A costumer of mine had an OpsMgr breakdown, due to misconfiguration of run as accounts. We got the first management server up and running again, but I couldn’t get the second to run. I then removed the Operations Manager installation completely and restarted. I logged back on, opened the setup as administrator to install the management role again, but I got the following error:

 

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Could not retrieve a valid database or server scenario for this install – What?

 

Even though I was logged on as administrator, the most logical explanation would be insufficient privileges. So, I created an .udl file to test connectivity to the SQL server and the OpsMgr databases using different credentials – connectivity succeeded for both OperationsManager and DW. I tried to telnet port 1433, which also succeeded. Ok, so it wasn’t a security or connectivity issue.

 

I found http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh416216.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh284673.aspx and decided to try with a command line installation to install the management server role:

 

The text marked with red must be changed according to your environment

 

setup.exe /install components:OMServer /ManagementGroupName:MyMG /SqlServerInstance:MySQLSrv

/SqlInstancePort:1433 /DatabaseName:OperationsManager /DWSqlServerInstance: MySQLSrv /DWSqlInstancePort:1433 /DWDatabaseName:OperationsManagerDW

/ActionAccountUser:HQ\scom_action_service /ActionAccountPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DASAccountUser:HQ\scom_sdk_service /DASAccountPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DataReaderUser:HQ\scom_dwread_service /DataReaderPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DataWriterUser:HQ\scom_dwwrite_service /DataWriterPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/EnableErrorReporting:Never /SendCEIPReports:0 /UseMicrosoftUpdate:0

 

This opens the GUI, but same error:

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Tried with parameter /silent to see what happened on the fly:

 

setup.exe /silent /install components:OMServer /ManagementGroupName:MyMG /SqlServerInstance:MySQLSrv

/SqlInstancePort:1433 /DatabaseName:OperationsManager /DWSqlServerInstance: MySQLSrv /DWSqlInstancePort:1433 /DWDatabaseName:OperationsManagerDW

/ActionAccountUser:HQ\scom_action_service /ActionAccountPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DASAccountUser:HQ\scom_sdk_service /DASAccountPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DataReaderUser:HQ\scom_dwread_service /DataReaderPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DataWriterUser:HQ\scom_dwwrite_service /DataWriterPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/EnableErrorReporting:Never /SendCEIPReports:0 /UseMicrosoftUpdate:0

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· Found a database with the name OperationsManager in this instance

· Could not retrieve a valid database or server scenario for this install

· This is disaster recovery scenario but mandatory commandline switch to recover has not been passed. This is a fatal error

 

Yes, I know a database named OperationsManager exists, this is kind of needed to install the second management server. Failed to retrieve a valid database? Earlier I confirmed that it is not a connectivity/security issue. Disaster recovery? I’m doing any recovery, just trying to install a component!

 

Shooting in blind, I tried putting the /recover parameter on:

setup.exe /silent /install /recover components:OMServer /ManagementGroupName:MyMG /SqlServerInstance:MySQLSrv

/SqlInstancePort:1433 /DatabaseName:OperationsManager /DWSqlServerInstance: MySQLSrv /DWSqlInstancePort:1433 /DWDatabaseName:OperationsManagerDW

/ActionAccountUser:HQ\scom_action_service /ActionAccountPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DASAccountUser:HQ\scom_sdk_service /DASAccountPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DataReaderUser:HQ\scom_dwread_service /DataReaderPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/DataWriterUser:HQ\scom_dwwrite_service /DataWriterPassword:pa$$sw0rd

/EnableErrorReporting:Never /SendCEIPReports:0 /UseMicrosoftUpdate:0

Installation started and no sudden errors!

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I started Task Manager, and I could see msiexec.exe and Operations Manager 2012 Setup started. Seconds later I could also see the HealthService in Task Manager. I went to Services and noted the three services had appeared, as well as the System Center 2012 folder in ProgramFiles. Good!

 

Minutes later, at last:

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I went to my first management server and the new management server was already there, fully monitored.

Conclusion:

I can’t say why I couldn’t install the management server the normal way, as I’ve done this many times before, and I for sure can’t explain why the /recover parameter is needed – neither can Microsoft. So, if you ever run in to this issue, install the management server using the command line with the /silent and /recover parameter