Management Updates : Microsoft Operations Manager

Microsoft Operations Manager - March 2006

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:39:00 GMT

Latest Version of MOM 2005 Resource Kit Now Available for Download

This resource kit has been updated to support MOM 2005 SP1 and new tools have been added:

Alert to RSS Utility – Enable subscriptions to alert information via RSS.
DAS Role Update Utility – Tighten the security of MOM servers by removing the BUILTIN\Administrators group from the MOM Administrator role.
Computer Group Hierarchy Utility – Export and import the Computer Group Hierarchy, including using AD containers and hierarchy to create Computer Groups
Console Scope Utility – Automatically update Console Scope membership and mirror AD Security Group membership into console scopes.
Management Group Utility – List and cleanup Management Group membership data on individual agents.
MOM Remote Pre-requisite Checker – Verify the configuration of the services and ports required for agent installation and discovery.
Response Test Utility – Quickly test response scripts for minor errors from the command line, before finally saving them to an MP.

Microsoft Operations Manager - February 2006

ManagementUpdates — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 03:06:00 GMT

Microsoft Host Integration Server 2004 Management Pack for MOM 2005

The Microsoft Host Integration Server 2004 Management Pack provides monitoring functionality for Host Integration Server 2004 computers running on Microsoft Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003, and is supported for use only with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (MOM). This management pack provides monitoring of key Host Integration Server components, including SNA Connections and TN3270, TN5250, Print, and host transaction resynchronization services.

IMPORTANT: Review the prerequisites section of the Management Pack Guide included with the Management Pack prior to deploying MOM 2005 agents to Host Integration Server 2004 computers. More information available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=56694

Two New Books for MOM 2005

Chris Fox has written another outstanding book for the tools administrators. The Essential Microsoft Operations Manager (O'Reilly) February 2006 is a comprehensive tutorial gives system administrators a solid foundation for planning, implementing, and administering Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. Learn how to program MOM so it automates burdensome and lengthy diagnostic tasks, making your life as a troubleshooter easier than ever. Features practical, real-world advice from MOM expert Chris Fox. It is currently available. Another book about MOM 2005, SMS 2003 and Microsoft Update written by Tim Kelly, Randy Holloway, and Telmo Sampaio will also be available in February 2006. This book teaches expert and best practice based security and patch management of Microsoft environments, using any of the three covered Microsoft offerings (Microsoft Operations Manager, Systems Management Server, and Windows Update Service). After detailing installation and configuration of each of the products, it goes beyond these basics to show the methods administrators should implement to keep their systems patched, secure, and up-to-date.

Microsoft Operations Manager - January 2006

ManagementUpdates — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:38:00 GMT

Microsoft Releases SQL 2005 Management Pack for MOM 2005

On December 5th, 2005, Microsoft released SQL 2005 Management Pack for MOM 2005. The management pack encapsulates knowledge for proactively monitoring SQL Server 2005 in an enterprise environment. Availability and configuration monitoring, performance data collection, and default thresholds are built for enterprise-level monitoring. Both local and remote connectivity checks help ensure database availability. Download the management pack.

New Management Pack for Microsoft Speech Server

The Microsoft Speech Server (MSS) 2004 R2 MOM Management Pack extends the MOM environment with rules, tasks and knowledge about the operation of MSS. The Management Pack includes 40 event rules for MSS Speech Engine Services, 14 event rules for MSS Telephony Application Services, 39 alert generating rules, 44 performance measuring rules for MSS Speech Engine Services, 15 performance measuring rules for MSS Telephony Application Services, performance threshold rules and tasks. The Management Pack also includes knowledge base text that describes the summary, causes and resolutions of MSS events.

Two New Books for MOM 2005

Chris Fox has written another outstanding book for the tools administrators.The Essential Microsoft Operations Manager (O'Reilly) February 2006 is a comprehensive tutorial gives system administrators a solid foundation for planning, implementing, and administering Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. Learn how to program MOM so it automates burdensome and lengthy diagnostic tasks, making your life as a troubleshooter easier than ever. Features practical, real-world advice from MOM expert Chris Fox. It is currently available on Amazon but will not be shipped until February.

Another book about MOM 2005, SMS 2003 and Microsoft Update written by Tim Kelly, Randy Holloway, and Telmo Sampaio will also be available in February 2006. This book, called Professional MOM 2005, SMS 2003, and Microsoft Update, teaches expert and best practice based security and patch management of Microsoft environments, using any of the three covered Microsoft offerings (Microsoft Operations Manager, Systems Management Server, and Windows Update Service). After detailing installation and configuration of each of the products, it goes beyond these basics to show the methods administrators should implement to keep their systems patched, secure, and up-to-date.

