Repair monitoring and reporting features in Windows Small Business Server 2008

  • Article

Updated: October 15, 2009

Applies To: Windows SBS 2008

Problem   One or more of the following:

  • In the Windows SBS 2008 Console, in Reports, the Other Alerts section does not display any alerts.

  • Daily, weekly, or custom reports are not generated.

  • Software updates are not synchronized, approved, or applied either to the server that is running Windows SBS 2008 or to any domain-joined client computers.

  • Antivirus, anti-spam, and client computer firewall status is missing from the reports.

  • Scheduled tasks that are managed by the Windows SBS Manager service are not running correctly. This includes the following:

    • Data Collection Task.   Collects data from all the computers in the domain and stores the data in the database. After collecting the data, the Data Collection Task processes the data, and then, if there are any alerts, the Data Collection Task sends a notification e-mail. This task runs every 30 minutes.

    • Windows Server Update Services Sync Group Task.   Verifies that computers that are managed by Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) are members of the appropriate group (client computers or server computers). This task runs every 5 minutes.

    • WSUS Auto Approve Task.   Approves updates according to user settings. This task runs every hour.

    • Antispam Aggregate Safe List Task.   Aggregates the Safe Senders list and the Safe Recipients list from each user mailbox, and then, updates the corresponding user object in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This task runs at 3:00 A.M. every day.

    • Update Client GPO Task.   Updates the SBS Users policy security filter with information from AD DS. This task runs every 20 minutes.

    • Trim Badmail Task.   Deletes spam from the “badmail” directory if the directory exceeds a certain size. This task runs once a week.

    • Check Domain Task.   Verifies whether the domain network is functioning correctly. This task runs at 2:00 A.M. every day.

    • Check Certificate Task.   Verifies whether root or leaf certificates are about to expire. This task runs at 2:15 A.M. every day.

    • Database Cleanup Task.   Cleans up the SBSMonitoring database. Any record that is older than 90 days is deleted. This task runs at 1:15 A.M every day. You can change how long records are kept by changing a value in the Settings table in the database.

    • SQM Upload Task.   Uploads Service Quality Monitor (SQM) data. This task runs every day, at a randomly selected time.

    • Check Licensing Task.   Verifies the licensing in the domain. This task runs every day at 1:00 P.M.

    • Generate and E-mail Monitoring Reports Task.   Generates the report according to the report settings. Multiple instances of this task exist in the service (one per configured report in the user interface).

Solution   Complete the procedure “To verify that the services are running,” and then scan the Dataservicecomponents log files in C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Logs\MonitoringServiceLogs to view any reported errors or exceptions.

If the issue still exists, complete the procedure “To manually repair the monitoring and reporting infrastructure.” If the issue still exists after the manual repair, contact Microsoft Product Support.

To verify that the services are running

  1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  2. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

  3. Verify that the following services are running. If a service is stopped, click it, and then click Start.

    • Microsoft Exchange Information Store

    • Microsoft Exchange Transport

    • SQLServer (SBSMONITORING)

    • Windows SBS Manager

  4. Close Services.

To manually repair the monitoring and reporting infrastructure

  1. Verify that Microsoft SQL Server Express 2005 is installed, by doing the following:

    1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Programs and Features.

    2. Look for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. If it does not exist, do the following to install it:

      1. Insert Windows Small Business Server Disc 2 (Component Technologies for Server Repair) into the server.

      2. Open a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges, type <DVDdrive>: \CMPNENTS\SQLEXPR_SP2\SQLEXPR_ADV.exe INSTANCENAME=SBSMonitoring ADDLOCAL=All REBOOT=ReallySuppress SQLACCOUNT="LocalSystem" AGTACCOUNT="LocalSystem" SQLBROWSERACCOUNT="LocalSystem", where <DVDdrive> is the letter of the DVD drive of your server, and then press ENTER.

      3. Read the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then, if you accept them, click I accept the licensing terms and conditions.

      4. Click Next, and then complete the wizard by accepting the default settings.

      5. At the command prompt, type <DVDdrive>: \CMPNENTS\SQL_HOTFIX\SQLServer2005_BC.msi, where <DVDdrive> is the letter of the DVD drive of your server, and then press ENTER.

      6. Click Next.

      7. In the Program Maintenance dialog box, click Repair, and then click Next.

      8. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

      9. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

      10. Verify that the following services are started:

        • SQL Server (SBSMONITORING)

        • SQL Server FullText Search (SBSMONITORING)

  2. Verify that all updates for SQL Server that are listed on the Software Updates page are applied by doing the following:

Note

Updates can take several hours before they are available to the server that is running Windows SBS 2008. 

