SCOM Maintenance Mode Scheduler

Here are the new features in V4:

• Multi-select Computers  This has been the most requested feature as end users often want to schedule multiple computers at a time without having to create groups.

• Multi-select Computers in Integrated dashboard  Now you can select multiple computers in the dashboards without getting an error

• New Search in Computers and Groups  Now instead of scrolling up in down the list you can just start to type in the name of the group or computer and results will be filtered.

• One Click MM now accepts parameters   Some environments One Click MM was not working as the client security was high or there were DNS issues.  Now you can just add the computer as a parameter.

• New Configuration backup tool for easier upgrades  Now you can back your configuration and upgrade to the latest version of SCOM 2012 Maintenance Mode Scheduler with have to reconfigure all of your settings.

Multi-select Computers

Now you can select multiple computers at a time for maintenance mode.

Multi-select Computers in Integrated dashboard

New Search in Computers and Groups

One Click MM now accepts parameters

New Configuration backup tool for easier upgrades

There is a bug in Silects MP Author SP2 tool.  If you select a 32-Bit registry key for discovery.

When you save the MP it will automatically remove the Wow6432Node

Most 32-Bit applications don’t write to multiple locations so It won’t discover anything.

**As pointed out by Kevin Holman there is an XML element called <registryview>32bit</registryview> that will accomplish the same thing but will work with 32-bit servers and 64-bit servers.**

Open up the XML and add the <registryview>32bit</registryview>

My XML would look like this.

<RegistryAttributeDefinition>
<AttributeName>ConfigProductCode</AttributeName>
<Path>SOFTWARE\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server\Setup\ConfigProductCode</Path>
<PathType>1</PathType>
<AttributeType>0</AttributeType>
<RegistryView>32bit</RegistryView>
</RegistryAttributeDefinition>

More info on this can be found here.  http://michielw.blogspot.ca/2010/01/scom-registry-discovery-on-64-bit-os.html

The following workaround will work as well, but is not perfect as you might have apps installed on both 32-bit and 64-bit servers.

Open up the XML and edit it back to what it should be.

I have reported this to Silect.  Hopefully they will fix it in the next version.

Creating a Process Monitoring Recovery Task to stop a process that has been running too long.

I already created the monitor using the Process Monitoring template.

To create the recovery task.

I right click on the process monitor I created.

Choose View Management Pack Objects, Monitors.

The I expand down ProcessFiles, Entity Health, Availability.

I right click on Process Running Time Monitor and click Properties

I choose the Diagnostic and Recovery Tab.

Then under Configure recovery tasks.  I choose Recovery for critical health state.

I click Run Command

Give it a Recovery Name

Full path to file:

%windir%\system32\taskkill.exe

Parameters:

/F /IM processfiles.exe

Click Create

If you like me you want to check out the new preview but don’t want to spend too much time installing and configuring it, as they will likely change.

You can download the System Center Technical Preview VHDs here:

System Center: Data Protection Manager

System Center: Operations Manager

System Center: Orchestrator

System Center: Service Manager

System Center: Virtual Machine Manager

I go to a lot of customers where when I launch the Operations Manager Shell (PowerShell Interface for SCOM) the shortcut is broken.

This is often caused by a user installing SCOM to a drive other then the C drive.  I’m sure there a many other possible reasons but lets just focus on fixing it.

First I Open up a new PowerShell Command Prompt as administrator.

Then I run $env:PSModulePath

Then I run the same command on my SCOM Management Server that I know that the Operations Manager Shell works.

I notice a big difference in the modules listed for my PowerShell environment.

I can manually fix the Environment Variable by going to the Advanced System Settings

**Note you will have to reboot after fixing this as its not the running config**

Just like there is no crying in football there is no GUIs in PowerShell so I wrote this PowerShell script to fix it..

Here is the script I wrote to fix it with comments

#Get the Current Environment Variable PSModulePath Path
$current = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PSModulePath", "Machine")
$current

#Set the Missing Paths  **Note** This may be a different drive or location depending on where you installed SCOM 
$path1 = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\Operations Manager\Powershell\;"
$path2 = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\Operations Manager\Server\PowerShell\;"
$path3 = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\Operations Manager\Powershell\"

#Combine the Missing Paths with the Current PSModulePath Path
$FixedPath = $current + ";" + $path1 + $path2 + $path3
$FixedPath

#Set the new Environment Variable Path for PSModulePath
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PSModulePath", $FixedPath, "Machine")

#Set the current running PSModulePath to the stored path  **Note** You can also just reboot
$env:PSModulePath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PSModulePath", "Machine")

Now when I run the shell it works.

You can download the script here.  https://www.scom2k7.com/downloads/FixOMShell.txt

In a previous post I showed how to install the SCOM 2012 Visio Dashboards on SharePoint 2010.

