How to Create a System Center Operations Manager Connector
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Service Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager, System Center 2012 - Service Manager
In System Center 2012 – Service Manager, there are two types of connectors for System Center Operations Manager. You use the first type of connector, the alert connector, to automatically generate incidents that are based on Operations Manager alerts. You use the second type of connector, the configuration item (CI) connector, to import discovered objects from Operations Manager as configuration items into the Service Manager database. You can use the following procedures to create both connectors, validate them, and confirm their creation.
Note
For the Operations Manager CI connector to function correctly, you have to import a set of management packs into Service Manager. For more information, seeHow to Import Management Packs for System Center Operations Manager Configuration Item Connectors.
Alerts that are generated by Operations Manager and that are sent to Service Manager do not contain user information. Therefore, when you open an incident in Service Manager, the Affected User box will be empty. You will not be able to save the incident form until you select an affected user. We recommend that you create a special user in Service Manager specifically for this purpose. For more information about how to create a special user, see How to Manually Create Configuration Items. This user is the user that you will assign to the Affected User field for all incidents created by Operations Manager.
You have the option of defining Service Manager templates that run when alerts of certain types are received. If you decide to add an alert routing rule, you can configure Service Manager to use a particular template based on alert criteria such, as priority or severity, as described in the following procedure.
There are two phases for creating the Alert connector. The first part involves creating the Alert connector on the Service Manager management server. The second part requires that you start the Operations Manager console and set up a subscription for the newly created connector. The subscription you create must be unique for the Alert connector; no connector that is created to point to Operations Manager should have a subscription that overlaps with another Operations Manager internal connector. Both phases are described in the following procedure.
To create an Operations Manager alert connector
In the Service Manager console, click Administration.
In the Administration pane, expand Administration, and then click Connectors.
In the Tasks pane, under Connectors, click Create Connector, and then click Operations Manager Alert Connector.
Complete the following steps to complete the Operations Manager Alert Connector Wizard:
On the Before You Begin page, click Next.
On the General page, in the Name box, type a name for the new connector. Make sure that the Enable check box is selected, and then click Next. Make a note of this name; you will need this name in step 7 of this procedure.
On the Server Details page, in the Server name box, type the name of the server that is hosting the Operations Manager root management server. Under Credentials, click New.
In the Run As Account dialog box, in the Display name box, type a name for this Run As account. In the Account list, select Windows Account.
In the User Name, Password, and Domain fields, type the credentials for the Run As account, and then click OK. For more information about the permissions that are required for this Run As account, see Accounts Required During Setup in the Planning Guide for System Center 2012 - Service Manager.
On the Server Details page, click Test Connection. If you receive the following confirmation message, click OK, and then click Next:
“The connection to the server was successful.”
On the Alert Routing Rules page, click Add.
In the Add Alert Routing Rule dialog box, create a name for the rule, select the template that you want to use to process incidents created by an alert, and then select the alert criteria that you want to use. Click OK, and then click Next.
On the Schedule page, select Close alerts in Operations Manager when incidents are resolved or closed or Resolve incidents automatically when the alerts in Operations Manager are closed, click Next, and then click Create.
Start the Operations Manager console.
Use the appropriate method, based on the version of Operations Manager 2007 you are using:
In Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1), in the Administration pane, click Product Connectors.
In Operations Manager 2007 R2 and in System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, in the Administration pane, click Product Connectors, and then click Internal Connectors.
In the Connectors pane, click the name of the alert connector that you specified in step 4b.
In the Actions pane, click Properties.
In the Alert Sync: <name of connector> dialog box, click Add.
In the Product Connector Subscription Wizard dialog box, on the General page, in the Subscription Name box, type the name for this subscription. For example, type All Alerts, and then click Next.
On the Approve groups page, click Next.
On the Approve targets page, click Next.
On the Criteria page, click Create.
In the Alert Sync:<name of connector> dialog box, click OK.
To validate the creation of an Operations Manager alert connector
Confirm that the connector you created is displayed in the Service Manager console in the Connectors pane.
Confirm that incidents are created in Service Manager from alerts in Operations Manager.
To create an Operations Manager CI connector
In the Service Manager console, click Administration.
In the Administration pane, expand Administration, and then click Connectors.
In the Tasks pane, under Connectors, click Create Connector, and then click Operations Manager CI Connector.
Complete the following steps to complete the Operations Manager CI Connector Wizard:
On the General page, in the Name box, type a name for the new connector. Make sure that the Enable check box is selected, and then click Next.
On the Server Details page, in the Server name box, type the name of the server that is hosting the Operations Manager root management server.
Use one of the following methods to enter credentials:
Under Credentials, select the Run As account you created for the alert connector, and then go to step 4d.
Under Credentials, click New. In the User name, Password, and Domain boxes, type the credentials for the Run As account, and then click OK. For more information about the permissions that are required for this Run As account, see Accounts Required During Setup in the Deployment Guide for System Center 2012 - Service Manager.
On the Server Details page, click Test Connection. If you receive the following confirmation message, click OK, and then click Next:
“The connection to the server was successful.”
On the MP Selection page, click Select all, or select the management packs that define the configuration items you want to import, and then click Next.
On the Schedule page, click Next, and then click Create.
To validate the creation of an Operations Manager CI connector
- Confirm that the objects that Operations Manager discovered are listed as configuration items in Service Manager.
To confirm the status of an Operations Manager connector
- View the columns in the Connector pane; the columns contain information about the start time, the finish time, the status, and the percentage of import completion.
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You can use a Windows PowerShell command to complete these tasks, as follows:
For information about how to use Windows PowerShell to create a new Operations Manager alert connector in Service Manager, see New-SCOMAlertConnector.
For information about how to use Windows PowerShell to create an alert rule to be used with an Operations Manager 2007 alert connector in Service Manager, see New-SCSMAlertRule.
For information about how to use Windows PowerShell to create a new Operations Manager 2007 CI connector in Service Manager, see New-SCOMConfigurationItemConnector.
For information about how to use Windows PowerShell to retrieve connectors that are defined in Service Manager and to view their status, see Get-SCSMConnector.