November, 2011

Update: It looks like the recordings have been pulled off of YouTube.  Perhaps they were not supposed to be there in the first place.  It was good while it lasted… make sure to sign up for SharePoint Conference 2012 here: http://www.mssharepointconference.com/Pages/default.aspx

Hello All-

After eating all your turkey today (if you are in the US), what better to do afterwards but kick back and watch recordings of the SharePoint Conference 2011?  Thanks to a tip from Spencer, I noticed that most of the sessions from SharePoint Conference 2011 have been uploaded to YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/sharepointconference

In the interests of helping you find the best sessions, I have compiled a list of every session below (and put the same information in an attached spreadsheet.  Nearly every session from the conference is available, and I have left the sessions that were not included in the list below on the off chance someone uploads them later.

Enjoy!

-Sean

(Post courtesy Rohit Kochher)

System Center Operations Manager 2012 has significant changes in setup from Operations Manager 2007. Setup of 2012 has become simpler and installation has become easier.

If you want to follow along on a test server, you can download Beta version of SCOM 2012 from here.

Note: The Root Management Server (RMS) concept which from Operations Manager 2007 R2 has been removed from Operations Manager 2012. All Operations Manager 2012 servers are management servers. However we do have an RMS emulator to support those management packs which target RMS. Architecturally, servers in Operations Manager 2012 have a peer-to-peer relationship and not a parent-child relationship like Operations Manager 2007 R2.

In this blog we will discuss the setup of Operations Manager 2012 with some screenshots of the installation wizard. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 or 2008 R2 should be installed prior running SCOM 2012 Setup. You can get more information on SCOM 2012 supported configurations here.

Now, once we run setup.exe we will see the following screen:

You can click on Install for setup of Management server, Management Console, Web server and Reporting Server. Under Optional installations you can choose to install Local agent, Audit Collection Services, Gateway management server, and ACS for Unix/Linux.

Once you click on Install you will get the screen to accept the agreement. Once you accept that you will get below screen

You can select the component that you want to install. Clicking on the arrow pointing down in front of each role will give brief information about that role. There is no explicit option to install OPS DB and data warehouse, as they are integrated. Selecting given features, you will get screen for location of program files. The default location is C:\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager 2012.

The next step will show you prerequisite failures (if any). You will get information for failures along with download links to install any missing prerequisites.

Next you get screen to input information about management server. You can specify if it is first management server in new management group or an additional management server in an existing management group.

You can specify the name of the management group here. You will also get the screen to specify operations database. We need to install both operations database and data warehouse in Operations Manager 2012. Installing Data warehouse is mandatory in 2012 (a change compared with Operations Manager 2007). The data warehouse is needed for things like dashboards etc. If this is second management server you can click on Add a management server to existing management group option.

After specifying the required information about Operations database and clicking on next, you will get similar screen for Operations manager data warehouse.

The next screen allows you to configure Operations Manager service accounts.

You can specify the required accounts on this screen and click on next to complete the setup. This setup will automatically assign local administrators group on server to the Operations Manager admin role. Once you enter account information here, it will be automatically verified in the background. In case the account cannot be verified (or the password is incorrect), you will get a red warning as the above picture illustrates.

After this, you will get the option to participate in the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and Error reporting. Finally, you will also get the option for configuring Microsoft Updates.

The last screen will provide you with an installation summary. Clicking on Install will start the Installation. Once finished, you are all set to monitor your infrastructure! Some of the great features in Operations Manager 2012 are the new dashboards, network monitoring , and application monitoring; which will be covered in future posts.

You can check the deployment guide for Operations Manager 2012 here.

System Center Operations Manager 2012 Beta resources

• Documentation: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=213297
• Forums: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/systemcenteroperationsmanager
• Feedback: https://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgr/Feedback
• Team Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/

(Post courtesy Bonoshri Sarkar)

Hi everyone, this is Bonoshri Sarkar here. I have worked for Microsoft as Partner Technical Consultant specializing in Directory Services for the past two years; providing end to end consulting to enable partners to design, position, sell and deploy Microsoft Platforms for their customers. In my earlier role, I worked for more than 4 years on the Microsoft Support team focusing on Microsoft Directory Services.

