Monitoring Overview

Because operations management requires actionable data, monitoring is a critical component of MOMĀ 2005.

The role of MOM

In a monitoring role, MOM:

  • Gathers computer attribute information and applies specific rules to monitor these computers, based on their attributes.

  • Obtains data from event logs and other providers, as defined by specific rules.

  • Collects performance data based on performance counters.

  • Generates alerts based on criteria specified in rules. Criteria are based on occurrence of specific events or thresholds, which are based on the number of events or performance counters (this includes combinations of performance counters).

The role of the IT Staff

Operations staff can use monitoring data to:

  • Determine the state of a managed computer.

  • Manage alerts.

  • Run tasks on managed computers to diagnose or correct problem states.

  • Generate reports to capture performance trends that can be used for capacity planning or performance tuning.

How monitoring is used

Monitoring data is used to quantify, evaluate, and sustain a level of IT service. The level of service is based on:

  • Availability: communication and access monitoring.

  • Performance: performance counters within acceptable parameters.

  • Capacity: ensuring disk capacity is adequate, for example, and capacity analysis/planning.

  • Identifying errors or conditions that affect the previous three aspects of service levels.

The role of Management Packs

Management Packs apply the discipline of monitoring to a specific technology. Each Management Pack includes the rules and rule criteria, tasks, views, and reports that are tailored to monitor the services provided by the technology.

This chapter specifically addresses using the MOMĀ 2005 Management Pack to monitor your MOM installation.