To install the Visio Dashboards on SharePoint 2013 it’s a little more tricky.

Part 1 – Installing SharePoint 2013 Integration Components

First I install the Operations Manager 2012 R2 console on my SharePoint Server

Next I verify that the SharePoint 2013 Enterprise with Visio Services are enabled.

On my SharePoint server I go to the SharePoint Central Administration Page.

I click Configuration Wizards

I click Launch Farm Configuration Wizard

I scroll down and verify that the Visio Graphics Service is Enabled.

It appears to be already enabled so I click Cancel.

I verify that Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Features are enabled.

Ok now I am ready.

First I need to install the Visio Services Data Provider.

I log on to my SharePoint server as the Farm Administrator so I have all the permissions I need.

Now I copy the Server folder over to my SharePoint 2013 server in the C:\temp\ directory from the Extensions I downloaded earlier.

Then I run setup.exe.  Click Next, Next, Close.

On my SharePoint server, I open the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell as an Administrator

In the Command shell I change directories to

C:\Program Files\Visio Services Data Provider for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

Now I type in

.\InstallOpsMgrDataModule.ps1

I get an error because I am running SharePoint 2013.  I don’t worry about it as I will fix it later.

I run

get-spsolution

I see that it says that opsmgrdatamodule.wsp is Deployed so I am good.

I also see that another one listed called microsoft.enterprisemanagem…  This is from when I installed the SCOM Dashboard Integration
https://www.scom2k7.com/how-to-view-scom-2012-dashboards-in-sharepoint-2010/  and is not required to make the Visio integration work.

I go back to the SharePoint Central Administration Console and Click Manage service applications

I Click New, Visio Graphics Service.

I type in Visio Graphics.

Then I select Create a new application pool and type in VisioGraphicsAppPool and click OK

Note: It may take a little while to complete

Now I Select the Visio Graphics I just created.

I Select Trusted Data Providers

Click Add a new Trusted Data Provider

For Trusted Provider ID I type in:

Microsoft.Office.Visio.Server.OperationsManagerModule.OperationsManagerDataModule, Microsoft.Office.Visio.Server.OperationsManager, Version=1.0.0.1122, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35

For Trusted Data Provider I Type in: 6

For Trusted Data Provider Description I Type in: SCOM 2012 R2

I Click OK

Back on the SharePoint Central Administration Console and I Click Manage Services on server

I click Start the Visio Graphics Service

Part 2 – Configuring SharePoint 2010 Integration Components

I open the SharePoint Central Administration Console.  I click Configure service accounts from the Security Section

From the dropdown I pick Service Application Pool – SharePoint Web Services System

I need to grant the SCOM2K12\max (or whatever your account listed here is) access to read SCOM.  I open the SCOM 2012 console double click on the Operations Manager Read-Only Operators and add my SharePoint service account to the Operations Manager Read-Only Operations user role.

Part 3 – Adding your Visio Dashboard to SharePoint 2013

I get my SCOM Dashboard Visio document from my previous post.  https://www.scom2k7.com/creating-scom-2012-dashboards-using-visio-2010-or-visio-2013/

I open up the diagram document in Visio 2013

I click Configure to make sure my connection is correct.

I click File, Save As a Visio 2010 Web Drawing

Note: You might get a warning about some Compatibility issue.  Just click Continue.

I now go to my SharePoint page and click Shared Documents and upload the Visio file.

Now I select the document just uploaded

I click on my Visio Document and it comes up in a web console.

I click Allow Refresh

Part 4 – Configuring SharePoint 2013 to show your Visio Dashboard as a web part.

From my site I Add a page

Then I add a Web Part.  Under Business Data I select Visio Web Access

Then I select Click here to open the tool pane

I select the Document from my shared Documents where I stored it earlier.

Then I set the Automatic Refresh interval to 10 and uncheck Show Open in Visio

Then I Click Apply then OK

Now I check out my finished product.

Veeam now has their own conference in Vegas called VeeamOn.  I really miss the MMS conference in  Las Vegas.  If you are involved in Virtualization, Business Continuity (DR / Backups) then this is the conference for you.  They are hosting it at the Cosmopolitan which is located in new part of the strip,

October 6th -8th

Veeam has large lineup of  sessions for the following tracks

 Here are the Technical Sessions I find most interesting

· Introducing the Veeam Management Pack for Hyper-V

· Upgrading to Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V the Right Way

· Veeam Management Pack: More Than Just System Center Operations Manager

· What Is the Ultimate Backup Storage Architecture?