Since I have a great affinity for Directory Services, I thought it would be a great idea to pen down my thoughts and experience on ensuring a smooth Active Directory Upgrade.

For any kind of Upgrade/ Migration / Transition to go smooth, and later on to have an healthy environment, it is required to spend a fair amount of time in planning and making sure that the source or the present environment is in a healthy state. Two driving factors for any upgrade or transition include the need to utilize the new features that the new version of the product has to offer, and the other being to ease the complexities and the issues of the current environment. However, most IT Pros do not take adequate steps to check the health of their existing Active Directory environment. In this post, I would like to address some of the key steps that an AD Administrator must perform prior to an upgrade or transition.

In my experience of assisting customers and partners in different transitions, most of the issues pertain to the source domain or the source domain controllers, so I will discuss few important things which should be considered as mandatory before going for any kind of Upgrade / Migration / Transition.

Performing an Active Directory Health Check

The health check should be done in 2 phases.

1. Planning Phase

2. Deploy Phase (just before implementing the upgrade, transition or migration)

In the first phase we should identify what all services and roles are running on the machine that we are planning to upgrade, and rule out things that we do not want to move to our new box.

Putting emphasis on diagnosing AD issues, we can use dcdiag to ensure a healthier Active Directory, I know we have been using dcdiag for many years, and we look for failure messages in the output, but apart from the failure messages, we can also consider issues such as those highlighted in yellow below:

If you notice the first part of dcdiag says “failed test replication”, which implies that there are issues with Active Directory replication with this Domain Controller.

The second message tells us that there are issues with netlogon and sysvol which are default logon shares, both the errors can be interdependent or could be because of completely different reasons. 

In this scenario we need to fix AD replication first or dig into it more to find what is causing these errors. Now you can use few more commands to check the AD replication like repadmin /syncall /eAP. In case of a huge enterprise, you can also use Replmon (2003).

The third message tells us that the important services are running. We need to be sure that the above services are started to ensure a smooth transition.

If we don’t get enough details from the dcdiag results, check the event viewer, and if you do not see anything restart the FRS service and then check the event viewer for Event ID 13516.

Apart from dcdiag you can also use Netdiag to check the network status and get detailed information.

In addition to this, make sure the NIC card drivers are updated on the old server. 

Instead of disabling the hardware or software based firewall between on the servers (old &new), ensure that you make the appropriate exceptions and port configurations to ensure proper communication between the directory servers (see Active Directory and Active Directory Domain Services Port Requirements).

Any third party legacy application(s) should be tested in lab environment to make sure that they are compatible with new version of server OS and Active Directory.

We also have different versions of Exchange BPA (Best Practice Analyzer) tools depending on the version of Exchange to check Exchange integrity and Exchange specific permission (You can select Permission check to gather that information).

Last but not the least read the migration or transition documents (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731188(WS.10).aspx) to make sure server has all the minimum requirements.

Once we are sure that the servers are in healthy state do not forget to take a full and a system state backup using a supported backup system as documented in the TechNet article below

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731188(WS.10).aspx

All these stitches in time would definitely save you nine hours’ worth of troubleshooting. It’s up to you to decide, would you like to troubleshoot or enjoy your Fries with Coke?

Additional References

• Domain Controller Diagnostics Tool (dcdiag.exe) overview
• Dcdiag command line reference
• Repadmin Overview
• Replmon Overview

(Post courtesy Anil Malekani)

Recently I tried configuring Software Update Management in Configuration Manager 2012. After installing WSUS on the Configuration Manager 2012 box, I tried to install Software Update Point as a site role.

