Monthly Archives: May 2016

SCOM: Windows Server MP updated to 6.0.7310.0

Note: it looks like 6.0.7310.0 has been pulled and replaced with 6.0.7297.0 no reason has been given at this time.

The windows Server MP has been updated to v 6.0.7310.0 it is available for download here.

Changes in this version

  • Several bugs located in Clustered Shared Volumes MP were fixed (see below); error handling migrated to common recommended scenario. Enabled quorum monitoring via changing the monitoring logic. The monitoring logic is splitting for Nano Server (with usage of PowerShell) and all other operation systems.

o    Fixed bug: disk free space monitoring does not work on Quorum disks in failover clusters.
o    Fixed bug: logical disk discovery did not discover logical disk on non-clustered server with Failover Cluster Feature enabled.
o    Fixed bug: clustered shared volumes were being discovered twice – as a clustered shared volume and as a logical disk.
o    Fixed bug: mount points were being discovered twice for clustered disks mounted to a folder – as a clustered Disk and as a logical disk.
o    Fixed bug: Clustered Shared Volume was being discovered incorrectly when it had more than one partition (applied to discovery and monitoring).

  • Added support for Nano Server Failover cluster disk monitoring: the monitoring logic was fixed based on improved cluster discovery with registry and WMI. Error handling was also corrected. Logical disk correct discoveries on non-cluster server with Failover Clustered Server Feature is installed.
  • Created new overrides for Clustered Shared Volume MP, as long as the old ones did not work.
  • Some cosmetic changes were introduced for cluster disk monitors alert messages.

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Xpost: SCOM getting resource pool members with powershell

A post I came across from Ian Blyth with a short powershell script to show which Resource Pools your management servers are part of. It’s quite useful to see all of the resource pool members in one place without having to open each one in the console, particularly in larger environments.

For a single managementserver

$Member = Get-SCOMManagementServer -Name “FQDN”
$Pools = Get-SCOMResourcePool -Member $Member
$Member.DisplayName
$Pools.DisplayName

For all management servers

$Members = Get-SCOMManagementServer
foreach ($member in $members)
{
write-host “”
$Pools = Get-SCOMResourcePool -Member $Member
write-host “Management Server – “$Member.DisplayName
$Pools.DisplayName
}

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SCOM: SQL MP (Community Technical Preview 2) v6.7.0.0

Version 6.7.0.0 of the Community Technical Preview 2 for the SQL management packs have been released, they are available for download here.

Microsoft seems to be very cautions now with releases of the SQL MP which is good considering the issues with the last 4 live versions,

What’s new?

New Releases
MP for SSAS 2016
MP for SSRS 2016 (Native Mode)

Updates and fixes

SQL Server Dashboards

  • Added a feature to support Virtual Groups (groups defined by classes, not by real group instance). This will help users with partial access to use our predefined dashboards.
  • Added a feature to Bulk Add tiles from the class definition.
  • Added a feature to ignore some states while calculating the worst state for the Datacenter View State Tile; added a feature to set this ignorance up for each group
  • Added a feature to show/hide Instance path in the list on the Instance view
  • Added instance path to the Instance Details
  • Implemented deferred loading of the instance tiles to make the instance view operation faster
  • Implemented a new format for Dashboards configuration providing a smaller size and a single binding
  • Implemented a converter from old to new format providing preservation of user changes
  • Improved error reporting
  • Improved performance of initial load process
  • Improved data sources performance
  • Improved performance of instance selection (made it asynchronous)
  • Improved performance of Datacenter and Instance View Tiles, loading and loaded animations
  • Fixed animation issues and minor visual glitches (positioning, size of elements, fonts, main loading animation)
  • Updated Summary dashboard
  • “Known issues and Troubleshooting” section of the guide is updated

SQL Server 2016 / 2014

  • Fixed Smart Admin policies monitoring
  • Fixed Always On Database replica discovery incorrect behavior; fixed Always On policies discovery and monitoring
  • Fixed Database policies discovery and monitoring
  • Fixed and optimized CPU Usage monitoring scripts (the issue appeared when only one core was assigned)
  • Added support for more than 32 processors count in CPU Usage monitoring.
  • SQLPS module is now used for the tasks instead of deprecated SQLPS.EXE
  • Implemented FILESTREAM filegroup monitoring
  • FILESTREAM is now supported on the summary dashboard
  • Multiple Ports are now supported in SQL Server TCP/IP parameters
  • Fixed error occurring when no port is specified in SQL Server TCP/IP parameters
  • Fix filegroup read-only state discovery
  • Fixed RunAs profiles mapping for some workflows
  • Added support for new SQL Server 2016 Memory-Optimized Data implementation
  • Implemented support for TLS 1.2 in connection logic
  • Implemented support for different client drivers in connection logic
  • Updated connection logic error logging
  • Updated Availability Group Automatic Failover monitor
  • Added rules to collect new Always On performance counters
  • Updated SMO usage in Always On workflows to support the new connection logic
  • Upgraded the used PowerShell version to 3+, since SQL Server 2016 uses .Net 4 Runtime
  • Fixed issue: CPU usage monitor ignored SQL server limitations on CPU core count
  • Fixed display strings and Knowledge Base articles
  • Fixed error reporting in the scripts
  • Fixed threshold percentage comparison of deactivated subscriptions workflow in Distributor.

