to kill any “runaway” processes.  Read about...

  Available at:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2790831/en-us   This hotfix addresses an issue found in Windows Server 2012 (and Win8) that can be exposed when performance data is queried via WMI.  Products that regularly query WMI...

  A little frustration I had recently – and decided I would write on it.   When you open the Orchestrator Runbook designer, remember to always open this “As an Administrator”   The reason for this, is that as you are using the Runbook Tester...

  The following document will cover a basic install of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SP1 at a generic customer.  This is to be used as a template only, for a customer to implement as their own pilot or POC deployment guide. ...

  The following article will cover a basic install of System Center Service Manager 2012 SP1.   The concept is to perform a limited deployment of SCSM, similar to our deployment guide on TechNet:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us...

This is to be used as a template only, for a customer to implement as their own pilot or POC, or customized deployment guide. It is intended to be general in nature and will require the customer to modify it to suit their specific data and processes....

  System Center Orchestrator 2012 SP1 is extremely easy to setup and deploy.  There are only a handful of prerequisites, and most can be handled by the setup installer routine. The TechNet documentation does an excellent job of detailing the...

There is already a very good deployment guide posted on TechNet here:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh457006.aspx   The TechNet deployment guide provides an excellent walkthrough of installing OpsMgr 2012 SP1 for the “all in one...

  System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 has hit the GA (General Availability) milestone.   The best place to see what impact this has in new features and fixes will be here:   http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2013/01/15/system...

  Had an interesting call with a customer.  He had a working SCOM 2012 RTM environment, and applied SP1, and the service pack upgrade appeared to immediately break the web console with the following error:     In the Application log...

  With the new Server Manager that shipped with Windows Server 2012, and Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8 , you can manage previous versions of the Server operating system, such was Windows 2003, 2008, and 2008R2.  Some of the...

  I wanted to put together a list of all recently released MP’s which surround the Windows Server 2012 Operating System release, and the roles and feature MP’s that support it.   I’ll update this as new MP’s release.  Last updated 5/30...

  Download:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=12375   Changes in This Update Version 4.0.7577.203 of the Lync Server 2010 Management Pack includes the following changes: Added functionality to support co-existence...

  Download: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3290   I previously wrote about the older MP and some challenges and workarounds here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2008/08/27/print-server-mp-updated-added...

  As with almost all Microsoft products, there is an MP to monitor ConfigMgr 2012.  This MP is such a divergence from the previous ConfigMgr 2007 MP, I wanted to take a moment and point out the differences.   Not a conversion MP! The previous...

  Download it here:     http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=245476   This guide outlines the infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of Operations Manager. It guides you through the...

  One of the most popular blog posts I have here, is a document that I didn't even write.  Microsoft PFE Antoni Hanus wrote an article a while back called Operations Manager 101:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2010/09/02...

PFE Emre Guclu has written a good step-by-step of how to use the new functionality in UR2 and later, and recover an expired eval deployment: http://blogs.technet.com/b/emreguclu/archive/2012/10/12/activating-expired-om-2012-to-rtm.aspx

  The Alert Update Connector for SCOM 2012 is now public:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34783   The AUC was a tool that many large enterprises used in OpsMgr 2007, where they integrated OpsMgr alerts with an upstream...

  In OpsMgr 2007R2 – we issued a KB article on how to remove an old unwanted product connector:   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2626670   To use this same script in OpsMgr 2012 – I made some changes – you can copy and paste the script...

  The first MP for IIS8 has shipped: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34767   This MP only ships with an updated library, and the monitoring MP for IIS8.  No previous versions are included, but this can work right...

  I recently wrote about the Windows Server Operating System Management pack version 6.0.6989.0 HERE .  In the “known issues” section of that article – I discussed that the MP is solid – except there are no performance collection rules for cluster...

  A new Base OS MP Version 6.0.6989.0 has shipped.  This management pack includes updated MP’s for Windows 2000 through Windows 2008R2 operating systems, and additionally adds new support for Windows Server 2012 OS.  This new MP will import...

          Just a quick update for OpsMgr 2012 users – this MP contains a new discovery script that works with the newer version of OpsMgr.   http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34697