Windows Server 2012 #HyperV and SMB 3.0 Best Practices with #SCVMM

May 19, 2013

Dell-m620-servers

When you have your hardware design ready in your datacenter, It’s handy to have a checklist.
As with all Best Practices, not every recommendation can – or should – be applied. Best Practices are general guidelines, not hard, fast rules that must be followed. As such, you should carefully review each item to determine if it makes sense in your environment.
From here you go to the Microsoft Checklist for Windows Server 2012 – Hyper-V best practices

Hyper-V File Share config

In this post, Jose Barreto is providing a reference to the most relevant content related to Windows Server 2012 that is related to the File Server, the SMB 3.0 features and its associated scenarios like Hyper-V over SMB and SQL Server over SMB. It’s obviously not a complete reference (there are new blog posts every day), but hopefully this is a useful collection of links for Windows Server 2012 users.

From here you go to Jose Barreto’s blog Updated Links on Windows Server 2012 File Server and SMB 3.0

And off course Hyper-V Clustering and storage has to be managed by System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager.
Here you find a serie of great blogposts made by Nigel Cain & Damian Flynn :

Virtual Networking in VMM 2012 SP1 – Part 1

Logical Networks (Part II) – How many logical networks do you really need?

For more information on System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager you can go to :

TechNet WiKi VMM 2012 Guide

TechNet Library VMM 2012 Online


Test Lab Guides: System Center 2012 SP1 – Virtual Machine Manager #sysctr #SCVMM #Hyperv

May 10, 2013

Test Labs SCVMM SP1

 

You can download the Test Lab Guides System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager here


Implementing System Center Management Pack for #WindowsAzure SQL Database Monitoring #sysctr

May 8, 2013

Import the Management Pack

For more information about importing a management pack, see How to Import an Operations Manager Management Pack.

Import the Microsoft.SqlServer.Azure.mpb using the Administration pane in the Operations Console.  After running the installer the management pack is typically located on the system drive in the \Program Files\System Center Management Packs folder.

Creating Windows Azure SQL Database Run As Accounts

To monitor Windows Azure SQL Database servers first create one or more Simple or Basic authentication Run As accounts which contain the credentials for accessing the servers. To do this:

  1. In SCOM Console navigate to Administration | Run As Configuration | Accounts, right-click it and select Create Run As Account…

Runs as Accounts 1

2. On the Introduction page click Next

3. On the General Properties page select Simple Authentication in Run As account type combo box, populate Display name and click Next

Runs as Accounts 2

4. On the Credentials page populate Account name and Password with the credentials that will be used to connect to Windows Azure SQL Database cloud service and click Next.

Runs as Accounts 3

5. On the Distribution Security page select More secure option and click Create.
You can use Less secure option and skip steps 7 – 8 if your environment is secure enough. 

6. Click Close to close the window.

If you used Less secure option on step 5, you can skip next steps.

7. Right-click newly created account and select Properties.

Runs as Accounts 4

8. Navigate to Distribution tab and add the SCOM Agent that you wish to use as a Watcher Node to monitor Windows Azure SQL Database cloud service.

Runs as Accounts 5

See Managing Run As Accounts and Profiles for more information about Run As accounts.

Using the Windows Azure SQL Database Add Monitoring Wizard

To begin monitoring a Windows Azure SQL Database cloud service:

  1. In SCOM Console navigate to Authoring | Management Pack Templates, right-click Windows Azure SQL Database and select Add Monitoring Wizard…

monitoring 1

2. On the Monitoring Type page select Windows Azure SQL Database and click Next

monitoring 2

3. On the General Properties page you haveto provide template Name and Description, as well as Select destination management pack where template will be stored. If you don’t have a management pack for this
purpose – you can create a new one by clicking New… button.
monitoring 3

Note: It is recommended to use new MP for the template.

4. On the Service Details page provide Server Name (including database.windows.net) and select Run As Account containing username and password to access cloud service. Click Next.

monitoring 4

5. On the Proxy Agent tab Browse available SCOM Agents and select one to use as Watcher Node.

Important! IP address of the proxy agent machine should be enabled through Windows Azure SQL Database firewall. Also, Run As account specified in previous step should be distributed to selected agent or Less Secure option should be used, otherwise management pack won’t work.

monitoring 5

6. Review configuration on Summary page and click Create.

Enabling Federations Discovery

To reduce number of queries issued to the Windows Azure SQL Database, federations discovery is disabled by default. If you use federations and want to monitor them, you have to enable the discovery.