SQL Server 2016 / 2014 / 2012 / 2008 Replication

  • Reviewed threading implementation
  • Fixed issue: Distributor Discovery could fail for Replication
  • Fixed error logging, added more details
  • Fixed “Availability of the Distribution database” monitor issue: added missing overridable parameter
  • Assigned SDK profile to the Replication Database Health Discovery
  • Fixed replication monitoring issue: compatibility with SQL 2005 as a part of Replication
  • Fixed Publisher Discovery issue: unable to cast object of type ‘System.DBNull’ to type ‘System.String’
  • Added timeout support for .Net modules
  • Fixed issue: SQL Server Event Log Collection Target was not discovered Associate due to invalid path in DataSource
  • Fixed Replication Agent State monitor type cookdown issue
  • Fixed issue: failing replacement warning in “One or more of the Replication Agents are retrying on the Distributor” monitor
  • Dashboards fixes: added bindings to the tiles; added Datacenter Classes (L1 dashboard for Replication)
  • Fixed upgradeability
  • Fixed Knowledge Base articles and display strings
  • Updated Known Issues and Troubleshooting section of the guide

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SCOM: MP for SharePoint Server 2016

A new MP for SharePoint Server 2016 has been released it is available for download here.

The guide does not seem to be in the catalog yet but setup seems to be the same at for the SharePoint 2013 MP.

The SharePoint management packs can be quite tricky to get working, there are some particular access requirements which aren’t completely documented.

  • Local admin on all SharePoint Front End and Application Servers
  • Local admin on all SQL machines that host SharePoint databases
  • Full Farm Administrator rights within SharePoint
  • DBO for all SharePoint databases

With the above access and correct configuration of the run as account and microsoft.sharepoint.library.mp.config all should be fine.

Note: microsoft.sharepoint.library.mp.config needs to be in the same location on all management servers in your management group. Otherwise the discovery task might not complete.

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SCOM: New NiCE MP for IBM PowerHA (HACMP)

Those nice people over at NiCE have released a new management pack for IBM PowerHA (HACMP). More information and pricing is available here.

The MP offers the following features:

• Full overview of PowerHA landscape
• Detailed Resource Group Monitoring
• Cluster Status Monitoring
• Native SCOM integration means:
   no additional services to be installed,
   no ports to be opened, 
   re-use of existing AIX agent
• Using standard SCOM views and MP architecture
• Built on reliable NiCE components

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SCOM: Updated Microsoft Azure MP (Technical Preview) v1.3.18.0

A new version of the Azure technical preview MP has been released you can get version 1.3.18.0 here

New in this version

  • Added support for Virtual Machines (non-classic) in addition to Classic Virtual Machines supported previously
  • Improved logging for the case when RDFE resources request is performed under SPN mode
  • Fixed/added display names and Knowledge Base articles
  • Improved error logging
  • Fixed resource group name validation issue (underscore symbols in resource group names led to discovery fails)
  • Added “Configuring Proxy Connection” section to the guide
  • Fixed Data Warehouse performance issue; added main aggregation for performance metrics
  • “Known Issues” section of the guide is updated

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SCOM: Updated Exchange 2013 MP v15.0.666.20

There has been a minor update to the Exchange 2013 management pack version 15.0.666.20 can be download here.

Fixes in this version

  • Fixed a bug preventing Exchange 2013 Mailbox Properties collection when the contents of Email Addresses field exceed the total length of more than 1024 characters.

Exception:

‘InvalidOperationException’: The given value of type String from the data source cannot be converted to type nvarchar of the specified target column. 

One or more workflows were affected by this.  

Workflow name: Microsoft.Exchange.15.MailboxStatsSubscription.Rule 

  • Fixed a bug: alerts generated by the previous version of the Management Pack for Exchange Server 2013 have unreadable name. After upgrading of the Management Pack to version 15.0.620.19, alerts generated before the upgrade had the following name: {2}

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Management Pack Recap – April 2016 Wave

This is a summary of the wave of Management Packs that were released in April 2016. Information and download location in the links provided:

Skype for Business Server 2015 MP v9319.247here
Lync Server 2013 MP v8308.951here
Lync Server 2010 MP v7577.723here
Windows Server Storage Spaces 2012 R2 MP v1.1.270.0here
Microsoft Azure MP (Technical Preview) v1.3.18.0 – here

If you know of any other Management Packs that have been released recently that I may have missed leave me a note in the comments and I’ll add them

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