Microsoft Operations Manager - Updates & News, December 2005

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:47:00 GMT

MOM Partner Announcements at IT Forum

Many of Microsoft Operations Manager's (MOM) partners made some very important announcements at IT Forum, held in Barcelona, Spain on November 14-17, 2005. See below for each partner’s general announcement:

Tidal
Tidal announced its latest release of Tidal Horizon™ for SAP. This new release offers enhanced automated analysis of database and SAP NetWeaver performance and improved integration with Tidal Enterprise Scheduler to deliver new levels of operational efficiency for SAP. The release continues to expand the product’s embedded expertise with new Analysis Trees for more comprehensive coverage of SAP operation and performance. Horizon for SAP extends the capabilities of MOM 2005 to support SAP, whether SAP is hosted on Windows, UNIX of some other platform. Horizon automates SAP best practices for identifying and analyzing performance problems. As a result, it does not simply flood the MOM console with data and assume the user has the expertise and the time to analyze it. Instead, Horizon provides an ‘Expert-in-a- Box™’ that performs the types of analysis and makes the recommendations an experienced SAP Admin would, 24x7x365, in real-time. Horizon for SAP supports both traditional R3 and the newer NetWeaver components of SAP. In addition, it provides extensive capabilities to automatically analyze the performance impact Microsoft SQL Server and SAP may have with one another. When Coupled with Tidal Enterprise Manager for job scheduling, it can automatically profile batch jobs and automatically analyze jobs that run longer than normal.

AppMind
AppMind version 3.8 extends platform coverage of MOM 2005 for Solaris on x86 and VMware ESX. New features have also been added for providing Digital Views of non-Windows systems along with details of Status, OS, version, etc. Central configuration from the MOM server is also now available.

Silect
Microsoft has licensed Silect’s MP Studio for internal use. MP Studio provides the ability for application developers and IT professionals to develop, test, tune and maintain Management Packs which are used by Microsoft Operations Manager to manage IT services. Under terms of the license agreement, MP Studio will be available to all Microsoft business units, including MSN, product teams, internal IT operations and field personnel. Microsoft certified partners will also have access to special pricing to purchase MP Studio. For product information, and pricing, go to www.silect.com

AVIcode
AVIcode announced an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to develop a Design for Operations Starter Kit that works with AVIcode’s .NET Management Pack to provide a bridge between Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (MOM) and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System due out later this year. The Starter Kit comprises source code that furthers the DSI by offering the first product to facilitate communication between MOM 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 Team System, uniting the traditional operations and development silos. A main feature of the Design for Operations Starter Kit is the ability to integrate work items of Visual Studio 2005 Team System with MOM 2005 alerts. The Starter Kit will automatically generate a work item in Visual Studio 2005 Team System based on any monitored application exception or fault reported by MOM 2005. When that work item is resolved in Visual Studio 2005 Team System, the alert status will be dynamically updated in the MOM 2005 console.

Jalasoft
Jalasoft Inc it is preparing a new technology which will permit network vendors to automatically generate Management Packs for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. This technology will enable network vendors to generate these management packs with little effort, thus simplifying the creation of network device-specific management packs. Xian Network Manager version 3, in combination with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, will provide a technology which will enable network vendors to generate management packs for Microsoft Operations Manager, through an add-on which works with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. This add-on will enable anyone to describe a hierarchical structure of the devices and elements which will be monitored, create rules for these, create the management pack and finally generate reports for it.

nworks
nworks announced the nworks VMware Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. The nworks VMware MP maximizes the value of VMware ESX Server implementations, providing enterprise level, service based operational management from MOM 2005. The nworks VMware MP proactively monitors ESX Servers, virtual machine guests, and ESX Server level performance statistics to identify and isolate problems before they affect end users. Using performance information gathered by the SPI for VMware Products, operators quickly make informed decisions about operational ESX Server resource utilization and Virtual Machine guest operation. MOM 2005 integration provides exceptional ease of use providing extensive reports and monitoring of ESX Server events using message correlation to reduce message clutter. The VMware MP reduces the cost of ownership and raising administration efficiency in VMware ESX Server environments. For more information, contact nworks at sales@nworks.com.

