:::Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005:::

Hello Again

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:45:01 GMT

Well, 2007 was a busy year for me and I've been away for a while. I recently changed jobs and have earlier in 2007 my first son was born. Needless to say, I haven't had much time to post. I would like to get back into the swing of things though if there is an audience.

If you'd like to see me continue posting MOM 2005 and SMS 2003 articles/downloads, please email me at justinharter@hotmail.com.

Lots of Updates

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 23:32:16 GMT

Head on over to http://www.momresources.org for a lot of new updates including an article and script from yours truly :)

Our New Project: MOMResources.org

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 16:47:29 GMT

Pete Zerger and I, in an effort to consolidate the MOM resources on the web, have now developed a new MOM website. This website is http://www.momresources.org!

While it pains me to see my much beloved blog lose some of it's great MOM-focused infrmation, I am also extremely excited to be working with Pete and I feel it will be a great thing for the MOM community. I will still be posting information to my blog periodically for some MOM and IT-related topics, but almost all of my MOM information will be posted to the new site at http://www.momresources.org.

This new website will have many of the great features you already enjoy from Pete Zerger's blog and my blog, but it will also have MANY more new features and downloads that you can't find anywhere else.

I am extremely excited about this new venture and I am excited about the possibilities it brings for MOM. Head over to the new site and check it out and let us know what you think!

http://www.momresources.org

Updates

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 03:44:42 GMT

I have been severly lacking on updates lately, but do not fret. There will be updates aplenty in the very near future...

Availability MP Woes

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 03:43:41 GMT

After having the Availability MP working flawlessly for 6 months, the MRAS scheduled task has been causing me problems lately. The job just runs and runs and runs, but never completes. It doesn't technically fail and I believe that it is doing "something", but the problem is I can't let it run for days on end (the longest I let it run was for 64 hours) because it pegs the CPU and causes other MOM jobs to fail.

I have a case open with PSS, but since the job hasn't run in like 3 weeks, I'm thinking it's beyond repair. Normally the job would take 2 hours to complete for one day worth of data, so at this point it would take a long time to run anyway. I am attempting one more thing to see if I can get it to complete, which is increasing tempDB log size and SCDW log size. I believe that it is maxing out these log files during run time and the tempdb is having to autogrow every 10 minutes or so, which will cause a slow down.

Any suggestions are appreciated :)

Two Must Have Reports

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 15:03:45 GMT

On Friday I noticed that Microsoft has released the Micorosft Virtual Server R2 management pack. This didn't particularly spark my interest because I don't use Microsoft Virtual Server R2, but I just so happened to notice the reports included in this MP. There are 2 reports that are EXCELLENT reports and they don't even require Virtual Server R2. The two reports are "Virtualization Candidates" and "Performance History".

The "Virtualization Candidates" report is a great report that basically shows underutilized servers. This report can quickly show you all of the servers that meet a specified criteria. There are lots of parameterrs that make this report extremely flexible. The "Performance History" report gives you 4 graphs that show CPU utilization, memory use, disk use, and network use.

The "Virtualization Candidates" report requires that the MP be installed because it includes a required SQL view, but the "Performance History" report only requires the Base OS MP. Check them out!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bf21f798-9b10-40dc-bcdd-4a8358cce94d&DisplayLang=en

P.S. Special thanks to Pete Zerger for tracking down where the SC_Class_Rel_Computer-Virtual Server_View comes from.

BizTalk 2006 Management Pack Released

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:01:08 GMT

Well I don't know how I missed this one, but Microsoft has released (albeit quietly) the management pack for BizTalk 2006. The MP actually includes two different .akm files, including one for BizTalk 2006 and one for the Microsoft Enterprise Single Sign-On component that ships with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006. You can download the MP below:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9e07c538-9ed4-41ea-9914-35df6effb078&displaylang=en

Task: Show Installed Service Packs/Hotfixes

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 22:25:50 GMT

I decided to follow up Pete Zerger's great post (his article can be downloaded HERE) with a task of my own. This article describes a couple of different tasks. One, you can create a task that will display what service packs and hotfixes are installed on any selected computer (along with some other info). The other task (listed at the end of the article) will display what processes are currently running on the selected computer along with some other information regarding those processes.

You can download my article HERE.

John Hann Is Back!

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 22:06:30 GMT

After a brief hiatus it appears John Hann might be getting back into the MOM community. He has a new blog located at http://learnsystemsmanagement.com/community/blogs/mom_2005_blog/ and his first couple of posts are excellent ones. He includes in one post an email he sent to Steve Ballmer regarding MOM.

Event Storm Pt. 2

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 02:38:36 GMT

A visitor recently asked a question regarding the event storm query I posted (http://spaces.msn.com/jharter/blog/cns!39CE28DB5474A6C7!332.entry). His question was:

When I run this and find an event storm occuring from 1 server, is there a SQL query I can run to give me a list of the events for that server in the 24 hour period with counts?

