Tim Mintner : MOM

Getting Operations Manager 2007 Overrides with Powershell

tmintner — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 04:55:28 GMT

I am currently on an Operations Manager 2007 project and it's been a lot of fun so far. One of the new concepts of Operations Manager 2007 is that any change made to the provided management packs are done through the use of Overrides. Overrides were very difficult to manage and create in MOM 2005 but they are really simple to implement and change in Operations Manager 2007. By default all Overrides are placed in a separate Management Pack called Default Management Pack. This allows all of your custom settings to be mainted when upgrading your Management Packs.

Opeations Manager 2007 also has a great number of commands available to manage the product through Windows Powershell. One of the commands that I found this week is called get-override. After playing with this command a bit I found that I could run this simple command to give me a list of all of the overrides I have configured:

get-managementpack | get-override | format-list name,parameter,value

This will output a list of all of the overrides from all of the management packs that are installed giving me the name of the Override, the parameter that was changed, and the value of that changed parameter.

Have you started testing Operations Manager 2007 yet? If not sign up today for the beta at http://connect.microsoft.com!

System Center Operations Manager 2007 Shell

tmintner — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:38:55 GMT

In case you are not aware, you can use Powershell to manage many aspects of Operations Manager 2007. The Shell team for OM 2007 has started a blog and has a nice introduction to the new tool(s) here: http://blogs.msdn.com/scshell/

Please upload your MOM Reports!

tmintner — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 23:41:00 GMT

Rod Trent has created an upload area for MOM 2005 reports and Management Packs. I know that creating custom reports can often be challenging to a non DBA so if you have taken the time to create custom reports please share them with the Management Community.

To upload the reports and management packs follow the instructions here:

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/rtrent/archive/2006/06/27/21567.aspx

How to view more Performance Data in the MOM Operator Console

tmintner — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 01:30:00 GMT

The MOM Operator Console allows you to create some pretty neat Performance history reports. Unforunately the default view shows only two hours worth of data. By creating your own view, you can view up to 4 days worth of data if you have MOM Reporting installed and potentially up to 60 days worth of data if you don't have MOM Reporting installed.

To create a custom view for Performance data do the following:

Inside the MOM Operator Console goto My Views
Right click on All My Views and choose New Performance Data View
Choose Performance data that satisfy the specified criteria and click on Next.
Place a check mark next to measured in a specified time period
Double click on the measured in a specified time period and choose Within the last 4 days
Click on OK
Click on Next
Give the View a Name such as All Performance Data for the past 4 days and click on Finish

Now you will have one view with all of your servers listed and you can view Performance data for the past 4 days!

HOW TO FORWARD CUSTOM ATTRIBUTES USING THE MOM TO MOM PRODUCT CONNECTOR

tmintner — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 01:44:00 GMT

If you have a large multi-tier MOM environment you might want to forward attributes from a lower level tier to a higher level tier so that you can create custom Console Scopes or Computer Groups that contain members from the lower level tiers.

In order to forward customer computer attributes to a higher level tier, the MOM GUIDS must be identical between the source and destination server. To do this the attributes must created on a MOM server, exported to an AKM file and them imported to all of the servers in the MOM hierarchy.

Within the MOM 2005 Administrator Console, it is not possible to right click on an attribute and export just the attribute. The attribute must somehow be associated with a MOM rule group. An example of this is to create a Computer Group that uses the attribute then create a Rule Group and assign that Rule Group to the Computer Group that uses the attribute. The Rule Group can then be exported using the MOM Management Pack export wizard and when that Rule Group is imported, the attributes will be imported as well.

Installing MOM Reporting where SQL Reporting is on a Separate Server

tmintner — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 23:05:00 GMT

If you have a large MOM environment, you might want to have the SQL Reporting server separate from your MOM Reporting and the Reporting Database. In order to do this you must install MOM Reporting on the same server as the Reporting database. However, when you try to do the install the pre-req's will fail with the message ASP.NET is not installed on the server. To get around this all you have to do is install the IIS Management console snap-in from Add/Remove Programs, Add/Remove Windows components. Once the snap in is installed, the pre-req's will pass and the installation will complete.

