Tag Archives: #2016

SCOM 2016: UR9 released!

The latest Update Rollup for SCOM 2016 is out, you can get it here

A decent update fixing a couple of issues that have been around for a while. As always test before applying to your production environments.

What’s new and fixed?


  • Fixed: On Windows Computer View of SCOM Console, Queries are optimized for better performance.
  • Fixed: We have updated SPROC to handle Alert Source Path Names which are greater than 512 in length. It was a mismatch where the table which was populating the DB was allowing larger strings while the table which was populated in this view took only 512. This caused data truncation and subsequently console crash.
  • Fixed: Made changes to the IP address parameter to support both IPv4 and IPv6 windows cluster.
  • Fixed: Fixed the issue with conversion of data smaller than 0.01 which was generated by Rule or Monitor. The data was transformed to a wrong (big) value on systems with OS locale language which has comma (“,”) instead of dot (“.”) as decimal format.
  • Fixed: Fixed the schedule reports through the Schedule Management Wizard in APM AppAdvisor. Previously, it was failing with XML Malformed exception.
  • Fixed: In a scenario where SCOM monitors 100s of virtual machines hosted on a single Hyper-v server; every hour the MonitoringHost.exe of each Virtual machine write into the VM page file simultaneously. Due to this concurrent paging, every hour disk I/O increases and database becomes unresponsive. HealthService.exe now have Memory Trimming enabled by default on an hourly schedule. A registry key is provided to disable the memory trimming and control the duration.

Registry key is: “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\3.0\Setup\MonitoringHost\MemoryTrimmingEnable – 0 (Trimming is disabled); 1 (trimming is enabled)DelayInSeconds – Time period agent waits to start trimming (default is 120s)PeriodInSeconds – Recurring period at which the working set should be  trimmed (default is 3600s)

  • Fixed: Downtime duration will be calculated correctly for non-US time format in Downtime Report.
  • Fixed: fn_MPVersionDependentId creates an ID for each installed MP. The ID is a SHA1 hash of string “MPName, Version, Schema”. When the “Schema” part is omitted, it generates different hash which doesn’t match with the expected value. In the fix, “Schema=2” part is re-added in fn_MPVersionDependentId.
  • Fixed: We have made sure that correct end date for Availability, Health and Performance Details are shown in reports
  • Enabled support for MSOLEDBSQL driver so that users may move from SQL Native Client.

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SCOM: Updated SSRS and SSAS management pack v7.0.17.0

Updates to SQL Server Reporting Services and Analysis Services Management Packs have been released you can get them at the below links:

SSRS
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services (Native Mode)
SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services (Native Mode)
SQL Server 2014 Reporting Services (Native Mode)
SQL Server 2016 Reporting Services (Native Mode)
SSAS
SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services
SQL Server 2014 Analysis Services
SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services


Fixes and changes for SSRS

  • SSRS 2016: Updated monitoring of Memory Consumption and CPU Usage in order to collect performance data for all subprocesses in addition to the main SSRS service process.
  • SSRS 2016: Updated monitors “Report manager accessible” and “Web service accessible” to consider specifics in how appropriate SSRS 2016 web services work
  • Added support for cases when connection string to SSRS Database is set up the way different from “MachineName\InstanceName” (e.g., <IPAddress,Port>) and SSRS Database is in Availability Group or hosted either by named instance or SQL Cluster instance
  • Improved descriptions of events thrown by management pack to make it easier to figure out error reason
  • Improved error handling and error descriptions for cases when workflows can’t get responses from WMI
  • Improved error handling in workflows that watch for memory consumption
  • Fixed Start/Stop tasks
  • Fixed issue that caused some workflows to throw error events when SQL Server instance hosting SSRS Databases happened to stop operating or refuse connections
  • Fixed issue which caused Reporting Service instance to get undiscovered when WMI didn’t respond to calls
  • Updated display strings

Fixes and changes for SSAS

  • Added performance collections for MDX Query performance counters
  • Added retry logic to some workflows in order to reduce “Category does not exist” errors thrown when WMI fail to respond
  • Improved error handling in workflows that watch for memory consumption
  • Improved descriptions of events thrown by management pack to make it easier to figure out error reason
  • Fixed Start/Stop tasks
  • Fixed issue when “SQLServerInstalled” property was set to “False” if SQL Server DB Engine was of higher version than SSAS instance
  • Updated Dashboards configuration to show tiles for new MDX performance collections
  • Updated display strings

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SCOM: Updated Windows Server 2016 and 1709+ DNS Monitoring MP v10.0.9.2

A new version of the Windows server 2016 and DNS 1706+ Mp is available get it here

Fixed in this version

• Fixed bug: Problem with DNS Zones Discovery for large number of zones.
• Fixed bug: Problem with stub zones discovery.
• Fixed bug: False alerts for “DNS unused Zone Detected”.
• Introduced support for Windows Server 1709+ operating system.
• Rebranded the display strings and knowledge base articles according to the supported
versions of the operating systems: Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and 1709+.