Opalis
Opalis recently launched the new Opalis platform. It includes enhancements to help customers reduce operating costs and improve performance and availability. By providing integration between server components and leading systems management tools such as service desk and monitoring tools, Opalis Integration Server 5.0 provides a simple, fast, and effective way to integrate and automate data center operations. Most enterprises have invested heavily in systems management and monitoring solutions. Opalis Integration Server 5.0 lets IT organizations document and automate procedures without re-engineering existing processes or requiring new tools. Opalis offers integration packs for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), Microsoft Virtual Server, and Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). The Integration Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager enables IT to incorporate MOM with problem management processes and maintenance procedures. The Virtual Server pack allows administrators to automatically stop, start, create, and remove virtual servers as part of their automated maintenance procedures. Finally, the Opalis Integration Pack for SMS enables IT staff to automate software deployment tasks during the maintenance window. For more information, go to www.opalis.com.

AmberPoint
AmberPoint announced that it has completed an agreement to resell Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. AmberPoint’s runtime governance software integrates with MOM 2005 to provide customers of both companies the ability to manage heterogeneous service-oriented environments from end to end.

The combination of AmberPoint and MOM 2005 provides comprehensive runtime governance capabilities, including:

Service level management
Exception management
Services lifecycle management
Policy-based governance of SOA
Authorization and access monitoring
Dynamic resource allocation based on business relevance
End-to-end monitoring across heterogeneous environments

Re-release of the Microsoft Availability Reporting Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005

The Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Availability Reporting Management Pack collects and analyzes data from the event logs of your servers, and generates reports that you can study to improve server availability and reliability. You can identify the causes for planned and unplanned downtime and take preemptive actions to decrease downtime in the future.

Availability Reporting uses a number of metrics to provide data that you can view and customize to suit the needs of your IT organization. Each type of report includes tables or graphs with information about the availability and reliability of servers in your environment. You can input parameters, such as specific periods of time, to filter the data presented in the reports. Availability Reports provide detailed and specific availability and reliability information for several Microsoft applications. For applications not currently supported, Availability Reporting provides basic availability and reliability statistics at the operating system level. In such cases, Availability Reporting measures whether the operating system is running but does not measure whether applications are running.

If you have the old version of this MP installed, please re-install this new MP according to the doc provided in the msi. Your current Installation will be updated.

Microsoft Operations Manager - Updates & News, September 2005

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 03:00:00 GMT

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Service Pack 1 Now Available for Download

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Service Pack 1 was made available for download August 1, 2005. MOM 2005 SP1 not only addresses critical customer requests, required security fixes, adds new OS and database platform support and broadens our localization support, but also includes a new feature that make license compliance much easier: License Usage Alerting. MOM 2005 SP1 can be downloaded here.

MOM 2005 SP1 documentation is also available at the Microsoft Download Center. These documents will provide guidance and explain features & functionality that will help you plan for, deploy, and administer MOM 2005 SP1. Click here for more information or to download today!

Microsoft Management Pack Notifier for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Now Available

This Management Pack will periodically contact Microsoft to determine if updates to previously installed management packs are available for download. When an update is detected an Informational alert will be generated indicating which management pack(s) and version(s) are available. It can be downloaded here.

AVIcode .NET Management Pack for MOM 2005

The AviCode .NET MP is now available for download from the Management Pack Catalog. It provides insight into the functionality, performance, and behavior of ASP.NET, Web services, and .NET applications in production. With the .NET Management Pack, you can significantly reduce troubleshooting and maintenance costs and effectively monitor and report on service level agreements in your production environment. For more information, click here.

MOM Workgroup Customer References

Microsoft is looking for customer/partner references for new MOM Workgroup case studies. Please let us know about customers that meet the following requirements:

Have less than 20 servers and 500 PCs.
Agree to have their name mentioned in our PR/Marketing communications.
Have availability to meet with the technical case study writers (only twice) and review the final document.

Important: Partners who were involved in the deployment can be part of the case study and have their names included in it. Email volocco@microsoft.com if you have any leads.

MOM 2005 Sizer Configuration Utility Released

The Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Sizer Tool provides recommendations for MOM server configurations based on modeled workloads. Recommendations include the CPU, memory, disk, and network bandwidth resources required to manage your environment. The sizer combines information you input about your environment with performance and scalability models of the MOM server architecture established in the MOM Performance labs. The output helps you plan the deployment of MOM 2005 management servers, database servers, and reporting database servers. Click here for more information.

