SC Operations Manager 2007 - The Basics of Health Explorer
SC OM2k7 offers a host of new capabilities in relation to Operations Management. One of the foundational changes is the introduction of a capability termed 'Health Explorer'. Health Explorer provides a single interface to see the Health of various Operating System, Application Services and Hardware Components combined in a natural state. The interesting part about Health Explorer is the the view for each of the Components 'roll up'.
Take a look at the following Screen Capture as an initial orientation to SC OM2k7 Health Explorer. In the example that follows I show you Health Explorer including analysis of a single Service on a Domain Controller. I then 'stop' the Spooler Service and watch Health Explorer respond.
<Click the Image to view a Full Screen Color Image>
The SC Operations Manager 2007 Main Console provides a single interface for responding to Alerts, Events and analyzing Performance data.
The focus is now moved to the 'Discovered Inventory' view where we can see a single Active Directory Domain Controller named 'k01-ad-dc1.corp.itpslab.local'.
I have now changed the Target Type 'Windows Computer' so we might view 'All Windows Computers' discovered with an Agent Installed.
Here's an example of a Windows XP Client Workstation with the Agent Deployed on it where the Health State is 'greyed out'. The Windows XP Client Workstation is powered off in this example.
I have changed the focus to the Active Directory Domain Controller where I can select 'Health Explorer' one of several ways. In this example you see it in the 'Actions' pane.
I have 'right-mouse-clicked' and am invoking Health Explorer from the context menu.
The primary capabilities for Health Explorer are around 4 areas of focus: 1) Availability, 2) Configuration, 3) Performance and 4) Security.
The health rollup state is viewed for the 'Availability' Health Monitors.
One of the great features of Health Explorer is the convenient view of how state has 'changed' over time. Here we see it in the 'State Change Events' tab of the Health Explorer.
Each Management Pack provides Health Monitor values (if it is a Management Pack for SC OM2k7) and many additional Health Monitors can be 'hand made' specific to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) functions.
The Windows Server Base Management Pack provides many of the 'Core Windows Services' Monitors critical to a Healthy Server.
These Health Monitors are generated by installation of the IIS Management Pack in this configuration.
I have generated a number of Service Monitors including the Print Spooler Service Monitor. Changes in state for any of these monitored Services yields Information, an Alert or a Diagnostic or Recovery from SC OM2k7.
The Configuration Health Monitor offers insights into how a configuration has changed, been modified or responded to an Rule.
The Management Packs for 1) Internet Information Server and 2) Active Directory Services yield configuraiton monitors offered in the form of Rules.
The Performance Monitors indicate the Health of individual Performance Rules defined by Management Pack values.
Additionally, Service Monitors can include Performance Health Monitor values that derive empirical data for the display of graphical and statistical data over time.
Here I initiate the 'Run As' to open the Services MMC. My goal is to stop the Spooler Service on the Domain Controller and see how the Health Explorer responds.
I am prepared to stop the Spooler Service on the Domain Controller. I will refocus the Health Explorer from Performance Health Monitor to the Configuration Health Monitor for analysis.
The Spooler Service is stopped on our Domain Controller and because I have configured a Service Monitor for the Spooler Service OM2k7 will respond. We will see the aggregate Health of the DC now change from 'Okay' to 'Critical'.
The Health State of the Spooler Service is now Critical. An Alert is generated per the Rule associated with the Service Monitor. In this example I must take action to remedy this Service outage.
The Alert in the Alert View windows indicating the Spooler Service is Stopped.
One of the many valuable features of SC OM2k7 is the ability to 'respond' right in a Single Console. Here I click the 'Start Service' link provided in the Alert Detail Window. Immediately a 'Task' is invoked to restart the Spooler Service on this Domain Controller. Additionally, I could have modified the Rule to automatically run a 'Diagnostic' or a 'Recovery' to programatically restart the Service and simply provide a historical Alert for reference.
The 'Start Service' Task invoked correctly and the Spooler Service is back up and running in moments based on my response and the availability of options in the OM2k7 Management Console.
Here we see Health Explorer restored to its Status of 'all okay'.
Lynn Lunik
Chief Security Architect
IT Pro Secure Corporation
blog@itprosecure.com
Blog Tags: Amazon Web Services, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010, Hyper-V, Virtual PC 2007, SCOM2k7, SQL2k8, Windows 7, Windows 2008, Exchange 2007, Exchange 2010, Failover Clustering – ITPS, Failover Clustering – LL
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