SCOM 2016 & 2012 R2 - New List of Supported Network Devices for Extended Monitoring

It's been a while since I've had a chance to put some blog posts together (mainly due to focusing all my extra time on a new book project that's soon to be released) and I thought it'd be good to kick off again with a quick post about SCOM network monitoring.

Since SCOM 2012, we've had some pretty cool network monitoring capabilities out-of-the-box where you can easily discover and monitor a wide range of vendor network devices. Basically, any type of network connected device that supports ICMP (Ping) or SNMP can be monitored. As ICMP is only a basic Up/Down identifier that any monitoring tool is capable of performing, we'll skip the discussion on this.

What types of network devices can you monitor?

Using SNMP with SCOM, you can think outside the box a little where, aside from the typical devices you'd associate with network monitoring (switches, routers, firewalls etc.), you can also monitor things like UPS devices, air conditioning units, door scanners, wireless access points, cash registers and even CCTV cameras! It's these extra non-typical devices that people often forget about when deploying a monitoring solution and they can make all the difference when you need to get the full 360 degree view when mapping out IT services as distributed applications.

These types of SNMP devices will be discovered in SCOM as Generic devices and you'll get some basic monitoring capabilities back for them - similar to the Generic SNMP device we're monitoring in this image...

Taking it to the Next Level with Extended Network Monitoring

Extended network monitoring is available for any devices that implement the SNMP management information base (MIB) RFC 2863 and MIB-II RFC 1213 standards. 

An extended network monitoring device will give you additional monitoring capabilities for things like Chassis, Processor and Memory components (as shown in the following screenshot):

If your devices support these standards, they will be discovered as Certified devices in SCOM and in the past few days, Microsoft has published an updated Excel spreadsheet containing a list of all network devices that are supported for this extended monitoring capability.

This spreadsheet is an update to one that was released a few years back for SCOM 2012 and it's the official list of network devices that are supported for extended monitoring in SCOM 2016. With nearly 850 different devices on the list, you get information about the Object ID (OID), device type, vendor, model name, and whether or not the processor and memory components get monitored as part of the extended monitoring function.

Here's a screenshot of some of the contents of the updated spreadsheet:

To download the updated SCOM 2016 Network Devices Supported for Monitoring spreadsheet, click the link here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51219&WT.mc

Free OMS E-Book - Inside the Microsoft Operations Management Suite

Earlier today the preview version of a new free e-book on Microsoft's Operations Management Suite (OMS) was released. This book was authored by four of the best OMS ninja's around (Tao Yang, Stanislav Zhelyazkov, Pete Zerger and Anders Bengtsson) and after having a quick scan through its contents myself, I can already tell it's much more than your average 'low-page count' freebie.

With over 400 pages of technical goodness, you should find everything you need to know about OMS from the 12 chapters listed below in the book:

Chapter 1: Introduction and Onboarding
Chapter 2: Searching and Presenting OMS Data
Chapter 3: Alert Management
Chapter 4: Configuration Assessment and Change Tracking
Chapter 5: Working with Performance Data
Chapter 6: Process Automation and Desired State Configuration
Chapter 7: Backup and Disaster Recovery
Chapter 8: Security Configuration and Event Analysis
Chapter 9: Analyzing Network Data
Chapter 10: Accessing OMS Data Programmatically
Chapter 11: Custom Management Pack Authoring
Chapter 12: Cross-Platform Management and Automation

Whether you're a seasoned OMS aficionado or just a little curious about the next stage of Microsoft's cloud and datacenter management offerings, this book is for you.

Download it (FOR FREE!) here and make sure to give it a 5 star rating on the TechNet Gallery.

Thanks to the authors for all the hard work they've put into this - looking forward to learning loads from it!

System Center Universe 2016 is Just Around the Corner!

At a time when the whole world is going crazy with inter-galactic theme tunes and costumes in anticipation for the new Star Wars movie, it's appropriate that the awesome System Center Universe (SCU) 2016 conference in Texas, USA is just around the corner.

Hosted by Catapult Systems, SCU is into its fifth year now and has grown significantly from the original one-off event that was hosted solely in the USA to becoming large multi-day events hosted in Europe (SCU Europe) and Asia (SCU APAC) too.

Have a read through Cameron Fuller's blog post here to get the low-down on the history of SCU along with some photo's from some of the previous events too.

With the long list of well known speakers at each event ensuring it takes its place as one of the best Microsoft-focused and community driven Cloud and Datacenter Management conferences out there, SCU is now always one of the first conferences that attendees want to pencil into their calendars each year to maximize the return on their company training budgets.

So what's in store for SCU 2016 you might ask?

Well, there's a live stream for anyone not able to jump on a plane and head over to Dallas with two separate tracks to choose from - Enterprise Client Management and Cloud and Datacenter Management. Each track has a who's-who of presenters including MVP's, Subject Matter Experts and Microsoft ninjas!. You can check out the full list of confirmed presenters here.