Microsoft Operations Manager - Updates & News, March 2005

ManagementUpdates — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 16:31:00 GMT

Released: Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005
The ISA Server Management Pack monitors ISA Server events and alerts. With detailed alert information you can quickly identify and troubleshoot ISA Server issues, minimizing time-to-resolution when problems occur. Collect and analyze performance trends and metrics. Performance information allows you to manage bottlenecks, identify capacity requirements, and proactively manage your ISA Server configuration to resolve issues before problems occur.
The ISA Server Management Pack helps you:

View state monitoring to quickly assess the overall availability and health of your ISA Server deployment.
Monitor alerts identifying ISA Server configuration issues. Check the availability of ISA Server services, and critical dependent services such as Network Load Balancing, Routing and Remote Access, and ADAM.
Monitor capacity and performance. Monitor performance counters to track trends in ISA Server components such as cache, Web proxy, and Firewall. Thresholds based on performance counters trigger alerts for critical issues.
Get detailed information for troubleshooting alerts and events.

Released: Microsoft MOM 2005 Workgroup Evaluation Software
MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition provides event management, proactive monitoring and alerting, and system -and application-specific knowledge to help you reduce costs and improve availability in small targeted Windows Server System-based environments (of 10 or fewer servers).

Now Available: Active Directory Management Pack Technical Reference for MOM 2005 (French, German, and Japanese)
This document provides a detailed technical reference for Active Directory Management Pack (ADMP) for Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. ADMP is designed for administrators who are responsible for maintaining a healthy Active Directory® service.
This document provides an overview of ADMP, and it explains how ADMP defines “health” for Active Directory components. This document also contains information about the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) providers and the algorithms that are used by ADMP monitoring scripts, which perform much of the work involved in monitoring Active Directory.

Now Available: Monitor Your .NET Applications with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Whitepaper
Learn about Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 architecture and create custom management packs for your .NET-based applications.

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Microsoft Develops an Operations Manager 2005 Custom Management Pack (Level 200)
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time
Mark Pohto, IT Senior Technologist, Microsoft
The Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group supports internal line of business (LOB) applications. To improve monitoring of these applications and to help reduce downtime, Microsoft develops custom management packs for the LOB applications and deploys them to Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) servers inside Microsoft IT. This session examines the process that Microsoft IT uses and recommends to plan, develop, and deploy custom MOM management packs.

TechNet Webcast: Customizing Management Packs for MOM 2005 (Level 200)
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Chris Hallum, Program Manager, Microsoft
Uncover the ease of creating Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Management Packs, including what makes up a management pack, how management packs have been enhanced in MOM 2005, and how to create your own custom management packs for monitoring custom developed applications. Join us for this webcast where we will walk-through the management pack creation process.

TechNet Webcast: Managing Exchange 2003 with MOM 2005: Better Together (Level 200)
Friday, March 25, 2005 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Chris Hallum, Program Manager, MOM, Microsoft
Learn how Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and the Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack for MOM 2005 can help improve the health and performance of Exchange Server 2003 through specialized, proactive monitoring and alerting. This webcast explores the wide range of valuable tools and knowledge contained in this Management Pack and shows how you can use them to identify, understand, and resolve IT health issues to keep Exchange running and your organization's e-mails flowing.

TechNet Webcast: Managing SQL Server 2000 with MOM 2005 (Level 200)
Friday, March 25, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Vipul Shah, Program Manager, Microsoft
Understand how you can ensure your SQL Server is highly available by using the Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 management pack for SQL Server. In this webcast we will walk through some of the key features of the management pack including SQL Server state monitoring, reporting, tasks, performance monitoring and the new features of the management pack including the monitoring of Blocked Processes and Long Running Jobs.

Microsoft Operations Manager - Updates & News, February 2005

ManagementUpdates — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 00:52:00 GMT

Best General Network Monitoring Tool – MOM
January 2005
Lafe Low, Redmond Magazine
Redmond Magazine announced its reader's choice awards and MOM is named best general network monitoring tool.

MOM 2005 Takes Home the Silver
TechTarget recently awarded MOM 2005 with a silver medal as Product of the Year in the Network and System Management category.

Released: Live Communications Server 2005 Management Pack
The Live Communications Server 2005 Management Pack for MOM 2005 monitors the health of computers running Live Communications Server 2005 on Windows Server 2003 and alerts IT administrators about critical health conditions that indicate degraded performance.

Released: Microsoft Password Change Notification Service Management Pack
Microsoft Password Change Notification Service Management Pack provides a monitoring system for the Microsoft Password Change Notification Service. PCNSMP collects events placed into the event log by PCNS. Key events are highlighted to indicate possible service outages, configuration problems, and degraded performance so that corrective or preventative actions can be taken in a timely manner.

