Archive | SCOM

SCOM Remote Maintenance Mode Scheduler v1.7

Version 2.0 has been released that replaces v1.7

https://www.scom2k7.com/scom-remote-maintenance-mode-scheduler-20/

 

SCOM Remote Maintenance Mode Scheduler is a GUI based tool that lets administrators easily schedule maintenance mode for a server or group of servers inside System Center Operations Manager 2007.

 The reason I created this tool is that I have a lot of people ask me how to properly setup the powershell maintenance mode scripts to run. Most of the problems are syntax related. This tool will create the syntax for you on the fly.

The are also many cases when a windows server admin will want to schedule maintenance mode for a one server. Instead of having to clone a task in task scheduler I can now just give them the tool and they can schedule it themselves.

Updates to Version 1.7

– Fixed Bug where if you hit Get Computers multiple times it would
populate multiple times.

– Fixed Sort Order of Group and Computer list.

– Removed limitation of 100 min for scheduled maintenance mode

 

https://www.scom2k7.com/maintenance-mode-scheduler-20/

 

If you find any bugs please let me know!

Continue Reading

VMware to release ESX 3i for free next week

From Virtualization.info

VMware finally made the move that everybody predicted and was awaited for a long time: releasing its hypervisor for free.

During the Q2 2008 earnings call the company announced that before the end of July it will release the Update 2 for VMware Infrastructure 3.5 and that will give away the lightweight edition of the product, ESX 3i, for free.

The new 3i edition was introduced at the end of the last year.
It doesn’t change the characteristics of the hypervisor but fundamentally chances a part of its architecture, dropping the Console Operating System (COS) and reducing the overall system footprint to 32Mb.
The change allowed several OEMs to preload this edition of the hypervisor into their servers, through internal USB keys, Solid-State Drives (SSD) or hidden partition in the primary hard drives.

virtualization.info has learned some additional details about the move:

  • VI 3.5 and ESX 3i will continue to share a the large majority of the code base (so there will be an ESX 3i Update 2). There will be no delays on the release of both products.
  • ESX 3i will continue to have the same features that has today, without additional limitations
  • ESX 3i will continue to have the same APIs, allowing anybody to develop free or commercial alternatives to VirtualCenter (despite some features like VMotion cannot be replicated because of the VMware SDK limitations).
  • VMware will not require the purchase of any software & support subscription to access the product. Customer will be able to get the code without any restriction.
  • The customers that purchased the current version of ESX 3i directly from the VMware online store will be eligible for a rebate.
  • The ESX version that includes the Console Operating System (COS) will not be faded out (at least in the short timeframe). Most VMware customers are currently using that version and the company will support them for a long time.
  • VMware Server will not be faded out (as many could suppose). The company still sees the product as a valuable proposition for a different kind of audience.

At first sight this move seems a clear attempt to recover the terrible stock performance that VMware is suffering from the departure of its former CEO Diane Greene.
But virtualization.info has learned that the plan was not developed by the new CEO Paul Maritz, but by Greene herself several months ago.

How the free ESX will impact the market?

First of all, the competition will move on the virtual infrastructure management (with a special focus on the storage) and automation (for hosted desktops, virtual labs, VM lifecycle, autonomous computing, cloud computing) areas, turning the hypervisor as a commodity, embedded in the operating system or not.
Any vendor that will not adopt the same strategy (like Citrix or Virtual Iron) will have a hard time to justify the price of its solution.

Secondarily, the product will finally boost the diffusion of VMware technologies in the SMB market.
This will seriously disturb the Microsoft effort in this space and all the other virtualization vendors that have a clear focus on the small companies (like Virtual Iron or Parallels).

Last but not least, the sales channel will become critical to win the competition for most customers.
When multiple market leaders have a similar proposition in terms of price and feature set, the experience in managing the channel does the real difference.
VMware didn’t seem able to compete with Microsoft and Citrix here, but the new CEO certainly has the knowledge to correct the mistakes of the past.

