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July 21 New blog locationWell I have been off for a while but I am starting up again and I have decided to move this blog to a new location for various reasons. A change is as good as a rest they say. Also as MOM is changing to System Center Operations Manager and there are more System Center products I thought it was time to expand to those areas that will link into MOM or SCOM as it will become.
For all of those who have read and enjoyed this blog I hope you enjoy the new one. Especially those of you who kept this blog in your reader for so long without an update!
New location:-
Ian April 07 WTS and NLB MP Quirks
These are probably well known but as I have not seen them anywhere else I thought I would document them.
WTS
The Windows Terminal Server management pack does not differentiate between servers in Application Mode (real Terminal Servers) and servers in Administration Mode. In MOM you can get a lot of errors that say “TS Failed printer redirection operation” as admins log onto various servers and the print drivers on their PC do not match those on the server. It is annoying. However you would want the error on a real TS server.
When I first saw this my first reaction was to look for the registry key that differentiated the two modes as I assumed MOM did not look for it. Imagine my surprise after searching for this key and then finding it was already being picked up by MOM. And there are two groups already set up for this purpose.
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services Servers Application Mode • Microsoft Windows 2003 Terminal Services Servers Application Mode
The problem is the Rule Group is associated with the generic Terminal Services computer groups as well! Obviously not a well thought out design.
What you need to do is copy and disable the above rule in these two areas
• Microsoft Windows Terminal Services\ Windows 2000 Terminal Services\ Terminal Services Servers\Event Collection • Microsoft Windows Terminal Services\ Windows 2003 Terminal Services\ Terminal Services Servers\Event Collection
Create a new Custom Rule Group (best to use the same hierarchy that the original rule was in so you know where it came from) and associate with just the Application Mode Rule Groups. Simple to do so it is a shame it is not done out of the box.
NLB
One customer was using NLB and when a server was taken out of the cluster they expected an error in MOM. This did not happen as a server not being in a cluster is deemed normal behaviour. The same is true for MSCS. The rules are there to pick it up it is just that they are set not to generate an alert. The alerts for starting and convergence are also switched off.
Event 6 (source WLBS) – cluster mode stopped Event 5 (source WLBS) – cluster mode started Event 28 (source WLBS) – cluster converged
If you want to be alerted when these events happen you need to go into the NLB MP and tick the Alert box for these rules. March 19 MOM 2005 Maintenance Mode SummaryA much requested feature from MOM 2000. But there are quirks with it.
It is recommended that when servers are being worked that they be put into maintenance mode. This prevents the console from receiving new alerts from that server while it is being worked on. The console also shows that the server is in maintenance mode by showing a small spanner by the server’s name.
There are three methods of putting a server into maintenance mode. This can be done via the console gui or via a choice of two command line utilities. These are MOMinfo.exe which is part of the MOM 2005 Resource Kit and MaintenaceModeUtility.exe which is provided as part of the MOM 2005 SDK.
1. Console GUI
In the console right click on the server and click “Put Computer in Maintenance Mode”. In the dialogue box there is a box for the reason and a choice of putting the server into maintenance for a duration in minutes or putting it in maintenance mode until a specific end time. Note that there is no ability to schedule a start time.
Once in maintenance mode the server will display the spanner icon and stay in that mode until the time set. If maintenance is finished early then the server can be right clicked again and chose “Remove Computer From Maintenance Mode”. You will be asked to confirm that.
If the work needs to carry beyond the original end time then right click and chose “Update Maintenance Mode Duration” and you will see the same dialogue box as when you first put the server into maintenance mode.
2. Command Line
The difference between the two utilities is that MOMinfo.exe works at the agent whereas MaintenaceModeUtility.exe works at the MOM server and is generally the preferred method.
2a. MOMINFO
This utility is also used for dumping rules that the agent is running, clearing queues and enable script debugging.
MOMInfo.exe /maintenancemode:<timeout>
The time is in seconds and if no time is set it defaults to -1 which is infinite. Run the utility set to “exit” to remove the server from maintenance mode. e.g. MOMInfo.exe /maintenancemode:exit
Optional /server:<servername> to run it on a remote server.
If no server is chosen then it defaults to the server that it is installed on.
Because this tool initiates the communication from the agent, if the agent cannot contact the MOM server, the agent will not appear to be in maintenance mode in the console.
This is best run as a scheduled task when you know that maintenance work will be done and the length of time.
2b. MaintenaceModeUtility
This is provided as a VB project to compile and also to alter to suit your requirements. However a compiled version exists at
http://www.momsolutions.org/Tools/MaintenanceModeUtility/Maintenance.htm
Version 1.0 is the sample code compiles and version 1.01 has been altered to add a timeflag. Copy the exe and the dll to a directory on the MOM server’s hard disk.
MaintenanceModeUtility -a DOMAIN ServerName 120
The time is in minutes. This is generally more useful that mominfo which is in seconds.
Usage: MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -l|-g|-a|-r [ComputerGroupName time]|[ComputerDomain ComputerName time]
-l: lists all computers in maintenance mode. -g: lists available computer groups. -a: places computers in maintenance mode. -r: removes computers from maintenance mode.
Examples: MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -l MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -g MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -a ComputerGroupToAdd time MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -r ComputerGroupToRemove time MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -a DOMAIN ComputerToAdd time MaintenanceModeUtility.exe -r DOMAIN ComputerToRemove time
Again this is best run as a scheduled task when you know that maintenance work will be done and the length of time.
Tip 1
As this utility has the ability to run against a computer group you can set these groups up and have a scheduled task for each group if there is always the same maintenance window. Alternatively have the one scheduled task with the computer group and change the date and time to start as required and include a list of servers in the group for that particular work window.
Tip 2
Justin Harter has written a script that will create a scheduled job on the fly and then delete itself when finished.
Info and script at http://spaces.msn.com/jharter/blog/cns!39CE28DB5474A6C7!293.entry
March 05 Keeping up to Date with KBsI have found the easiest way to keep up to date with new KB alerts for MOM and other products is to sign up for e-mail notifications from KBAlertz.
Add your e-mail and a password and chose as many categories as you like to get regular e-mails informing you when Microsoft has released a KB on that subject (the content is aslo included in the e-mail). And it is free. The only downside is that if you sign up for multiple technologies then they all come in a single e-mail.
They also have an RSS feed for MOM 2005 KB articles
The MOM 2005 page at Microsoft is
which has the KB search box already pre filtered for MOM 2005.
I find KBAlertz easier to use.
February 26 MOM 2005 Resource KitStefan did say that the updated Resource Kit for MOM 2005 SP1 will be out soon and Rob Stevens (Microsoft) has mentioned it on his blog and here it is
A quick glance and it looks very similar to the 2000 resource kit but there are some neat new tools.
Alert to RSS Utility: Now subscribe to alerts via RSS!
A much requested feature is to be able to use AD groups. MOM 2005 does not do that but these tool looks like they will help. Computer Group Hierarchy Utility: Now export your Computer Group Hierarchy and recreate it else where. Also supports creating Computer Groups based on AD containers and it’s hierarchy
Console Scope Utility: Automatically update Console Scope membership with this utility. You can also mirror AD Security Group membership to a console scope using this utility
Also the Operator Console Notifier should now work with SP1 so you should not need Justin's fix.
I like the sound of this one. MOM Remote Pre-requisite Checker: Check if the required services and ports are allowed to push an agent or run discovery with this stand alone utility
I will have to have a play with it and see if my favourite tool (Management Pack Wizard) has been updated.
Ian
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