Released: Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 Management Pack
Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003 enables the integration and management of identity information across multiple repositories, systems, and platforms. MIIS 2003 augments Active Directory directory service by providing broad interoperability capabilities including: integration with a wide range of identity repositories, provisioning and synchronizing identity information across multiple stores, and brokering changes to identity information by automatically detecting updates and sharing the changes across systems. This management pack monitors identity integration scenarios for MIIS 2003.

Released: Microsoft Windows Terminal Server Management Pack
Microsoft Windows Terminal Server (TS) Management Pack, version 2 monitors the TS services application event log. This management pack includes event rules for the TSservice, Licensing Service and Session Directory service in NT4 TS Edition, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. The events collected from each service indicate critical issues with TS operations during deployment. The improvements above apply to Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 sections of the MP. NT4 TS Edition section is unchanged from previous version.

Available: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Performance and Sizing White Paper
An accurate analysis of the performance and sizing of the hardware systems that support Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 is critical to the successful implementation of MOM 2005. This technical paper shares some of the knowledge gained from the performance and sizing testing for MOM 2005, and is presented in various scenarios.
The test results presented in this paper do not represent nor are they meant to define an absolute system configuration for any number of managed computers. Rather, use the findings in this paper and the MOM 2005 Management Sizer as a starting point to help you to determine the appropriate performance and sizing considerations for MOM 2005 in your specific environment.

Available: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Deployment Planning Guide
This guide provides you with a roadmap for developing a deployment plan for your Microsoft® Operations Manager 2005 (MOM) monitoring solution. In addition, this guide directs you to the relevant conceptual, security, and planning resources you might need to help you develop a sound deployment strategy.

Available: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Operations Guide
The Microsoft® Operations Manager 2005 Operations Guide includes guidance and recommended best practices for backing up and restoring, maintaining, optimizing and monitoring Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (MOM) in an existing IT infrastructure. This guidance is based on the supported MOM deployment architectures described in the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Supported Configurations Guide. Additional instructions are provided for managing agents across multiple domains, across firewalls, across slow links, and in workgroups. Detailed instructions are provided for each of the MOM components: the MOM Database, the Management Server, agents, consoles and the MOM Reporting Database. Detailed information about MOM security-related features and processes are provided in the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Security Guide.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Case Study
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS), a General Dynamics business unit that serves customers in the defense and intelligence communities, needed to proactively monitor and manage its servers. GDAIS used monitoring tools that notified IT staff about issues only after services had failed. This hindered the productivity of both business users and IT administrators. In addition, the IT staff manually created reports to document and analyze server trends. The company deployed Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 to manage key parts of its network—Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5 and the Active Directory service. With the new solution, GDAIS expects to reduce downtime through proactive monitoring and alerting, increase IT staff productivity with an easy-to-use operator console, and validate service uptime by using predefined reports.

Technology Firm Simplifies IT Operations to Improve Efficiency and Increase Uptime
The Microsoft Solutions for Infrastructure and Management (MSIM) team has released a case study describing Avanade's use of the Alert Tuning Solution Accelerator to fine-tune the alerts that Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 generates. Avanade, a global technology consulting company that helps enterprise customers optimize their IT investments, has more than 2,700 employees in 30 locations. The company needed to adjust the alerts that MOM generates to meet its specific needs. To do so, it used the Alert Tuning Solution Accelerator, which includes a guide—Automatic Trouble Ticket Generation Using MOM 2005—that describes the steps involved in preparing for and implementing autoticketing. The Avanade case study describes the business challenge that Avanade faced, the solution it chose, and the benefits it achieved by using the Alert Tuning Solution Accelerator.

MOM Knows Best
January 14, 2005
Jon Honeyball, PC Pro Magazine
“In case you are one of those people who likes to hop to the end of the column to see if it is a thumbs up or down, I will put you out of your misery right now: MOM 2005 is now an essential piece of software. If you run Windows servers, you should have MOM 2005 installed - there are no exceptions and no excuses.”

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 - Got a Windows server problem? Just ask MOM
January 24, 2005
Barry Nance, Network World
If you want to stay ahead of server failures, server capacity problems and server-related network outages, Microsoft Operation Manager 2005 can help. On a small to midsize network with Windows 2000 Server systems and above, MOM 2005 can do a good job of getting and reporting server status and health information.

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates & News, 12/1/04

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 01:53:00 GMT

Now Available: MOM 2005 Management Pack Development Guide

The MOM 2005 Management Pack Development Guide provides high-level overview information about MOM 2005, along with detailed procedures and guidelines that are used to develop a custom Management Pack.
This guide will assist you with collecting information about your application, defining various states for your application, and creating a Management Pack to monitor the application and alert an operator of state changes. The information contained in this guide is specifically focused on features new to MOM 2005 that affect Management Pack development.