To do this:

  1. In SCOM Console navigate to Authoring | Management Pack Objects | Object Discoveries and click Scope button on the toolbar or Change Scope… link if scoping is already enabled.

Federation monitoring 1

2. Look for Windows Azure SQL Database Federation.

Federation monitoring 2

3. Right-click Windows Azure SQL Database Federation Discovery and select Overrides | Override the Object Discovery | For a specific object of class: Windows Azure SQL User Database.

Federation monitoring 3

4. Select root database of your federation.

Federation monitoring 4

5. Check Enabled row and select True as Override Value. To store this override you can use the same management pack where monitoring template instance relies. Click Apply and OK.

Federation monitoring 5

Here you can download the Microsoft Management Pack for Windows Azure SQL Databases


#Microsoft #WindowsAzure #SQL Database Management Pack for System Center 2012 #sysctr

May 8, 2013

SCOM WindowsAzure

Overview

The Microsoft Windows Azure SQL Database Management Pack enables you to monitor the availability and performance of applications that are running on Windows Azure SQL Database.
Feature Summary After configuration, the Microsoft Windows Azure SQL Database Monitoring Management Pack offers the following functionalities:

  • User-friendly wizard to discover Windows Azure SQL Database servers.
  • Provides availability status of Windows Azure SQL Database server.
  • Collects and monitors health of Windows Azure SQL Database databases.
    • Space monitoring:
      • Used space
      • Free space
      • Total allocated quota
    • Track the total number of databases per server
  • Collects and monitors performance information:
    • Average memory per session
    • Total memory per session
    • Total CPU time per session
    • Total I/O per session
    • Number of database sessions
    • Maximum Transaction execution time
    • Maximum Transaction lock count
    • Maximum Transaction log space used
    • Network Egress/Ingress bandwidth
  • Ability to define Custom thresholds for each monitor to configure the warning and critical alerts.
  • Run-as profile to securely connect to Windows Azure SQL Database.
  • Detailed knowledge to guide the IT operator with troubleshooting the problem
  • Custom tasks to redirect the user to the Windows Azure SQL Database online portal
  • Custom query support to enable application-specific availability and performance monitoring

You can download the Microsoft Windows Azure SQL Database Management Pack here


UPDATE : #Microsoft System Center Management Pack for Windows Server Operating System #sysctr #SCOM

May 7, 2013

SCOM Logo

Overview

The System Center Management Pack for Windows Server Operating System consists of the following management packs: Microsoft Windows Server Library, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Discovery, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Monitoring, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Discovery, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Monitoring, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Monitoring BPA, Microsoft Windows Server Clustered Shared and Volume Monitoring, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The System Center Monitoring Pack for Windows Server Operating System monitor the performance, health, and availability of Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2003and Windows 2000 Server.
By detecting, alerting on, and automatically responding to critical events and performance indicators, these management packs reduce resolution times for issues and increase the overall availability and performance of your systems running the Windows Server operating systems, thereby helping to reduce the total cost of ownership.
Feature Summary

  • Availability
    • Key Operating System Services: Required services are checked for status (for example, running, not running, or paused)
    • Storage: Logical hard drives are checked for availability, sufficient free space, and integrity of the NTFS partition.
    • Network: Network adapters are checked for connection health, name and IP address conflicts.
  • Performance
    • Processor: System processor(s) performance is checked system-wide.  Processors can optionally be monitored on a per processor basis.
    • Memory: Memory consisting of physical memory and virtual memory (also known as page files) is monitored using the following performance indicators:
      • Available memory (in MB)
      • Pages per second
      • Page file percent usage
    • Disks and Partitions: Logical disks/partitions and physical disks are monitored, and performance data is collected for average disk seconds per read, disk seconds per write, and disk seconds per transfer.  Monitoring is also provided for fragmentation of logical disks.  Depending on which version of the operating system is being monitored, either logical or physical monitoring is enabled by default.  Refer to the MP guide for more detail.
    • Network Adapter: Network adapters are monitored for the number of bytes received per second, the number of bytes sent per second, and the total bytes per second. In addition, the health state of the network adapter is evaluated and is set to Healthy if connected and Critical if disconnected.

