A popular question that seems to be floating on various blogs and message boards is related to why SCVMM integrates with Virtual Infrastructure by proxying requests through Virtual Center Web Service APIs as opposed to talking directly to ESX. There are several reasons for this and I'll go through them roughly in priority order to hopefully clarify some confusion.(continue at source)
| 30 Jul '08 - 07:10 | kenneth van surksum | 
no comments | news source ~ rakeshm\'s VM Management Blog 
The normal procedure in System Center Operations Manager 2007 (SCOM) to remove agents, is to use the "Uninstall" task from the Agent-Managed Computer view in the Administration section of the Operations Console. This kicks off a decent MSI de-installation remotely and deletes any registry references and files on disk. If the machine is already decommissioned, you can use the "Delete" function from that same space, but due make sure that this agent will not be brought to live at any point in time (this will cause strange behavior). The internal grooming job will delete any references to this computer object from the Operational database, when it runs.
Now that the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 is available, installing roles and features using the MDT integration in ConfigMgr2007 finally works, so you can enable all Windows Server 2008 roles and features, and you can even configure some of them know from the Task Sequence GUI. One caveat though is that when you want to install roles and features on a 64-bit windows installation it still doesn't work. The Alert Forward Management Pack 3.0 by Ron Williams creates a console task that will allow you to forward the selected alert to an email recipient. To forward an alert, select the alert , and then click on "Forward Alert via Email" in the Actions pane of the Operations Manager console. If you are running the task from a console installed on a PC that also has Microsoft Office Outlook, then the task will open an email pre-populated with the information contained in the alert. If you do not have Outlook installed, then the email will be sent by SMTP.
Download the Alert Forward Management Pack 3.0
Given the recent support of Server 2008 with an OpsMgr 2007 agent.... (see Announcing OpsMgr support for Windows Server 2008)Roland Sanchez: In my particular part of the Microsoft organisation (the CTS testing lab), we install just about every OS, at every service pack level, on both major platforms. Because of this, I created a master template that is used to create dozens of task sequences where the only thing that changes is the OS. To pull this off, I made heavy use of the variables built into MDT2008 to branch my logic accordingly and create a framework in which future additions can simply get dropped into.(continue at source)
A lot of people are curious to know what Microsoft's official support policy is regarding OpsMgr 2007 running on a virtual machine (VM) so Clive Eastwood, Senior Program Manager for Operations Manager, recently wrote up some guidance that should add a little clarity to the issue(continue at source)
Emma Healey explains the new licensing rules and the exceptions granted under the new license terms for the System Center line of products from Microsoft(continue at source)This hotfix contains fixes for issues that can occur, either after installation of Operations Manager 2007 SP1 or Essentials 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008, or after the operating system in-place upgrade from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1 & System Center Essentials 2007 SP1 Windows Server 2008 Support Hotfix.
Microsoft has released several new management packs for Operations Manager 2007:Virtual Machine Manager (“VMM”) is a manager of Windows Virtual Machines (“VM”) and the Hosts (physical machines) on which the VMs reside. Depending on hardware configuration, a single Host can house several VMs. A large volume of the calls we receive at Microsoft are around installation and operation - the goal of this blog is to cover each.(continue at source)
To simplify Application Virtualization Server management, the App-V team is excited to make available a RC version of our App-V 4.5 System Center Operations Manager 2007 Management Pack (OpsMgr 2007 MP). It has just been posted over on the Microsoft Connect site (http://connect.microsoft.com). This OpsMgr 2007 MP only supports version 4.5 servers; it does not support previous SoftGrid server versions and MOM 2005.
The growing needs of today’s workforce demand that IT become more agile in how it provides access to desktop and device resources such as applications and corporate data. As a result, IT organizations struggle to provide the computing flexibility required by the modern workforce while balancing organizational requirements of compliance, security and reliability. System Center desktop solutions enable IT to empower users by streamlining the connection of any authorized user to the applications or resources they need—regardless of their location or connectivity. System Center achieves this by managing the delivery of traditional, virtual application, mobile, streamed and virtual desktop infrastructure, providing both secure access and the consistent, optimized performance that today’s users expect. System Center Solution: Managing the Dynamic Desktop
J.C. Hornbeck: I get asked this every once in a while and since I couldn't find it mentioned anywhere I thought it might be a good idea to post it here. Under certain circumstances it may be necessary to install the OpsMgr 32-bit agent on a 64-bit operating system to monitor a 32-bit application. This is a supported configuration but the 32-bit agent must be installed manually and both the 32-bit and 64-bit OpsMgr agent cannot be installed simultaneously.Rod Trent: As referenced in the Overview of SMS/Intel SCS migration to SCCM SP1 blog post, Intel has developed a utility to easy the migration of vPro Client that have been activated on SMS/SCS to SCCM SP1.Jeff from the Configuration Manager Writers blog: Before beginning the upgrade process to Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, the Windows AIK 1.0 should be uninstalled from the SMS Provider computer for the site to allow SP1 Setup to install Windows AIK 1.1 to support SP1 OSD WIM images. | 23 Jul '08 - 07:04 | kenneth van surksum | no comments | news source ~ Configuration Manager Writers Blog This management pack provides several script-based monitors for shares, files and folders, offering something for most any scenario. The MP also includes custom object classes for discovered objects, and an impressive diagram view. The accompanying MP Guide is also quite detailed. With the Remote Maintenance Mode Scheduler you can schedule Powershell maintenance mode scripts for computers or groups of computers in OpsMgr 2007 (System Center Operations Manager 2007) through a simple graphical user interface, rather than using the task scheduler directly. The tool also supports scheduling of scripts on any remote computer with the OpsMgr UI components installed.
