opsmgr 2012 – CTGlobal

SCOM 2012 R2 APM and Visual Studio TFS 2013 Integration

If you are interested to see how Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and the TFS integration looks in SCOM 2012 R2, then check this short video out. In the video, I demo how three .Net applications are monitored using APM and how alerts from each of them are synchronized to TFS as work items, either to the default project or specific projects and areas. One of the applications that I use for this demo is our Coretech Dashboard for SCOM 2012 and up. Screenshots from the video: APM alerts in SCOM.... …and a work item record in TFS with the [...]

By Lars Villaume Jørgensen|2014-06-06T11:30:08+01:00juni 6th, 2014|Operations Manager (SCOM)|Kommentarer lukket

Check if a resolution state is in use before deleting it

1. Go to Administration –> Settings and Alerts 2. Check the ID of the Resolution State you wish to delete Notifications 1. Export Notifications Internal Library 2. Open the exported XML in Notepad 3. Search for <Value>ResolutionStateNumber</Value>, for instance: <Value>30</Value> 4. Copy the GUID, without the “ “ 5. Open Operations Manager Shell and execute the following query: Get-SCOMNotificationSubscription –Name TheGuidFromXML You then get which subscription uses the Resolution State Views 1. Open SQL Management Studio and connect to your SCOM instance 2. Execute the following query, with your Resolution State number: [...]

By Michael Skov|2014-04-28T14:36:22+01:00april 28th, 2014|Operations Manager (SCOM)|Kommentarer lukket

OLE DB Data Source Monitor error: ORA-00900 invalid SQL statement

There are no free management packs for monitoring Oracle databases in SCOM 2012. However, a free solution is to use the OLE DB Data Source monitor and install Oracle client on the watcher node. There are several blogs about how to set this up, so I’m not going to write about that. What I am going to write about is the “ORA-00900 invalid SQL statement” error one might receive from these monitors. Some weeks ago I was at a costumer who wanted to monitor some Oracle databases and I configured the monitor without a query, which worked fine. [...]

By Michael Skov|2014-02-10T16:08:23+01:00februar 10th, 2014|Operations Manager (SCOM)|1 Kommentar

Visual Studio Web Test – without Visual Studio Ultimate

Using the Web Application Transaction Monitor is absolutely one of my favorites in SCOM. Adding GSM to this is nothing but brilliant. I know a lot of companies that wants to monitor their websites from outside the organization, and GSM does the job. But… It is not possible to create a Web App. Transaction monitor with GSM out of the box in SCOM. To do this one needs Visual Studio Ultimate. This is not one of the cheap ones. As a workaround one can you Fiddler2 and Notepad, which does the job. When using Fiddler2 you get a big load [...]

By Michael Skov|2014-01-13T11:34:30+01:00januar 13th, 2014|Operations Manager (SCOM)|2 Comments

SCOM 2012 Web Console prompts for credentials – new

When accessing the web console from the server hosting the web site there is no problem, but when accessing it from another server, you get the following message: This issue is pretty common and I have already blogged about it here: https://blog.ctglobalservices.com/msk/scom-2012-web-console-prompts-for-username-and-password/. As written in the blog post, this is due to Kerberos double hop. But what to do when that solution doesn’t do the trick? I made sure that everything was as supposed: Only Windows Authentication was enabled: In Providers, NTLM had been moved up, which normally is the fix: I then [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-11-27T11:17:36+01:00november 27th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|15 Comments

How to edit default Resolution States

Resolution States is an area in SCOM that is highly underestimated in my eyes. These can really be used to a lot – scoping, viewing, alerting, subscriptions etc. I do see a lot using it, and those who do have seen the light in this magnificent “tool”. However, with SCOM 2012 Microsoft has added some default Resolution States: The Acknowledged state is fairly useful, but the rest… I don’t really know. But these are all predefined, so we can’t delete them. But we can actually! To edit these it requires manually changes to the database, [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-09-17T16:32:34+01:00september 17th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|Kommentarer lukket

Exchange 2010 MP – be aware of events!

I admit it, the Exchange 2010 has been fairly improved comparing to its younger sibling, the Exchange 2003 mp. We still have a load of Rules and Monitors, it’s still noisy and we still have to run all the Test-Something.ps1 scripts. There i one thing that one should be aware of though. The mp generates a LOT of events. I was at a costumer site last week configuring the mp, and i got this: 45202 events! In 10 days! The events are pretty usefull when testing the Test-Something scripts, as they run with 5 min. interval, you will get [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-09-16T13:41:09+01:00september 16th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|Kommentarer lukket

Which management pack contains my group or Distributed Application?

Which management pack contains my group or Distributed Application? A couple of days ago I got a question, which I thought could be the 1$ question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, but I was actually a bit wrong. While you can always see directly in the UI in which management pack rules, monitors, overrides have been saved, it is not exactly the same with Groups and Distributed Applications. Neither in the Groups view nor in the properties of the group can you see anything about the management pack in which it has been saved. Same [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-07-23T11:35:05+01:00juli 23rd, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|1 Kommentar

SNMP trap/probe – with or without the dot in the OID?

