Impact of Failure

Various MOM servers and components can potentially fail, because of the reasons mentioned above, or for other reasons. The impact of each failure on MOM functionality is different, and depends on the role of the failing server or component, and on the specific MOM deployment.

The impact of some server failures can be reduced significantly if failover, such as clustering, is implemented. If clustering, or multiple Management Servers, are implemented in the management group, then the urgency of restoration is greatly reduced. If, however, failover does not exist, you might not be able to perform any MOM administrative tasks until you recover the failing server.

The following table lists the impact of failure of the various MOM servers, and the general steps you need to take to restore MOM functionality. In this table, the assumption is that each server listed performs only a single role, as specified.

Table 5.1 - Impact of MOM Servers/Components Failure, and Restoration Procedure

MOM Management Server

Impact

Restoration

Impact of Failure Without Failover

  • Data from managed computers is not processed, because MOM agents are unable to send it to the Management Server. The data is queued on the managed computers.

  • Any other MOM components (such as the Administrator console) installed on the same server are not accessible.

  • Computers are not being discovered.

  • Agentless computers are not managed.

  • At some point, reports do not contain up-to-date information, because the Operational database is not updated and because the next scheduled DAS job, to update the Reporting database, cannot run.

  1. Repair the server.

  2. Reinstall MOM Management Server.

Impact of Failure With Failover

  • Workload on any additional Management Servers in the management group is increased.

After the failing Management Server is restored, MOM agents will eventually resume reporting to that Management Server.

MOM Database Server/ SQL Server/ Operational Database

Impact

Restoration

Impact of Failure Without Failover

  • Data from managed computers is not processed, and is not stored in the database. This data might eventually be lost.

  • Performance on managed computers is degraded, due to the accumulated data.

  • Cannot perform any MOM administrative tasks such as viewing, editing or managing MOM objects.

  • Reports do not contain up-to-date information.

  • Administrator console and Operator console do not function.

  • Changes to Management Pack are not propagated to agents.

  1. Repair the MOM database server, if needed.

  2. Reinstall SQL Server, if needed.

  3. Reinstall the MOM database component, if needed.

  4. Restore the Operational database.

Impact of Failure With Failover

  • If the Operational database is intact, clustering can compensate for the failing server; however, the workload on other servers in the cluster is increased.

  • If the Operational database is failing, clustering does not reduce the impact of failure.

 

MOM Reporting Server/ Reporting Database

Impact

Restoration

Impact of Failure Without Failover

  • Cannot view, edit or manage reports.

  • The DTS job cannot run, and the Operational database cannot be groomed. This results in performance problems with the Operational Database, and possible data loss, if the Reporting database is not recovered within sixty days.

  1. Repair the server, if needed.

  2. Reinstall MOM Reporting server, if needed.

  3. Restore MOM Reporting database and SQL Reporting database.

Impact of Failure With Failover

  • If the Reporting database is intact, clustering can compensate for the failing server; however, the workload on other servers in the cluster is increased.

  • If the Reporting database is failing, clustering does not reduce the impact of failure.

 

File Transfer Server

Impact

Restoration

Impact of Failure

  • File Transfer responses cannot transfer files.

  1. Repair the File Transfer Server.

  2. Restore the files.

Computer Hosting Administrator console/ Operator console

Impact

Restoration

Impact of Failure

  • Cannot use consoles on the failing computer.

  1. Repair the computer.

  2. Reinstall MOM consoles.