A key security feature of SCMDM is the ability to wipe a device remotely. Often time is of the essence, so it is important to know if a wipe was successful or not. Here we will discuss how remote wipe works and how to troubleshoot it. (continue at source)
| 23 Jul '08 - 06:45 | kenneth van surksum | no comments | news source ~ System Center Mobile Device Manager Team Blog Steve Rachui: A common step in imaging is to use the 'Apply Network Settings' task sequence item to configure joining a system to the domain.Rod Trent: We’ve dealt with AV exclusions for SMS and ConfigMgr for a long time, so having information about recommended exclusion practices for OpsMgr 2007 is definitely welcome.Steve Rachui: I've seen the question several times now about whether ConfigMgr supports setting OpsMgr agents into maintenance mode during software deployment. The answer is mixed.When people that are new to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, start playing around with the product in a test lab, they often want to start with a simple OS deployment setup. But if you are new to the product and wants to deploy Windows XP, getting started could be a bit challenging. This article (not sure how many parts it will contain yetJ), will be a guide through the basic steps, that needs to be configured in order to successful deploy Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Enterprise with Service Pack 1.
Introduction to Configuration Manager 2007 %u2013 Part 1 Introduction to Configuration Manager 2007 %u2013 Part 2
Jeff Gilbert: I'm updating the official documentation for this right now, but since there seems to be a lot of confusion about this process, I figured I'd post here as well. This way the information will be 'out there' before the next documentation update to the Web (planned for when Configuration Manager 2007 R2 RTM's).System Center Virtual User Group Weblog: Congratulations to our second category winner, for the Command-line or Web-based Tools category, Vicent de Vries, who submitted the SDK Connector Tool for System Center Operations Manager 2007. | 20 Jul '08 - 14:25 | kenneth van surksum | no comments | news source ~ System Center Virtual User Group System Center Virtual User Group Weblog: Congratulations to our first category winner, for the SCCM Configuration Pack category, is Jason Scheffelmaer, who submitted an SCCM Roles Wizard. While not technically a Configuration Pack, his solutions goes far beyond being a simple script, and as such, Jason was declared the winner for this category. | 20 Jul '08 - 14:03 | kenneth van surksum | no comments | news source ~ http://systemcenterusergroup.org/blogs/administrator/archive/2008/07/17/announcement-first-category-winner-for-system-center-solutions-contest.aspx The work that needs to be done in the Configuration manager 2007 admin console is often spread out amongst different team members. Not all of these team members require access to the full admin console. Most environments do configure the permission set in a somewhat restrictive member so that team members only have the permission they need, but what is often forgotten is building a custom minimal admin console with just access to the features people need.Steve Rachui: Every OSD administrator knows the feeling of configuring a complex (or even simple) OSD Deployment, testing and releasing - only to have the deployment fail. At failure, OSD will begin a countdown to reboot and, on restart, the logs are often lost and we administrators are left wondering what went wrong. To find out we have to start the deployment again and spend time waiting for the failure. Wouldn't it be cool if we had a way to automate forcing OSD to collect logs when it fails before exiting? Good news! :)As you may of may not know, Virtual Machine Manager 2007 was only available as part of available as part of SMSE (System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise). Good news: Virtual Machine Manager 2008 will be available for purchase separately as well.Vista SP1 Installations Deployed Using Operating System Deployment Cannot HibernateSatya Vel: If you are like me and just itching to try and install OpsMgr 2007 DB and Reporting on Longhorn and cannot wait till SQL 2008 to install SQL on Longhorn as they do not support SQL 2005 on Longhorn you can try my HACK!! Yes, this is NOT supported by the OpsMgr team and our test manager will probably kill me for posting this on the web but what the heck that why there are blogs. These steps are a culmination of things Stephanie and Melissa on our test team and I have tried to get it to work. So here it goes…(continue at source)
The Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 is a new Solution Accelerator that addresses IT Service Managers’ need for near real time, end-to-end reporting of the performance and availability of their line-of-business (LOB) applications. The accelerator provides a unique view of a business application from the user’s point of view by simulating user interactions with the business application and reporting on the experience. A small number of agents are deployed in the enterprise network to provide an accurate sampling of all the different conditions under which the business application operates. The data is then collected and interpreted. Download Service Level Dashboard Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007