I was setting up some UPS monitoring at a costumer, and i got into a “discusison” with a collegaue about the first dot in a OID. We were discussing whether or not you need the dot before the first number when creating monitors/rules in SCOM 2012. We went ahead and created two simple monitors – one with the dot and one without: UPS Battery Temperature: .1.3.6.1.4.1.318.1.1.1.2.2.2.0 UPS Battery Temperature – WITHOUT DOT: 1.3.6.1.4.1.318.1.1.1.2.2.2.0 I faked a temperature alert and i got: I got two alerts! So actually, apparently it doesn’t make a living difference if you [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-07-22T14:52:09+01:00juli 22nd, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|2 Comments

Run As Account does not exist on the target system or does not have enough permissions

I am almost willing to bet my girlfriend, when I’m saying you have seen this alert at least once. The alert is pretty self-explaining. The Run As Account you are using for SQL either doesn’t exist on the SQL server/instance/database or it doesn’t have sufficient permission. Q: But I’m not using any Run As Accounts for monitoring SQL! A: Actually you are. Unless else specified, you are using the Action Account. Now, Local System has been removed in SQL Server and a lot of SQL administrators remove it if it’s there, which means that we can’t monitor the database [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-07-10T11:52:31+01:00juli 10th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|8 Comments

SCOM 2012 Linux discovery: Unexpected DiscoveryResult.ErrorData type. Please file bug report. ErrorData:

Today at a costumer site I was installing some Linux agents, when I got a pretty weird and non-saying error: Unexpected DiscoveryResult.ErrorData type. Please file bug report. ErrorData: Microsoft.SystemCenter.CrossPlatform.ClientLibrary.MPAbstractions.InvalidWSManTaskResponseException Failed to parse output from WSMan discovery. Output from task was: <DataItem type=”Microsoft.SystemCenter.WSManagement.WSManData” time=”2013-02-26T15:35:00.1849706+02:00″ sourceHealthServiceId=”16F56055-5671-604C-AF9D-088444BA4B6E”><WsManData><ErrorCode>0x800703fa</ErrorCode><ErrorMessage>Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion. </ErrorMessage></WsManData></DataItem>. at System.Activities.WorkflowApplication.Invoke(Activity activity, IDictionary`2 inputs, WorkflowInstanceExtensionManager extensions, TimeSpan timeout) at System.Activities.WorkflowInvoker.Invoke(Activity workflow, IDictionary`2 inputs, TimeSpan timeout, WorkflowInstanceExtensionManager extensions) at Microsoft.SystemCenter.CrossPlatform.ClientActions.DefaultDiscovery.InvokeWorkflow(IManagedObject managementActionPoint, DiscoveryTargetEndpoint criteria, IInstallableAgents installableAgents) This really didn’t give me any clues about the issue. Started Googling the issue, [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-06-20T11:06:46+01:00juni 20th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|Kommentarer lukket

SSL Certifikate Error – WS-Management Certificate Health

Lately I have been working a bit with UNIX/Linux in SCOM 2012. I feel about it almost the same way I feel about certificates. Usually it works fine, but anything wrong or any errors, and it can quickly be a time consuming process. Today I ran into the “SSL Certificate Error”. I got this alert on servers already monitored for a week, so I seemed a little strange. I had also done the scxconfig –export and –import, so I couldn’t see how it should be a certificate issue. Also, the Product Knowledge was of very little help, as [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-06-18T09:25:31+01:00juni 18th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|1 Kommentar

SCOM 2012 web console prompts for username and password

I have seen this issue several times, but as I always forget it after I’ve fixed it, I decided to make a blog post about it. As far as I have learned this issue is due to a Kerberos double-hop. But, fear not! The solution is pretty simple: Open IIS Manager, go to Operations Manager and click Authentication: Mark Windows Authentication and then click “Providers…” in the right side Move up NTLM so it is first. No restart of the server or IIS is necessary. This action must be performed on all management servers [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-06-17T15:38:33+01:00juni 17th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|9 Comments

Create a rule to collect Scheduled Task event log entries in SCOM 2012

One of the biggest advantages of SCOM is how easy it is to pick up event from the event log and how flexible this can be. Simply go to Event Viewer, choose between the logs and find the event ID you want to alert upon. But what about Scheduled Tasks? The status of the tasks is not written to any of the standard logs. So how does one pick them up? There is actually an event log for this; it is just not shown by default. In Event Viewer, right click Create Custom Views and scroll down to [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-04-29T15:44:31+01:00april 29th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|7 Comments

The Web Recorder tab is gone when recording a browser session in SCOM 2012

I was going to create a quite simple browser session for a customer today, but when IE opened the Web Recorder tab wasn’t present. As usual I minimize the 32 bit version and open the 64 bit version of IE instead, but with same result. I also made sure the “Enable third-party browser extensions*” was checked off. Odd! Clicking around in blind a little, I went to View and Explorer bars and noticed…. Web Recorder! Open that and enabled the Microsoft Web Recorder Helper And voila! I can now record sessions: NOTE: a little trick is also to edit the following [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-04-24T14:27:46+01:00april 24th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|Kommentarer lukket

Consolidate several performance counter objects to one in a performance rule in SCOM

Creating a performance counter rule is fairly easy using the Select button to get the object and counter. However, some “systems” create a new performance counter for each of a given object. One of these systems is SQL and the Buffer Manager object. This object is created for each instance you are running on a SQL server, as shown below with my instances: So, if you have five instances on a server you don’t want to create a performance rule five times with different names (at least I assume so). To avoid this you can use wildcards [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-04-12T13:49:29+01:00april 12th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|1 Kommentar

Both True and False is enforced on a rule/monitor – who wins?

