Known Issues and Troubleshooting for Windows Server Base OS Management pack

Known Issues and Troubleshooting for Windows Server Base OS Management pack

• Disk Partitions Which Correspond to Mounted Disks Are Not Monitored

Issue: Disk partition discovery is not enabled by default, but when enabled, disk partitions that correspond to mounted disks cannot be monitored properly and will show up as “Not Monitored” in the Operations Console. Management is still provided by way of other means in this management pack, but the disk partition perspective will not work in these instances.

Workaround: There is no workaround currently available. 

• The “Core Windows Services Rollup” Monitor for Windows Server 2008 Includes Services That It Should Not

Issue: The Core Windows Services Rollup monitoring that exists in all server operating system management packs aggregates the state of a number of monitors that are watching the state of various “core services” and will change state if any one of those services is not running. The Windows Server 2008 version of this monitor includes a monitor for the “Computer Browser Service Health,” which is not accurate because the service is no longer required for the Windows Server 2008 operating system to function properly.

Workaround: The monitor can be safely ignored, but it can also be disabled by overriding it.

• Remote Desktop (Admin) Not Always Accessible

Issue: There are times when Remote Desktop (Admin) is not accessible.

Workaround: The new Remote Desktop (Admin) functionality of Windows Server 2008 is supported by way of the /admin switch. However, it is available only in Windows Server 2008 and the Windows Vista operating system with SP1.

• The Console Session Does Not Work in Windows Server 2008

Issue: Attempts to use the /console switch do not work properly.

Workaround: The console session no longer exists in Windows Server 2008. Use of the /console switch will be ignored, and the behavior is the same as a simple Remote Desktop task.

• Behavior for Accessing the Console Session of Windows Server 2003 Has Changed

Issue: There is a change in behavior for accessing the console session of Windows Server 2003.

Workaround: For the Windows XP operating system with SP1 or earlier and Windows Vista, use the Remote Desktop (Console) task in Windows Server 2003. Remote Desktop (Admin) will cause an error dialog. For Windows Vista with SP1, use the Remote Desktop (Admin) task in Windows Server 2008. Remote Desktop (Console) will work as the Remote Desktop task without any notice.

• SUBST Drive Mappings Are Not Supported by Logical Disk Monitoring

Issue: There is a command-line tool (SUBST.exe) that can be used to associate a path (such as c:\windows\system32) with a drive letter (such as D:\). Because these mappings are exposed in WMI, logical disk monitoring discovers them and attempts to monitor them as such, but will subsequently generate errors.

Workaround: There is no workaround currently available, and this configuration is not supported.

Known Issues with Localized Versions of the Management Pack:

•  Object discoveries scoped to Windows Server 2008 Computer and Windows Server 2008 Operating System may not display correctly in the Authoring pane.
• Some instances of localized display strings may not display correctly in the Operations console.

Known Issue: Cluster Disks Managed by Third-Party Software are Not Monitored

• Issue: If the Cluster disks are managed by third party software, and they change the resource type to anything other than “Physical Disk”, these disks will be discovered but we do not provide monitoring for these.
• Workaround: There is no workaround currently available. In future, we will be removing discovery for these too.

Known Issue: PowerShell in 2012 MP failed if .NET is uninstalled from Core OS agent by user

• Issue: .NET 4.5 and PowerShell are installed by default on Core OS and PowerShell depends on .NET, if they are uninstalled from Core OS agent by user, some workflows depending on PowerShell in 2012 MP will be failed.
• Workaround: Install .NET Framework 4.5 and PowerShell on Core Operating System.

Disk Performance dashboard view is empty in SCOM 2012 R2

Disk Performance dashboard view is empty in SCOM 2012 R2

• Disk Performance Dashboard View is empty. This is because the rule to see this data is not enabled. In order to populate this view, please enable the rules.

In 2012 Monitoring MP:

• Microsoft.Windows.Server.6.2.OperatingSystem.TotalPercentDPCTime.Collection
• Microsoft.Windows.Server.6.2.OperatingSystem.TotalPercentInterruptTime.Collection
• Microsoft.Windows.Server.6.2.Processor.PercentDPCTime.Collection
• Microsoft.Windows.Server.6.2.Processor.PercentInterruptTime.Collection

In 2012 R2 Monitoring MP:

• Microsoft.Windows.Server.2012.R2.OperatingSystem.TotalPercentDPCTime.Collection
• Microsoft.Windows.Server.2012.R2.OperatingSystem.TotalPercentInterruptTime.Collection

Known Issues and Troubleshooting for SSAS 2008 MP

Known Issues and Troubleshooting for SSAS 2008 MP

• Users who had the previous version of SSAS management pack installed should remove Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services Visualization Library (version 1.0.5.0) manually.

Issue: The library has become a generic component and a new management pack that contains the functionally is released. Since it is impossible to remove the obsolete pack automatically during installation process, users have to do it manually.

Resolution: Remove Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services Visualization Library (version 1.0.5.0).

• If the last SSAS database or partition is deleted the object will be still displayed in SCOM as if it exists.

Issue: Current implementation of SSAS database and partition discoveries incorrectly resolves the situation when the last SSAS database or partition is deleted. In the case the information regarding the deleted object is still visible to the user.

Resolution: There is no resolution. The error may be addressed in future releases of the management pack. A user can either add a SSAS database/partition or remove the SSAS instance.

• ‘An error occurred during execution of a SSAS 2008 MP managed module’ alert rule generates extra alerts for virtual nodes.

Issue: Current implementation of the rule uses ‘SSAS 2008 Seed’ as a target. Virtual nodes have mutual seed, as a result each time an error occurs on a physical machine an alert is automatically reported from every virtual entity which is currently associated with that physical machine.

Resolution: There is no resolution. The error may be addressed in future releases of the management pack.

• Event 6200 “Analysis Services connection failed” error is reported into Operations Manager event log.

Issue: Instance discovery workflows of SSAS management pack require connection to a SSAS instance, if the connection is not provided the workflows report about encountered problems. Such an issue may occur when the instance is stopped during execution of a workflow, or when the instance is incorrectly configured.

Resolution: Set ‘Threadpool\Query\MaxThreads’ property to a value of less than or equal to two times the number of processors on the server.

• Operations Consoles crash when user simultaneously opens two or more Instance/Database Summary dashboards on the same machine.

Issue: It is allowed to run two or more Operations Consoles on the same machine, but opening summary dashboards in more than one of them leads to a crash of all consoles. The issue is not observed in Web-consoles.

Resolution: There is no resolution.

• Operations Console crashes if user who is browsing Instance Summary dashboard selects a SSAS Instance which has already been deleted.

Issue: The action cause a crash of Operations Console.

Resolution: Open Operation console again.

• “Health Service State” monitor is in critical state and Health Service restarts periodically.

Issue: By default the threshold of “Monitoring Host Private Bytes Threshold Monitor” from the System Management Pack is 300 Mbytes. “MonitoringHost.exe” process may exceed the threshold and the “Health Service State” monitor may start the recovery procedure, when SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack is collecting information about a large number of objects (more than 50 SSAS databases or 1500 partitions per server).

Resolution: Override the threshold of the “Monitoring Host Private Bytes Threshold Monitor” or reduce the number of objects being monitored by disabling discovery of partition objects.

• Event 6200 “Category does not exist” (source – “SSAS 2008 MP”) is being generated on 64-bit operating systems running 32-bit SSAS instances.

Issue: SSAS doesn’t register performance counters properly when a 32-bit SSAS instance is installed on a 64-bit OS. In this case required performance counters cannot be found by Monitoring Pack and SSAS 2008 MP is unable to run properly.

