Support for PRO

Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) allows you to tie specific Operations Manager alerts to remediation actions that can be implemented automatically or manually in System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). PRO tips can return the virtualized environment to a healthy state.

PRO-enabled management packs define PRO target classes and groups, and provide monitors that watch the performance of virtual machines, hosts, applications, and hardware to identify opportunities to optimize a virtualized environment.

Any Operations Manager alert that targets a PRO class generates a PRO tip in VMM, which can include a remedial action to return the virtualized environment to a healthy state. The remedial action can be implemented automatically or can be manually approved in VMM. A PRO tip might load-balance virtual machines between physical hosts when specific thresholds are exceeded (transactions per second, CPU utilization, an e-mail message delivery SLA, and so forth) or migrate virtual machines when a hardware failure is detected.

You can view and implement PRO tips by using the PRO window in the VMM console. PRO tips are closed automatically and dismissed from the PRO window when a monitored object returns to a healthy state.

The VMM monitoring pack includes several PRO-enabled management packs that define the basic classes and groups that support PRO and provide monitors to optimize the performance of hosts and virtual machines based on CPU and memory thresholds. The VMM product team is working with partners to develop additional PRO-enabled management packs. To find out about available PRO-enabled management packs, go to the System Center Marketplace site. All other PRO-enabled management packs are dependent on the VMM monitoring pack.

For more information about PRO-enabled management packs, see PRO-Enabled Management Packs in this management pack guide. For information about PRO, see How to Enable PRO Tips in VMM.

Managing PRO Tips in the Operations Console

To ensure a consistent monitoring experience, the Operations console displays the corresponding alerts for PRO tips. The PRO alerts are resolved automatically in Operations Manager when the unhealthy state is resolved in VMM and VMM closes the PRO tip.

In some cases, a PRO condition triggers an additional alert in Operations Manager, which the Operations Manager operator can process normally. The second alert enables the operator to resolve systemic issues related to a VMM issue. For example, if a fan goes out, the VMM administrator’s problem is resolved after all virtual machines are migrated to a different physical server; however, the Operations Manager operator still needs to fix the fan.

Managing PRO-Enabled Management Packs

To support PRO, an Operations Manager agent must be installed on all Hyper-V hosts and on all virtual machines. If you are managing a VMware environment by using VMM, no agents are required on the VMware ESX hosts; however, you must install an agent on each virtual machine that is deployed on the ESX hosts.

PRO is not enabled by default. To take advantage of the PRO monitors in the VMM Management Pack, the VMM administrator must enable PRO in VMM for the specific PRO enabled objects, such as hosts, private clouds, and services, through the properties page of the PRO-enabled object. For more information, see How to Enable PRO Tips in VMM.

If you import a PRO-enabled management pack that contains VMM-level PRO tips, you will need to alert the VMM administrator to configure VMM PRO settings in the appropriate property page.