Here's a list of some of the technologies that will be presented throughout the event:

• Azure Automation
• Configuration Manager
• EMS
• Hyper-V and Failover Clustering
• Intune
• IoT
• OMS
• Operations Manager
• Windows 10 Deployment
• Windows Server 2016

If you run a local user group in your town, then you can sign up to host a free simulcast and join these other user groups around the world doing the same:

• Austin, TX
• Denver, CO
• Houston, TX
• Omaha, NE
• Phoenix, AZ
• San Antonio, TX
• Seattle, WA
• Tampa, FL
• Amsterdam
• Germany
• Vienna

For more information on SCU 2016, check out the official website here and join in the fun on Twitter by following @SCU2016 and using the hashtag #SCU2016.

Looking forward to seeing many of you online during the event on January 19th!

Presenting at Experts Live 2015 in The Netherlands

Tomorrow morning, I'll be heading back over to The Netherlands as part of a three-man Irish contingent to present at the annual Experts Live conference.

This one day event features eight different tracks being presented by over 50 well known speakers in the Microsoft Cloud and Datacenter space.

I'll be presenting one session as part of the Operations Management Suite (OMS) track titled 'Monitoring.....the Next Generation'. In the session, attendees will learn about the latest developments and features coming in SCOM 2016 and I'll dive into the new OMS platform to show some handy use-case scenarios too.

If you're attending, bring the coffee and stroopwafels and I'll see you there!

SCOM - New SQL 2012 & 2014 Management Packs with Bug Fixes Released

Yesterday I noticed that a new release (version 6.6.2.0) of the SQL 2012 & 2014 management packs has just landed and there's a lot of people out there who've been waiting on them.

Important Update - 21st October 2015: There have been a few reports about a bug in this latest management pack - which seems to have also been present in the previous MP release - where the SQL database logs on your DW server can fill up in certain scenarios. For this reason, it's a good idea to hold off deploying these MP's into production until Microsoft release a fix for this (as far as I know, Microsoft are aware of the issue and are working on a solution).

The previous release (version 6.6.0.0) brought a new dashboard template and visualizations....

Unfortunately, many people (myself included) that deployed this MP ran into problems when viewing the SQL Server Summary Dashboard. As you can see from the comments section at the end of this TechNet post - this was a widespread issue...

Thankfully, Microsoft have identified this as an issue and have listed this as a fix in the latest 6.6.2.0 release of the MP:

I've deployed this updated MP into my lab and so far, it seems to have fixed the issue for me - although it took a few days to manifest itself in the last MP so let's see how this one goes!

There's also a few new visualization options that you can choose from as you can see from Microsoft's post on the new MP's here.

You can download the new SQL management packs using the SCOM MP Wiki or directly from here (SQL 2012) and here (SQL 2014).

Note: As of the time of writing this post, these updated MP's are not available through the built-in catalog option in SCOM but I'd expect them to light up there in the coming days too.

My System Center Universe Europe 2015 Presentation Video is Now Live!

A few months back, I had the pleasure of presenting a session with my good friend Damian Flynn at the System Center Universe Europe 2015 conference in Switzerland and today I've noticed that the video recording for our session has just gone live.

Our presentation was titled 'What's new in OpsMgr?' and included information on what's new with the current SCOM 2012 R2 build as well as everything that we know up to now for the upcoming SCOM 2016 build.

You can check out our presentation video here - https://vimeo.com/142038148

As a side note, if you're watching our presentation and you're wondering why Damian keeps referencing 'glow sticks', then take a read of my 'Looking Back at System Center Universe Europe 2015' post to bring you up to speed!

Not all of the other videos from the conference have been uploaded yet, but along with our one, there's another 20+ awesome presentations to choose from and you can check them all out from the link below:

https://vimeo.com/itnetx/videos

That's my spare time in the coming weeks used up watching and learning from all these new videos!

Awarded Microsoft MVP 2015 for Cloud and Datacenter Management!

With everything that I've had going on lately I nearly forgot today was my MVP renewal date. I say nearly, because as an MVP, when you notice the #MVPBuzz Twitter posts stacking up in your feed, you quickly go into 'DEFCON 1' mode.

In DEFCON 1 mode, you immediately begin to feel sorry for the poor F5 key on your keyboard that will undoubtedly feel the pain as the wait for the annual 'email' draws nearer and you can't help but keep frantically refreshing your email client until the mail finally arrives!

Thankfully, in between some customer presentations I was delivering this afternoon, the following email landed in my inbox....

This email brings confirmation from Microsoft that I've been awarded my 4th MVP in the System Center Cloud & Datacenter space and no matter how hard you work throughout the year, there's no guarantee that you will ever see that email coming in so it's always a very welcome relief.

So far over the past 12 months, I've started working on another book, been to Chicago to attend the Microsoft Ignite conference, had the opportunity to present two sessions at the awesome System Center Universe Europe conference and have been invited to present alongside some friends at the Dutch WMUG NL group.

