Why is the Network Monitoring provided by OpsMgr 2012 not enough?

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A much too common scenario; you acquire Operations Manager 2012 so naturally you feel very happy that you’ll finally have a way to monitor your network and regain control over it again. Well, sorry to bust your bubble but you are wrong, you have technology that works great, but is actually obsolete.

I can practically hear you guys thinking, you’re probably saying “Of course you say that, Jalasoft want to sell their product Xian Network Manager 2012 which provides better network monitoring than what System Center Operations Manager 2012 offers.” Well in a way that is true, but I’d like to give you guys some information and leave it up to you to decide. My point here goes a bit further than this.

Jalasoft has extensive experience with network monitoring since 2003 and in all of the years in the business one of the questions that often arrives to support people is: “Ok, now I now there is too much traffic going over interface 18 on this switch, what do I do now?” yeah, what do you answer? So we worked on a way to solve this dilemma for over two years and came up with Xian Network Manager 2012 Netflow traffic analyzer, which certainly helps in answering the question above. With Xian NM it’s become a piece of cake to know who and what is responsible for this high amount of traffic, without any huge investments or hardware intervention. And the best part is, you just get this information in Operations Manager 24/7, alerts and performance data are available just as you are used to.

For those of you who know Operations Manager 2012, you have to admit that they are actually at a state where we were 8 years ago, and it definitely cannot analyze any traffic, something that is absolutely necessary in the era of public and private clouds and a 100% dependency on a stable and efficient network.

Curious? Just contact Jalasoft for a demo!

Winning the coveted Surface from Twitter Army!

Last week on MMS I did a lot of tweeting. Unfortunately I have no specifications about how many tweets, retweets and new followers, but believe me when I saying it was hugh. Because I love doing community stuff I subscribed to the myITforum Twitter Army. Lucky me I was the grand prize winner of Twitter Army, winning the coveted Microsoft Surface RT (32GB) with touch cover.

Thanks to myITforum and @rodtrent for the opportunity to win!

No MMS 2014 next year anymore?

Rumors are saying there's no MMS next year anymore. This because no new date and location were mentioned during MMS 2013. Still there were 5,200 attendees this year, and it was almost sold out. I hope it will be continued next year, because MMS is the best event for System Center geeks! Let's wait for an official statement first.

This year MMS would be taking place in June in New Orleans. Then TechEd America is scheduled also. Because of community reasons Microsoft decided to split-up both events again, and schedule MMS for Las Vegas. For community reasons Las Vegas is still the place to be! For me it can be any place, as long there is space enough for networking and community! We'll see :-)

The MMS 2013 Keynote Opener Video

This year the MMS keynote was started with a video. The first person showed up in this video was Ruben Spruijt from PQR, which is my colleague! Just have a look at this great video to see Ruben, and other MVP's from all over the world speaking about new Microsoft solutions based on Private Cloud and System Center.

In case you missed it: The MMS 2013 Keynote Opener Video 

Have fun watching the video!

Back from MMS 2013 in Las Vegas

Back again from the best event on Device management and Microsoft Cloud solutions. MMS 2013 was great on networking and community too. Very nice to meet a lot of people who are known and not known to me. This year the event was hold in Mandalay Bay, which is placed at the very end of the Las Vegas strip. I stayed in the hotel where the event was hold (Mandalay Bay); that's better to walk and meeting people after session time is easier also.

First some information about the event. This year there were 5,200 attendees which is almost full house. There is (most of time) space for 5,500 attendees, which was reached last year in The Venetian. Then System Center 2012 was released, and many announcements were done. This year there was no big announcement to make; the only one known to me was MDOP 2013. Let's have a look.

This release includes Service Pack 1 updates of AGPM 4.0, DaRT 8.0, App-V 5.0, and UE-V 1.0. However, the biggest new addition is the official release of MBAM 2.0 which include a Self Service Portal for end-users with common PC support tasks and automation of BitLocker encryption for Windows 8 based computers. MBAM can be used standalone or integrated in ConfigMgr (which I prefer).

User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) is used for application and Windows settings, which brings a seamless experience when using multiple systems. Both application and Windows settings are saved immediately after changing, so no need to logoff first. Settings will be saved in AD home directory or on storage share. Settings management is done with GPO, PowerShell or Registry. Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) provides enterprise management capabilities for BitLocker and BitLocker to Go.

Video: MBAM 2.0 Overview
TechNet: MBAM Information

Most of sessions I've done are on SCCM/ConfigMgr, Windows Intune and Windows 8 (VDI). Expect additional blogposts about that topics later this week. There's a lot to tell about these solutions! 