Remove a Management Group from a Multi-Homed MOM 2005 Agent

tmintner — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 01:37:00 GMT

If you have changed your MOM configuration and need to remove a Management Group from an agent that is multi-homed, you can run the following command line from your agent computer:

msiexec /i "\\server\share\momagent.msi <file:///\\server\share\momagent.msi>" /qn
MANAGEMENT_SERVER="MSName" CONFIG_GROUP="NameOfTheCGToRemove"
ACTIONSUSER="momaction" ACTIONSPASSWORD="Password"
ACTIONSDOMAIN="DOMAIN" CONFIG_GROUP_OPERATION="RemoveConfigGroup"
REINSTALL="ALL"

Just be sure to fill in your specific information. :)

Use MOM for SOX compliance

tmintner — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:01:00 GMT

So you need to start keeping track of all of your audit policies for Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA and you have already made an investment in MOM then you shouldn't have to invest in another system just to give you that data. Manakoa Systems just might have the solution for you. Manakoa has created a really nice System Controls MP for MOM 2005. Here are some of the key features for this product:

Key Features

Facilitates responsive and proactive monitoring of compliance controls to address regulations by using rule-based templates and prescriptive guidance

Improves reaction time with alert notification services for identified control issues

Centralized reporting and data analysis with MOM Reporting Services

Auditing Features

Account Management
Auditing Integrity
Logon Activity
Policy Changes
Data Access
Privileged Use

Reporting Services

Failed Logon Activity
Administrative Account Use
Directory & File Access
Group Policy Changes
User Account Management Activity

At only $595 per MOM database, this product seems to provide a whole lot of bang for the buck. Check out their flyer here for some nice screen shots of their product: http://www.manakoa.com/products/scmp/Manakoa_SCMP_Flyer_072005.pdf

Script to Alert on Active Number of MOM Operator Consoles

tmintner — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:58:00 GMT

MOM 2005 has a support limit of 15 active MOM Operator Consoles, however there is no built in way to detect and/or alert on the number of consoles that are in use. I have written a little script that does just that. It is not the prettiest script in the world but it functions. :)

Check it out here:

Option Explicit

'*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
'Script: Active Number of MOM Consoles
'This script will check the Active Number of MOM Consoles and alert if the active number goes beyond the Warning or Error Threshold levels
'Parameters:
'    WarningThreshold - The number of consoles that will generate a Warning Alert
'    ErrorThreshold - The number of consoles that will generate an Error Alert
'    CheckInstances - The SQL Server Instance that is running the Onepoint database
'    DatabaseName - The name of the database to run the query against. This should be set to master
'    Query - The SQL query that checks the active number of MOM consoles
'    The query should be:
'    SELECT program_name, count(*) FROM Master..sysprocesses WHERE ecid=0 and program_name='Microsoft Operations Manager - DAS Operations Console' GROUP BY program_name ORDER BY count(*) desc
'    InformationalAlert - Turns on debugging information (Have to uncomment lines below)
' Usage: Create a new MOM Script and apply this script to the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Databases Computer Group. Create a 10 minute provider. Create an Alert or Respond to Event
'   Rule and use the 10 minute provider. Under Event Rule responses, launch a script and choose this script
' The Action Account will need Select permissions on the sysprocesses table in the master database.
'*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************

' Alert Constants
CONST ALERT_INFORMATION = 20
CONST ALERT_WARNING = 30
CONST ALERT_ERRROR = 40
CONST ALERT_CRITICALERROR = 50
CONST ALERT_SERVICEUNAVAILABLE = 70

'Other constants
Const SCRIPT_NAME = "Active Number of MOM Consoles"
Const CONNECT_ERROR = -2

Sub Main()

Dim oParams, blnInformationAlert, sInstances, sDBName, sQuery,aInstances
Dim i, iSuccess, sMessage,inumberofConsoles, ierror, iwarning

If ScriptContext.IsEvent() Then
    Set oParams = ScriptContext.Parameters
    iWarning = Oparams.Get("WarningThreshold")
    iError = oParams.Get("ErrorThreshold")
    sInstances = oParams.Get("CheckInstances")
    sDBName = oParams.Get("DatabaseName")
    sQuery = oParams.Get("Query")
    blnInformationAlert = OParams.Get("InformationalAlert")
    Set oParams = Nothing
    iError = CINT(iError)
    iWarning = CINT(iWarning)