Released: MOM 2000 Management Pack for Routing and Remote Access

The MOM Management Pack for Routing provides the ability to monitor Availability, Health, and Configuration of Routing and Remote Access (RemoteAccess) service, Remote Access Connection Manager (RASMAN) service and Routing on Windows Server 2003.

Now Available: MOM 2005 Active Directory Management Pack Guide

The Active Directory Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 provides a predefined, ready-to-run set of processing rules, monitoring scripts, and reports that are designed specifically to monitor the performance and availability of the Active Directory® directory service. This guide provides information about the most common Active Directory monitoring scenarios, state monitoring definitions, tasks, reports, and views. This guide also includes instructions for deploying and operating the Active Directory Management Pack.

Now Available: New MOM 2005 Case Studies

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) uses MOM 2005 to improve server performance, making it easier to identify and resolve IT issues.
Verio uses MOM 2005 to simplify server management and saves thousands of dollars.

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates & News, 11/1/04

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 21:09:00 GMT

Released: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Resource Kit
The MOM 2005 Resource Kit contains a set of tools to help ease systems monitoring using MOM 2005. Note that the tools are provided on an as is basis.

Management Pack Toolkit
Infrastructure Management Solution Accelerators
MOM Product Connectors
Troubleshooting Tools
MOM Power Toys

Available: MOM 2005 Deployment Guide
The MOM 2005 Deployment Guide provides detailed instructions and best practices for installing MOM 2005 components and for upgrading MOM 2000 SP1 to MOM 2005. This guide explains how to install all MOM components on a single computer and how to install MOM components across multiple computers. This guide also covers installing MOM 2005 in advanced configurations, including scenarios involving multitiering, firewalls, multihoming, or on clustered servers.

Available: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Conceptual Guide
The MOM 2005 Operations Guide includes guidance and recommended best practices for backing up and restoring, maintaining, optimizing and monitoring MOM 2005 in an existing IT infrastructure. The first two components, "Introducing the MOM 2005 Operations Guide" and "MOM 2005 Feature Overview" are currently available. Additional components of the MOM 2005 Operations Guide will be added as they become available.

Available: Exchange Server Management Pack Guide for MOM 2005
The Exchange Server Management Pack Guide for MOM 2005 explains how to use the Exchange Management Pack to monitor and maintain messaging resources.

The Product Feedback Center goes live on MOM Communities
The Product Feedback Center is a public suggestion and bug database for Microsoft products. Suggestions and bugs entered by you, our customers are ported directly into Microsoft's internal bug and suggestion tracking databases. Through the search, voting, and validation process, duplicates are removed and issues that are most important to you are surfaced for consideration by the product team.

Webcast: 10 Ways to Learn More About MOM 2005

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates & News, 10/6/04

ManagementUpdates — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 03:39:00 GMT

Attend a MOM 2005 and Virtual Server 2005 Launch Event
Through October and November, a series of 31 local launch events are being held across the USA. Find out more about an event near you.

MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition Available for Purchase
Available for immediate purchase and direct download. For only $499, MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition offers a subset of MOM 2005 functionality for managing up to 10 servers. Functionality not available with MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition: SQL Reporting Services and MOM Connector Framework (MCF).

MOM 2005 Software Development Kit (SDK) Released
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SDK includes documentation and samples for the MOM 2005 including the MOM Connector Framework that includes:

MOM Management Server Class libraries. Microsoft Operations Manager exposes MOM data and configuration to .NET framework applications.
Microsoft SQL Server™ Views. SQL Server Views enable access to the data collected by Microsoft Operations Manager through management packs in the Operations Database. SQL Server Views also expose the MOM Reporting Database in MOM 2005.
MOM Connector Framework (MCF). Web Service and API details and samples, the MOM-to-generic product connector.

Scripting documentation is now included in the SDK. Rule responses can now be run using the .NET framework using MOM 2005 Managed Code responses.

