Tag: scom

System Center 1807 is available

It has recently been announced that a new semi-annual channel release for System Center is available. As you can see in the following picture, the new System Center 1807 is the last release before GA of SC 2019. So, my recommendation is to implement this release and test it before going further . In short, you have a plenty of  time to evaluate the newest SC and prepare your staff for SC 2019 deployment in production.

system center roadmap

TIP: SC 1807 is an update release for SC 1801. To apply System Center, version 1807 you will first need to download SC 1801

System Center 1807 provides updates to the following products:

:: Operations Manager

:: Data Protection Manager

:: Service Manager 

:: Orchestrator + SMA

:: Virtual Machine Manager

In this post, we will cover the major changes for VMM.

Storage Space Direct Management

With Virtual Machine Manager 1807, you will now be able to patch and update the nodes of a Storage Spaces Direct cluster with the orchestration of the update process performed by VMM.  You can update individual S2D hosts or clusters against the baselines configured in windows server update services (WSUS)

VHD Placement

When you add a new VHD to the existing VM, you can now define CSV path (a new volume) for that disk to eliminate problems with storage space. Prior to VMM 1807, a new VHD of an existing virtual machine would be placed in the same CSV as the other VHDs, aggravating the problem if the CSV was already running high on utilized storage.

vhd placement csv vmm 1807

Convert SET switch to logical switch

VMM 1807 allows you to convert a switch embedded teaming (SET) switch to logical switch by using the VMM console. In earlier versions, this feature was supported only through PowerShell script.

Display of LLDP information for networking devices

VMM 1807 supports Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). You can now view network device properties and capabilities information of the hosts from VMM. Host operating system must be Windows 2016 or higher. DataCenterBridging and DataCenterBridging-LLDP-Tools features have been enabled on hosts to fetch LLDP properties

lldp vmm 1807

VMware host management

VMM 1807 supports VMware ESXi v6.5 servers in VMM fabric. This support facilitates the administrators with additional flexibility in managing multiple hypervisors in use.

To evaluate SC 1807, you can download SC 1801 from here , and then update to 1807 (SAC) + it also will be available @MSDN.

In addition, VMM 1807 has received SQL Server 2017 support.

TIP: VMM 1807 update package for VMM 1801 can be obtained here

Automate SCOM 2016 installation with PowerShell

This blog post demonstrates how to automate installation of SCOM 2016 and its requirements using PowerShell. If you’d like, you can also use it partly to install just software prerequisites or service accounts.

My demo lab is configured in the following way:

