Installation of OpsMgr Console via commandline

Not many people would like it this way because they prefer Wizard like User Interface but then just to share out this in case if anyone would be interested.

To install OpsMgr Console via Commandline, the command would be:

msiexec.exe /i \\path\Directory\MOM.msi /qn /l*v \logs\MOMUI_install.log
ADDLOCAL=MOMUI USE_SETTINGS_FROM_AD=0 MANAGEMENT_GROUP=
ROOT_MANAGEMENT_SERVER_DNS=

Enjoy ...

Installation: Please Insert Disk1 ? What Disk1 ???

Recently we had a OpsMgr POC. We encountered problems on the AD topology view, apparently the OpsMgr console hang when we try to launch the AD topology views. We tried repairing the console but the problem is still there. Then we did the BOLD step, remove the OpsMgr console and reinstall it again.

Uninstallation went well .. hahaha

But when we starts to reinstall OpsMgr console, DISASTER STRUCKS, we got prompted with a messagebox with the message of "Please Insert Disk1". Both of us looked at each other dumbfounded. What Disk1 ???!!! Cancelling the messagebox eventually rolls back the installation.

We tried again, and without any clue in our head we just did whatever came up to our head including YES including inserting SQL Server Disk1 AND Windows 2003 Disk as well. (That's how desperate we were !!!)

Searching thru the internet did not help much at all. So we basically knew we were very much on our own on this one.

Hey, wait a sec !!! What about our good old installation log !!! Let's open it up and give it a good look !!!

This time we found the following line in the installation log (and we hope that you hold your laughs ):
"Source is incorrect. Volume label should be DISK2 but is SCOM_SP1_EN_VL"

And guess what? Our installation CD volume label is SCOM_SP1_EN_VL. So what do we do next ? We just rename the source Volume Label to DISK2. Save it to ISO and mount again. Run the installation again (and on our knees praying hard to the GOD of POCs [and since its Ramadhan month] hopefully everything wents OK).

And so it works, looks like our prayers were answered after all. And so life goes on ...

PS: The topology view is still crashing. Now for another headache but at least the console is back again.

Publishing 3rd party updates in SCCM

I am trying to build a demo image for managing security compliance using SCCM. Just when I am to publish my custom application update, I received an error. A check on the log files shows the following:
Publish: : Exception occured during publishing:

Verification of file signature failed for file: \\SCCMDEMO\UpdateServicesPackages\Synthetic Software Update 1_0_d047fc39-4d2e-4a65-a6cf-a098980d26c3\efb7fc95-b36f-481e-8e36-8f25bb4d4020_1.cab$$


Searched through the net and found that I missed some steps in configuring the Update Server on the certificates. Thought of sharing this one with those who encountered the same pain.

Here are the steps I have taken and it works fine after that:

• Click Start, click Run, type MMC in the text box, and then click OK to open the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

1. Click File, click Add/Remove Snap-in, click Add, click Certificates, click Add, select Computer account, and then click Next.

2. Select Another computer, type the name of the update server or click Browse to find the update server computer, click Finish, click Close, and then click OK.

3. Expand Certificates (update server name), expand WSUS, and then click Certificates.

4. In the results pane, right-click the desired certificate, click All Tasks, and then click Export.

5. In the Certificate Export Wizard, use the default settings to create an export file with the name and location specified in the wizard. This file must be available to the update server before proceeding to the next step.

6. Right-click Trusted Publishers, click All Tasks, and then click Import. Complete the Certificate Import Wizard using the exported file from step 6.

7. If a self-signed certificate is used, such as WSUS Publishers Self-signed, right-click Trusted Root Certification Authorities, click All Tasks, and then click Import. Complete the Certificate Import Wizard using the exported file from step 6.

For more information on configuring Update Server, please refer to
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb531061.aspx

Tool to Groom Reporting DataWarehouse

My previous article was very much focused on how to modify the database grooming settings for OpsMgr reporting database. I have taken this a step further by developing a small and simple tool that saves non-SQL Server administrators the time and effort to do so. Basically this tool will connect to the tables that defines the grooming settings and retrieves the information and display them to a UI. User can then modify the grooming settings by setting the MaxDataAgeDays value in the table and save it.


For those who are interested in this tool can just email me at theankeong@gmail.com

OpsMgr: Grooming Reporting Database

Whilst Database Grooming settings for Operations Manager DB is rather straight forward and can be done directly from the OpsMgr console, Grooming of Reporting Data Warehouse needs some additional configuration.

By default, the retention period for data being stored within Reporting Data Warehouse are:

Data Set	Aggregation Type	Retention Period (Days)
Alert	Raw data	400
State	Raw data	180
State	Hourly aggregations	400
State	Daily aggregations	400
Event	Raw data	100
Aem	Raw data	30
Aem	Daily aggregations	400
Perf	Raw data	10
Perf	Hourly aggregations	400
Perf	Daily aggregations	400

To modify the grooming settings for Alerts data in OpsMgr Reporting Data Warehouse:

• Login to SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the SQL Server Instance that hosts your Reporting Data Warehouse
• Expand the Databases -> OperationsManagerDW -> Tables node
• Right click dbo.DataSet and select Open Table
• On the returned result, locate the dataset that you would want to modify by referring to the value in DataSetDefaultName field in this case it will be "Alert dataset" and get the DataSetId field for that particular row which in this case will be "69baaa10-055f-4f56-9a03-4312dd2b6406" as depicted in the picture below.

• Right click on dbo.StandardDatasetAggregation and click Open
• In the returned results, locate the row which has the DataSetId value that matches the one you got earlier which in this example will be "69baaa10-055f-4f56-9a03-4312dd2b6406"

• You can change the retention period of alert data by setting the value of MaxDataAgeDays field of the corresponding row