MOM 2005 Case Studies Available

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
The Distributed Systems Group (DSG) at Japan Research Institute America, an IT service company, manages five data centers on two continents for the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). DSG found it time consuming to monitor the 400 Microsoft® Windows®–based servers at the data centers and keep them running smoothly. SMBC, a global banking leader, runs many mission-critical company applications and services on its servers—including software for processing more than 20,000 customer transactions per day. To help support these vital business functions, DSG deployed Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. By using MOM 2005, DSG automated processes and reduced the time required to manage the data centers. MOM 2005 also helped DSG consolidate servers, while providing detailed reports to improve decision making.
Rackspace
With a commitment to customers that it trademarks as Fanatical Support, Rackspace Managed Hosting, a managed hosting provider that runs Web sites for many large companies, cannot afford downtime. The fast-growing company, which increased its revenues 50 percent in 2003, needed an efficient way to monitor and manage the Microsoft® Windows Server™–based infrastructure of its Intensive Hosting division. To achieve that goal, Rackspace deployed Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. Even before full deployment, MOM 2005 provided fewer—and more relevant—alerts on potential problems than the previous version of the software did, so minor issues could be solved before they escalated. By using MOM 2005, Rackspace made server management easier and simplified reporting. Now, Rackspace has help with delivering on its commitment—and expects a return on its investment in less than six months.
MulvannyG2 Architecture
MulvannyG2 Architecture, which designs buildings for clients worldwide, has a small information technology (IT) staff that used to spend 75 percent of its time reacting to computer problems. Without an operations management tool, the IT staff learned of service failures and slow performance only after users complained. MulvannyG2 needed a solution that would proactively monitor server health and alert IT staff to issues before they caused problems. After considering other solutions, the firm deployed Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 as part of a Microsoft prerelease program. MulvannyG2 now uses MOM 2005 to monitor and manage several applications and services. For example, the firm can verify that the Active Directory® service works properly so that users can log on to the network.

MOM 2005 Licensing Flash Demo
Understand the pricing and licensing changes introduced by MOM 2005. This demo also includes information on how to license MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates & News, 9/1/04

ManagementUpdates — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 20:01:00 GMT

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition Release to Manufacturing
Microsoft Corp. reached another milestone in its Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) with the release to manufacturing of Microsoft® Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition (previously named MOM 2005 Express). These products deliver on the DSI vision of simplifying and automating the way enterprise and medium businesses design, deploy and operate distributed systems by increasing operational efficiency and helping customers maximize return on their IT investments. MOM 2005 will be available in the October 1 Volume License Kit.

Available: MOM 2005 Evaluation Software
MOM 2005 120-day evaluation software is now available for download or for ordering. The evaluation software can be upgraded to full MOM 2005 at general availability on October 1st, 2004.

Released: MOM 2005 Management Packs
To make use of the additional functionality available with MOM 2005, management packs are being updated. Updated management packs for MOM 2005 currently include:

Download these today to use with your MOM 2005 Evaluation version. Additional management packs will be released over the next 6 months. Please note that existing MOM 2000 management packs will continue to work with MOM 2005, and can be upgraded to MOM 2005 management packs as they become available. Custom built management packs can be extended and new MOM 2005 functionality such as diagram views, state monitoring and reports can be added.

Updated: MOM 2005 Website
Check out the new MOM 2005 website to find out what's new with MOM 2005 and MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition as well as get your frequently asked questions answered.

Available: MOM 2005 Flash Movie
This flash movie describes how MOM 2005 helps you stay aware of IT issues, effectively respond to and resolve issues, and be accountable to your business through comprehensive reporting.

Available: MOM 2005 Technical Walkthrough
Want to get a better understanding of how to architect, deploy, administer, and operate MOM 2005? Download the MOM 2005 Technical Walkthrough, a 300-level self-paced course, designed to help you get ramped up on using MOM 2005 today.

Available: MOM 2005 Reviewer's Guide
The MOM 2005 Reviewer's Guide is available for download. The Reviewer's Guide provides an overview of the capabilities of MOM 2005 and is an excellent resource for evaluating MOM 2005.

Available: Experience MOM 2005 Online
Get ramped up on MOM 2005 by getting some hands on experience with MOM 2005 labs.

Webcasts: 5 Ways to Learn about MOM 2005 in September
Learn how MOM 2005 can help you increase the service availability of Windows Server System technologies by attending the following webcasts:

Available: MOM 2005 Documentation
The MOM 2005 Supported Configuration Guide, Deployment Guide, and Security Guide are now available for download.

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates and News, 8/2/04

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 21:12:00 GMT

Available: MOM 2005 Online Training

Get ready for the release of MOM 2005 by getting some hands on experience with MOM 2005 labs online:

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
Managing Active Directory with MOM 2005
Managing Exchange with MOM 2005
Monitoring SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
Planning and Deploying Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
Administration and Configuration of MOM 2005
Building and extending MOM using MCF and the SDK Part 1
Building and extending MOM using MCF and the SDK Part 2

Released: MOM to HP Network Node Manager Version 1.0 Product Connector

This product connector, part of the MOM 2000 Resource Kit, allows MOM 2000 SP1 (with the MOM Connector Feature Pack installed) to be configured to forward alerts to HP Network Node Manager and send alert fields, including Owner, CustomData fields, and Resolution state.
This MOM to HP Network Node Manager Version 1.0 product connector provides the following:

MOM-to-HP Network Node Manager product connector service
MOM management pack used to mark alerts for forwarding to HP Network Node Manager
Management pack to manage the MOM-to-HP Network Node Manager product connector service
HP Network Node Manager configuration files used to configure HP Network Node Manager
Users Guide

TechNet Webcast: Monitoring SMS 2003 using MOM 2005 - Level 200

Thursday, August 05, 2004
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time, US & Canada
Peter Lamanna, Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft® Operations Manager has great capabilities for monitoring Windows® systems.
MOM 2005 includes components that provide monitoring of SMS 2003 environments. In this session, we will discuss how to monitor SMS 2003 SP1 using MOM 2005.

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates and News, 7/1/04

ManagementUpdates — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 00:29:00 GMT

Released: MOM 2005 Release Candidate

The eagerly anticipated MOM 2005 Release Candidate has been released in English, German, Japanese and French.

Updated: Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack

With the release of Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1, the Exchange team has updated the Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack to take advantage of the enhancements from the Service Pack. These updates include:

Updated: Management Pack Catalog

The Management Pack Catalog has been available for several years and has been a popular feature on the MOM web site. However, it’s always existed as a static ASP page containing a few dozen entries. This release is a significant step forward for the catalog as it is based on a SQL Server-based data source hosted on Microsoft.com. This new implementation harnesses the power of SQL and delivers custom views to customers. The page is entirely dynamic, and adds more robust searching and filtering. The Catalog now contains 117 product entries (from its original size of 45 products) with descriptions and links to download or purchase each.

TechNet Webcast: Extending MOM 2005 using Microsoft Connector Framework (MCF) and the MOM 2005 SDK - Level 300

In enterprise management it is often challenging to integrate products and process to best fit the needs of operations and the business. This session walks through the development of product connectors using the Microsoft Operations Management (MOM) 2005 connector framework (MCF) web service that bi-directionally connects, links or integrates MOM alerts and discovery data collected through management packs. This presentation will also detail many of the top scenarios around programmatically accessing MOM operational and configuration data through the new MOM 2005 class library, including resolving open alerts and creating computer groups.

Available: Forrester Research Studies on MOM 2000 SP1 ROI

Forrester Research conducted studies to examine the financial impact and potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises might realize by deploying MOM 2000 SP1. Forrester interviewed existing MOM 2000 SP1 customers to examine the specific costs, savings and benefits, as well as risk elements incurred to determine the Total Economic Impact (TEI) of deploying MOM 2000 SP1.

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) - Updates and News, 5/11/04

ManagementUpdates — Fri, 14 May 2004 19:09:00 GMT

Microsoft Management Packs - New Releases & Updates

Type	Management Pack	Version	RTM Date
Application	Biztalk Server 2004 Management Pack	2004	4/13/2004
Application	Systems Management Server 2003	2003	12/2/2003
Application	Microsoft Office Project Server 2003	2003	11/25/2003
Application	Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003	2003	11/18/2003
Application	SQL Server	7.0, 2000	11/6/2003
Windows	Windows Media Services	2003	3/29/2004
Windows	Group Policy	2003	3/8/2004
Windows	Microsoft Windows File Replication Service	2000, 2003	11/17/2003
Windows	Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services	2003	11/14/2003
Windows	Windows System Resource Manager	2003	10/9/2003
Windows	Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003	2003	9/18/2003
Third Party	SMP – APC UPS		3/15/2004
Third Party	SMP – Cisco PIX Firewalls		3/15/2004
Third Party	SMP – Cisco Routers		3/15/2004
Third Party	SMP – Cisco Switches		3/15/2004
Third Party	SMP – Cisco VPN Concentrators		3/15/2004
Third Party	SMP – F5 Network BigIP F5		3/15/2004

MOM Connectors – Availability and Support

Available for download, at no charge, MOM Connector Framework solutions, providing integration between:

MOM and IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console (TEC)
Two MOM server environments
MOM and other management tools (generic connector)

Learn about MOM 2005

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 will deliver open and scalable enterprise-class operational management by providing comprehensive event management, proactive monitoring and alerting, reporting and trend analysis, and system and application specific knowledge and tasks to improve the manageability of Windows Server System™ environments.

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