· Advanced Capacity Planning and Performance Management with Veeam

· vSphere and Hyper-V: Architecting Data Protection Between the Two Hypervisors

· Advanced SQL Server Backup and Recovery with Veeam

· Automation for All! PowerShell Tricks That Make Everyday Life Easier

· Backup and Restore Best Practices for Linux VMs

· Backup Bottleneck Technical Deep Dive

· Deduplication Any Way You Want It!’

· Deep Dive: Veeam Backup Management Suite

· Deploying Veeam ONE in Large Environments: Tips and Tricks

· Integrate Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 with Veeam!

· ONEbelievable tricks: Veeam ONE and Automation Services

· PowerShell and RestFUL API: Ten Things That You Cannot Do with the GUI

Who should attend VeeamON 2014?

VeeamON is the world’s first and only event focused entirely on availability of applications and data. The conference is geared for both Veeam customers and partners. The wide variety of breakout sessions across multiple tracks offers valuable content for all conference attendees. As an IT professional, you will learn new techniques, deep-dive into products, connect with like-minded peers and get next-level advice and detailed strategies to achieve non-stop service and continuous availability for your applications and data. If you are a Veeam Partner, you will have access to a day devoted to growing your business and learn how to more strategically position Veeam in your product portfolio.

The conference is open to everyone; you don’t have to be a current Veeam partner or customer.

Click Here for More Information

The Office 365 Management Pack has been released and  is now available.

Download: Link

Features:

• Add and configure Office 365 subscriptions to be monitored in Operations Manager
• Proactively monitor connection health for subscriptions
• Automatically discover services and features available for each subscription
• Proactively notify when Office 365 Incidents that affects services operational status appear, being changed or resolved
• Reflect Office 365 Incidents and informational Messages for the subscription to Operations Manager alerts
• Intuitively visualize subscriptions health and corresponding alerts via dashboard.

In some environments it’s difficult to predict the state of the Default Website and IIS where SCOM 2012 Maintenance Mode Scheduler gets installed.  There might be a group policy or a standard process that your IIS team uses to configure IIS.  In these environments the Maintenance Mode 2012 Config tool might throw an error.  We will need to do a Manual Install in these environments.

Manual Install Process

Run the SCOM 2012 MSI and do a standard install.

Instead of using the  Maintenance Mode 2012 Config tool.

Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.  This tool is located under Control Panel\System and Security\Administrative Tools

Expand your servers name and click Application Pools

Right click on Application Pools and click Add Application Pool

Name the Application Pool MMWebAPPPool

After the App Pool is created right click on it and pick Advanced Settings

In Advanced Setting, scroll down and select Identity.  Click the … next to ApplicationPoolIdentity

Select the Custom account: radio button.  Then click Set..

Type in the domain\username of your SDK account and type the password twice.

Click OK, OK, OK

In IIS Manager Expand Sites, Default Web Site and click on MMWeb

Right click on MMWeb and click Convert to Application

Click Select.  Under Application pool select MMWebAPPPool

Click OK and OK

Open up Internet Explorer and type in the address to the Admin page.  (Replace yourserver with the hostname of your server)

http://yourserver/MMWeb/Admin.aspx

On the Admin page type in your SDK account, Password, MS Server, and OperationsManager DB Server

Click Save

Now in Internet browse out to the Maintenance Mode Scheduler Web Page

http://yourserver/MMWeb

I

f you get a Trial has Expired.  E-mail me at timothymcfadden@scom2k7.com.com for a new 30 day key. 

Computer Maintenance Mode

In this scenario a SQL Admin will be performing maintenance on a SQL server at 2:00am on Sunday. During maintenance, services might be stopped or the server might be rebooted. The admin opens Maintenance Mode Scheduler and schedules a maintenance window for this time frame so that alerts for the SQL server don’t get sent to himself or other IT support staff.

1.) Open the Maintenance Mode Scheduler Website in Internet Explorer. http://yourMSserver/MMWeb

2.) Pick the Computer to Schedule for Maintenance Mode.

3.) Under Start Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the computer to Start.

4.) Under End Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the computer to finish.

5.) Under Frequency choose how often Maintenance Mode should run.

a. Once – Run just once.

b. Daily – Run every day at the Start Time selected.

c. Weekly – Run every week on the day/time selected for Start Time.

6.) Under Category choose the category (Planned or Unplanned) to specify the maintenance mode.

7.) Under Comment: Type in an Optional Comment.

8.) Verify the job has been created on the SCOM server by going to Task Scheduler

9.) Test by right clicking on the job and selecting Run.

10.) Look in the console and verify that the server has went into maintenance mode

11.) Right click on the server click Maintenance Mode and Select Stop Maintenance mode.

12.) Scheduled Maintenance Mode will now run at the specified time on the correct server.