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SCOM: New MP Skype for Business Server 2019

A new management pack for monitoring Skype for Business Server 2019 is out and available here

Install guide – here

What’s New

The following features are new to Skype for Business Server 2019 Management Packs.

  • Automatic discovery for Client Sign-In Client applications that sign-in to Skype for Business Server 2019 often automatically discover the server to sign-in to. Synthetic transactions now support verification that automatic discovery is configured correctly.
  • Customized synthetic transaction run intervals To simplify the set up process of Watcher Nodes, synthetic transactions can share user accounts. This slows down the frequency at which the tests are run as the tests are serialized to avoid conflicts. By default, synthetic transactions run every 15 minutes to ensure all tests have time to run. Administrators who choose to use more users or fewer tests per user may now reduce the run interval, as well.
  • Video Interop Services synthetic transaction Customers who are migrating to Skype for Business Server 2019 from other vendor solutions often desire to continue using the video teleconferencing devices (VTCs) from these other vendors. Video Interop Server is a new Skype for Business Server 2019 server role that enables customers to continue to use Cisco VTCs in their conference rooms by connecting to Cisco CUCM via a video SIP trunk. This feature also adds a synthetic transaction to help verify that the Video Interop Server is up and can handle incoming connections over a video SIP trunk.
  • Application Sharing Conferencing synthetic transaction End-to-end scenario validation for Application Sharing Conferences is now supported.

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SCOM: Updated Cluster Service Management pack

Windows Cluster services management packs have recently been updated and are available at the following locations:

2016 and 1709+
2012 R2

Updates and Fixes

  • Fixed issue: resources group view displayed 2012 and 2012 R2 Clusters
  • Changed Availability Storage group monitoring logic:
    • If the group state was empty or offline, the monitor did not change state to Critical.
    • If the group state was in partially online state, the monitor did not change to Warning state.
    • If physical disk was in offline state, the monitor did not change state from Healthy to Critical.
  • Fixed issue with Network and Network Interfaces discovery in case Cluster Network Interface name was longer than ~40 characters and contained ‘-’ characters.
  • Fixed issue: Cluster Resource tasks execution was failing if cluster.exe was not installed.
  • Fixed issue: Cluster Network Interfaces were not discovered on Windows Server 2008 Core.
  • Fixed issue: Cluster Network Interfaces were not fully discover on Windows Server 2016 Standard.
  • Fixed issue: Cluster Network Interfaces were not discovered on Windows Server 2016 Nano.
  • Fixed issue: Tasks did not have output on Windows Server 2016 Nano.
  • Fixed issue: “Pause Node” and “Resume Node” tasks had unexpected output.
  • Added support for resource groups’ tasks with names containing WMI reserved symbols.
  • Fixed issue: Cluster Resources were not discovered if the Cluster had File Server role.
  • Fixed issue: Cluster Resource groups could not be moved to another node due to failure of “Move Group” task. The logic was changed, see “Move Group” Task Specifics” section.
  • Fixed issue: “Check Cluster Group” diagnostic task did not work on Windows Server 2003-2008 R2 platforms without PowerShell, and on Windows Server 2012 and higher without PowerShell and Cluster cmdlets installed.
  • Fixed issue: If a cluster object name contained WMI reserved symbols, monitoring of this cluster object did not work.
  • Added support for resources with long names (up to 4000 symbols).
  • Fixed issue: “10000” warning event occurred on all platforms if the discovery did not return the data.
  • Fixed issue: Several resource tasks do not work if Cluster.exe is not installed.
  • Updated the display strings.

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SCOM: Updated Windows Server DHCP 2012 Management Pack

The Server 2012 DHCP management pack has been updated and is avaliable for download – here

Updates and fixed

  • Added “Known Issues and Troubleshooting” section to the guide.
  • Updated “Supported Configurations” section of the guide.

The following bugs have been fixed in the Management Pack:

  • “DHCP Server 2016 IPV4 Individual Scope Addresses Available Percentage Monitor” was not generating the corresponding alerts in case of 0% percentage available.
  • “DHCP Server 2016 IPV4 Individual Scope Addresses Available Percentage Monitor” was failing if multiple scopes had the same name.
  • “DHCP Server 2016 IPV6 Individual Scope Addresses Available Percentage Monitor” was not generating the corresponding alerts in case of 0% percentage available.
  • “DHCP Server 2016 IPV6 Individual Scope Addresses Available Percentage Monitor” was failing if multiple scopes had the same name.