Known Issue:

        If the BPA monitor is enabled, then there will be an error in the PowerShell script which is a know issue in the Agent. This has been fixed in Operations Manager next update which is coming up.

You can download the Microsoft System Center Management Pack for Windows Server OS here

When you search for other System Center Management Packs, I can recommend this great TechNet WiKi site :

A nice collection of Microsoft Management Packs you can find here on TechNet Wiki


Video presentation: How to Design and Configure Networking in #SCVMM and #HyperV

May 6, 2013

scvmm-2012-powershell-logo-high-res SP1

How to Design and Configure Networking in System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Hyperv by Greg Cusanza
Microsoft Senior Program Manager on the SCVMM Team

 

 


Great #Microsoft Fabric Management Architecture Guide #sysctr #SCVMM

May 2, 2013

Fabric Design

This document provides specific guidance for developing a management architecture for an overall private cloud solution.
You can download this Great WhitePaper here


Making a TestLAB with Windows Server 2012 – System Center 2012 SP1 – #WindowsAzure – Hybrid #Cloud #sysctr

May 2, 2013

TestLAB Logic Design

Hybrid Cloud Architecture

Making a testlab environment is important for your business innovation to do proof of concepts for example Hybrid Cloud scenario’s to see and experience the benefits for your Company.

In this Testlab we use the following Microsoft Products to get the Basis infrastructure for Hybrid Cloud :

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition for Operating System and Hyper-V as Hypervisor.
  • Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 – Datacenter Edition – starting with Virtual Machine Manager
  • Microsoft SQL 2012 Enterprise Server
  • Microsoft Windows Azure Subscription.
  • Microsoft Office 365 Subscription

When you make a Testlab environment start small and think always in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) :

  • A physical / virtual Server on premises or virtual Server in the Cloud of Microsoft with Windows Azure ?
    Think of all the costs like hardware, power consumption, scalability, storage, etc ….
  • Make the right choices for your bussiness

Get inspired by one of my favorite Microsoft employee Yung Chou :

Yung ChouBio Yung ChouHe has a great blog site about Microsoft Hybrid Cloud : http://blogs.technet.com/b/yungchou/ with videos, E-books, and cool blog posts !

In the Next blogpost about TestLAB : How to make the basis infrastructure for Hybrid Cloud scenario’s.


#Microsoft Technet Virtual LABS #Cloud #sysctr #WindowsAzure #WS2012 #Sharepoint…..

April 29, 2013

VirtualLabs 1TechNet Virtual Labs enable you to quickly evaluate and test Microsoft’s newest products and technologies through a series of guided, hands-on labs that you can complete in 90 minutes or less. There is no complex setup or installation required.

Related Resources

MSDN Virtual Labs These virtual labs for developers give you hands-on experience with Microsoft’s programming tools and technologies.

TechNet Evaluation Center Download Microsoft technical trial software and install it in your sandboxed environment, and then receive deployment guidance and other resources from the experts.

OR

Go to the Home site of Microsoft TechNet Virtual Labs

 


#Microsoft System Center Advisor Connector for Operations Manager Preview #sysctr

April 26, 2013

system_center_2012_logo

Check Advise

Overview

The System Center Advisor Connector for Operations Manager preview enables Operations Manager users to receive ongoing assessment of configuration for their windows computers. After installing the connector and selecting computers to be analyzed, Operations Managers users will be able to receive Advisor alerts in the Operations Manager console.
Supported operating systems: Windows Server 2012
This Preview requires Operations Manager 2012 SP1 with Update Rollup 2 installed. Complete Operations Manager system requirements can be found at : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj656654.aspx

Instructions

In order to install the Advisor Connector preview:

  1. Download the MSI provided in this page
  2. Extract the contents to a folder in your computer
  3. Import the extracted MPBs into the Operations Manager Console

For more information on configuring the Advisor Connector Preview, visit the Advisor Online Help at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=293793
You can also ask questions and learn more about Advisor at our blog:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2013/04/09/system-center-advisor-connector-for-operations-manager-preview.aspx

You can download the System Center Advisor Connector for Operations Manager Preview here


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