MMS is (besides of doing breakout sessions and labs) the place for having party's also. I visited two Microsoft party's (Dutch party & Closing party at the XS Nightclub at the Wynn Resort) one 1E Pre-conference party and one myITforum party as well. This year I had the luck to visit this party, where 350 attendees can meet and geek. That way it's possible to party every night and meet geeks after sessions also! Much better then a daily walk on the strip :-)

Expect a lot of blogging next week(s) on MMS 2013!

Next week in Las Vegas for MMS 2013

Next week I will be in Las Vegas for Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2013. For me it's the third time for this great event. Nothing better than MMS for me :) Just have a look at the MMS website for more information: http://www.2013mms.com/

Expect a lot of information next week on twitter @HenkHoogendoorn and this blog. Hope I have some spare time during the week to write some blogposts. When there's no spare time follow twitter and a blogpost is coming after the event.

Topics for me this year are Client device management with SCCM/ConfigMgr and Windows Intune for Mobile device/application management. Also I will do a few sessions on Monitoring (SCOM/OpsMgr) and MS Private Cloud, Server 2012.

Stay tuned for more information next week!

How to find the SQL Server used for OpsMgr installation

When looking in the OpsMgr console, you cannot see which SQL Server is used for the OperationsManager and OperationsManagerDW database. There are however a few ways to find this server. I will explain them in this blogpost.

1) Install the SQL Server management pack and wait till the SQL Servers are discovered. Expand the Databases tree and type 'OperationsManager' into the look for field. Select the database and in path name you will see the server (and instance) hosting the database. (Or look at the databases immediately)

2) You can determine the SQL database by reviewing the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\3.0\Setup\DatabaseServerName. On this location the server (and instance) hosting the database is found.

3) Go to Monitoring, Discovered Inventory and run the 'Change Target Type' task. Select 'Operations Manager Operational Database Watcher' and choose OK. You will only see one instance.  Scroll to the right until you see the 'Operational Database Server Name' and 'Operational Database Name' columns.

Hope you find this as useful as I did.

Modern Data Protection Built for Virtualization

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Veeam has always been committed to communicating the value of virtualization to IT professionals. Recently, we launched the new campaign, "Modern Data Protection Built for Virtualization," to help delivering this message even further to non-technical audiences, including decision makers.

Learn more about Modern Data Protection Built for Virtualization:
- Five Fundamentals of Modern Data Protection
- Annual Data Protection Report
- ESG Lab Review: Veeam Backup & Replication – Built for Virtualization

Just have a look at these whitepapers for more information!

There is also a video available on this topic.

Install OpsMgr 2012 SP1 on Server 2012 and SQL 2012 SP1

This time I installed a new lab environment with new components: OpsMgr 2012 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 SP1. All Configuration will be mentioned in this blogpost. Here we go!
 
In my setup I'm using 2 VM's: 1 Domain Controller (VDC01) with 2GB memory and 1 SQL/OpsMgr server (VOM01) with 8GB memory. Let's start with the Domain Controller first.
 
- Install Windows Server 2012 (5 minutes on SSD);
- Change computer name to VDC01 and restart;
- Add static IP-address (192.168.137.x) to the network-adapter;
- Add Roles with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature -Name AD-Domain-Services,DNS,RSAT);
- Add Features with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core -Source D:\Sources\SxS);
- Promote to Domain Controller in Server Manager (Add a new forest);
- Choose Contoso.com as Root domain name (for example) and use default settings in the wizard. Only warnings are displayed in the Prerequisites check, so choose Install after read them;
- After restart login with a Domain Administrator account. Disable Windows Firewall and IE ESC for all profiles/accounts;

- Create 5 service accounts for SQL (SVC_SQL) and SCOM (SVC_SCOMSDK, SVC_SCOMDR, SVC_SCOMDW) as Domain User. Only the SCOM Action Account (SVC_SCOMAA) has Domain Admin permissions.

Let's start with the OpsMgr server now!
 