Have you ever wanted to create email notifications for Alerts based on Alert Descriptions? This cannot be done using the E-mail Notification Channel and Subscriptions settings.An important aspect of virtualization is the actual management: as an administrator, you want to have a single console for managing all your virtual machines and hosts. With software such as VMware’s VirtualCenter, you can manage a complete ESX environment and add a ton of extra features (such as DRS, HA, intelligent placement, templates, etc). Microsoft’s answer to the management question is System Center Virtual Machine Manager (also known as VMM).Kristian F. Thomsen: When ConfigMgr is configured in Mixed mode and client computers are re-imaged/re-installed; by default a new ConfigMgr computer object is created and the “old” computer object will become “Obsolete”. Well, this is by design, but it might become a problem. If the client has many direct collection memberships, these direct memberships will not be preserved when a new computer object is created. Therefore, these have to be re-created.This management pack monitors ISA Server 2006 and includes monitors and rules to track the performance, availability, and reliability of ISA Server 2006 components. With detailed alert information, you can quickly identify and troubleshoot ISA Server 2006 issues, minimizing time-to-resolution when problems occur. You can collect and analyze performance trends and metrics, and obtain performance information that allows you to manage bottlenecks, identify capacity requirements, and proactively manage your ISA 2006 deployment to resolve issues before problems occur. Download Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 Management Pack for OpsMgr 2007
Describes how the Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 (OpsMgr 2007) was implemented to improve Microsoft IT's infrastructure management service offerings. OpsMgr 2007 provides a centralized monitoring infrastructure with increased reliability and granular rights delegation. By implementing OpsMgr 2007, Microsoft IT improved operational efficiency and reduced the cost of IT lifecycle investments. Download Implementing System Center Operations Manager 2007 at Microsoft
The Release Candidate of ConfigMgr 2007 R2 has been posted to the Microsoft Connect site today.
Richard Smith: I get quite a few emails from people asking if there is a help file that details all of the scripts that are supplied with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). The scripts form the engine of a deployment and can also help you to develop a framework for scripts that you need to create for your own tasks. The MDT documentation (installed in \Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Documentation) is a good place to start - but I also point people to the online MDT Reference - which lists the following information for each script supplied:Diane Prescott, Product Manager, System Center: Hello – I wanted to provide a quick update on some changes we have coming regarding the System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise (SMSE) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) later this year. In Q4 of 2008, we’re excited to be providing customers with additional value and functionality in the SMSE by releasing the next version of our VMM software, VMM 2008. One thing that’s new with the release of VMM 2008, is that we’ll be making it available to customers and partners as a standalone product; VMM 2007 was only available as part of the SMSE. While the feedback from customers on the synergy of the products in the SMSE has been exciting over the last 8 months, we also wanted to offer customers the choice of VMM 2008 standalone as well, as we do with the other products in the System Center family including Configuration Manager 2007, Operations Manager 2007 and Data Protection Manager 2007.Richard Trusson: In this post I am going to talk about a BitLocker solution that myself, Richard Smith and others from Avanade/Accenture - Chris Bird, Jonathan Goulding, Chris Urwin and Steven Westwell - put together for a customer. I should point out that enabling and applying BitLocker via OSD on SMS 2003 SP3 is not supported. So think carefully before implementing this in your environment.(continue at source)
Have you ever wanted to pause the task sequence in MDT 2008 or ConfigMgr 2007 for a few seconds while something catches up...? I had a requirement to do this recently where I ran a task to close and cancel the Windows Sidebar at the start of the State Restore phase of the task sequencer and then turn the Windows Sidebar back on again at the end of the State Restore phase - I was doing this as the Windows Sidebar can sometimes get in the way of some customisation scripts and you can also see peculiar VB messages when 2007 Office System updates are applied. When the Windows Sidebar is turned back on, there is a couple of seconds before the Sidebar actually appears - yet my task for turning on the Sidebar had returned and the task sequence had moved on...it made be think that there may be other situations where a slight delay in returning to the task sequence may be useful - sure you could add sleep commands to the scripts that your running as commands - but that doesn't help with the tasks that are not scripted - so here is an MDT based script that will pause the task sequence for a specified number of seconds (specified on the command line)SBS 2008 and EBS 2008, previously known by their respective codenames of Cougar and Centro, are important because they are based on the all new server technologies that include Windows Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2007. Additionally, both products use System Center Essentials as a primary management platform and require 64-bit CPUs. SBS 2008 is a single-server solution for up to 75 desktops, with an optional second SQL server, which can run a 32-bit OS. "What You Write Is Not Necessarily What You Get"Susana Guedes: There are different methods you can use to deploy an operating system image using Configuration Manager 2007 [2]:Version 2.0 of the Multi-Host Ping Management Pack is now available for download HERE. The completely rewritten MP includes:The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MTD) Wizard Editor is a simple .NET application designed to assist with the process of editing the wizard XML manifest files used by the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. While it does not presently help much with the authoring of each wizard pane's content, it does simplify the more tedious parts of editing the XML manifest and the HTML embedded within each wizard pane.