To accomplish this, you can run the following query against the OnePoint database (it can also be run against the SCDW). You simply need to specify the start date/time, end date/time, and the server that is causing the event storm. You can also use this for any server you'd like. There may be a report for this already, but I knew the query off the top of my head so I just quickly wrote it.

Declare @StartDateTime DateTime
Declare @EndDateTime DateTime
Declare @Server varchar(30)

-- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
SET @StartDateTime = '4/3/2006 12:00:00 AM'    -- type a date time in UTC time i.e. 3/29/2006 12:00:00 AM
SET @EndDateTime = '4/4/2006 12:00:00 AM'    -- type a date time in UTC time i.e. 3/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
SET @Server = 'WinServer'    -- type a server name
-- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

SELECT     ComputerName, Message, COUNT(*) AS EventCount
FROM         SDKEventView
WHERE     (TimeGenerated BETWEEN @StartDateTime AND @EndDateTime) AND ComputerName=@Server
GROUP BY Message,ComputerName
ORDER BY EventCount DESC

Managing Non-Windows Devices

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:50:57 GMT

If you are using MOM to only manage Windows devices, you are losing out on functionality. While there are more intuitive and flexible 3rd party packages, MOM is capable of managing non-windows devices through SNMP or syslog.

Setting up both SNMP and syslog monitoring is fairly simple if you have some background with SNMP or syslog. Daniel Lai has written two KB articles on these two subjects. You can learn how set up SNMP monitoring with MOM by reading his article here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555455/en-us

He also has an article detailing monitoring syslog through MOM. You can find this article here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555450/en-us

If you want a more flexible solution, there is 3rd party software out there. A good company that produces MOM connectors and virtual agents is eXc Software. You can visit them at http://www.excsoftware.com. Another good company for network monitoring is JalaSoft. You can visit them at http://www.jalasoft.com.

MOM-Related Books

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 03:13:38 GMT

I was strolling through my local Barnes & Noble tonight and a couple of things caught my eye. First, I thought I would see if they had the new MOM books. To my shock and surprise, they actually had both (my local B&N doesn't have an extensive tech book collection). In any event, I quickly browsed both books and did see a couple of very useful chapters in each, but for the most part they were books that I really wish I had when I was just starting out with MOM. Unfortunately, I'm not just starting out with MOM and I just couldn't bring myself to spend $80 on MOM books that wouldn't necessarily help me a lot. I still may buy them, but I decided to wait.

The second (and in my opinion the luckier and more useful occurrence) was the fact that I found a book called "Advanced VBScript for Microsoft Windows Administrators". This book in my opinion is a GREAT reference that any MOM Administrator should get. And, Chapter 16 in this book is actually called Scripting for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005!

After reading a lot of the MOM chapter, I didn't necessarily find I was getting lots of new information, but in general there were a LOT of excellent code samples and this book would be a great reference to any MOM scripter. I haven't bought this book yet, but as soon as I find a good deal on it, I will be picking it up and will give more of a review. You can get the book below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735622442/sr=8-1/qid=1143860468/ref=sr_1_1/103-8380631-6856603?%5Fencoding=UTF8

EDIT: After I posted this, I actually went to Amazon to buy this and you can currently get this book for $31.49 with FREE SuperSaver shipping! Barnes & Noble was actually selling this book for $49.99.

MOM Scripting

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 22:35:34 GMT

Microsoft have added parts 3 and 4 to the "Scripting for MOM" section of the Script Center. Parts 3 and 4 are definitely good articles to read. They cover topics for writing and debugging scripts and also best practices for writing scripts. You can view all 4 parts to MOM scripting HERE.

If you haven't yet begun scripting, I HIGHLY recommend that you start at the Microsoft Script Center. They have plenty of good articles regarding scripting for beginners. Also (as mentioned above), they have an entire area dedicated to MOM scripting. Visit the Microsoft Script Center HERE.

MSN Messenger

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 01:19:24 GMT

I noticed some people have been adding me to their MSN Messenger list so I thought I would post a public invite. Feel free to add me to your list if you'd ever like to discuss MOM or talk about ideas. I don't get on MSN Messenger everyday, but if I do get on I usually am on after work, which is after 5 PM EST.

While I do welcome anybody (pros, newbies, or in between), I would like to avoid making MSN chat sessions a "help desk" type conversation. I'll always try to help though.

If you add me, drop me an email to tell me a little about yourself and your experiences with MOM. Use my hotmail address to add me: justinharter@hotmail.com

MOM v3 Beta

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 00:58:03 GMT

According to Omar Kouatly (MOM Program Manager), the public beta will be available to try in May! It will be announced via the official MOM page at http://www.microsoft.com/mom. Mark your calendars!

Monitoring a Log File

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 23:53:51 GMT

One of the great features of MOM is that it can monitor custom log files. It is fairly simple to set up and begin using so I created a guide that steps you through this process. You can download the guide HERE.

I've also listed this in guide in the downloads section.

