First, you need to configure Operations Manager 2007 to interoperate with VMM. That includes importing the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Management Pack, installing a VMM Administrator Console on the Operations Manager root management server, installing an Operations Console for Operations Manager on the VMM server, and several other steps. To simplify this, the Configure Operations Manager option on the VMM Setup media automates most of this process.

After completing the Operations Manager configuration, you will need to configure VMM for PRO. For an overview of the entire PRO configuration, see Enabling PRO in VMM.

If you start using PRO now, you can take advantage of the basic set of PRO-enabled management packs that have been developed for the VMM 2008 product release. The PRO tips generated by these monitors can recommend virtual machine configuration changes and implement automatic migration based on performance data gathered from virtual machines and hosts.

A PRO-enabled management pack can be developed for any software application or hardware device that interacts with your virtualized environment. As partners develop new PRO-enabled management packs, the management packs will be announced. To find out about the latest PRO-enabled management packs that are available for download, see the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 product site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117146).

You can view summary information and knowledge for each active PRO tip by displaying the PRO Tips window. To open the window, click PRO on the toolbar. The PRO tip details explain what virtual machines and hosts are involved and the actions that are recommended. In the PRO tip details, the knowledge provides troubleshooting for the condition that initiated the PRO tip. Many PRO tips include a View Script link that displays the Windows PowerShell script that will implement the PRO tip. For more information about using the PRO Tips window, see How to Monitor and Implement PRO Tips.

To get more information, you can monitor the jobs that a PRO tip initiates in Jobs view. The details for any job a PRO tip initiates include a PRO tab that provides detailed status of each job that the PRO tip performs. For more information, see Monitoring Jobs in VMM.

You can choose whether to enable PRO for each individual host group or host cluster. Within the host group or host cluster, you can choose the severity level of PRO tips (Critical Only or Critical and Warning) that you want to receive and the severity level that you want to implement. If you prefer not to automatically implement PRO tips, you can use the PRO Tips window to review detailed data about the proposed actions and then manually implement the PRO tip.

You can also choose to exclude a virtual machine from the PRO tips that perform host-level actions, such as migrating the virtual machine. The virtual machine will continue to receive recommendations based on virtual machine monitors.

The Implement option is not available for all PRO tips. For example, VMM can automatically quick-migrate a virtual machine within its current host group or host cluster to resolve performance issues on one of the hosts. However, to resolve other issues, you might need to manually update a virtual machine's configuration. In the latter case, the knowledge for the PRO tip explains what to do.

PRO works equally for all of the platforms that VMM manages. After PRO is enabled for a host group or host cluster, VMM provides PRO tips regardless of the type of virtualization software that is running on the hosts in that group or cluster.

When you updated to the released version of VMM 2008, you replaced the pre-release version of the VMM 2008 Management Pack with the released version. As a result, your active PRO tips were initially listed but disappeared during the first PRO refresh. If you retained data when you updated VMM 2008, after you re-associate the agents on your existing hosts with the VMM server, you will resume receiving PRO tips for the hosts and virtual machines for which PRO is enabled. You will receive a new PRO tip for any of the earlier health issues that persist after the update.

Concepts