SQL query to find out if your SCOM 2012 R2 Grooming jobs are succeeding

SQL query to find out if your SCOM 2012 R2 Grooming jobs are succeeding:

• Grooming jobs are very important in SCOM.
• If grooming fails then your old data is not removed as per your grooming settings.
• This will cause your database to fillup and also cause slowness.
• You need to regularly monitor the Grooming jobs are will face a outage.
• Unfortunately, SCOM only raise alert if the grooming fails for atleast 6 days.
• So by this time depending on your environment there could be lot of issues  and grooming could never be completd
• So i came up with SQL query which you can use to daily check after 6:00 AM server time
• "SELECT * FROM INTERNAJOBHISTORY ORDER BY INTERALJOBHISTORYID DESC"
• Run the above query and check if the grooming jobs succeeds. You should do this daily to avoid our OperationsManager Database gets filled.

PowerShell Command to repair SCOM agent

PowerShell Command to repair SCOM agent

• There are many different ways to repair a SCOM agent.
• Most preferred way is to Use SCOM console Right Click and select repair option.
• Another way is to Use Command Shell command
• "REPAIR-SCOMAGENT" is the command you have to use to repair the SCOM agent.
• By default it uses the SCOM action account to repair the agent.So make sure it have sufficient rights on the server

Log File Monitoring in Azure using Microsoft Operations Manager Insight

Log File Monitoring in Azure using Microsoft Operations Manager Insight

• Log File Monitoring using  Microsoft Operations Manager Insight is bit tricky. You should have ths knowledge of developing the management pack. But we will help you.
• Inorder to send the data to  Operational Insight, you need to reference "Microsoft.IntelligencePacks.Types" MP. You also need to reference "System.ApplicationLog.Library".

The collection rules has 3 parts: 

1)  A data source reading the log (In example its picking up every single line from it, matching wildcard “*” – but you can use this to filter what in each of your logs is ‘interesting’/worth collecting).

         <DataSource ID="LogDS" TypeID="AppLog!System.ApplicationLog.GenericLog.FilteredEventProvider"> 

            <LogFileDirectory>c:\Logs\</LogFileDirectory> 

            <LogFilePattern>Test*.log</LogFilePattern> 

            <LogIsUTF8>false</LogIsUTF8> 

            <Expression> 

              <RegExExpression> 

                <ValueExpression> 

                  <XPathQuery Type="String">Params/Param[1]</XPathQuery> 

                </ValueExpression> 

                <Operator>MatchesWildcard</Operator> 

                <Pattern>*</Pattern> 

              </RegExExpression> 

            </Expression> 

          </DataSource> 

2) A condition detection used to MAP fields to the ‘event’ shape that OpInsights Log Management expects, 

<ConditionDetection ID="Mapper" TypeID="SystemLibrary7585010!System.Event.GenericDataMapper"> 

            <EventOriginId>$Target/Id$</EventOriginId> 

            <PublisherId>$MPElement$</PublisherId> 

            <PublisherName>GenericLog</PublisherName> 

            <Channel>$Data/EventData/DataItem/LogFileName$</Channel> 

            <LoggingComputer>$Target/Property[Type='MicrosoftWindowsLibrary7585010! Microsoft.Windows.Computer']/PrincipalName$</LoggingComputer>

            <EventNumber>0</EventNumber> 

            <EventCategory>3</EventCategory> 

            <EventLevel>0</EventLevel> 

            <UserName></UserName> 

            <Description>$Data/EventData/DataItem/Params/Param[1]$</Description> 

            <Params /> 

        </ConditionDetection> 

3)A write action to send this data to the cloud:

   <WriteAction ID="HttpWA" TypeID="IPTypes!Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectCloudGenericEvent" /> 

Complete Rule Code:

      <Rule ID="MomUIGeneratedRuledc3f1e40e7d54c5a82e408523d686031" Enabled="true" Target="MicrosoftWindowsLibrary7585010!Microsoft.Windows.Computer" ConfirmDelivery="false" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100"> 

        <Category>EventCollection</Category> 

        <DataSources> 

          <DataSource ID="LogDS" TypeID="AppLog!System.ApplicationLog.GenericLog.FilteredEventProvider"> 