Resolution: This issue cannot be resolved, WoW64 is not supported. It is highly recommended to use either 32-bit SSAS instances on 32-bit OS or 64-bit SSAS instances on 64-bit OS.

• Health Service and Monitoring Host processes consume too much memory on systems running SSAS 2008 instances with large number of databases

Issue: On agent-managed systems that host one or more instance of SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services with large number of databases and/or partitions, “Health Service” and “Monitoring Host” processes may consume too much memory.

Resolution: It is not recommended to monitor more than 50 SSAS Databases on a single server. It is recommended to disable SSAS partitions discovery if you have more than 1500 partitions on a single server.

• SSAS 2008 Summary Dashboards for Instances, Databases and Partitions display all active alerts if nothing is selected in the navigation widget (leftmost widget on the dashboard).

Issue: Dashboards display all active alerts if nothing is selected in the navigation widget (leftmost widget on the dashboard).

Resolution: Make sure that at least one Instance, Database or Partition is selected in the navigation widget.

• WMI errors may occur when SQL Server AS 2008/2008 R2 and SQL Server AS 2012 are installed on the same server.

Issue: Modules can throw an error during WMI query.

Resolution: Update SQL Server 2008/2008 R2 with the latest service pack.

• Partition Storage Free Space Monitor may generate too many alerts.

Issue: The monitor may generate a lot of alerts if database default storage folder and partition storage folder are sharing the same drive.

Resolution: Disable the monitor for all partitions which are sharing the same drive with database storage folder.

• SSAS Seed object cannot be discovered if SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and SQL Server 2008 are installed on the same server.

Issue: SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack can throw a WMI error during Seed object discovery.

Resolution: Update SQL Server 2008/2008 R2 with the latest service pack or disable Seed object discovery for a given server if that server is not running an Instance of SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services.

• SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack generates an alert: “An error occurred during execution of a SSAS 2008 MP managed module”.

Issue: Alert “An Error occurred during execution of a SSAS 2008 MP managed module” can be found in global “Active Alerts” view.

Resolution: This alert is generated if SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack cannot execute one of workflows due to unknown issue. Examine alert message and alert context to determine the root cause.

• SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack may register Errors in the event log during installation of a new instance of SQL Server Analysis Services.

Issue: SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack may generate a lot of errors in event log during installation of a new instance of SQL Server Analysis Services.

Resolution: The issue occurs because Monitoring Pack cannot get all required properties from the registry and WMI during installation process. Once the installation process is completed, the Monitoring Pack will be able to operate properly.

• SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services reports incorrect value for Total and Low memory limit performance counters.

Issue: SQL Server Analysis Services may report incorrect values for Total and Low memory limit performance counters after reconfiguration.

Resolution: SQL Server Analysis Services doesn’t apply new configuration values immediately. SSAS service should be restarted to apply new settings.

• SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack generates an alert: “Could not find a part of the path to configuration file 'msmdsrv.ini'”

Issue: SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack reports an error in the Event log and generates an alert “Could not find a part of the path to configuration file 'msmdsrv.ini'”. The issue occurs during cluster failover.

Resolution: There is no resolution. The issue may occur when monitoring workflow is trying to collect information during cluster failover. Once the failover is completed, the Monitoring Pack will be able to operate properly.

• SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack may not collect OS performance counters with localized names

Issue: SSAS 2008 Monitoring Pack may not collect OS performance counters with localized names.

Resolution: Workaround: set English display language for user accounts associated with SSAS Discovery and Monitoring Run AS Profiles. Also apply English as display language for system accounts.

Upgrading an Operating System from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008: How to Prevent Discovery Problems

Upgrading an Operating System from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008: How to Prevent Discovery Problems

• Before you upgrade the operating system on a monitored computer, uninstall the Operations Manager agent. After the upgrade, reinstall the Operations Manager agent.