Continue Reading

Service Level Dashboard Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 Released

Overview

The Service Level Dashboard Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 assists you in tracking, managing, and reporting on your line-of-business (LOB) application service level compliance. It displays a list of applications and their performance and availability against a target SLA.

The application or service is defined using the Operations Manager distributed application model. This model allows the user to define all components of the application or service that affect the health state and SLA calculation. When an application does not meet the defined performance or availability thresholds, it is placed into a warning or error state within Operations Manager. This state shows the current status of an application relative to its defined thresholds.

The Service Level Dashboard report uses the history of the state of an application to calculate the time the application was in each state over the duration of the report. Based on this information, the report derives a performance and availability percentage for the time period that the report covers.

Link

 

Continue Reading

I have moved!!

Please update your links.  I have moved Everything System Center Operations Manager 2007 to 192.168.1.88/a>

 Here are the updated links to my more popular posts

Offline Maintenance Mode powershell scripts for Operations Manager 2007

Create a Script-Based Unit Monitor in OpsMgr2007 via the GUI

SCOM 2007 Script to Monitor File Count inside a Directory

https://www.scom2k7.com/event-data-collection-process-unable-to-write-data-to-the-data-warehouse/

WMI Encountered a problem and needed to close error

How to Create a basic Probe-Based SNMP ESX Console CPU Monitor in Operations Manager 2007

 

https://www.scom2k7.com/scom-2007-script-to-monitor-file-count-inside-a-directory/

 

Thanks to the magic of feedburner all rss feeds will transition over seamlessly.

More posts to come.

Continue Reading

You cannot install Operations Manager 2007 Reporting if the SQL Server Reporting Services instance takes more than 60 seconds to start

New KB Released #951148

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Reporting, the installation operation fails. This problem occurs if the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (ReportServer) instance takes more than 60 seconds to start.When this problem occurs, the Momreporting.log file contains the following information:

 

ReplaceSRSExtensionsCA error: Cannot start service ReportServer on computer ‘.’.. StackTrace: at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Start(String args) at Microsoft.Reporting.Setup.ReportingManagedCAs.RestartService(String srsServiceName) at Microsoft.Reporting.Setup.ReportingManagedCAs.ReplaceSRSExtensionsCA(Session session)

RESOLUTION

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.If the hotfix is available for download, there is a “Hotfix download available” section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

 (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support)

Note The “Hotfix download available” form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must have System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

Hotfix installation instructions

This hotfix provides a Microsoft Installer (.msi) file that you can use to fix the existing Reporting2007.msi file in the installation media. Then, you can use the fixed Reporting2007.msi file to install Operations Manager 2007 Reporting. To do this, follow these steps:

1.

Copy the following file from the hotfix package to a local folder or to a shared folder:

SystemCenterOperationsManager2007-SP1-KB951148-X86-X64-ENU.msi

2.

Run the file that you copied in step 1.

3.

On the Select Installation Folder page of the installation wizard, you can specify a folder in which the hotfix will be installed. By default, this hotfix is installed in the following location:

%ProgramFiles%\System Center 2007 Hotfix Utility\Q951148

4.

The Q951148 folder contains the following files:

A Q951148-x86.mst file for x86 platforms

A Q951148-x64.mst file for x64 platforms

5.

Locate the Reporting2007.msi file in the Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 installation media. The Reporting2007.msi is located in the following folder on the installation media:

Reporting\platform

Note The platform placeholder represents the platform version of Operations Manager 2007 Reporting that you want to install.

6.

Copy this Reporting2007.msi file from the installation media to the Q951148 folder that is mentioned in step 3.

7.

Change the working directory to the Q951148 folder that is mentioned in step 3. For example, if you used the default installation folder in step 2, open a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

cd /d %ProgramFiles%\System Center 2007 Hotfix Utility\Q951148

8.

