What's New in the Monitoring Pack for Configuration Manager 2007

  • Article

Applies To: Operations Manager 2007 R2, Operations Manager 2007 SP1, System Center Configuration Manager 2007, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2, System Center Operations Manager 2007

The System Center Monitoring pack for Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 includes monitoring of new features and new monitoring mechanisms. Monitoring of obsolete roles and data sources has been removed.

Added Support for 64-bit Operations Manager 2007 R2 Agent

This guide has been updated to include support for the Monitoring Pack for Configuration Manager 2007 SP2. The monitoring pack adds support for monitoring Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 in a 64-bit environment with Operations Manager 2007 R2 or Operations Manager 2007 SP1 hotfix (KB971541). This enables the Monitoring pack for Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 to work with both the 32-bit and the 64-bit Operations Manager 2007 agent. Except for 64-bit support, the features and guidance for the monitoring packs for Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 are the same. For more information about supported configurations, see Supported Configurations for the Monitoring Pack for Configuration Manager 2007.

Added Support for Configuration Manager 2007 Features

The Monitoring pack adds monitoring of the following Configuration Manager 2007 features:

  • Desired configuration management

  • Operating system deployment

  • Network access protection (NAP). NAP monitoring is unsupported until Configuration Management 2007 Service Pack 1.

  • Device management

  • Wake On LAN

  • Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)-based backup

  • Mobile clients; branch- and Internet-facing infrastructures

Added SQL Server Availability Monitoring

The Configuration Manager database is now monitored from the site server rather than locally from the server running SQL Server. This monitoring is performed by the SMS_DATABASE_NOTIFICATION_MONITOR, a thread of the SMS Executive service. SQL Server availability can be monitored by using availability reports.

Added Device Management Point Availability Monitoring

Device Management Point availability monitoring is performed by MP Control Manager that issues a synthetic transaction to the device management point instructing it to perform a self-test. The result of that test is then reflected as the role's availability, which can be monitored through alerts and reports.

Added Distribution Point Availability Monitoring

Distribution Point availability monitoring is currently only available for branch distribution points (BDPs). The availability of the role is reported by the BDP Agent that is running on a Configuration Manager client.

Added Software Update Point Availability Monitoring

Software Update Point availability monitoring reflects the health of the role and its ability to sync to updates from the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server.

Added State Migration Point Availability Monitoring

State Migration Point availability monitoring is performed by SMP Control Manager that issues a synthetic transaction to the state migration point instructing it to perform a self-test. The result of that test is then reflected as the role's availability, which can be monitored through alerts and reports.

Added PXE Service Point Availability Monitoring

PXE Service Point availability monitoring is performed by PSP Control Manager that issues a synthetic transaction to the PXE service point instructing it to access the site database. The result of that test is then reflected as the role's availability, which can be monitored through alerts and reports.

Added System Health Validator Availability Monitoring

System Health Validator availability and health is dynamically reported by the System Health Validator itself and reflects its current internal operational state, which can be monitored through alerts and reports.

Added Network Load Balancing Management Point Availability Monitoring

To provide both physical and virtual management point monitoring for network load balancing) NLB) management points, the Management Point (MP) Control Manager has been updated. Monitoring of NLB availability is performed much the same way as monitoring for a physical management point is done in Configuration Manager 2007. Also the state of each node within the NLB is monitored.

Added Component Availability Monitoring

Many components have been instrumented to generate heartbeats containing their availability state. Component availability issues are reported through alerts.

Added Configuration Manager Task Monitoring

Tasks are periodically performed for collection evaluation, state message summarization, and site maintenance including backup. Tables in the site database have been expanded and components updated to report task duration and status. Tasks running longer than expected or failing are now reported.

Updated Inbox File Count Threshold Rules

Inboxes are now monitored by Monitoring pack performance counters. In the past, these counters were monitored by a script.

Added Outbox Monitoring

The outbox monitor counts the number of files in an outbox and is reported by a performance counter.

Updated Configuration Manager 2007 Tasks Launched from the Operations Manager Console

In SMS 2003, the SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH environment variable that was created when you installed the SMS Administrator console was a user environment variable, so only the installer of the console was capable of launching the SMS Tasks from the Operations Console. In Configuration Manager 2007, this environment variable is now a system environment variable, and this restriction no longer holds. The following tasks are affected:

  • Resource Explorer

  • Configuration Manager console

  • Service Manager

  • Status Message

  • These tasks are now available in the results pane whenever an instance of the ConfigMgr Server class is present.

Update Maintenance Mode for Configuration Manager 2007

Operations Manager Maintenance mode is now used by the following Configuration Manager 2007 features:

  • Backup and recovery

  • Software updates management

  • Software distribution

Backup and recovery can still shut down services, but because a shutdown puts the Operations Manager Agent into maintenance mode before doing so, it is no longer necessary to have any custom implementation of service monitoring in the Monitoring pack for this.

Updated Configuration Manager Site Hierarchy Diagram

The Site Hierarchy diagram of SMS 2003 in Operations Manager (MOM) 2007 has been updated to roll up status.

Updated Reports for Configuration Manager

Configuration Manager contains new reports that focus on performance counters by site system role and performance counters by object processing counter, such as counters related to discovery data records (DDR)s. For more information about the new reports, see Reports for the Monitoring Pack for Configuration Manager 2007.

Removed Configuration Manager Sender Role

The remote sender is longer supported in Configuration Manager 2007. Monitoring pack support for the sender role has been removed from the Monitoring pack.

Removed Client Access Point Role

This role has been removed from Configuration Manager 2007. Monitoring of this role has been removed from the Health Explorer.

Removed Monitoring of Client Configuration Request Outbox

Monitoring of the Configuration Manager 2007 client configuration request outbox (outbox ccr.box) is no longer supported by the Monitoring pack now that cluster continuous replications (CCRs) no longer flow through this outbox.