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

  This MP is not showing up on the MP Catalog just yet, however the MP catalog does take you to the latest version of the MP. Get it at:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=10631   This is a simple...

  If you want to monitor your System Center Virtual Machine Manager installation, you don't just import VMM management packs like you would for other applications.  There is a process to connect VMM 2012 to OpsMgr 2012. This is covered here...

  Originally I had not planned an update article on this, but I have been getting a lot of questions on it, so lets just throw one out there.   Cumulative Update Rollup 2 (UR2) for OpsMgr 2012 has shipped.  This, like other CU’s or Update...

You may notice on your Windows Server 2003 servers monitored with OpsMgr 2012, that some class properties on Windows Computer instances are not discovered.  Organizational Unit, IP Address, Logical Processor, Physical Processor, etc.    ...

  ****Note 14.3.38.2 has been pulled.  If you implemented this already, please see http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/06/28/mailboxes-on-a-database-are-quarantined-in-an-environment-with-system-center-operations-manager.aspx  ...

There is a new Base OS MP version 6.0.6972.0 available here:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9296   Be very careful updating to this new version – there are multiple changes and potential issues you should plan for and...

Many took the beta exams at MMS 2012 this year, for the Private Cloud certifications.   http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-private-cloud-all.aspx   The two tests that most took were Exam 70-246:  Monitoring and Operating...

Ran into this one recently during a Proof of Concept at a customer using the ADMP. You implement the AD Management pack, then optionally enable AD Client monitoring per the ADMP Guide.  Almost immediately, you start getting a lot of alerts with high...

Windows Server 2012 Server Manager has a dashboard view for all your servers you connect in Server Manager:     This dashboard shows all your connected servers, and their roles.  It also will display a red color if any of them have outstanding...

One of the new features in Windows Server 2012 is Microsoft NIC Teaming.  In the past, NIC teaming was handled by the NIC vendor’s driver and management software.  This was often problematic as many issues with advanced applications and roles...

The Cumulative Update 6 (CU6) for OpsMgr 2007 R2 has shipped   Our previous cumulative update (CU5) shipped back in July 2011, so this one has been a while in the making.   The KB article describing the fixes, changes, and instructions: http...

      Cumulative Update Rollup 1 (UR1) for OpsMgr 2012 has shipped. Download:  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29697 KB link:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2686249   Here is a list of the fixes...

Setting up notifications for email, IM, or command channels is almost identical to how this was configured in OpsMgr 2007 R2.  This article will just serve as a walk through to the process, such as immediately after deploying OpsMgr 2012.  The...

System Center Orchestrator 2012 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 system...

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 for the “all in one” scenario...

OpsMgr has the capability to run a synthetic transaction, to query a remote database from a watcher node.  This can be used to simulate an application query to a back end database, and we have built in monitoring to set thresholds for: Connection...