At the command prompt, run the following command:

WiUseXfm.vbs Reporting2007.msi MST_File

Note Replace the MST_File placeholder with “Q951148-x86.mst” or with “Q951148-x64.mst,” as appropriate for your platform.

9.

To verify that the Reporting2007.msi file is successfully fixed, check the last modified time of the Reporting2007.msi file.

10.

Replace the old Reporting2007.msi file by copying the fixed Reporting2007.msi file onto the installation media. If the installation media is read-only, you can install Operations Manager 2007 Reporting directly by using the fixed Reporting2007.msi file. To do this, open a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

msiexec /i Modified_MSI_Location\reporting2007.msi /l*v %TEMP%\MOMReporting.log

Note Replace the Modified_MSI_Location placeholder with the folder that contains the fixed Reporting2007.msi file.

Note After you follow these steps, the digital signature in the fixed Reporting2007.msi file will be broken. Therefore, you will receive a warning message when you run the fixed Reporting2007.msi file. You can safely ignore this warning message.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1

File name

File version

File size

Date

Time

Platform

Q951148-x64.mst

Not Applicable

2,637,824

01-Apr-2008

06:56

Not Applicable

Q951148-x86.mst

Not Applicable

2,571,776

01-Apr-2008

06:46

Not Applicable

Wiusexfm.vbs

Not Applicable

2,822

18-Oct-2002

08:19

Not Applicable

 

Continue Reading

Hyper-V is RTM!

Microsoft has released Hyper-V. I recently installed it on my Dell Optiplex 745, that has a dual core E6600 Processor with 4gb of RAM.

I am running Server 2008 x64 (Core Edition).

Here are my benchmarks.

  • The red is benchmark for the VMs processor.
  • The orange is the benchmark for the physical processor.

Pretty Impressive!

Continue Reading

You receive error messages when you try to edit the Web application monitoring settings in System Center Operations Manager 2007

Looks like microsoft posted the KB for this. KB 941977

SYMPTOMS

When you try to edit the Web application monitoring settings in Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, you receive the following error messages:

Failed to load Web Application

Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Common.ObjectNotFoundException: Requested object(s) not found.

This problem occurs if a user in the Operator user role opens the Operations console when the user in the Administrator user role tries to edit the Web application monitoring settings.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/941977

Continue Reading

Unable to edit web application monitors after upgrading to SCOM 2007 SP1 hotfix available

If you upgraded to SCOM SP1 from SCOM RTM you will notice that you are no longer able to edit your web monitors that you created before the upgrade. Any Web monitors that were created after the upgrade, you will be able to edit fine.

The error you will get is “There was an error while applying the changes.” “An object of type UnitMonitorType with Id (GUID) was not found.

If you are having this same issue a fix has been created by Microsoft. You will have to call Microsoft Support to the the hot fix. The KB number is 951527.

This fix is not publicly available through the Microsoft website as it has not gone through full Microsoft regression testing.

FileName: SystemCenterOperationsManager2007-SP1-KB951527-X86-X64-ENU.MSI

Continue Reading

If you delete one of your management servers that have SNMP devices reporting to it, the SNMP network devices will become orphaned in the database.

I recently discovered a bug where if you delete one of your management servers that have SNMP network devices reporting to it, the network devices will be orphaned in the database.

We had to remove one of our management servers due to hardware issues. Before we could remove the management server we had to move all computers reporting to it to another management server. The console will not let you remove the management sever until all computers are moved off it.

The problem lies in the fact that Ops Mgr will let you remove a management server that has SNMP network devices still reporting to it.

After the Management server is deleted the devices will no longer show up in the Administration console. You will also not be able to re-discover them as they already exist in the DB.

The only way to fix the problem is to restore the database or some custom magic from MS Professional Support Services.

Microsoft was able to repo this same situation in their labs and confirmed it’s a bug that will be addressed in future versions. Big thanks to Nicholas Dodge from Microsoft PSS for seeing this case through.

Continue Reading