A new version of the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack 

Version: 6.0.5000.11
Date Published: 6/29/2007

Update version addressing problems with empty alert parameter data in self-tuning threshold monitors, and discovery issues on Exchange 2003 running in a clustered setup. The library MP is unchanged from the initial release.

Download here

A time ago I wrote a simple ping script for MOM 2005. Today I needed a script like that in Ops Mgr 2007, this is how I implemented it in Ops Mgr 2007.

1. Start the console, click Authoring and then expand Management Pack Objects, right-click Rules and choose Create a new rule…
2. Create Rule Wizard – Rule Type: Choose Timed Command/Execute a script, choose management pack and click Next
3. Create Rule Wizard – General: Input a name, description and choose target. In this example I have create a small group of machines that will be the target. Click Next
4. Create Rule Wizard – Schedule: Choose how often the script should be executed, click Next
5. Create Rule Wizard – Script: Paste the following script in the script box, input a filename (for example ping_script.vbs) and then click Create. In this example I ping two machines, CODC99 and ping.sunet.se.

Hosts = "CODC99,ping.sunet.se"aMachines = Split(Hosts, ",")
strLog = "1"
For Each machine in aMachines
Set objPing = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}")._
ExecQuery("select * from Win32_PingStatus where address = '"_
& machine & "'")
For Each objStatus in objPing
If IsNull(objStatus.StatusCode) or objStatus.StatusCode<>0 Then
        Const EVENT_WARNING = 2
 Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
 objShell.LogEvent EVENT_WARNING, _
 "Computer " & machine & " is not reachable (" & strLog & ")"
ELSE
 IF strLog = 1 Then
  Const EVENT_SUCCESS = 0
  Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
  objShell.LogEvent EVENT_SUCCESS, _
  "Computer " & machine & " is reachable"
 End If
End If
Next
Next

If you set strLog = “1” you will get a local event for every sucessfully ping. If a machine is not reachable you will get a local event with event ID 2, type=warning and source=WSH. To get this into your console you will have to create a rule to collect them too. 

This is a general guide how to monitor a web site with Operations Manager 2007.

1. Start the console, click Authoring and then expand Management Pack Templates
2. Right-click Web Application and choose add monitoring wizard
3. Add monitoring Wizard – Monitoring Type: Select Web Application and click Next
4. Add monitoring Wizard – General Properties: Input name, description and select a management pack, then click Next
5. Add monitoring Wizard – Web Address: Input the URL, click test and verify that the URL works, then click Next
6. Add monitoring Wizard – Watcher Node: Select the machine that will as watcher node, click Next
7. Add monitoring Wizard – Summary: Verify your settings and then click Create

You can click on your new web application and then click “Record a browser session” or “Edit web application settings” to setup more advanced configuration for your web application monitoring.

System Center Operations Manager 2007 are now available at Technet Download and MSDN. You will find it under System Center.

Pete Zerger and I collaborated on a guide about Agentless Exception Monitoring (AEM) in Operations Manager 2007. Monitoring desktop client hardware, operating system and application faults can be of great value in terms of reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) through identification of widespread faults in the monitored environment. In Operations Manager 2007, there are actually three components for monitoring the client experience:

• Agentless Exception Monitoring (AEM)
• Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)
• Management Packs for Windows-based workstation operating systems and applications

In this document, we’ll focus specifically on configuration Agent Exception Monitoring feature.

Download the document here

If you want to do silent AEM reporting you can modify the following regkeys, but before you do that, make sure it approved in your organization.

for XP
HLKM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\ShowUI to DWORD 0 HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\DWByPassQueue to DWORD 1 HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\DWAlwaysReport to DWORD 1 HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\DWNeverUpload to DWORD 0

for Vista
Set DontShowUI key and appropriate Consent as per http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb513638(VS.85).aspx

There was a question in a news group about creating a rule to generate an alert if the alert description contains a special word. When you create a new alert generating alert/Event Based/NT Event Log (Alert) rule you can not choose alert descript as a parameter. Instead you will have to input a new parameter name, EventDescription. For example if you want a rule to generate an alert if the word “Pay” is in the alert descript the forumla would look like this ( EventDescription Contains pay ) .

A saw a question in a news group about listing files on agent managed computers from the web console in Ops Mgr 2007. After some thinker and discussion with Mikael Nyström I found the solution. First, it has to be a agent task to show up in the web console. In this example I will list the C:\WINDOWS\win.ini file on the agent managed computer, in the real world it could be for example a logfile from a application. The result will be shown in the task result box.

1. Start the console, click Authoring and then expand Management Pack Objects
2. Right-click Tasks and choose to create a new task
3. In the Create task wizard – Task Type, choose Agent Task and Command line, choose your destination management pack and click Next
4. In the Create task wizard – General Properties, input a task name, a description and choose target, for example Windows Server 2003 Computers as target. Click Next
5. In the Create task wizard – Command Line, input
   Full path to file: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe
   Parameters: /C type %WINDIR%\WIN.INI
   You dont have to input a working directory. Click Create

Now, open the web console (http://servername:51908) and test your new task.