    If (sInstances = "") Or (sDBName = "") Or (sQuery = "") Then
      if blnInformationAlert Then AlertCreate SCRIPT_NAME,ALERT_WARNING,"The '" & SCRIPT_NAME & "' script ran but had incomplete parameter information. " &_
        "Processing cannot continue."
    Else
   aInstances = Split(sInstances,",")
   For i = 0 To UBound(aInstances)
   inumberofconsoles = ConnectToSQLInstance(Trim(aInstances(i)), sDBName, sQuery)
   If inumberofconsoles < 0 Then
            AlertCreate SCRIPT_NAME,ALERT_ERRROR,"Failed to connect to " & UCase(aInstances(i)) & " or failed to return a result from the query """ &_
        sQuery & """ against the database " & sDBName & "."
          Else
            If (inumberofconsoles >= iwarning) AND (inumberofconsoles < iError) Then AlertCreate SCRIPT_NAME, ALERT_WARNING,"The number of Of consoles exceeds or matches the warning theshold. " & inumberofconsoles & " active consoles detected"
     If inumberofconsoles >= iError Then AlertCreate SCRIPT_NAME,ALERT_ERRROR,"The number of Of consoles exceeds or matches the error theshold. " & inumberofconsoles & " active consoles detected"
   End if
   Next

    End If
Else
    sMessage = "The script '" & SCRIPT_NAME & "' can only be executed by an event rule."
    AlertCreate SCRIPT_NAME, ALERT_WARNING, sMessage
End If
' To Troubleshoot uncomment the lines below

' if blnInformationAlert Then
'
'   sMessage = "The number of Active Consoles is " & inumberofConsoles & "." &_
'     "The Error threshold is " & iError & "." &_
'     "The Warning threshold is " & iWarning & "."
'   AlertCreate Script_Name, ALERT_INFORMATION, sMessage
' End if

End Sub

'*****************************************************************************************
' Function ConnectToSQLIntance
' Paramaters:
'    sInstance - The SQL instance
'    sDatabase - The database name
'    sQuery - The SQL query
' Returns the Active Number of Consoles or CONNECT_ERROR if unable to connect to database
'*****************************************************************************************

Function ConnectToSQLInstance(sInstance, sDatabase, sQuery)

Dim oSQLServer, oDatabase, oResults, iconsoles

On Error Resume Next

Set oSQLServer = CreateObject("SQLDMO.SQLServer")
oSQLServer.LoginSecure = 1
oSQLServer.Connect sInstance
If Err.number = 0 Then
    Set oDatabase = oSQLServer.Databases.Item(sDatabase)
    If Err.number = 0 Then

      Set oResults = oDatabase.ExecuteWithResults(sQuery)

      If Err.number = 0 Then
        sCheck = OResults.GetColumnString(1,1)
        If Err.Number = 0 Then
         If oResults.GetColumnString(1,1) = "" Then
           ConnectToSQLInstance = 0

        Else
        iconsoles = Cint(oResults.GetColumnString(1,2))
          if iconsoles = "" then
     ConnectToSQLInstance = 0
          else
             ConnectToSQLInstance = iconsoles
          End if
        End If
       Else
         ConnectionToSQLInstance = 0
       End if
       Else
        ConnectToSQLInstance = CONNECT_ERROR

      End If
    Else
      ConnectToSQLInstance = CONNECT_ERROR
    End If
Else
    ConnectToSQLInstance = CONNECT_ERROR
End If

On Error Goto 0
End Function

'*******************************************************************************************
'Function AlertCreate
'Paramaters:
'    sName - The name of the Alert
'    iLevel - The Error level of the Alert
'    sDecription - Decription of the Alert
' Creates the alert and returns 0 if success and -1 if it fails to create the alert
'*******************************************************************************************

Function AlertCreate(sName,iLevel,sDescription)
Dim objCreatedAlert
Err.Clear
Set objCreatedAlert = ScriptContext.CreateAlert()
objCreatedAlert.Name = sName
objCreatedAlert.AlertLevel = iLevel
objCreatedAlert.Owner = "[unassigned]"
objCreatedAlert.ResolutionState = 0
objCreatedAlert.Description = sDescription
ScriptContext.Submit(objCreatedAlert)
If Err.number= 0 Then
AlertCreate = 0
Else
AlertCreate = -1
End if
End Function