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SCOM: New File Services Management Pack for Windows Server 2016 and 1709+

A new management pack has been released for Windows Server 2016 and later File Services they are available for download the the following locations

Server 2016 and 1709+here

Server 2012here

Features

Includes new and updated monitoring for File Services, iSCI, DFS and DFS replication

File Services

  • DeDuplication – Stay current
  • FSRM
  • Support for clustered namespaces
  • Support for clustered replication group members
  • Agentless monitoring
  • More detailed product knowledge
  • Support for clustered replication group members
  • Agentless monitoring
  • iSCSI – iSCSI Target is built inbox first time in Server 2016. This is the first version integrated with File Server.
  • NFS – Stay current.
  • SMB – New

DFS Namespaces

Documentation updated to reflect Server 1709+

DFS Replication

New Support for Server 1709+

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SCOM: Updated Lenovo Hardware Management Pack v7.5.0.6

Lenovo have updated their management pack to integrate SCOM with XClarity get it  here

It now supports even more Lenovo systems

Key features include:

  • Extensive monitoring of the health of hardware components for System x and ThinkSystem servers,  Flex chassis nodes and BladeCenter blades via BMC (out-of-band mode).
  • Extensive monitoring of the health of hardware components for System x servers, Flex chassis nodes and BladeCenter blades running Windows (in-band mode).
  • Rich monitoring of the health of Flex and BladeCenter chassis/modules via the SNMP protocol.
  • Easy determination of overall system health by the aggregation of hardware health monitors.
  • Power Monitoring of UEFI/BMC System x Servers and Blades running Windows. Offers the ability to monitor overall system power usage, and generates alerts when power consumption rises above predefined consumption thresholds. Enable Power Capping and set the maximum power consumption wattage via Operation Manage Agent task.
  • BladeCenter and Blade hardware health correlation and event propagation providing BladeCenter specific hardware health condition monitoring under the Windows health explorer view.
  • Remote power on and off of Blades Servers via the Operations Manager console.
  • Offer the ability to launch a CMM Web Console of a Flex System Chassis from the Operations Manager Console.
  • Offer the ability to view System x power data using the System x Power Data Chart.
  • Offer the ability to support SQL Server database and migrate data from the PostgreSQL to the SQL Server.
  • Offer the ability to discover and manage system BMC automatically.
  • Offer the ability to configure Lenovo XClarity Integrator Service from the Operations Manager Console.
  • Support to install XClarity Integrator Service on a separated system.
  • Support multiple Management Servers in same management group, and connect to another online Management

Server if the current Management Server stops responding.

  • Support to refresh BMC data in Management Server in time.
  • Provide the High Availability (HA) suggestion based on Windows or VMWare HA solution.

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SCOM 2016: Update Rollup 6 released

A brief overview of the recently released UR6 for SCOM 2016 – get it here

Updates and Fixes

  • Application pool crashes and SharePoint application crashes because of APM agent and the profiler are now fixed. These occurred because the profiler was always on. This issue is fixed by disabling the profiler by default and enabling it only when APM is configured.Note If you’re using APM, restart IIS after you deploy the patches.
  • Improved logging to display error messages and suggest that you check performance counters when PdhExpandWildCardPath fails.
  • Fixed: Session Events tab in Application Diagnostics web console doesn’t display any data.
  • Fixed: Scheduled Maintenance Mode doesn’t work in an availability group that uses SQL Always-On configuration. In case of a failover to a secondary node, the Maintenance Mode Schedules that are created on the primary node don’t run. This has now been fixed. For details, see the “Enabling Schedule Maintenance Mode with SQL Always ON” section.
  • Updated fix: The Get-SCOMGroup cmdlet is slow to query large (more than 2,000) groups. A previous fix has been improved for faster querying of any number of groups.
  • Fixed: Users could not edit the Maintenance Schedule in the SCOM console if all the objects were removed. The schedule can now be edited. However, it cannot be saved unless it contains at least one object.
  • Fixed: SCX cannot connect with Linux machine if the KEX algorithms are configured as any of the following: ecdh-sha2-nistp256diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256, or diffie-hellman-group14-sha256.
  • Fixed: Using MI APIs causes MonitoringHost.exe to crash. This event is logged in the Application log, but no crash events are reported in the Operations Manager event log. After this fix, MonitoringHost doesn’t crash even if the useMIAPI registry key is enabled.
  • OMS (now Azure Log Analytics) connection onboarding wizard isupdated to communicate with the new APIs. This is because the OMS services were moved to the Azure Portal (link), and also because of the planned retirement of the OMS portal. This change will not affect any existing connection to OMS. However, for new connections or to reconfigure existing connections, the relevant management packs that are bundled together with this update rollup must be imported.
  • This update rollup creates a new “omi” user (system account).
  • XPlat support matrix changes:
    • SLES 10 is not supported.
    • CentOS 5 is not supported.
    • AIX 6.x is not supported.

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