Operator Console - MOM User Features and Concepts

As noted earlier, the Operator console enables members of the MOM User group to view the specific information that their role requires and take appropriate action. A fundamental concept that provides the foundation for all activities in this console is status monitoring.

Status Monitoring

Status monitoring is used to indicate whether or not a managed computer is healthy at a given time. MOM updates the status of the managed computers exposed to the user and presents their status in the status monitoring view.

The status of different entities are rolled up at different levels. These levels are:

• Computer group level - At this level the user can see if there is any problem in any of the computers by checking the health of a computer group. The health of the computer group is derived from the health of all the computers contained in the computer group by using one of the rollup algorithms.

• Computer level - At this level the status of a computer shows whether or not the applications, or server roles, running on the computer are healthy. The health of a computer is derived from the health of the hosted applications, such as SQL Server or Exchange.

• Application level (Server role) - At the application level the status of the Server Role represents the overall status of all the application instances of a server role. For example, SQL Server health is dependent on all of the SQL instances running on a computer.

• Application instance level (Server role instance) - At the application instance level the health of the application instance is derived from the health of different areas of the application instance - the Sub group component.

• Sub group component - At this level the health of a Sub group component of an application instance is derived by reviewing the unresolved alerts - after alert suppression - associated with the sub group component. The status becomes the severity of the most severe unresolved alert that has an active problem state.

In summary, the status of a managed computer is an alert severity value that specifies how severe the problem is - if it exists - in the managed computer environment. In the Operator console, status is color mapped (for example, red, yellow, and green) to icons that are associated with an alert severity.

Data Filtering

Data volumes and operator roles require a mechanism for filtering the information that is displayed in the Operator console. One filter is Group, which is determined by the console scope that you are using.

Group

You can use the drop-down list by the Group label on the menu bar to select a particular group that you want to work with. This applies one level of filtering. For example, when you view the entire list for the MOM Administrator Scope for the MOM Management Pack, you can select one of the following folders:

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Agentless

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Agents

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Databases

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Product Connector Servers

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Report Servers

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Reporting Database Servers

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Servers

• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Virtual Servers

If you select "Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Agents" as the group that you want to work with, you will only see the data related to Agent-managed computers. You can then apply the various views that are available to this data.

Note

By default the Group data is not filtered, all the data for all the groups is displayed in a view.

Rule Group

A second type of filtering is by rule group, which is determined by the Management Packs that are installed. At a minimum, the MOM Management Pack is installed so you can filter information by the various MOM rule groups, such as Agent Deployment or Computer Discovery. For example, you can select the Alerts view (All: Alert Views by default) and expand the navigation tree down to Agent Deployment rule group.

Figure 10 illustrates the group and rule group filtering options. The rule group hierarchy is shown in the Alert Views window and the drop down list for groups is displayed.

Figure 10 Group and Rule Group filtering in the Operator console

The role of views

Views provide an additional level of filtering and they provide a means for looking at monitoring data from different perspectives.

The Views that MOM provides display dynamic information for each view in a results window. You can select a specific item in the results display, and depending on the view, additional details are displayed in a details window. Figure 11 shows the results and details windows for an Events view. (The scope is MOM Administrator Scope for all Groups.)

Figure 11 Events view results and details window

Filtering Typically, a Tier 1 operator only needs to see a visual indicator that a managed computer is unhealthy. After seeing this indicator they have to take an action, such as acknowledge the alert and notifying another support staff member.

Perspective Each user in the MOM environment is interested in seeing different information. If you are a MOM administrator for example, your information requirements are likely to be far different than a Tier 1 operator. You might for example, be responsible for monitoring MOM performance. If this is the case, the Performance view is more relevant to your role than the Alerts view.

MOM Views

MOM provides the following views that you can use and customize when youre working with the Operator console.

Note

The following view descriptions are based on the MOM Management Pack and the scope is MOM Administrator, all groups.

Alerts

The Alerts view is divided into two categories, Alerts and Service Level Exceptions. These views display all the alerts in both categories. This view displays summary information in a results window and expanded information for a specific alert in a details window.

State

The State view shows aggregated information about alerts and their associated entities (for example, computer groups, computers, and application instances.) The State view uses the results, details window pair.

Events

The Events view is divided into two categories, Events and Task status for the tasks that you run from the Operator console. This view shows all categories of events that are generated and uses the results, details windows pair.

Performance

The Computer Performance view is generated in stages. First, you select the computer that you want to work with from a list of computers in the initial view window. Then you select the performance counters that you want to graph. The final view displays the graph in the results windows for the view and the accompanying details windows displays information about each counter in the graph.

Computers and Groups

The Computers and Groups view uses two categories, Computer Groups and Computers. This view uses the results, details windows pair to display information.

Diagram

The Diagram view uses a single window to generate a topology diagram that is based on your management group and the Management Pack(s) that is selected.

My Views

My Views displays any custom views that you create. You can nest your views and incorporate any of the views that we just described.

Public Views

Public views provide another way of working with the views. All the views that we described, excluding My Views, are displayed as navigation tree.

Acknowledgments

Authors: Dan Wesley, Chris Furlin

Program Manager: Ashvin Sanghvi

Applies To:   Microsoft Operations Manager 2005

Primary Reviewers: Ashvin Sanghvi, Travis Wright, Vlad Joanovic

Managing Editor: Sandra Faucett