The Software Update Point role successfully installed, as per the SUPSetup.log file (under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs)

However, my updates still did not appear on the console. After checking the Site Component status for SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER and SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER I noticed errors as below

SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER: Message ID 6600

SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER: Message ID 6600

I checked under WCM.log (under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs), and found the following proxy error

=============================

SCF change notification triggered.        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

This SCCM2012.CORP80.COM system is the Top Site where WSUS Server is configured to Sync from Microsoft Update (WU/MU) OR do not Sync.        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=3.0.6000.273, Major Version = 0x30000, Minor Version = 0x17700111        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

Found WSUS Admin dll of assembly version Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration, Version=3.1.6001.1, Major Version = 0x30001, Minor Version = 0x17710001        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

The installed WSUS build has the valid and supported WSUS Administration DLL assembly version (3.1.7600.226)        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 502: Proxy Error ( The host was not found. ).~~ at Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.AdminProxy.CreateUpdateServer(Object[] args)~~ at Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.AdminProxy.GetUpdateServer(String serverName, Boolean useSecureConnection, Int32 portNumber)~~ at Microsoft.SystemsManagementServer.WSUS.WSUSServer.ConnectToWSUSServer(String ServerName, Boolean UseSSL, Int32 PortNumber)        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

Remote configuration failed on WSUS Server.        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

STATMSG: ID=6600 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER" SYS=SCCM2012.corp80.com SITE=CM1 PID=2424 TID=5408 GMTDATE=Fri Oct 14 00:20:03.092 2011 ISTR0="SCCM2012.corp80.com" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

Waiting for changes for 46 minutes        SMS_WSUS_CONFIGURATION_MANAGER        1/1/1601 12:00:00 AM        5408 (0x1520)

=============================

I validated that the proxy had been configured correctly and my browser settings also contained the same settings.

Resolution: After spending some time I found that Configuration Manager 2012 uses the system account proxy settings, which were set to Automatically detect settings.

1. Using the excellent PsExec utility, I opened a command prompt under the system account (using the –s parameter).
2. Within this command prompt running as system, I launched Internet Explorer and removed proxy settings.
3. Finally, updates started appearing in the console.

(Post courtesy Rohit Kochher)

System Center Operations Manager 2012 has some exciting features out of box like Networking Monitoring, Application monitoring and Dashboards. We will cover Dashboards in series of two blogs. In the first blog we talk about terminology of dashboards and create a performance widget. In the second blog, we will create state and alert widgets. I will be using Operations Manager 2012 Beta edition for these blogs.

The Data warehouse which (was an optional component in System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2) is now mandatory in Operations Manager 2012. The main reason for this change is dashboards.

While designing dashboards, we define two things

1) Templates: We have two types of templates. Column layout and Grid Layouts, and you specify number of cells after you select any template. These layouts specify arrangement of cells that actually host content.

2) Widgets: Once layout is created, we add widgets in the layout. In OM 2012 beta edition, we have three types of Widgets namely Alert, Performance and State. While creating widget, we define criteria to collect data from database.

To create a dashboard we will be start from from Operations Console. Choose New –> Dashboard View

We have to choose one layout out of the two available templates. We will select Grid layout and name the dashboard.

Next, we define number of cells and we choose one of the layouts.

Once the wizard is completed, you can click on Configure to change the number of cells and layout of dashboard. Also you can interchange the positions of all the widgets by using the two arrows.

Adding widgets to dashboards: You can click on “Click to Add widget” and it will start the wizard of creating widgets. In Operations Manager 2012 Beta edition we have alert, state and performance widgets.

We will start by creating a Performance widget.

We will name the widget “SQL Performance counter”, and will use this to view performance of SQL computers.

On “Specify the Scope and Counters”, select a group.

We select a group of SQL computers. Next we will select performance counters. We will define object, counter and instance.

The next step is to define Time Range.

The next step is to configure the way you would like chart and legend to display.

Finally we get our SQL Performance Widget. You can click on Configure to change scope, counters, time range, chart preferences. Also you can click on Personalize to change chart and legend to display.

You can also hover anywhere on graph to see the exact value.

In the part 2 of the series, we will create alert and state widgets.

Additional Resources

• Creating Views in Operations Manager
• System Center Operations Manager 2012 Release Candidate