  • SCOM Server –  VM with up to 8Gb RAM, 4vCPU, Windows Server 2016
  • SCOM VMs has an Internet Connection (to get Report Viewer/Runtime)
  • SQL Server – VM with up to 4Gb RAM. Windows Server 2016
  • Database Services, Full Text and Reporting Services – Native were installed on the SQL Server VM.
  • These machines are also joined to the same domain
  • SCOM media copied to the <systemdrive>\SCOM2016
  • I checked the script using my domain administrator account
  • Download link is available at the bottom
What does the script do?
  • Downloads and installs Report Viewer Controls and required Runtime
New-Item $env:systemdrive\SCOM2016Reqs -ItemType Directory
Invoke-WebRequest http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/1/2/A129F694-233C-4C7C-860F-F73139CF2E01/ENU/x86/ReportViewer.msi -OutFile $env:systemdrive\SCOM2016Reqs\ReportViewer.msi
Invoke-WebRequest http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/E/E/FEE62C90-E5A9-4746-8478-11980609E5C2/ENU/x64/SQLSysClrTypes.msi -OutFile $env:systemdrive\SCOM2016Reqs\SQLSysClrTypes.msi
Start-Process "$env:systemdrive\SCOM2016Reqs\SQLSysClrTypes.msi" /qn -Wait
Start-Process "$env:systemdrive\SCOM2016Reqs\ReportViewer.msi" /quiet -Wait
Write-Host "The Report Viewer Controls and Runtime have been installed" -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
  • Creates required service accounts, SCOM administrator group in the specified OU and configures required permissions (local admin rights for the SCOM admin group)
Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-PowerShell
$adcn=(Get-ADDomain).DistinguishedName
$dname=(Get-ADDomain).Name
New-AdUser SCOM-AccessAccount -SamAccountName scom.aa -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $svcpass -Force) -PasswordNeverExpires $true -Enabled $true -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
New-AdUser SCOM-DataWareHouse-Reader -SamAccountName scom.dwr -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $svcpass -Force) -PasswordNeverExpires $true -Enabled $true -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
New-AdUser SCOM-DataWareHouse-Write -SamAccountName scom.dww -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $svcpass -Force) -PasswordNeverExpires $true -Enabled $true -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
New-AdUser SCOM-Server-Action -SamAccountName scom.sa -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $svcpass -Force) -PasswordNeverExpires $true -Enabled $true -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
New-AdGroup -Name SCOM-Admins -GroupScope Global -GroupCategory Security -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
Add-AdGroupMember SCOM-Admins scom.aa,scom.dwr,scom.dww,scom.sa
Add-LocalGroupMember -Member $dname\SCOM-Admins -Group Administrators
#SQL Server service accounts (SQLSSRS is a service reporting services account)
New-AdUser SQLSVC -SamAccountName sqlsvc -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $svcpass -Force) -PasswordNeverExpires $true -Enabled $true -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
New-AdUser SQLSSRS -SamAccountName sqlssrs -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $svcpass -Force) -PasswordNeverExpires $true -Enabled $true -Path "OU=$ouname,$adcn"
Write-Host "The service Accounts and SCOM-Admins group have been added to OU=$ouname,$adcn" -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
  • Configures SQL Server by creating required Windows Firewall rules and adding SCOM-Admins group to the administrators on the server
$secpasswd = ConvertTo-SecureString $sqlpass -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ("$dname\$sqluser", $secpasswd)
$psrem = New-PSSession -ComputerName $sqlsrv -Credential $cred
Invoke-Command -Session $psrem -ScriptBlock{
Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-Powershell
Set-NetFirewallRule -Name WMI-WINMGMT-In-TCP -Enabled True
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL DB" -DisplayName "SQL Database" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 1433 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL Server Admin Connection" -DisplayName "SQL Admin Connection" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 1433 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL Browser" -DisplayName "SQL Browser" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 1434 -Protocol UDP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL SRRS (HTTP)" -DisplayName "SQL SRRS (HTTP)" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 80 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL SRRS (SSL)" -DisplayName "SQL SRRS (SSL)" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 443 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL Instance Custom Port" -DisplayName "SQL Instance Custom Port" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort $sqlserverport -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL Server 445" -DisplayName "SQL Server 445" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 445 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -Name "SQL Server 135" -DisplayName "SQL Server 135" -Profile Domain -Direction Inbound -LocalPort 135 -Protocol TCP -Action Allow
Add-LocalGroupMember -Member $arg[0]\SCOM-Admins -Group Administrators} -ArgumentList $dname
Write-Host "The SQL Server $sqlsrv has been configured" -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
  • Installs Web Console prerequisites (ISS and so on)
Install-WindowsFeature NET-WCF-HTTP-Activation45,Web-Static-Content,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Dir-Browsing,Web-Http-Errors, `
Web-Http-Logging,Web-Request-Monitor,Web-Filtering,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Mgmt-Console,Web-Metabase,Web-Asp-Net,Web-Windows-Auth
Write-Host "The Web Console prerequisites have been installed" -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
  • Installs the SCOM Server (OMServer, OMConsole and OMWebConsole).
$arglist= @("/install /components:OMServer,OMConsole,OMWebConsole /ManagementGroupName:$mgmtgroup /SqlServerInstance:$sqlsrv\$sqlinstancename /SqlInstancePort:$sqlserverport",
"/DatabaseName:OperationsManager /DWSqlServerInstance:$sqlsrv\$sqlinstancename /DWDatabaseName:OperationsManagerDW /ActionAccountUser:$dname\scom.sa",
"/ActionAccountPassword:$svcpass /DASAccountUser:$dname\scom.aa /DASAccountPassword:$svcpass /DataReaderUser:$dname\scom.dwr",
"/DataReaderPassword:$svcpass /DataWriterUser:$dname\scom.dww /DataWriterPassword:$svcpass /WebSiteName:""Default Web Site""",
'/WebConsoleAuthorizationMode:Mixed /EnableErrorReporting:Always /SendCEIPReports:1 /UseMicrosoftUpdate:1 /AcceptEndUserLicenseAgreement:1 /silent')
Start-Process -FilePath $env:systemdrive\SCOM2016\setup.exe -ArgumentList $arglist -Wait
Write-Host "The SCOM has been installed. Don't forget to license SCOM" -ForegroundColor DarkCyan
  • Once SCOM is installed, verify installation logs located at  <username>\AppData\Local\SCOM\LOGS\OpsMgrSetupWizard.txt .
    Additionally, don’t forget to set a valid SCOM 2016 product key by using the  Set-SCOMLicense –ProductId <key>

scom16_installation

That’s it. Just run the script, provide values for SQL Server connection/credentials and etc and wait until the SCOM installation is complete.

I uploaded the script, so feel free to use it (please mention my blog once you shared the script or part of it. Let’s respect each other!)

DOWNLOAD THE SCRIPT