SCDPM Online

So, Tech.Days UK starts tomorrow and runs through until the end of Friday, and it is all available online.  Take a look at the session schedule here, https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032543696&Culture=en-GB&community=0, and register if you want to attend any of the sessions.

And, if you want to hear me present, I am presenting on Friday morning, "Appy Monitoring with System Center 2012".  :-)

Enjoy!!

David

Hi All,

This week sees the start of a new MVP Speaker Series covering Windows Server and System Center technologies.  Many of the presentations will be sessions that couldn't be accommodated at MMS, and others will be brand new, but they will all be available online for everyone to attend through the use of Lync!

For more details, check out this post by Travis, http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2013/04/22/windows-server-system-center-mvp-speaker-series-starting-this-week.aspx.

My session, "Tips & Tricks to Using the Visual Studio Authoring Extensions", will be next Tuesday (April 30th).  I look forward to seeing you there :-)

David 

One of the features I love in the Visual Studio Authoring Extensions is IncludeFileContent.  This feature enables you to include script files into a management pack, without needing to write the script with the relevant XML tags such as <ScriptBody>.

In MP development up to now, you would need to write your script in the XML of the management pack, like this:

<ScriptBody><![CDATA[
Option Explicit

SetLocale("en-us")

Dim oAPI
Set oAPI = CreateObject("MOM.ScriptAPI")
..
..
]]>
</ScriptBody>

Now, with VSAE you can write your script in a VBS, PS1 or JS file just as you would outside of SCOM and then include it in the MP, like this:

<ScriptBody>$IncludeFileContent/Scripts/MonitoringScript.vbs$</ScriptBody>

To do this is very simple, just right click in your MP project and select Add -> New Item., select Templates, and then select the relevant script type with a relevant name.

Once you've added your new script, you can add the contents of your script to file.

Once you have your script completed, you can now include it in your management pack.  In the example below I have included my new MonitoringScript.vbs file in a task using the Microsoft.Windows.ScriptProbeAction module.

The include syntax in this example is $IncludeFileContent/Scripts/MonitoringScript.vbs$, and this is generated based on the path of the file.  In this MP, I stored the VBS file in a folder called Scripts, which is why "Scripts/MonitoringScript.vbs" is added to "IncludeFileContent".

I think this is a great feature as you can use it wherever you need to use a script.  This means you can you store all your scripts under one folder in your project which makes them easily accessible and makes editing much safer, as now you can just simply edit the script with no risk of a typo in the XML of the MP itself.

I encourage everyone to use this feature.

Happy MP writing!

The winner of the Infront Consulting Group Full MMS Conference Pass giveaway has been announced by Rory McCaw in a video on Facebook.  Get over there now to see if you’re the lucky winner, http://www.facebook.com/InfrontConsulting.

David

Want to know all the OpsMgr sessions that are going to be on this year at MMS, well here they are.  http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2013/03/12/system-center-operations-manager-sessions-microsoft-management-summit-2013-4-8-4-12.aspx

The listed includes all sessions by the product engineering team at Microsoft, and the sessions by MVP's and partners.

Take a look and add the sessions that interest you to your schedule builder!

David

There has been a very useful TechNet Wiki page posted that lists all the currently available management packs, and the relevant links to download them.  The page also includes all management packs currently in pre-release that are due for release in the near future.  As this is a wiki page, it can be easily updated when new MP's or updates are released, so hopefully this page will stay up to date.

Visit the page at, http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/16174.microsoft-management-packs.aspx.

Be sure to check out the subscription options via email or RSS on the right hand side of the page, so you are notified when changes are made to the page.

David

Over the years there has been a number of management packs from Microsoft that have left some customer wanting, with both the level of monitoring and knowledge provided within them.  That being said, over time the quality of most management packs has improved, but not at the pace everyone had hoped for, and every now and then another "bad" management pack made it out to release.

Now, to help understand what is being done to make management packs from Microsoft more consistent, and what is being done to raise the quality bar, Daniel Savage at Microsoft has released the first of a series of blog posts that provide information on the latest MP initiatives and management packs due for release in the near future.

Read the Daniels' post at, http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2013/03/12/mp-blog-consistent-world-class-manageability.aspx.

David

Using the Visual Studio Authoring Extensions to build your management packs, one extremely useful piece of functionality is the ability to create multiple rules/monitors/discoveries/tasks/views etc. using management pack template groups.  The reason this functionality is so good is because:

1.  Easy to Create

Working with Visual Studio will put a lot of IT Pro's off using the Visual Studio Authoring Extensions, so they have to as easy as possible to use, and the management pack template groups are certainly easy to create and use!  All you need to do to create a new template group is simply right-click in your solution and select Add -> New Item...

and then pick the relevant template...

and then name as required.

DONE!

2.  No XML required

VSAE adds a UI to create monitoring components such as rules and monitors.  Using this UI it is possible to configure all the available settings such as name, target, data source, ID, description etc etc. and it will configure all the relevant display strings automatically!

---  OK, so I'll be honest here...  Sometimes there may be a requirement to work with the XML a little bit.  When working with some items, like rules, you need to configure the data source type the rule is going to use, and usually the data source type will require some configuration items to be passed, and it is this configuration that you will need to configure in the XML.  The screen clipping below is displaying the configuration XML for the data source selected.

This isn't as bas as it seems though, as you can use intellisense to return the configuration items required in the XML.  Simply hit Ctrl+Space and the configuration item will be available to select, as you can see with SyncTime above.  Once the SyncTime has been configured, hit return and do Ctrl+Space again to see if another configuration item is required.

3.  Copy & Paste

One of my biggest issues with the SCOM 2007 R2 Authoring Console was that it was not possible to copy and paste.  In many cases I had the requirement to create tens, if not hundreds, of rules that were all identical apart from a couple of minor configuration changes, and in the old authoring tool I would have to create each one manually or break out into the XML and copy and paste the relevant rule and display strings.  Neither of these solutions were great as they were both very time consuming, but this issue is now resolved using VSAE as after I have created my first rule, I can simply copy and paste and then simply edit the configuration items as required.

It's not just rules that can be copied and pasted though, any template item can be.  The next item below covers all the available template types.

4.  14 Templates Available

There are 14 templates available which will cover the majority of your authoring needs!  They are:

• Agent Task (Custom)
• Agent Task (PowerShell Script)
• Agent Task (Windows Script)
• Assembly Resource
• Discovery
• Monitor (Aggregate)
• Monitor (Dependency)
• Monitor (Unit)
• Rule (Alert)
• Rule (Custom)
• Rule (Event Collection)
• Rule (Performance Collection)
• Snippet
• View (Custom)

5.  Auto-Generated MPX

When using template groups, an MPX file is created automatically which enables you to view the XML behind the UI if you so wish.

WARNING:  Do not edit the .mpx file as these changes will not be saved.

MPX files are management pack fragments, and you can have multiple MPX files within an MP.  When you build the MP, all the MPX files are combined to form the management pack.

So, they are my top reasons for what makes template groups so good!  There are many more as well, but these are the key ones in my opinion that cover all the the different template types.

Happy MP writing all :-)

David

Today the System Center 2012 Operations Manager book became available in Amazon.  I would recommend this book to anyone that works with Operations Manager!

Purchase the book (paperbook or Kindle) here, http://www.amazon.co.uk/System-Center-Operations-Manager-Unleashed/dp/0672335913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361888853&sr=8-1.

Congratulations to Kerrie, Cameron, John, and Pete!

David