            <LogFileDirectory>c:\Logs\</LogFileDirectory> 

            <LogFilePattern>Test*.log</LogFilePattern> 

            <LogIsUTF8>false</LogIsUTF8> 

            <Expression> 

              <RegExExpression> 

                <ValueExpression> 

                  <XPathQuery Type="String">Params/Param[1]</XPathQuery> 

                </ValueExpression> 

                <Operator>MatchesWildcard</Operator> 

                <Pattern>*</Pattern> 

              </RegExExpression> 

            </Expression> 

          </DataSource> 

        </DataSources> 

       <ConditionDetection ID="Mapper" TypeID="SystemLibrary7585010!System.Event.GenericDataMapper"> 

            <EventOriginId>$Target/Id$</EventOriginId> 

            <PublisherId>$MPElement$</PublisherId> 

            <PublisherName>GenericLog</PublisherName> 

            <Channel>$Data/EventData/DataItem/LogFileName$</Channel> 

            <LoggingComputer>$Target/Property[Type='MicrosoftWindowsLibrary7585010!Microsoft.Windows.Computer']/PrincipalName$</LoggingComputer>

            <EventNumber>0</EventNumber> 

            <EventCategory>3</EventCategory> 

            <EventLevel>0</EventLevel> 

            <UserName></UserName> 

            <Description>$Data/EventData/DataItem/Params/Param[1]$</Description> 

            <Params /> 

        </ConditionDetection> 

        <WriteActions> 

         <WriteAction ID="HttpWA" TypeID="IPTypes!Microsoft.SystemCenter.CollectCloudGenericEvent" /> 

        </WriteActions> 

      </Rule>

What is a Management Pack an What does it contain

What is a Management Pack an What does it contain

Management packs contain monitoring settings for applications and services. Once you import the management pack in SCOM 2012 R2 management group, it immediately begins monitoring objects based on configurations and thresholds that are set by the management pack.

Each management pack can contain any or all of the following:

• Monitors:It tells an agent to track the state of various parts of a managed component.

• Rules: It tells an agent to collect performance and discovery data, send alerts and events etc.

• Tasks: The activities that can be executed by either the agent or the console.

• Views: It offer customized user interfaces for monitoring and managing this component.

• Reports: It define specialized ways to report on information about this managed component.

• Object discoveries: which identify objects to be monitored.

• Knowledge Base: It provides Knowledge to help operators diagnose and fix problems.

How to Activate Volume License pack for Office 2013

How to Activate Volume License for Office 2013

• Volume license editions of Office 2013 client products require activation.
• You need to install this Pack whenever you want to setup KMS or configure a domain for Active Directory-Based activation.
• All volume editions of Office 2013 client products are pre-installed with a Generic Volume License Key (GVLK) key, which supports automatic activation for both KMS and Active Directory-Based Activation, so you will not need to install a product key.
• When an Office 2013 volume edition client is installed, it will automatically attempt to activate via either Active Directory by using its existing domain pairing or a DNS-discoverable KMS host on your organization network.
• To set up Active Directory-Based activation, you must be running Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, or newer.
• This download contains an executable file that will extract and install KMS host license files. These license files are required for the KMS host service to recognize Office 2013 KMS host keys.
• Click here to Download

Squared UP Web Dashboard for SCOM 2012R2

Squared UP Web Dashboard for SCOM 2012 R2

• Dashboard is one of the places where SCOM failed very badly.
• We where not able to answer the management when they want to se the data.
• As SCOM web-console is very bad and we cant ask the management to open a dashboard from scom console.
• We use to manage them by sending reports monthly,but the current management wants it to see it in live.
• So recently we saw where reviewing some 3 rd party dasboards and we where very impressed by the "Squared UP" Dashboard.
• Its a Pure HTML5 dashboard which directly connects to SCOM and shows the data.
• Its so cool that everybody loved it and evn Microsoft got impressed and gave them time in the Microsoft Ignite meeting to demo the product.
• You can see the below by going to http://demo.squredup.com
• This dashboard is even compatible on your mobile which is cool.
• You can also get 30 days free trial aand use the product and see how it looks.
• Go to http://squaredup.com/ for more details

Upgrade SCOM 2012 R2 agent using SCCM for latest UR upgrade

Upgrade SCOM 2012 R2 agent using SCCM for latest UR upgrade

• Follow the below command to upgrade SCOM agents using SCCM

msiexec /i path\Directory\MOMAgent.msi /qn /l*v %temp%\MOMAgentUpgrade.log

This will upgrade the agent using the latest UR4 or UR5  upgrade

Install SCOM 2012 R2 agent using SCCM or command line

Install SCOM 2012 R2 agent using SCCM:

Inorder to install SCOM agent using SCCM, we have to follow the belwo procedure. Please use the below command line script which you use to install the SCOM agent from command line or SCCM



