Lync 2013 MP Install Step by Step SCOM 2012 R2

Lync 2013 MP Install Step by Step:

• Lync has taken over the entire communication channel.
• Gone are the VOIP IP Cisco Phones which use to sit on your Desk.
• Today everything is going to Mobile and Lync is the best and cheapest option from Micrososft.
• So almost all enterprise have decided to migrate to Lync. So much is the Lync affects today that, we need a realtime monitoring more critical then outlook.
• So Microsoft has worked on it very hard and have brought the realtime Monitoring using SCOM for Lync 2013.

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 includes two SCOM management packs:

• The Component and User Management Pack (Microsoft.LS.2013.Monitoring.ComponentAndUser.mp):

• This MP Monitors Lync Server issues recorded in event logs, registered by performance counters, or logged in the call detail records (CDR) or the Quality of Experience (QoE) databases.

Active Monitoring Pack (Microsoft.LS.2013.Monitoring.ActiveMonitoring.mp):

• This MP proactively tests key Lync Server components such as logging on to the system, exchanging instant messages, or making calls to a phone located on the public switched telephone network (PSTN). These tests are conducted using the Lync Server synthetic transaction cmdlets. 

Example:

Test-CsIM: cmdlet is used to simulate an instant messaging conversation between a pair of test users. If this simulated messaging conversation fails an alert will be generated.

Steps to Install MP:

• Download the files Microsoft.LS.2013.Monitoring.ActiveMonitoring.mp and Microsoft.LS.2013.Monitoring.ComponentAndUser.mp.

• In System Center Operations Manager, click Administration.In the Administration pane, right-click Management Packs, and then click Import Management Packs.

• In the Select Management Packs dialog box, click Add, and then click Add from disk.

• In the Online Catalog Connection dialog box, click Cancel to prevent Operations Manager from going online to see if any dependencies exist for the Lync Server management packs. If you are using System Center Operations Manager 2012, click No.

• In the Select Management Packs to import dialog box, locate and select the files Microsoft.LS.2013.Monitoring.ActiveMonitoring.mp and Microsoft.LS.2013.Monitoring.ComponentAndUser.mp and then click Open. To select multiple files in the dialog box, click the first file, hold down the Ctrl key and then click the second file.

• In the Select Management Packs dialog box, click Install. If you get an error message and installation fails, that typically means that the management pack files are in a folder protected by the Windows User Account Control. If this occurs, copy the files to a different folder and then restart the import and installation process.

• In the Select Management Packs dialog box, click Close. Note that the import and installation process might require several minutes to complete.

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.

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.

Active Directory RMS management pack

Active Directory RMS management pack

• Microsoft has released an RMS management pack for Active Directory.This will also cover RMS servers on Windows 2012
• You can find the download it from here
• http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26911
• This Rights Management Service Management pack to properly work need local Administrator right on the servers you want to monitor.
• To install the MP download the MP and install the MSI.It will give you 3MP .Import it

SCOM reports fail with error "System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException"

SCOM reports fail with error "System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException" 

Cause:

This issue can occur if the custom Short DateTime format being used on the console server.

For example, say the system locale on the Operations console server is ENC and the default short DateTime format for ENC locale is dd/MM/yyyy. If this short DateTime format is changed from dd/MM/yyyy to a different format such as yyyy-MM-dd, the error above may occur.


Resolution:

To resolve this issue, set the short DateTime format to the system locale's default value.

Exchange 2013 Management Pack for SCOM

Microsoft has release Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Management Pack

You can Download it from here Click here

The following are some of the new features in the Exchange 2013 Management Pack:

• Simplified dashboard -->The dashboard of the Exchange 2013 Management Pack has been                          simplified and refined into the following three categories

Active Alert           - Provides a list of all outstanding alerts in your organization.

                    Organization Health - Provides an overview of the overall service health in your organization.

                     Server Health       - Provides an overview of the health of individual servers in your                           organization.

• User focused monitoring--> Exchange 2013 introduces a monitoring and recovery infrastructure called Managed Availability. Managed Availability focuses on the user experience. All Exchange 2013 components have built-in monitors that detect problems and attempt to recover the service availability. Any issues that can't be recovered automatically are escalated to the Exchange 2013 Management Pack as an alert.

Event Id 2115 in SCOM

Event Id 2115 in SCOM

Symptom:

Operations Manager Management Servers, agents or servers may be affected by a deadlock.


Cause:

This event id happens because of KB2775511.


Resolution:

Removal of KB2775511 will correct the issues.


Microsoft has recommended not install the KB till Deadlock issue is resolved

Antivirus exclusion list for SCOM 2012 and SCOM 2007 R2

Process Exclusion:

• monitoringhost.exe (Operations Manager 2007)
• monitoringhost.exe (Operations Manager 2012)

Directories and Filetype to be Excluded:

SQL Server:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data
• D:\MSSQL\DATA
• E:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Log

Change the drive letter appropriate to your environment where the Install,data and logs are.

Exclude the below file types

• MDF
• LDF

Management Servers, Gateway server and Agents:

• C:\Program Files\System Center 2012\Operations Manager\<Component>\Health Service State\Health Service Store

Exclude the below file types

• EDB
• CHK
• LOG

Also exclude the Pagefiles from real-time scanning.

What's New in SCOM 2012

• Operations Manager has a new Setup wizard
• Operations Manager provides an upgrade wizard to help you upgrade your System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 environment to System Center 2012
• Network Monitoring-Operations Manager provides the ability to discover and monitor network routers and switches, including the network interfaces and ports on those devices and the virtual LAN (VLAN) that they participate in.

• Application Monitoring-In Operations Manager, you can monitor Internet Information Services (IIS)-hosted .NET applications from server- and client-side perspectives to get details about application performance and reliability that can help you pinpoint root causes of incidents. 

  
  
  you can see more on 
  
  
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/jj656648.aspx

SCOM 2012 installation Step by Step

Below are the links for SCOM 2012 Step by step Installation. ( 3 Part series)

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

SCOM 2012 Study material free

Below you can find the SCOM study materail free. Enjoy!

http://blogs.technet.com/b/musings_of_a_technical_tam/archive/2012/06/19/system-center-2012-self-study-guides-part-5-operations-manager.aspx