Group Maintenance Mode

In this example, a Network Admin needs to perform maintenance on a network segment of Exchange Servers. The Maintenance will be performed on Sunday at 2:00am and the network will be down. To do this, open the Maintenance Mode Scheduler and schedule a maintenance window for the Exchange Servers Group. With the maintenance window scheduled, alerts won’t be sent to the Exchange Admin or other IT support staff.

1.) Open the Maintenance Mode Scheduler Website in Internet Explorer. http://yourMSserver/MMWeb/Group.aspx

2.) Pick the Group to Schedule for Maintenance Mode.

3.) Under Start Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the group to Start.

4.) Under End Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the group to finish.

5.) Under Frequency choose how often Maintenance Mode should run.

a. Once – Run just once.

b. Daily – Run every day at the Start Time selected.

c. Weekly – Run every week on the day/time selected for Start Time.

6.) Under Category choose the category (Planned or Unplanned) to specify the maintenance mode.

7.) Under Comment: Type in an Optional Comment.

One Click Maintenance Mode

This situation makes it easy for IT staff to put a server into maintenance mode without having to go to the SCOM console. On any server the server administrator can visit the SCOM 2012 Maintenance Mode Scheduler One Click website at http://yourMSserver/MMWeb/OneClick.aspx

Creating a shortcut on the desktop of the servers to make it even easier.

Options for this are:

• Manually create the shortcut.

• Use System Center Configuration Manager, AD Group Policy or some other software deployment tool to deploy the shortcut out to all servers.

1.) Open the One Click Maintenance Mode Scheduler Website from the server to put into maintenance mode in Internet Explorer. http://yourserver/MMWeb/OneClick.aspx

2.) The server is automatically put into maintenance mode for 60 minutes.

Class Maintenance Mode

In this setting a Unix/Linux Admin is performing maintenance on a Linux server on Saturday at 4:00AM. During the outage the server will be rebooted and the admin does not want to alert the NOC or the on-call engineer.

1.) Open the Maintenance Mode Scheduler Website in Internet Explorer. http://yourMSserver/MMWeb/Class.aspx

2.) Pick the Class for the type of object. Pick Microsoft.Linux.Computer

3.) Under Object: Pick the Linux Computer to Schedule for Maintenance Mode.

4.) Under Start Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the Linux computer to Start.

5.) Under End Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the Linux computer to finish.

6.) Under Frequency choose how often Maintenance Mode should run.

a. Once – Run just once.

b. Daily – Run every day at the Start Time selected.

c. Weekly – Run every week on the day/time selected for Start Time.

7.) Under Category choose the category (Planned or Unplanned) to specify the maintenance mode.

8.) Under Comment: Type in an Optional Comment.

Subscription Maintenance Mode

In this scenario full backups are performed every night that create a flood of alerts for the Windows Team Pager. The team would like to not get alerted during this time. They have a complex subscription with individual monitors and rules for their alerts. Creating and maintaining individual groups for maintenance mode is too complex. They would like to just put the subscription into Maintenance Mode so they don’t get alerted in the middle of the night.

**Note: The individual objects will still change state and create alerts that will not be sent to the subscription during the maintenance window. You can choose to send the alerts after the maintenance window or to discard the alerts using the Queue Alerts option.

1.) Open the Maintenance Mode Scheduler Website in Internet Explorer. http://xom01/MMweb/Subscription.aspx

2.) Pick the Subscription to Schedule for Maintenance Mode.

3.) Under Start Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the subscription to Start.

4.) Under End Time; Pick the time and date for Maintenance Mode on the subscription to finish.

5.) Under Frequency choose how often Maintenance Mode should run.

a. Once – Run just once.

b. Daily – Run every day at the Start Time selected.

c. Weekly – Run every week on the day/time selected for Start Time.

6.) Under Queue Alerts choose whether or not to send the alerts queued up during the maintenance window

a. No – Do not send alerts that happened during the maintenance window

b. Yes – Save alerts that happened during the maintenance window and send them when the window is over with

7.) Under Comment: Type in an Optional Comment.

8.) You may notice that when creating a subscription maintenance window it creates two jobs. This is normal as it creates a job to start the subscription maintenance windowsand one to stop the subscription maintenance window.

Manage Maintenance Mode Jobs

In this example an Admin has created a maintenance mode job that they no longer want to run. The job they want to delete is a re-occurring Sunday 3AM Maintenance Mode on all of their servers.

1.) Open the Maintenance Mode Scheduler Website in Internet Explorer.

http://yourMSserver/ MMWeb/Manage.aspx

2.) Pick the Manage to Manage Maintenance Mode Jobs

3.) Under Jobs; Pick the job “All Windows Computers – 60 minutes Maintenance Mode – Sunday 3AM Updates”

4.) Click the Delete Button

5.) For Subscriptions delete both the Begin and End jobs.