Next month I'll be heading over to Seattle to attend the MVP Summit and will then take another trip back to the Netherlands to present a session at the Experts Live 2015 event.

The amount of work you have to put in blogging, tweeting, writing books, working the forums and presenting at events to obtain and hold onto an MVP is not easy (most of it is carried out on your own time after the day job is finished) but it's certainly worth it!

Thanks to my family, to everyone in the MVP community for their help and advice over the last year and also thanks to my friends and work colleagues at Ergo for giving me the opportunity to work on some epic System Center projects this year too!

Presenting at Experts Live 2015 in The Netherlands

I've just been confirmed as a speaker at the Experts Live 2015 conference in the Netherlands.

The one-day event kicks off on November 19th and has a wide range of speakers delivering over 40 breakout sessions across the following seven tracks:

• Azure
• Office 365
• Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS)
• Operations Management Suite (OMS)
• Azure Stack
• Hyper-V
• Windows

With speakers travelling from far and wide and a large number of presentations being delivered in English, don't be fooled into thinking this is a conference exclusively just for our Dutch-speaking friends - it definitely has an international flavor to it.

My presentation is titled 'Monitoring.....the Next Generation' and in it, I'll be talking about what's new in the Microsoft monitoring world with some (hopefully) cool demonstrations on OMS and SCOM vNext.

If you're thinking of attending, then you can register here where you can still avail of some early bird pricing and there's even a chance for attendees to win a test drive of a Tesla!

I'm really looking forward to heading back to the Netherlands to present again as I had an awesome time over there a few weeks back meeting up with friends and members of the System Center community and taking in some of the lovely sights the country has to offer.

I'll post more here as we get closer to the event and until then, check out the official Experts Live Twitter account to keep up to date with what's happening.

SCOM - Updated Active Directory and DHCP Management Packs Available

Microsoft has just announced the update of two important SCOM management packs - Active Directory and DHCP.

Active Directory

The Active Directory MP (6.0.8321.0) update includes the following bug fix that should help out my German-speaking friends:

Fixed “AD_Op_Master_Response.vbs” which fails if the region local system is set to German.

You can download the MP and it's associated guide from here.

DHCP

The DHCP MP (6.0.7295.0) update includes the following bug fix:

The properties view of Failover Server Relationship does not display all the IP addresses, with this fix the properties view of Failover Server Relationship will display all IP addresses.

You can download this MP and it's associated guide from here.

Remember to Test First!

As is always the case, make sure that you test these new MP's out in your lab/test environments and unless you're experiencing the exact problems listed above, then maybe hold off for a few weeks before putting them into production.

Presenting at the Windows Management User Group in the Netherlands

Next week I have the pleasure of taking a short trip over to the Netherlands to present a couple of sessions on OpsMgr/SCOM with my friends over there from the Windows Management User Group (WMUG NL).

This community-driven event kicks off on Tuesday 8th September at 16:00 and runs until 21:30 that evening. The event is being hosted at the Naarden premises of well known IT services and consulting company - Pink Elephant.

I'm really excited about this event for a number of reasons - I get to co-present for the first time with my good friend and MVP colleague Bob Cornelissen whom I know well since we worked on our first book together. Also, the rest of the team running WMUG NL - are collectively, some of the best in the business when it comes to System Center and Cloud technologies.

Throw in the fact that the event is hosted in the Netherlands and we're onto a winner already!

Agenda

Here's the full agenda:

16:00 - 16:30 -  Reception and Kick-off

16:30 - 17:30  - Top Tips to Make Your OpsMgr Deployments Rock
(Kevin Greene, Bob Cornelissen)

17:30 – 18:30 - Food break

18:30 – 19:15 - Extending OpsMgr through Microsoft Management Services and Partner Solutions (Christian Heitkamp, NiCE IT Management Solutions)

19:15 – 19:30 - Quick Break

19:30 – 20:30 - Essential OpsMgr Management Packs, Dashboards and Tools
(Kevin Greene, Bob Cornelissen)

20:30 -21:30 - Drinks and networking


Session Info

The first presentation we will deliver (Top Tips to Make Your OpsMgr Deployments Rock) is targeted at the IT pro/admin/consultant whose role is to deploy different OpsMgr builds on a regular basis or who is preparing for a deployment of the upcoming OpsMgr 2016 release. In the session we will share our top tips and tricks that we've learnt along the way to help ensure your deployments and initial administration run smoothly and without any problems.

In our second presentation (Essential OpsMgr Management Packs, Dashboards and Tools) we will discuss and demonstrate some of the 'must-have' OpsMgr management packs, dashboards and tools that are available for free and which we think everyone should know about to help them with their day-to-day monitoring tasks.


Registration

If you're in the Netherlands and are using (or thinking about deploying) OpsMgr, then this free community event is definitely for you. More information about the event can be viewed from the WMUG NL site here.

There are still some places left but the audience size is limited so make sure to register soon if you're interested and the direct link for registration can be found here.


Hopefully I'll see some of you over there next week!

Chatten binnenkort!