Event Storm

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 23:07:49 GMT

Here's a quick SQL query you can run against the OnePoint DB to see how many events each server has thrown over the specified period of time. It's very handy if you suspect there might be an event storm going on. Keep in mind that the "TimeGenerated" field is in UTC time. So, in the case of Eastern Time Zone, you would have to add 5 hours to EST.

Declare @StartDateTime DateTime
Declare @EndDateTime DateTime

-- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
SET @StartDateTime = '3/28/2006 12:00:00 AM' -- type a date time in UTC time i.e. 3/29/2006 12:00:00 AM
SET @EndDateTime = '3/29/2006 12:00:00 AM' -- type a date time in UTC time i.e. 3/30/2006 12:00:00 AM
-- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

SELECT     ComputerName, COUNT(*) AS EventCount
FROM         SDKEventView
WHERE     (TimeGenerated BETWEEN @StartDateTime AND @EndDateTime)
GROUP BY ComputerName
ORDER BY EventCount DESC

Notification Workflow Update

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 22:19:59 GMT

It appears that the Notification Workflow download page has been updated (it has a posted date of 3/23/2006). After looking, there is a hotfix listed for Notification Workflow that fixes a table error and missing notifications in Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator version 2.1. I know I have experienced "Issue 2" listed below and it often left me baffled.

Issue 1
The Alert Event batches are not submitted. Therefore, the Alert Events table is not being populated. Event Viewer continuously reports an error (at a time interval equal to the Polling Interval value given in appADF.xml). Specifically, the message states that there was an error in running the Events Query stored procedure spNWEventsQuery, which is used for populating the NSAlertEventEvents table.
The context of the error is “The SQLProvider event provider failed to submit a batch.”

Issue 2
The system continues to operate fine. However, notifications are not sent out for certain subscriptions, even though the alerts coming into the system match the subscriptions. There is no error logged to the NT Event Log.

You can download the new files here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8d25c80d-c978-4b23-825a-7ae7b4775b0f&DisplayLang=en

Modified Storage State Script V2

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 03:15:44 GMT

A BIG thanks to Garth Williams who has revised Gerald Mims' storage state script. You may remember a post a while back that had Gerald's modified script, which allowed for much more flexible disk space monitoring (see original post http://spaces.msn.com/jharter/blog/cns!39CE28DB5474A6C7!227.entry)

While I have not tested this yet, the new revision now allows for "warning" and "critical error" custom thresholds to be set on a server by server basis. Furthermore, this script makes it simple to either exclude a server from having its disk space monitored or you can even have it use the default thresholds.

You can download the script HERE.

Way to go Garth!

MP Studio Custom Report - Maintenance Mode

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 23:00:07 GMT

Randy from Silect Software has posted to the newly created forum an example of how to create a custom report with MP Studio to show which servers are in maintenance mode. You can see his example below:

http://www.momcommunity.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=4808

Photo Album: Web Console Screenshots

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:51:11 GMT

Web Console Screenshots

Web Console - Alerts

Photo Album: Reporting Console Screenshots

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:50:32 GMT

Reporting Console Screenshots

Reporting Console - Processor Report

Photo Album: Operator Console Screenshots

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:49:46 GMT

Operator Console Screenshots

Operator Console - Alerts View

Operator Console - Diagram View

Operator Console - Performance Graph

Operator Console - State View

Photo Album: Notification Workflow Screenshots

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:48:58 GMT

Notification Workflow Screenshots

Notification Workflow - Devices

Notification Workflow - New Subscription

Notification Workflow - Schedules

Notification Workflow - Subscriptions

Custom List: MOM Links

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 22:06:55 GMT

MOM Links

MOM Community
A Great MOM Forum
MyITForum
A Great MOM Forum
MOM Homepage
Official Microsoft Site
Management Pack Catalog
MOM Management Packs
Microsoft's MOM Community
Microsoft's MOM Community
SQL Notification Services
SQL Server 2000 Notification Services
MOM Product Team Blog
MOM Product Team Blog
MOM Solutions
MOM Focused Technical Site
MSDN Product Feedback Center
Report a Bug or Suggestion
MOM Downloads By Release Date
Official MOM Downloads
MOM Newsgroups
Microsoft MOM Newsgroups
Trenchant Observations
Marcus Oh's Blog
Alta Resources
The Company I Work For :)
Pete's Management Blog
MOM Blog
John Hann's Blog
MOM MVP Blog

Book List: MOM 2005 Books

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 03:17:54 GMT

MOM 2005 Books

Custom List: Justin's Downloads

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 23:54:19 GMT

Justin's Downloads

Custom List: Disclaimer

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 23:24:28 GMT

Disclaimer

***************************
All information posted to this site is provided "as is". Some content may be unsupported by Microsoft and I am not responsible for any ill effects its use may cause. Use at your own risk.

Custom List: Search

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:47:35 GMT

Search This Site!

Custom List: MyITForum Articles

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:43:22 GMT

MyITForum Articles

Custom List: Email Address

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:42:59 GMT

Email Address

justinharter@hotmail.com

Custom List: New MOM Downloads

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 05:05:07 GMT

New MOM Downloads