- Install Windows Server 2012 (5 minutes on SSD);
- Change computer name to VOM01 and restart;
- Add static IP-address (192.168.137.x) to the network-adapter;
- Promote to Domain Server in Server Manager (Contoso.com);
- After restart login with Domain Administrator account. Disable Windows Firewall and IE ESC for all profiles/accounts;
- Add Roles with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature -Name NET-Framework-Core,AS-HTTP-Activation,Web-Static-Content,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Dir-Browsing,Web-Http-Errors,Web-Http-Logging,Web-Request-Monitor,Web-Filtering,Web-Stat-Compression,AS-Web-Support,Web-Metabase,Web-Asp-Net,Web-Windows-Auth,NET-HTTP-Activation -Source D:\Sources\SxS);
- Install Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 Redistributable Package: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=6442

- Install SQL Server 2012 SP1 and make sure the collation is set to "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS";
- Choose: Database Engine Services, Full-Text search, Reporting Services and Management Tools (2x);
- Choose default settings where possible and start installation;
- Configure SQL Server and SQL Server Agent to run with the SVC_SQL account (SQL Server Configuration Manager);
- Configure Reporting Services to run with the SVC_SQL account (Reporting Services Configuration Manager);
- Assign maximum server memory (4096 MB) in SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server properties.

 
At last OpsMgr installation can be started!
 
- Install all features (Management server, Operations console, Web console, Reporting server);
- Choose the default installation location;
- All prerequisites have passed;
- Management group name: CONTOSO;
- Configure the operational database: VOM01 (default settings);
- Configure the data warehouse database: VOM01 (default settings);
- SQL Server instance for reporting services: VOM01;
- Use the Default website & Mixed authentication;
- Configure Operations Manager accounts (4 service accounts, the SDK account must have local admin permissions on the SCOM server);
- Choose the Microsoft Update setting of your choice;
- Installation is done within 30 minutes on SSD.

If you installed .NET Framework 4 before installing the IIS you’ll get an error:
- The ASP.NET 4.0 handler is not registered with IIS
- Web Console cannot operate properly because the ISAPI and CGI Restrictions in Internet Information Services (IIS) are disabled or missing for ASP.NET 4.0.
To fix this, you should run: %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -enable -r

Above steps can be done in just one day. After that a new lab environment is running with new components: OpsMgr 2012 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 SP1. Have fun!

Cumulative Update 1 for ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 released

2 days ago Cumulative Update 1 for ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 is released. It contains 18 fixes and 39 new cmdlets. Here's a list of the issues that are fixed:

- Administrator console (2 fixes)
- Site systems (2 fixes)
- Device management (1 fix)
- Software updates (3 fixes)
- ConfigMgr client (4 fixes)
- PowerShell (6 fixes)

Just install it in your environment when experiencing problems described in this article. When not affected by these problems, Microsoft recommends to wait for the next service pack that contains this update.

For more information or download the update have a look here:
Microsoft Support

Xian Wings HD Review

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Just have a look at this 5 minutes demo from Jalasoft, which mentions a interesting Review of Xian Wings HD. - Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2e5AENJJ4

With Xian Wings for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM/OpsMgr) you have a real client application for your smartphone, which means states, alerts, performance graphs, and more are always at your fingertips. Perform any task, from anywhere.

How to change language in Windows Intune Console?

A while ago I installed Windows Intune for our company. When you setup your account, and choose Dutch for region, all consoles will be displayed in Dutch by default. But what to do when you want to change language to English? This because my Windows 8 system is installed in English language also. I don't want a Dutch language on my device for doing management :)

Here are the steps which must be taken.

First open the Admin Overview for Windows Intune and choose My profile. Within My profile it's possible to change your Display language to English (for example). Just choose save and your done!? Yes, partly! When opening the Company Portal or Admin Console they will be still displayed in Dutch language. This because of Internet Explorer settings. That settings must be changed also.

Open Properties - Internet options for that in Internet Explorer. Choose Languages - Set Language Preferences. Just make sure English (for example) is the first choice in the list here. In my case it was set to Dutch first, and English as a second choice. Just choose Move up and you're done. The Company Portal or Admin Console will also be in English from now on!

Much better this way :)

Galaxy S4 vs. Lumia 920 vs. BlackBerry Z10

Yesterday I posted a comparison between Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5, HTC One, and BlackBerry Z10. You can find that one HERE. Today a new comparison is available. This time between Galaxy S4 vs. Lumia 920 vs. BlackBerry Z10. Yeah, finally a new comparison with Windows Phone 8 in it. Let's have a look at the specs!