%WinDir%\System32\msiexec.exe /i path\Directory\MOMAgent.msi /qn USE_SETTINGS_FROM_AD={0|1} USE_MANUALLY_SPECIFIED_SETTINGS={0|1} MANAGEMENT_GROUP=MGname MANAGEMENT_SERVER_DNS=MSname MANAGEMENT_SERVER_AD_NAME =MSname SECURE_PORT=PortNumber ACTIONS_USE_COMPUTER_ACCOUNT={0|1} ACTIONSUSER=UserName ACTIONSDOMAIN=DomainName ACTIONSPASSWORD=Password AcceptEndUserLicenseAgreement=1

USE_SETTINGS_FROM_AD={0|1}:

Indicates whether the management group settings properties will be set on the command line. Use 0 if you want to set the properties at the command line. Use 1 to use the management group settings from Active Directory.

USE_MANUALLY_SPECIFIED_SETTINGS=={0|1}:

If USE_SETTINGS_FROM_AD=1, then USE_MANUALLY_SPECIFIED_SETTINGS must equal 0.

MANAGEMENT_GROUP=MGname:

Specifies the management group that will manage the computer.


MANAGEMENT_SERVER_DNS=MSname:


Specifies the fully qualified domain name for the management server. To use a gateway server, enter the gateway server FQDN as MANAGEMENT_SERVER_DNS.


MANAGEMENT_SERVER_AD_NAME=ADname:

Use this parameter if the computer's DNS and Active Directory names differ to set to the fully qualified Active Directory Domain Services name.


SECURE_PORT=PortNumber:
5723

ACTIONS_USE_COMPUTER_ACCOUNT={0|1}:

Indicates whether to use a specified user account (0) or the Local System account (1).

ACTIONSUSER=UserName:

Sets the Agent Action account to UserName. This parameter is required if you specified ACTIONS_USE_COMPUTER_ACCOUNT=0.

ACTIONSDOMAIN= DomainName:

Sets the domain for the Agent Action account identified with the ACTIONSUSER parameter.

ACTIONSPASSWORD= Password:

The password for the user identified with the ACTIONSUSER parameter.

AcceptEndUserLicenseAgreement=1:

Used to specify that you accept the End User License Agreement (EULA).

New Features added in SCOM 2016

New Features added in SCOM 2016

• SCOM 2016 is the next version of SCOM after SCOM 2012.
• There architecture remains the same, but the support for dasboard has been improved vastly.
• If you have see the SQL mp then you could see cool charts being displayed.
• The same has been extended to all the MP's and given as a template which you can extend it to your MP as well.
• The support for Azure is also improved,earlier you have connect through certificates to establish connection, but now you connect through Azure AD,so you just have to enter the username and password and it will connect you to the Azure platform from scom.This is a huge welcome move.
• Also it will support Windows 2016,and SQL 2014.

DFS File System Management pack for Windows 2012 R2/2008/2003 - Step by Step Install

DFS File System Management pack for Windows 2012 R2/2008/2003

• File system is one of the biggest thing in any company.
• And Monitoring Distributed File System is one great Challenge.
• Microsoft has given a Management pack to Monitor the File system on Windows 20012 R2,2008 R2 and 2003.
• You can download the MP from here-->Click here
• The File Services management pack retrieves events and other health information generated by the services that make up the File Services role. Some of the role service management packs included in the File Services Management Pack also track important operational parameters such as the use of the Distributed File System (DFS) Replication staging area and the number of replication conflicts generated.
  In addition to the overall File Services role, this management pack monitors the following role services:
  • DFS Namespaces
  • DFS Replication
  • File Server (the Server service for SMB file sharing)
  • File Server Resource Manager (the service used for File Server Resource Manager and File Classification Infrastructure)
  • Services for Network File System 
• Following are the supported OS

• Monitored Computer	Support
  Windows Server 2012	Supported
  Windows Server 2008 R2	Supported
  Windows Server 2008	Supported
  Windows Server 2003	Supported
  Windows 8	Supported

• Importing the MP is straight forward.Just Download all the MP's from above link.
• Open SCOM console go to Administration --> Management Pack--> Right Click and select Import Managemet Pack.
• Select from Disk Option and the select all the MP's that are Downloaded.
• Please note that you have to remove older vesriosn of DFSS Replication management packs prior to installing the NEW DFS Replication management pack.

SCOM 2016 Preview Version released

SCOM 2016 Preview Version released

• Next version of SCOM is released and its called SCOM 2016.
• This was announced in the recent Microsoft Ignite Program.
• To Download go to the below Link
• Click here to Download