Got this question today: A rule/monitor is created and disabled by default The rule/monitor is overridden and enforced to False for a class The rule/monitor is then overridden and enforced to True for a specific object of the class Will the rule be True or False? I created a rule and disabled it by default. I then made an override for All Windows Server and enabled marked the ”Enforced” box. I then made an override for a specific object of Windows Server, and changed the Override Value to True. I applied this change, but the Effective Value would still [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-02-22T12:23:35+01:00februar 22nd, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|2 Comments

Install a SCOM 2012 agent – silent

As a part of a script, I wanted to install the SCOM agent on several servers. All these servers are in workgroup/dmz/other domains, which means I had to do a manual installation. Now, there’s a lot of guides on how to install an agent using a command line, the official one from Microsoft: Install Agent Using the Command Line: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh230736.aspx However, this one doesn’t describe any silent parameters. The only way to use the /silent parameter is when installing an OpsMgr component (server, gateway etc). I tried with the /qn option, which made my command look like this: msiexec.exe [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-02-21T15:14:53+01:00februar 21st, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|3 Comments

Solution for The certificate specified in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\3.0\Machine Settings cannot be used for authentication. The error is The credentials supplied to the package were not recognized(0x8009030D)

Certificates. Fairly easy to setup if you do it from scratch, but if something fails at some point, it can be a little tricky to troubleshoot. Today, I had one of the moments. At a customer we had a running OpsMgr environment with three gateway servers in the DMZ and some agents also in the DMZ, everything running smooth for a couple of months. Now, all of a sudden, no gateway servers could authenticate. We had changed nothing, we could telnet, the certificates weren’t expired etc. Weird! On the management server I then noticed this error: Source: OpsMgr [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-02-19T12:25:53+01:00februar 19th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|5 Comments

Working with regular expressions and ip addresses in OpsMgr 2012

Today, one of my costumers asked me to create some groups and Live Maps views containing network devices with a specific ip address range. Now, im a big fan of the “work smarter, not harder” principle, so I wanted the groups and views to be dynamic using regular expressions. I’ve worked with regular expressions before, which is fairly manageable with a table of the meta characters on your hand. However, I find ip addresses a lot more tricky, which is why I’m posting different solutions. Before advancing, I would like to introduce you to a dear friend of mine: www.regexpal.com. [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-02-12T17:16:48+01:00februar 12th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|7 Comments

Operations Manager 2012 Maintenance Mode

”How can I schedule maintenance mode in SCOM 2012?” “How can I put a server in maintenance mode without using the Operations Console?” These are fairly common questions from my costumers. A lot of tools was developed to Operations Manager 2007, but not for 2012, hence this blog. Tool: SCOM Remote Maintenance Mode Scheduler 2.0 by Tim McFadden I can’t take any credit for this one, as it was developed by Tim McFadden, but it is the best (only) scheduler I can find. Furthermore, it has an UI, which makes it far easier to put servers or group in [...]

By Michael Skov|2017-08-22T13:06:40+01:00februar 7th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|9 Comments

Property reference with id {XXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} in workflow cannot be resolved

Today i was creating a new management pack in the Authoring Console. When I saved I didn’t get any errors, neither did I when I imported it. Shortly after event 1201 (management pack received), I received this event: I know this is a problem with my newly created management pack, but the property reference id {8F538D63-86DA-C149-3C84-1F1AACE2DF930} doesn’t make any sense to me (I doubt it does for anybody). Resolution: To resolve this id, run this query against the OperationsManager database. SELECT MT.TypeName, MTP.ManagedTypePropertyName FROM ManagedTypeProperty as MTP, ManagedType as MT WHERE MTP.ManagedTypePropertyId = '8F538D63-86DA-C149-3C84-1F1AACE2DF930' AND MTP.ManagedTypeId = [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-01-28T14:48:28+01:00januar 28th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|2 Comments

Common issues when working with certificates in OpsMgr

The last couple of weeks I have been working a lot with certificates in Operations Manager 2012 – agents and gateways in workgroup. I have worked so much with this that it feels like I have seen all the possible issues one can meet when configuring this. Both for helping you guys, and as a notepad for myself, here’s the issues (and solution) I met on my way: First of all, make sure no firewall is blocking the communication. You can test this by telnetting port 5723 both ways. Issue: no certificates available in the certificates dropdown list when [...]

By Michael Skov|2013-01-14T16:22:31+01:00januar 14th, 2013|Operations Manager (SCOM)|13 Comments

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

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: 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 [...]

By Michael Skov|2012-10-23T12:07:02+01:00oktober 23rd, 2012|Operations Manager (SCOM)|5 Comments