Hope you can make a choice between the new 2013 mobile phones this way. My choice will be probably the Nokia Lumia 920 with Windows Phone 8 onboard. Hope you like it :)

Nokia Lumia 920 review - Youtube

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5, HTC One, and BlackBerry Z10

Last week a new comparison is released between the Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5, HTC One, and BlackBerry Z10. Just have a look at it, and decide it's enough for choosing a new mobile phone. Unfortunately no Windows Phone 8 is added to this comparison. A few other comparisons can be found here:
 
- Mobile phone comparison for iOS, Android and Windows Phone
- Windows Phone 8 comparison for HTC, Nokia and Samsung phones
 
Just have a look at the comparison:

Within a month it's my turn for choosing a new mobile phone. My choice is between Android (Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy S3 plus) and Windows Phone 8 (Samsung Ativ S, Nokia Lumia 920). I'm curious about it, and post my choice later :)

How to upgrade OpsMgr 2007 R2 to 2012 SP1

This week I received a question if OpsMgr 2007 R2 can be upgraded to 2012 SP1. The answer is Yes, that's possible! However you have the choice between an in-place upgrade or a side-by-side upgrade. Both options has their own benefits, disadvantages and configuration steps. Let's start to have a look at them.

Your first start is here: Microsoft TechNet

It's all about the existing configuration, how many OpsMgr servers there are, custom management packs, used Windows version, used SQL version and SQL Collation set, which must be SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. There are a few "Upgrade Process Flow Diagrams" which can be used during the upgrade process. They can be found HERE.

Another choice is about having pollution in the existing database. Do you want a new, nice and clean installation with new management packs and configuration, or do you want to use your existing environment with all custom management packs and configuration in it? Is history/trending important or do you want to start all over again? It depends on the situation I guess.

The upgrade to OpsMgr 2012 SP1 is a two way step. First a migration from OpsMgr 2007 R2 to 2012 is needed. Then the 2012 SP1 setup can be started for the next upgrade. To help you with the upgrade, a "Upgrade Helper Management Pack" is available on the OpsMgr 2012 installation media. Just use it, and follow the steps in the right order. More information can be found HERE.

For the first upgrade to 2012, the minimum cumulative update (CU) for OpsMgr 2007 R2 must be CU4. It's recommended to use the latest version available, which is CU7. Just download it HERE.

There are a few prerequisites which are needed before the upgrade: Just make sure there is a full backup of the Management Server and OpsMgr database, install DotNet Framework 4.0 and Report Viewer 2010 redistributable. Also make sure both Management Server and database is upgraded to the last patch level. A few manual steps are needed also, which can be found HERE. (Manual operations that must be performed after you update the root management server and the data warehouse).

After following all needed steps for prerequisites, the upgrade can be started. When ALL is configured right, this might not be a problem. In my LAB environment things went very well, but hey that's an almost clean environment. In a real situation I prefer a clean installation or side-by-side upgrade above an in-place upgrade. That way you can startover again and their is less risk for issues.

Hope it helps!

Veeam extends support for VMware vCloud Director

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Great news! Veeam extends support for VMware vCloud Director

 

 

Veeam is extending its support for VMware vCloud Director (vCD). NEW integration with vCD will extend Veeam support for vCD, which currently includes the ability to backup and restore virtual machines (VMs) managed by vCD. Using the vCD API, Veeam Backup & Replication v7 will also:

• Display the vCD infrastructure directly in Veeam Backup & Replication
• Backup all vApp metadata and attributes
• Restore vApps and VMs directly to vCD
• Support restore of fast-provisioned VMs—and more!

 

Sound exciting? Learn more about upcoming updates here! 

 

LEARN MORE

Which sessions to attend on MMS 2013

In a few weeks (26 days left) Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2013 is there! Last month I have choosen my sessions in the schedule builder. The following sessions types are available:

• Breakout session (162 sessions)
• Exam prep (16 sessions)
• Instructor-led Lab (18 sessions)
• Keynote (only 1 this time)
• Self-paced lab (58 sessions)

My time will be filled with breakout sessions only, and some self-paced labs when I have spare time. Also it's very nice to meet people who are sharing the same knowledge. The following sessions I will attend, so expect information on this products/topics later: 

• Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0
• Configuration Manager 2012 SP1
• Endpoint Protection 2012 SP1
• Microsoft Private Cloud
• User Experience Virtualization (UE-V)
• Operations Manager 2012 SP1
• Remote Desktop Services (RDS)
• Updates Publisher 2011 (SCUP)
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
• Windows 8 & Windows RT
• Windows Intune
• Windows To Go

It will be an interesting week again, with a lot of sessions. I'm happy to attend this great event for the third time. Stay tuned for more!