1.  Open the **Windows SBS Console**.

2.  Click the **Security** tab, and then click **Updates**.

3.  In **Optional Updates**, view any updates that are listed to determine whether they apply to SQL Server.

4.  If the updates apply to SQL Server, click **Deploy the Update**, and then, in the dialog box that opens, click **OK**.

5.  If no updates apply to SQL Server, open Windows Update: Click **Start**, in **Start Search**, type **Windows Update**, and then, in **Programs**, click **Windows Update**.

6.  Click **Check for Updates**.

7.  Click **View available updates**.

8.  Select all updates that apply to SQL Server, and then click **Install**.

9.  Read the license terms, if you accept them click **I accept**, and then click **Next**.

10. Click **Finish**.

11. If prompted, restart your computer when the updates are complete.

  1. Verify that the Windows SBS Manager service is installed by doing the following:

    1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

    2. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

    3. Verify that the Windows SBS Manager service is installed and started. If it is not, do the following:

      1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Accessories.

      2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.

      3. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

      4. At the command prompt, type cd \program files\windows small business server\bin, and then press ENTER.

      5. Type Datacollectorsvc.exe /install, and then press ENTER.

      6. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

      7. On the User Account Control page, click Continue.

      8. Double-click Windows SBS Manager, and then, in the Properties dialog box, click the Recovery tab.

      9. Set the recovery properties to the following:

        1. In First failure and Second failure, click Restart the Service.

        2. In Set Subsequent failures, click Take No Action.

        3. In Reset fail count after, type 1.

        4. In Restart service after, click 5.

  2. Edit the DataCollectorSvc.exe.config file by doing the following:

    1. Open a Command Prompt window, type cd \program files\windows small business server\bin, type notepad DataCollectorSvc.exe.config, and then press ENTER.

    2. Ensure that the full path is correctly referenced for each Exchange Server file. For example, file:///{0}Microsoft.Exchange.dll becomes file:///c:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin\Microsoft.Exchange.Data.dll.

  3. Attach the SBS Monitoring database by doing the following:

Important

Verify that the SQL Server (SBSMONITORING) service is started and that the following files exist:

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\SBSMonitoring.mdf

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\Data\SBSMonitoring_log.ldf

1.  Click **Start**, click **All Programs**, and then click **Microsoft SQL Server 2005**.

2.  Right-click **SQL Server Management Studio Express**, and then click **Run as administrator**.

3.  On the **User Account Control** page, click **Continue**.

4.  In the **Connect to Server** dialog box, set the following:

    1.  In **Server type**, click **Database Engine**.

    2.  In **Server name**, type **\<Server Name\>\\SBSMonitoring**, where *\<Server Name\>* is the name of the server that is running Windows SBS 2008.

    3.  In **Authentication**, click **Windows Authentication**.

5.  Click **Connect**.

6.  Right-click **Databases**, and then click **Attach**.

7.  Click **Add**, and then, in the **Locate Database Files** dialog box, navigate to C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SQL Server\\MSSQL.1\\Data.

8.  Click **SBSMonitoring.mdf**, and then click **OK**.

9.  In the **Attach Databases** dialog box, click **OK**.

  1. If it is not already running, start the Windows SBS Manager service.

  2. If they do not already exist, manually create the Summary Network Report and the Detailed Network Report by doing the following:

    1. In the Windows SBS 2008 Console, click Reports.

    2. Click Summary Network Report, and then, in Tasks, click Generate report.

    3. Click Detailed Network Report, and then, in Tasks, click Generate report.

If necessary, create a new SBSMonitoring database

A service in Windows Small Business Server 2008 named Windows SBS Manager is responsible for a number of monitoring, alert reporting, and maintenance tasks. This service relies on a SQL database that runs on a SQL Express instance called SBSMonitoring. Under certain circumstances, the SBSMonitoring database can become unusable. In these circumstances, you can experience various symptoms. For example, the Windows SBS Console may cease to function, or the console may incorrectly report the status of machines. If this occurs, it may be necessary to create a new, blank, database to regain functionality. Since SBSMonitoring is used only to store dynamic information, creating a new database to replace it results only in the loss of any custom reports you may have created in the Windows SBS Console, report customizations, and all archived reports. After you recreate the database, you should allow about 48 hours for the service to collect and report the latest status for all computers on the small business network.

For information about how to recreate the SBSMonitoring database, see How to Recreate the SBSMonitoring Database in The Official SBS Blog.

If you continue to experience problems, visit the Microsoft Support website.

To read the most recent version of this topic, see the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?LinkID=147056). The most recent version might contain additional information that was not available when Windows SBS 2008 was released.