Features available in the current release:
http://www.codeplex.com/MDTWizardEditor
If you are using Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server with the Internet-based client management feature of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, configuring SSL to SSL bridging provides a high level of security for Internet traffic. In this scenario, connections from Configuration Manager Internet-based clients are authenticated and terminated at the ISA Server, inspected, and then new SSL connections are made to the Configuration Manager Internet-based site system servers.Kenny Buntinx: Got this one from Brett Flag - OSD team Microsoft :Wes Miller: Over the next few months I'm planning to cover Windows Deployment Services (WDS), which is available for Windows Server 2003 and is built into Windows Server 2008. WDS can be a very important component in your deployment infra-structure, so I want to make sure you have a good foundation for the discussion. **We're looking for beta testers for the Dell Deployment Toolkit for ConfigMgr. If you're interested in testing this (and giving us some valuable feedback), send me an email (greg_ramsey@dell.com).System Center Operations Manager 2007 (OpsMgr) has given administrators access to Windows PowerShell, a powerful new scripting language for automating tasks. Released to the public in November 2006, it has been downloaded more than two million times since then.Cliff Hobbs: The ConfigMgr Doc Team write some great content and plenty of it. But I have a SERIOUS problem with the way Microsoft organise content on their site.Kenny Buntinx: This post and subsequent posts will be a step by step on how to build a base XP SP3 image in SCCM. I will be outlining not necessarily pointing out every click. Hopefully others will find this helpful. This assumes an understanding of SCCM and uses what is refereed to as a “Thin Image Strategy”.(continue at source)
Ronni Pedersen: Living in a non-english speaking country like Denmark, I often have to deal with deploying English versions of Windows XP and/or Windows Vista, with other Regional Settings, Keyboard Settings, Time Zones etc.The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool helps organizations maintain virtual machines that are stored offline in a Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager library. While stored, virtual machines do not receive operating system updates. The tool provides a way to keep offline virtual machines up-to-date so that bringing a virtual machine online does not introduce vulnerabilities into the organization’s IT infrastructure. Download Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool
With Microsoft® Office Visio® 2007 Professional the user now has the ability to connect data to diagrams and use data graphics to make the visualization more meaningful and impactful. The Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager 2007 and Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 solution for Office Visio 2007 Pro helps you visualize your key reports. Using the solutions framework which utilizes an easy to configure web server component provided for your environment you can now easily connect data from OpsManager and ConfigManager in Visio 2007 Pro. Download Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Pro SCOM & SCCM Add-In's
Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 provides proactive monitoring of your Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 environment. This management pack includes: Download Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Management Pack for SC Operations Manager 2007
A number of customers have been having problems deploying the native mode certificates with Active Directory Certificate Services in Windows Server 2008, not least because the Web enrollment pages no longer allow you to request a certificate for the local computer store. The same issue applies if you’ve installed KB 922706 on a Windows Server 2003 CA, in order to update the Web enrollment pages for Windows Vista clients and Windows Server 2008 clients. | 01 Jul '08 - 06:52 | kenneth van surksum | no comments | news source ~ Configuration Manager Writers Stefan Schörling: If you are running application installs within your Task Sequence and you are running SP1 of Configuration Manager you will bump into a 90 second delay between every application. So if you have 200 applications in your task sequence the deployment will take allot of time. Microsoft is currently working on a fix for this until then you can get around it by using the RTM Client instead of the SP1 client binaries in your Apply Client - Task Sequence Step. (continue at source)
Kerrie Meyler: When you first install Operations Manager 2007, you may be a bit overwhelmed with all the information that is available to you (if you could figure out what it is and how to find it!), and the fact that you have to forget most of the things you learned if you had MOM 2005. However, there is training available, several books are out - I may be a bit biased, but System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed is the best one available, and there are also numerous utilities and software available for OpsMgr 2007, some of which is at no charge. (continue at source)
