Version 1.1 Overview

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Download This Solution Accelerator

Click here to download Service Level Dashboard v1.1.

Note   This Solution Accelerator was published as a Systems Center Operations Manager management pack, version 6.0.6278, in the Microsoft Download Center.

About This Solution Accelerator

The Service Level Dashboard depends upon two Microsoft technologies to monitor and report on the performance and availability of line-of-business applications. It uses System Center Operations Manager 2007 to collect and interpret information and SQL Server® Reporting Services to display results in a dashboard.

Prerequisites

To use this management pack, a user must have:

  • System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) deployed in at least one management group, which consists of an Operations Manager 2007 database, at least one Operations Manager 2007 management server, the Operations Console, and managed computers.
  • Operations Manager 2007 SP1 Reporting Components deployed and functioning for this management group.
  • The Operations Manager 2007 SP1 agent deployed on all computers from which you want to run synthetic transactions.
  • The following management packs installed, which are typically installed with Operations Manager SP1:
    • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Library Version 6.0.6278.0
    • Microsoft.Windows.Library Version 6.0.6278.0
    • System.Health.Library Version 6.0.6278.0
    • System.Library Version 6.0.6278.0

How the Dashboard Works

This Solution Accelerator provides a unique view of a business application from the user’s perspective by simulating user interactions with the business application and reporting on the experience. A small number of agents are deployed in the enterprise network to provide an accurate sampling of all the different conditions under which the business application operates. The data is then collected and interpreted.

The following figure illustrates how the Service Level Dashboard works with Operations Manager to collect and process performance and availability data:

The Service Level Dashboard uses a distributed application model to compile health information for application components into a service report

 

The Service Level Dashboard is designed to work with an existing Operations Manager infrastructure that is already configured to monitor business-critical applications. Configuring the Service Level Dashboard involves adding the following components to gather and process additional data:

  • SLA definitions. The IT service manager identifies and defines the SLA agreement for a given business-critical application or service.

  • Web application monitors and synthetic transactions. The IT administrator configures and deploys watcher nodes to perform synthetic transactions, such as connecting to the Web site or querying the database. A Web application monitor runs on the watcher node and uses these synthetic transactions to check availability and to measure performance of a Web page, Web site, or Web application. It monitors the Web application and then changes the health state of an object associated with the Web application based on the results of the synthetic transaction.

    It is this change in health state that the Service Level Dashboard records and reports on. The IT administrator configures the thresholds for identifying an error or warning state during a synthetic transaction. For the Service Level Dashboard, an error is equivalent to an availability exception, and a warning is equivalent to a performance exception. Because an unavailable application is, by definition, not performing as expected, availability exceptions are also factored into performance exceptions.

 

  • Distributed application model. The IT administrator uses an Operations Manager distributed application model to define the application or service. Using the distributed application model, the IT administrator groups Web application monitors and other monitors into applications and regions for the dashboard.

    Operations Manager derives availability and performance percentages independently for each component object in the application model tree, based on the Operations Manager time in state for that object. Any rollup calculations are controlled by the standard distributed application model health rollups.

 

  • Dashboard reports. As soon as the Service Level Dashboard components are configured and operating, the summarized SLA compliance data will be displayed in the dashboard reports. The Service Level Dashboard evaluates each application over the defined reporting period, determines whether the application was in or out of compliance during that time (and for how long). It then lists the application as compliant or non-compliant, based on defined service level targets. The summary reports included in version 6.0.6278.6 are based on Dundas Gauges.

Exporting Reports

In addition to viewing report data in the Service Level Dashboard interface, you can display the compliance data on SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports, and publish the reports using Microsoft® SharePoint® products and technologies.

Included in the Download

The download includes the following tool and documentation

  • Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager Managemetn Pack
  • Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 Planning Guide
  • Service Level Dashboard for Operations Manager 2007 User Guide
  • Service Level Dashboard for System Center Operations Manager Release Notes RTW.rtf
  • Sample templates for Web-based LOB applications

Related Resources

 

Community and Feedback

Please send questions or comments about this Solution Accelerator to satfdbk@microsoft.com.