Add Links to Operations Manager to a New or Existing Visio 2010 Document

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager, System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Operations Manager

The Visio 2010 Add-in for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager lets you create a new Microsoft Office Visio document that you can link to Operations Manager objects. The Visio Add-in also lets you add live health state information to an existing Visio document.

To do this, you first specify the Operations Manager management server from which the Visio Add-in will get information about the managed objects and their health state. Then, you add the links by using one of the following methods:

  • Link a single shape to a managed object. You can quickly link a few shapes to any object managed by Operations Manager.

  • Add multiple links to the document and then associate these to Visio shapes later. This option works best for large documents that have many different types of managed object.

  • Automatically link shapes in the document to computers and to network devices. This option uses a single wizard to automatically add health state information to large and complex network or topology diagrams.

  • Insert a new shape that is linked to an Operations Manager object and that uses the Operations Manager icons.

Note

This latest version of the Visio 2010 Add-in also functions with Operations Manager 2007 R2. If installing this version with Operations Manager 2007 R2, ensure that credentials and access are configured to the RMS instead of the management server.

  1. Click Operations Manager in the ribbon, and then click Link Shape.

  2. Select the Operations Manager class of the object, such as Windows Computer, to display a filtered list of available Operations Manager objects.

  3. Select the object that you want to link to this shape, and then click Link.

The shape in the diagram now includes a state indicator in the upper-right corner of the image.

  1. Click Operations Manager in the ribbon, and then click Add Data Links.

  2. Select the class for the shape, and then click OK.

  3. Select the managed objects you want to link to this shape, and then click Insert.

    This adds the selected managed objects to the dataset in the Visio diagram, which can be viewed in the External Data window.

  4. In the External Data window, select the object that you want to connect to a shape in the diagram or image.

    For example, if you want to add the management server for a geographic location to a map, select the management server.

  5. Drag the object to the diagram or image and drop it onto the shape. This establishes the link between the shape and that managed object’s record.

  1. Open the Visio document.

    Ensure that each shape has defined shape data, such as the network name or IP address, or shape text (such as the IP address of the object).

    To view the shape data, right-click the shape, click Data, and then click Shape Data. This opens the Shape Data window for the selected shape.

  2. Select all the shapes in the document.

  3. Click Operations Manager in the ribbon, and then click Reconcile Shapes.

  4. In the Automatically Link wizard, select Selected shapes or All shapes in the document, and then click Next.

  5. Match the Visio shape property to the Operations Manager property. For example, match the Visio network name to the Operations Manager display name. The following Operations Manager classes are matched automatically:

    - Windows Computer (Microsoft.Windows.Computer)
    
    - Unix Computer (Microsoft.Unix.Computer)
    
    - SNMP Network Device (Microsoft.SystemCenter.NetworkDevice)
    

    Click Next.

  6. Review the list of matches. Click to clear any objects you do not want to link, and then click Next.

    If more than one match is found, click Select to choose the object you want to link to. If no matches are found, click Browse to search for the object.

  7. Review the list of links to define, and then click Finish.

The shapes are automatically connected to the managed objects they represent on the management server.

To insert a shape that is linked to an Operations Manager object

  1. In your Visio diagram, click Operations Manager in the ribbon, and then click Insert shape.

  2. Select the class of the object you want to insert. This filters the available objects to only those of the specified class. You can also search for a specific object.

  3. Select the specific object, and then click Insert.

The new shape is added to the diagram. The shape icon matches those of other Operations Manager objects of the same class, and the shape data is populated with information from the management server.