SCOM 2012: Put Cluster Node and Cluster Object in Maintenance Mode

Posted on 07/11/2013 by Marcel Zehner

Maintenance Mode is an important concept to suppress alerts for planned maintenance windows. SCOM allows you to put all discovered in maintenance mode. This could be a Windows Computer, a SQL database or a distributed application. Depending on the activation of the maintenance mode, for a specific object, child objects are also put into maintenance mode automatically. For instance if a distributed application is put into maintenance mode, all components that belong to that DA are also put into maintenance mode. One of my customers had the requirement that when a computer is put into maintenance mode and this computer belongs to a cluster, the cluster object and therefore all the child objects (e.g. all cluster nodes) should be places into maintenance mode as well. I solved this with a PowerShell script.

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Posted in System Center (without SCSM) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

From CI to parent business service – beta version

Posted on 05/10/2013 by Marcel Zehner

When dealing with CIs in Service Manager, you often cannot see if this specific CI belongs to a business service. I created a very first version of a custom task (PowerShell Script) to quickly get that information from any CI you want. I did not use this solution in a production environment as it is brand new and also in the very first steps. So it will need some more development optimizing and testing. Also I’d like to get your feedback what you think or if you have some additional input. Here we go.

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Posted in SCSM | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Session recording “Building a dynamic and automated rockstar CMDB with the Microsoft System Center suite”

Posted on 04/10/2013 by Marcel Zehner

At SCU 2013 DACH in Bern/Switzerland I had a session together with Kurt van Hoecke (inovativ) and Stefan Johner (itnetx) about how to extend Service Manager for your very own needs. We talked about adding properties to existing classes, add new classes, bring in objects to the CMDB, create custom forms and custom tasks. To demonstrate that we built a simple solution to manage physical computer objects in the CMDB with the following functionality:

  • Add new class with properties using VSAE
  • Import objects from another management systems by using SCORCH
  • Create custom forms in VS to manage the objects and add relationships to logical computer objects)
  • Create custom tasks to print labels for the physical computers holding information about the physical computer asset (text as well as QR code)
  • Prepare a MP to make sure you have the needed information in the DWH for reporting

So a pretty straightforward example that might help you to understand what’s possible in SCSM.

Download the session here!

Feedback is much appreciated!

Cheers
Marcel

Posted in SCSM | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

SCU 2013 DACH – Review (16.-17.September 2013)

Posted on 19/09/2013 by Marcel Zehner

SCU 2013 DACH is history – 280 people from 17 different countries made it to the conference. These are incredible numbers for a first time event. We had 2 awesome days in Bern-Switzerland with great sessions, lots of interesting discussions and learnings, an exhibition zone with motivated sponsors and the networking party for all the people that were part of the conference. From the feedback we got so far I can definitely say that the conference was a success for everybody, for speakers, sponsors, the staff and of course for the attendees.

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Posted in Events/Speaking | 9 Comments

SCOM: Disable Virtual Machine Monitoring when using the Veeam 6.x MP

Posted on 06/09/2013 by Marcel Zehner

One awesome way to monitor ESX/vSphere infrastructures by SCOM is using the Veeam MP 6.x. This MP uses collectors to talk to the ESX/vSphere infrastructure, collect data from the physical infrastructure as well as from virtual machines and submit those to SCOM. After the discovery the virtualization platform is boradly monitored. But there are cases where monitoring virtual machines on the platform is irrelevant and not needed (maybe if you act as a IaaS service provider). The only focus in this situation is the virtualization platform. Read on if you want to know how to disable the monitoring of virtual machines on specific ESX/vSphere hosts.

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Posted in System Center (without SCSM) | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

SCSM: Using multiple key properties in classes

Posted on 02/09/2013 by Marcel Zehner

When configuring new classes in Service Manager, you always need to specify a key property. This property must have a unique value for all instantiated objects of that specific class. Often a key property is created by using an id value that increments automatically. This makes sense in many situations, however when constantly importing objects from other management systems it can make more sense to change tactics and use other properties as key properties – if needed also more than one

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Posted in SCSM | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Speaker@System Center Universe 2013 DACH/Europe

Posted on 31/08/2013 by Marcel Zehner

Only 16 days until SCU 2013 DACH/Europe starts! We worked hard during the last weeks to plan and prepare everything and we are happy to be almost there. Beside the planning efforts, I will also present two breakout sessions at the event. Here’s a quick overview.

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Posted in Events/Speaking | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Cireson Asset Management for System Center Service Manager: New Feature Highlights

Posted on 07/08/2013 by Marcel Zehner

This is a guest blog by Cireson. If you need more details, Cireson will be present at System Center Universe 2013 DACH/Europe as exhibitor and session presenter. Use this chance to meet the Cireson crew in Bern/Switzerland! Enjoy the post!

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Posted in SCSM | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

How many attachments per Incident?

Posted on 18/07/2013 by Marcel Zehner

One of my customers had issues with the Service Manager Exchange connector. There were situations, where updating incidents killed the whole Service Manager management server. During analysis it turned out that they had many incidents with lots of attachments – some with more than 100! Because this customer needs to track everything in the action log, every e-mail is attached as eml-file to the incident. This resulted in incidents having lots of attachments. Because the customer already has more than 30000 Incidents it was not that easy to find the incidents with the most attached file. Therefore I created a simple script to get that information out.

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Posted in SCSM | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Increase the number of max. Incident Attachments to more than 10

Posted on 06/07/2013 by Marcel Zehner

In Service Manager you have the option to attach files to work items. The max. number of attachments can be set using the general/global Incident settings in the SCSM console. The problem here is that the input validation does not allow you to set a value higher than 10. However, when you need more than 10 attachments per incident, this can still be configured using a simple script.

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Posted in SCSM | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments