Read the full Story at : http://ops-mgr.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3D3B8489FCAA9B51!475.entry

We are starting a new series: OpsMgr Answer This questions. These are questions that you probably have asked yourself (or others) more than once. In this series, the writers of the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed book will offer their opinions to some of those (sometimes rhetorical) questions. The first question we are discussing is, Why should one go to Operations Manager 2007? You may be using MOM 2005 and be perfectly happy with it. There is an adage: "if it works, don't break it" - so why go to Operations Manager 2007?

Andy Dominey suggests:

• Because of all the additional functionality OpsMgr gives you (not listing them as you all know the score there).
• MSFT is heading into the enterprise management space with X-Platform and NASM and this new version of MOM lays the groundwork in the architecture to support these components later on.
• WhatsUp Gold doesn’t provide effective and synthetic monitoring of Windows applications.
• MOM 2005 will be going out of support sooner than you might think :-) (and NO we haven't heard anything about this, but you know how Microsoft works)

From John Joyner:

• Most compelling single reason = MOM 2005 only monitors servers.  OM 07 monitors both servers and applications as objects. Dependencies between monitored objects permit cross-platform event correlation that was not possible with MOM 2005.
• Management Pack availability - New applications from Microsoft and third party vendors are getting new OM 07 MPs released for them, not MOM 2005 MPs.
• Interoperability with other System Center applications - Example: VMM 2008 requires OM 07 for monitoring. Service Desk will use OM 07-style management packs.

Cameron Fuller says:

First, let's look at MOM/OpsMgr versus WhatsUp Gold: WhatsUp Gold provides an environment with up and down monitoring, gathering of events, performance information, SNMP information in the network. It also provides reporting and notification functionality. From a high level it is really a good question of why MOM or OpsMgr versus WhatsUp Gold. The key reasons to go with a MOM or OpsMgr solution versus WhatsUp Gold are: 

• Issue identification – The Microsoft solutions gather specific information to identify issues based upon the products being monitored. IE: The Exchange Management Pack gathers specific event ID information versus gathering all error level alerts on a system.
• Decreased noise – The alerts generated by MOM and OpsMgr are more targeted as a result of how issues are identified and result in less noise.
• Issue resolution – The knowledgebase contained within management packs was developed by the product team which created the product (as an example, the Exchange team helped to develop the Exchange management pack), and is combined with MCS information to provide assistance with resolving issues identified within the environment. These issues can be more quickly resolved through leveraging tasks that are also provided as part of the management packs. When issues are identified, Operations Manager provides notification to the appropriate personnel so that they can respond to the issue more expediently.
• More Proactive – Faster issue identification and issue resolution combined with product knowledge provides a more proactive monitoring solution. Let’s take as an example an Exchange issue. An issue is identified based upon the number of drive reads and writes when compared with the management pack levels for what is acceptable on the Exchange server. An alert is generated notifying that the system is not performing optimally. Additional spindles can be added or faster storage can be used to address the issue before it affects the user community.

Nice to have.

Determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Microsoft Windows® operating systems.

Quick Details

File Name:Err.EXE

Version:6.0.4011.0

Date Published:5/29/2008

Language:English

Download Size:809 KB

Overview

Use the Error Code Lookup tool to determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Microsoft Windows® operating systems. The tool can look up one or more values at a time. All values on the command line will be looked up in Exchange’s internal tables and presented to you. If available, informational data associated with the value or values will also be shown.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=be596899-7bb8-4208-b7fc-09e02a13696c&displaylang=en&tm

Updates: Process Explorer v11.20, ZoomIt v2.0, Sigcheck v1.53, Handle v3.4 and introducing Sysinternals Live beta.

Sysinternals Live: We're excited to announce the beta of Sysinternals Live, a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without hunting for and manually downloading them. Simply enter a tool's Sysinternals Live path into Windows Explorer or a command prompt as \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname> or view the entire Sysinternals Live tools directory in a browser at http://live.sysinternals.com.

Process Explorer v11.20: Process Explorer now shows thread permissions, adds process working set minimum and maximum columns, and fixes a bug that allows it to run from read-only locations on 64-bit Windows.

ZoomIt v2.0: This major ZoomIt update adds the drawing color pink, adds screen blanking to the undo history, extends the maximum pen size from 9 to 19 pixels, has an option to hide the tray icon and makes it easy to save zoomed and annotated screens as bitmap files.

Sigcheck v1.53: The CSV column headers have been fixed to correctly reflect the extended version and hash options.

Handle v3.4: This release fixes a bug that allows it to run from read-only locations on 64-bit Windows and adds an option to show the sizes of pagefile-backed sections.

source : http://www.realtech.com/wInternational/software/application_manager/Applications/Windows_Systeme/Management-Pack-for-SAP-MonitoringW3DnavidW26190.php

Monitoring Windows and SAP from a central location

Microsoft's Operations Manager is a solution that allows companies to monitor their Windows environments. Management packs can be used to extend its functionality to operating systems, applications, and other technology components.

REALTECH's newly developed Management Pack for SAP Monitoring is one of the first integration modules to use the .NET interface of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 to display real-time information on the availability, performance, and error status of any SAP NetWeaver component. Thanks to the seamless integration of the management pack, Operations Manager will continue to be the primary system.

Benefits of the integration solution

Management Pack for SAP Monitoring now enables Microsoft customers to effectively monitor their SAP systems. This is a definite plus for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, considering that Microsoft Windows is one of the leading platforms for the operation of SAP systems. The Management Pack not only includes the standard SAP CCMS alerts, but also the REALTECH-specific extensions in the fields of ABAP, J2EE, CRM, SCM, BI, XI, and SAP Enterprise Portal. The integration of the SAP data gives IT administrators a broader range of IT data, paving the way for more detailed and sophisticated analyses.

Management Pack for SAP Monitoring for Microsoft System Center

Operations Manager 2007 is available starting at EUR 9,950.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Give us a call at

+49.6227.837.591 or send an e-mail to customer-services-am@realtech.com.

Click here for more information on REALTECH's implementation guarantee (pdf)

SCOM-CRM Connector

We have the pleasure to announce you the release of the Connector for System Center Operations Manager 2007 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 !

Having developed the connector for MOM-CRM, we decided to upgrade the application for SCOM and CRM 4.0, in the aim to meet the strong demand for the product.          

The connector will help you managing your infrastructure by generating cases in your CRM, regarding the SCOM alerts you want to treat, and sending information to SCOM about the resolution state of the cases.

A better management of your infrastructure, a better interactivity within your team. Never again will an alert be forgotten in the list of your SCOM application, and the problem's resolutions will be stored in your CRM. All these benefits can be obtained by simple mouse clicks.
Connect to our website to know the prices and to download your demo version
It will be a pleasure to answer all your questions about the connector.
Please use the feedback form to send us your remarks.

ASE PowerShell Player

The ASE PowerShell Player is a podcast and MP3 player with support for playlists and all the other features you expect of such an application. What makes the ASE PowerShell Player unique is that it is written entirely in the PowerShell Scripting Language. Images are encoded within the script and the window layout was created with the ASE ScriptForm Designer.

Included are RSS links for feeds on scripting and desktop management but you can modify those defaults very easily. Check out Episode 24 of the PowerShell Scripting Podcast for an interview with iTripoli's Steve Behrns. The use of the program itself is very simple but if you do not currently have PowerShell installed, it is naturally a requirement to run this script.

• Click here to download the ASE PowerShell Player Script

• Click here for a quick video of the ScriptForm Designer in action

• Click here for more details on the ScriptForm Designer

• Click here to download the ASE v3.5 trial!

• Click here for a detailed feature list!

• Click here to purchase!

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator is an integrated platform with tools and guidance that make it easier for you to assess your current IT infrastructure and determine the right Microsoft technologies for your IT needs. It offers easy inventory, powerful assessment and actionable recommendations for Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid), System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Windows Vista, and 2007 Microsoft Office. The popular Windows Vista Hardware Assessment readiness tool will be integrated into this platform.
This automation tool helps IT professionals and consultants like you establish a clearer understanding of your infrastructure, desktop and virtualization needs through network-wide assessment of your assets including desktops, laptops, servers, applications and network devices. Actionable recommendations are provided through the auto-generated migration proposal reports and documents.
In addition, the new MAP user interface also offers a "resource center" where users can download other relevant tools and useful resources such as white papers and technical guidance from Microsoft and other sources from the IT community.

Target Audience

• Customers: IT Architects, Infrastructure Specialists and Desktop/Application Administrators.
• Partners: System Integrators, Value-Added Partners and IT Consultants in the Enterprise and Midmarket

Key Benefits

• Quick Assessment of Your Existing infrastructure and assets
• Adaptive Guidance and Actionable Proposals that provide specific recommendations that will help simplify your planning and deployment of Microsoft technologies
• One-Stop Shop for All Your Planning (or Pre-Sales) Needs

https://connect.microsoft.com

Service Pack 1 new and improved features

ISA Server 2006 SP1 includes the following new features:

1. Configuration Change Tracking—Registers all configuration changes applied to ISA Server configuration to help you assess issues that may occur as a result of these changes.

2. Test Button—Tests the consistency of a Web publishing rule between the published server and ISA Server.

3. Traffic Simulator—Simulates network traffic in accordance with specified request parameters, such as an internal user and the Web server, providing information about firewall policy rules evaluated for the request.

4. Diagnostic Logging Viewer—Now integrated as a tab into the Management console, this feature displays detailed events about the status of your ISA Server computer, as well as configuration and policy issues.

ISA Server 2006 SP1 also includes feature improvements, including:

· Support for NLB multicast operations

· Support for certificate with multiple SAN entries

· KCD for cross-domain users

Stay tuned :

Forefront codename “Stirling”

MP Implementation Webcast

At MMS in Las Vegas this month Silect Software introduced the Implementation Guide v1.0 Quick Reference, a list of best practices including a flow chart defining lifecycle management for Management Packs.  The Quick reference was so well received we have decided to share the details of it in a web presentation for those who could not attend MMS.

If you have multiple management packs, multiple management groups and multiple administrators working with Operations Manager, having a well defined process is critical to a successful implementation of Operations Manager 2007. Even with smaller implementations, having a defined process for handling change requests for management packs is critical to avoiding costly downtime, unnecessary error and even chaos.

If ITIL and MOF are important to you, if Change Management and Version control are important functions in your organization, if auditing changes in management packs is something you would like to be able to do, then this webcast could be the most important event you attend all year!

The presentation will focus on process considerations and how MP Studio features can function as the foundation for a repeatable process.

All participants who sign up for the presentation will receive a copy of the Implementation Guide v1.0 Quick Reference by email after the presentation.

Time / Date

The MP Implementation Webcast will be held Wednesday May 28^th at 11:00AM Eastern (GMT – 5:00).

Click here to register for this important event.

Henry Wilson's MMS 2008 Conference Summary

Summary:
MMS 2008 proved to be very useful in gaining knowledge and insight into what to expect during the upgrade of SMS 2003 to SCCM 2007, the OS Deployment pack, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, etc
While the focus of MMS 2008 appeared to be the Systems Center suite, the conference provides a very diverse number of sessions that attract Systems administrators of the many Microsoft offerings.
Attending this conference is beneficial and enabled me to meet many peers with diverse knowledge in the Systems Management and SQLServer fields. As a result, I now have access (knowledge) of new tools (web sites) and the author’s who make up these communities that unselfishly share their technical expertise.

Credits:
I would like acknowledge the following whose content (from their blog) was used as a basis for this document.
(content and pictures from various blogs on the internet)
Joseph Hinkle, MyItForum Blogger
(detail blogs from many sessions I attended! Thanks Joe)
Sherry Kissinger, MyItForum Blogger
Rod Trent, CEO MyItForum
Greg Hueing, MyItForum Photographer
(Thanks for providing most of the pictures)
Anthony Clendenen, MyItForum Blogger
And others not mentioned here.

http://www.myitforum.com/downloads/MMS2008%20Conference%20Summary1.pdf

Stefan Stranger has a great post on his blog about the search windows gatget. check this out.

Read all about it on his blog http://weblog.stranger.nl/extending_the_system_center_content_search_windows_gadget

Announcing the Systems Management Server 2003 R2 support for Microsoft Update Standalone Package (MSU) Validation Program

Program Description

SMS 2003 R2 was created to enable authoring and scanning for custom-defined software updates. It was originally designed to support update files in exe, msi and msp extensions. Updates for Vista are in the new msu (Microsoft Update Standalone Package) format, which is currently not recognized in Systems Management Server 2003 R2. To provide customers the capability of deploying Vista security and critical updates through use of SMS 2003 R2 custom updates publishing tool, we are developing an update to provide .msu support. This program will provide an opportunity for validation by customers interested in this capability.

We are looking for customers who:

· Are using SMS 2003 SP3 with R2 today, and also need to manage Windows Vista security and/or critical updates

· Are not planning to upgrade to Configuration Manager 2007 in this calendar year

· Have resources to devote time to validating scenarios in a test environment. The expected testing time investment is expected to be 2-3 days

· Have available lab resources to validate the update, including:

o SMS 2003 SP3 ENU site server computer with R2 installed. If you have a working lab that emulates the production environment closely, this is a bonus.

o One or more Vista client computers managed with, both i386 and x64 platforms

· Will report their results and/or bugs to Microsoft in a timely manner

If you are interested in helping us test this functionality, please do the following:

1. Navigate to http://connect.microsoft.com .
2. Click on the Connection Directory link at the top of the page.
3. Search for the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 connection.
4. Choose the apply link for the "MSU update for SMS 2003 R2" program.
5. Follow any additional instructions to join the program.

Free MP Studio Lite Now Available!

Silect Software releases a FREE edition of its industry leading MP Studio product

MP Studio 2007 Lite helps you quickly develop a clear understanding of Management Packs, a key component of System Center Operations Manager 2007. MP Studio Lite combines rich Management Pack content analysis capabilities with predefined out-of-the-box Management Pack reports giving System Center Operations Manager 2007 users a comprehensive view of all Management Pack components.

Feature Summary:

· View Management Pack relationships and references

· Create customized views of Management Pack contents

· View overrides that are applied to a Management Pack or overrides applied to an entire Management Group

· View by Management Pack or by Target

· Create customizable Management Pack reports in HTML format

· Works with installed Management Packs or file-based Management Packs

Click here to download your free copy of MP Studio Lite

MP Studio 2007:

Data Sheet: http://www.silect.com/products/mpstudio2007.pdf

Product details: http://www.silect.com/solutions/opsmgr_Sol/opsmgr_Sol_studioSysCenter2007.html

Download an Evaluation Copy of MP Studio Enterprise: http://www.silect.com/products/product_info.php

Attend an MP Studio webcast: info@silect.com

Using MOM 2005? Check out MP Studio 2.1.

http://www.silect.com/solutions/opsmgr_Sol/opsmgr_Sol_studio_2_1_Intro.html

The MOF Team would like to thank you for your participation in our beta. Your feedback has helped refine and improve this new version of MOF, making sure that the guidance we're giving IT professionals is meaningful and applicable. In the beta we explored some different ways of conveying concepts and your responses helped us determine what worked and what needed to be changed.

Our trip to Hana is now finished and we are closing down the Hana beta site. MOF 4.0 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/mof and the MOF Community is getting together at http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en/MOF4/threads.

Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2007 Model for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007

Brief Description

The Capacity Planner 2007 Model for Operations Manager 2007 is for planning deployments of Operations Manager 2007 and Operations Manager 2007 SP1.

Quick Details

File Name:SCCP2007ModelForSCOM2007.msi

Version:1.0

Date Published:5/5/2008

Language:English

Download Size:536 KB

Overview

The Capacity Planner 2007 Model for Operations Manager 2007 is the capacity planning model to use for planning deployments of Operations Manager 2007 with Capacity Planner 2007. Capacity Planner 2007 is a pre-deployment capacity planning and post-deployment change analysis solution that provides best-practice guidance and hardware-specific knowledge to help information technology professionals make solid architecture decisions when planning a new deployment or changes to an existing deployment for Microsoft server products.
Feature Bullet Summary:

• Simple installation and setup
• Provides knowledge of System Center Operations Manager 2007
• Recommended topology for Operations Manager 2007 deployments in a Graphical User Interface
• Export topology to Visio and corresponding server configuration to Excel
• Model server performance and end-user response time for Operations Manager 2007 deployments
• Hardware library includes popular configurations for Operations Manager 2007 deployments
• Create custom hardware for Operations Manager 2007 deployments

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86); Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86); Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition ; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2; Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 x64 Edition; Windows Server 2008 Enterprise; Windows Server 2008 Standard; Windows Vista Business; Windows Vista Business 64-bit edition; Windows Vista Enterprise; Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition; Windows Vista Service Pack 1; Windows Vista Ultimate; Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Xandros-and-System-Center-Operations-Manager-2007-Cross-Platform-Extensions/

There is nice info to see at technet there are Media

• Videos
• Screencasts
• Podcasts

The info below is from the MMS ( www.mms-2008.com )

Andreas Typaldos, CEO of Xandros, talks with Martin Buckley of Microsoft about working with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions and the new opportunities Xandros is seeing.

Windows Media Video

http://www.nworks.com/newsdetail.php?id=12

March 28th, 2007, San Diego, CA - nworks, a leading provider of enterprise management connectors, announced today the availability of Version 3 of its highly successful Management Pack for VMware® and the release of a new Management Pack for BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The nworks Management Packs allow companies to fully integrate day to day management of their VMware Infrastructure and BES environments into Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and now Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, Microsoft’s next generation version of MOM 2005.

Version 3 of the nworks Management Pack for VMware® leverages the capabilities of the VMware Infrastructure API, providing access to more than 300 different VMware Infrastructure 3-specific performance metrics, open-ended scalability, VMware cluster and resource pool specific metrics, and VMware VirtualCenter events. The Microsoft Operations Manager 2007 version of the nworks Management Pack for VMware® also includes a dynamic Service Map that provides a visual representation of your VMware Infrastructure environment. With both the MOM 2005 and Operations Manager 2007 applications, the nworks unique Collector architecture does not require the deployment of any agents in the VMware ESX Server Service Console. The nworks Management Pack for VMware® is listed in the Microsoft Management Catalog - www.microsoft.com/mom/managementpacks.

Brian Byun, vice president of global partners and solutions at VMware, says, “With the widespread adoption of VMware products in mainstream IT, our customers are now requiring that their virtual infrastructure be integrated into existing management frameworks. The nworks Management Pack for VMware® allows customers to enjoy the dramatic benefits of VMware Infrastructure while continuing to leverage their investment in MOM 2005 or Microsoft’s Operations Manager 2007.”

The Management Pack for BlackBerry Enterprise Server gives companies using BlackBerry Enterprise Servers deployed in Lotus Domino/Notes or Microsoft Exchange Server environments the ability to incorporate extensive performance thresholding and trending, user and server statistical reporting, logfile monitoring, and handheld device availability monitoring into MOM 2005 and Operations Manager 2007, improving the overall availability and performance of BES infrastructure.

“Companies have invested heavily in sophisticated enterprise systems management applications, like MOM 2005 and Operations Manager 2007, to maintain high performance/high availability IT environments”, said Greg Stephens, founder and President of nworks. “Both of these Management Packs allow companies to better leverage their investment in enterprise systems management, they allow companies to maintain that ‘single pane of glass’ view into their IT infrastructure and use processes and procedures that are already in place to manage these two business-critical systems.”

“Operations Manager 2007 is an exciting step forward for Microsoft and companies such as nworks give our customers powerful new capabilities to manage their business-critical infrastructure,” said Larry Orecklin, the General Manger of System Center Marketing at Microsoft Corp. “We’re glad to see industry partners such as nworks develop extensions to our solutions because it further validates our approach to enterprise systems management using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 technology.”

http://www.iwaveintegrator.com/Pages/MediaCenter.aspx?s=mediacenter_news&id=258

LAS VEGAS, NV (Microsoft Management Summit, Booth #622) – April 29, 2008 – iWave Software, a leading provider of IT integration and process automation software, today announced the first in a new line of integration connectors designed to help customers combine Microsoft System Center Operations Manager with other popular IT service management (ITSM) applications.

The first connector in the new product line is the iWave System Center Operations Manager 2007 to CA’s Unicenter Service Desk r11 Connector. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager helps organizations centrally manage their physical and virtual environments, including desktops, mobile devices and data centers. CA’s Unicenter Service Desk r11 is a popular service desk application used by large enterprises worldwide to manage service commitments and help keep end users productive. 

iWave’s new connector enables users to seamlessly exchange information between their Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 and Unicenter Service Desk environments. For the past eight years, iWave has provided secure, bi-directional integration connectors for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager. iWave’s next generation product line adds a robust graphical user interface, providing customers with a rich set of tools to design, deploy and manage iWave on their own.

“As IT environments become more complex and more connected to the success of the business, Microsoft is committed to building infrastructure solutions that are virtualized, service-enabled and interoperable,” said Robert Reynolds, director of System Center product management at Microsoft Corp. “iWave Connectors provide an extensible way for businesses to combine System Center Operations Manager 2007 with other popular ITSM applications, letting companies automate their IT support environments and keep the business running smoothly.”

iWave System Center Operations Manager 2007 connector has undergone rigorous testing and has been certified by CA to support the integration of Unicenter Service Desk and Microsoft systems Center Operations Manager.

“The iWave integration connector provides a CA-certified solution to bring Microsoft System Center Operations Manager into Unicenter Service Desk environments,” said Arlen Beylerian, vice president of product management, CA. “As service desks become more automated, integration with other systems is a critical success factor.” 

“This is just the first in a line of iWave Connectors for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager we plan to release in 2008 and into 2009,” said Brent Rhymes</PERSONNAME />, president of iWave Software. “We expect to announce new iWave Connectors for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager on a quarterly basis. All of our new iWave connectors will provide users with a graphical, easy to use install and configure experience while delivering the same stable and secure integrations our customers have come to depend on. ” 

iWave’s System Center Operations Manager 2007 to CA’s Unicenter Service Desk r11 Connector is expected to be generally available in early June.

iWave Software will be exhibiting at the Microsoft Management Summit, April 28-May 2 in Las Vegas</PLACE /></CITY />. For more information, please drop by booth #622 or visit www.iwavesoftware.com.

Let's face it: Microsoft Operations Manager 2007 provides a lot of great information, but it can be overwhelming because it lacks sufficient context.

Only Live Maps for Operations Manager 2007 adds the necessary context to Operations Manager 2007 to make it fit your business perfectly. 

Live Map Examples

Benefits

Simplify Complexity
Display complex IT failures in easy to understand monitoring maps.
Visually pinpoint the exact location, region and cause of a problem.

Speed Corrective Action
Unleash the power of visualization to help you resolve problems faster.
Receive proactive visual warnings of impending IT failures.

Add Relevancy
View every alert in the context of the problem and user's role.
Instantly make out the impact of an alert on your business.

http://www.savision.com/