Reason:

• The objects that the management pack discovers, such as logical disks, are hosted by a parent class that is not version-specific. When you upgrade the operating system, the order in which discovery occurs can result in duplicate objects being discovered.
• For example, you upgrade a computer running Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008. 
• If the Windows Server 2003 discovery rules run first after the upgrade, the instance of the computer running Windows Server 2003 and its objects will be removed from discovery because the operating system base class has been removed. When the Windows Server 2008 discovery rules run, the computer and its objects will be discovered again.
• If the Windows Server 2008 discovery rules run first after the upgrade, the computer running Windows Server 2008 and its objects will be discovered. When the Windows Server 2003 discovery rules run, the instance of the computer running Windows Server 2003 will be removed from discovery, but the objects hosted by that instance will not be removed.
• So If you upgrade a computer without uninstalling the agent first and then discover duplicate objects, uninstall the agent to mark all hosted objects as deleted in the database. Next, reinstall the agent to only discover existing applications/objects.  

Connect-VIserver:Powershell Command to Add VMHost to Vcenter Server

Powershell Command to Add VMHost to Vcenter Server

• Powershell has been so much part of life that almost all products provide powershell cmdlets to there products
• one such popular product is VmWare.
• Today we will see how to Add a Host to the Vcenter Server.
• For this first you need to download the vSphere PowerCLI 6.0 and install it.
• You can download it here --> Click here
• To Add a Host use the below Command

$VIServer = Connect-VIserver -server <IP of your vcenter server>

Add-VMHost -Server $VIServer -Name VMHost1 -Location <Datacenter location> -User <Vmadmin user> -Password <VMAdmin Password>

SCOM Management pack for SQL Server Reporting Service 2012 (SSRS)

SCOM Management pack for SQL Server Reporting Service 2012

• Download the MP here --> Click here

Microsoft SQL Server Dashboards Management Pack provides an ability to create and customize visualization on the fly. 

There are two views in the SQL Server Dashboards;

•  Datacenter view
• Instance view

The Datacenter view is an aggregated view. The Instance level provides detailed information about the selected object.

Datacenter View:

The Datacenter view is the Dashboard which provides information about the datacenter health state in an aggregated way. It is possible to drill down from the Datacenter view to the Instance view in order to investigate the root cause of the issue. It is possible to return to the home page from any Instance view by clicking the Home part of the navigation pane.

Datacenter View Tiles:

Datacenter view tile consists of two parts; the left part displays the number of objects within a group in the worst state and a total number of objects. The right part of the widget displays the number of alerts with the highest severity.

The expanded mode shows the number of objects in other states in addition to the data which is displayed in the collapsed mode.

By default when Alerts widget is expanded it displays three Alert widgets: Critical, Warning and Info. The number of alerts for each alert type is displayed within the corresponding widget.

The Aggregated performance tile shows five columns each representing the number of objects in the current data range.

Instance View:

Instance View of the Dashboard opened while drilling into a group or an object from the previous Instance view or Datacenter Dashboard is provided below:

SQL query to get all Distributed Applications created by users in SCOM

SQL query to get all Distributed Applications created by users in SCOM

• Distributed Application are stored in SCOM in ManagedEntity Table
• All Distributed Applications created by users start with "Service_" in the FullName column
• If you want to query all your distributed application that are created for reporting purpose use the below query

***********

SELECT * FROM [OperationsManagerDB].[ManagedEntity] where (FullName like 'Service_%' AND Name is NULL)

*****************

Dont install the latest Window OS Management pack -Serious Issues can mess up your monitoring

Dont install the latest Window OS Management pack -Serious Issues can screw up your monitoring

• Recently released Microsoft OS MP has some serious issues.
• There is total broken up and the Disk Monitoring is totally mess up.
• People around the world are complaining about it.
• I cant imagine when the product has so much investment each time when the OS MP comes it causes lot of issue.
• I dont know when Microsoft is going to stick to the standard and release a quality OS MP without any issue.
• Latest verison of this MP is 6.0.7297.0 and it a total avoid :)