May, 2012

This blog post is from one of our community contributors - Markus Klein.  Thanks for sharing Markus! ======================================================================================= Extending classes are common tasks in System Center Service...

Introduction and Problem Statement There has been quite a bit of confusion over the requirements for SQL Server collation for the various components of System Center. We didn’t make a coordinated effort here to make this as easy as it could and...

This is a guest blog post by Mark Newton, one of our community contributors.  Thanks for sharing Mark! ======================================== I have set up a number of ‘Service Requests’ in SCSM 2012 which are all working great. However what we...

I just noticed that all of these cool demo videos were posted to TechNet Video earlier this month.  Check them out to see how System Center 2012 can make managing your private cloud a whole lot easier and better!   Private Cloud Demo Extravaganza...

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with customers over the last 6-12 months helping them plan out and deploy their first private clouds managed by System Center 2012.  To help people get started faster I headed into the Enterprise Engineering...

Working with relationships in the SCSM integration pack can be a bit tricky so this blog post is intended to provide some tips. First of all it is really important when working with Service Manager to understand the data model. Have a look at the data...

When you have an SCOM alert-generated incident selected in SCSM you have two additional tasks available to click on in the task pane: View Alert Details and View CI Health State. When you click on these tasks they will take you directly in context to...

Bart Timmermans ( blog , @Bart_Inovativ ) , a consultant at Inovativ, has just released an integration pack for Exchange!  Here is a graphic of the activities included.  You can read more about the integratio pack on his blog or download it...

System Center 2012 - Service Manager The Infrastructure Planning and Design team is pleased to announce that the IPD Guide for System Center 2012 - Service Manager is now available for download! Download the IPD Guide for System Center 2012 - Service...

Here’s a new Knowledge Base article we published this morning. This one discusses an issue where the SCSM console crashes when using a console installed on the Spanish version of Windows XP. ===== Symptoms When a new Knowledge Article is created in System...

MVP Patrik Sundqvist is at it again hacking around in MP XML and coming up with awesome solutions to problems.  Check this one out. http://blogs.litware.se/?p=1300 Nice job Patrik!

One of our ISV/SI partners in the Middle East, Signature Consultancy, is now offering two solutions that have been in high demand from SM customers for a long time now. Check it out! 1-      SMAX SMAX is intended to provide SCSM...

Managing and Operating a Microsoft Private Cloud—How to Apply the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) The Microsoft Operations Framework team is working on a new guide: Managing and Operating a Microsoft Private Cloud—How to Apply the Microsoft Operations...

Out of the box the portal header says ‘SMPortal’ like this:   That’s not something that you want to present to end users obviously. Fortunately this is super easy to customize since this is just basic SharePoint site customization. To change this...

Here’s a new Knowledge Base article we published this morning. This one discusses an issue where you might find duplicate Activities in a SCSM Change or Incident Request. ===== Symptoms Scenario 1: A new Change Request (CR) is created in System Center...

Did you get this error message when trying to import the Cloud Service MP runbooks into Orchestrator? This is because the Cloud Service MP is not actually testing to see if the user that is running the setup actually has the required permissions...

Enhance private cloud management with new process pack Microsoft System Center Cloud Services Process Pack now available for download! The Microsoft Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce that the System Center Cloud Services Process Pack is...

The Microsoft Solution Accelerators and the System Center Service Manager teams are pleased to announce the availability of the System Center 2012 Process Pack for IT GRC. Download the System Center 2012 Process Pack for IT GRC. The System Center 2012...

OK – this is more just about comedic relief here.    You know how it’s always embarrassing/awkward to hear your voice on an audio recording (“I sound like that ?”) ?  Well, it’s even worse watching yourself on a video recording.  Symon...

The Sizing Tool for SCSM has been updated for 2012!  This tool can be used to size your Service Manager deployment based on how much data you plan to manage.  It specifies recommended HW and deployment topologies based on your inputs. It is...

        Enhance your Application Approval Process The Microsoft Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce that the Application Approval Workflow Solution Accelerator is now available for download! · Download...

This is a guest blog post from Sam Erskin (NN4 Consultants), one of our outstanding community contributors and “ MP XML guru” Dieter Gasser (Syliance IT Services).  Thanks for sharing guys! ====================================== The default installation...

Nate Lasnoski, a Microsoft MVP, has been working with some large customers on their SCSM deployments lately.  He has shared some great tips on configuring Query Result prompts in request offerings on his blog.  Check it out! http://blog.concurrency...

Here’s a new Knowledge Base article we published this morning. This one discusses an issue where reporting data isn’t current due to a hung MPSyncJob or DWMaintenance job. ===== Symptoms In System Center Service Manager 2010, you may experience one or...

Does your portal look like this? Here’s why: The Self-service portal is a SharePoint web site.  That much is fairly obvious since you had to install SharePoint as a prerequisite.  The menu options on the left take you to different pages on the...