Source: http://www.2013mms.com/

Install ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 on Server 2012 and SQL 2012 SP1

Last month I installed a new lab environment with new components: ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 SP1. All Configuration will be mentioned in this blogpost. Here we go!
 
In my setup I'm using 2 VM's: 1 Domain Controller (VDC01) with 2GB memory and 1 SQL/ConfigMgr server (VCM01) with 8GB memory. Let's start with the Domain Controller first.
 
- Install Windows Server 2012 (5 minutes on SSD);
- Change computer name to VDC01 and restart;
- Add static IP-address (192.168.137.x) to the network-adapter;
- Add Roles with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature -Name AD-Domain-Services,DNS,RSAT);
- Add Features with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core -Source D:\Sources\SxS);
- Promote to Domain Controller in Server Manager (Add a new forest);
- Choose Contoso.com as Root domain name (for example) and use default settings in the wizard. Only warnings are displayed in the Prerequisites check, so choose Install after read them;
- After restart login with a Domain Administrator account. Disable Windows Firewall and IE ESC for all profiles/accounts;
- Create 2 service accounts for SQL (SVC_SQL) as Domain User and SCCM (SVC_SCCM) as Domain Admin.

Let's start with the ConfigMgr server now!

- Install Windows Server 2012 (5 minutes on SSD);
- Change computer name to VCM01 and restart;
- Add static IP-address (192.168.137.x) to the network-adapter;
- Add Roles with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server, WDS, RDC, BITS);
- Add Role Services with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-WMI); 
- Add Features with PowerShell cmdlets (Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core -Source D:\Sources\SxS);
- Promote to Domain Server in Server Manager (Contoso.com);
- After restart login with Domain Administrator account. Disable Windows Firewall and IE ESC for all profiles/accounts.

- Install SQL Server 2012 SP1 and make sure the collation is set to "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS";
- Choose: Database Engine Services, Full-Text search, Reporting Services and Management Tools (2x);
- Choose default settings where possible and start installation;
- Configure SQL Server and SQL Server Agent to run with the SVC_SQL account (SQL Server Configuration Manager);
- Configure Reporting Services to run with the SVC_SQL account (Reporting Services Configuration Manager).

- Add WSUS with PowerShell cmdlets for SQL database (Install-WindowsFeature -Name UpdateServices-DB, UpdateServices-Ui);
- Start C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\WsusUtil.exe Postinstall SQL_INSTANCE_NAME=VCM01 CONTENT_DIR=C:\WSUS.
 
- Start Extadsch.exe on VDC01 from ConfigMgr media for a schema update (D:\SMSSETUP\BIN\X64);
- Create a System Management container (beneath System) with ADSIEdit at set permissions for VCM01 (Full control, This object and all descendant objects);
- Install Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) on VCM01 (Deployment tools, Windows PE, USMT);
- Assign maximum server memory (4096 MB) in SQL Server Management Studio in SQL Server properties.

At last ConfigMgr installation can be started!
 
- Install a Configuration Manager primary site;
- Enter License key or start an evaluation version (180 days);
- Download required files or Use previously downloaded files;
- Choose Server and Client languages (english default);
- Choose a Site code and Site name for the ConfigMgr environment;
- Install the primary site as a stand-alone site;
- Choose SQL Server and SMS Provider location;
- Configure the communication method on each site system role;
- Install a Management point and Distribution point (HTTP);
- Watch the prerequisite check, which shows only a "SQL Server process memory allocation" warning in my environment;
- Installation is done in 12 minutes on SSD.

Above steps can be done in just one day. After that a new lab environment is running with new components: ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 SP1. Have fun!

Xian Wings Contest

Sponsor post

Every month we will raffle 1 free Xian Wings license! Are you an OpsMgr user? Just fill out a simple form and prepare to win! 

www.jalasoft.com/xian/wings/contest

No more running back to the office when your network beckons you. With Xian Wings for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 and 2012 (OpsMgr) you have a real client application for your smartphone, which means states, alerts, performance graphs, and more are always at your fingertips. Perform any task, from anywhere. www.jalasoft.com/xian/wings

SQL Server 2012 SP1 support in ConfigMgr 2012 SP1

Since a few weeks (2013/2/12) there is SQL Server 2012 SP1 support in ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 available. That way it's not needed to install Cumulative Update (CU) 2 anymore!

We are announcing support changes for the following releases. These changes will be reflected in the Configuration Manager 2007 Supported Configurations and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Supported Configurations within the next month.

Configuration Manager 2007 and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 now support Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1.

Source: Support Announcements for February 2013