IT Management? why?

Custom labels with asset intelligence

galhut1 — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:39:32 GMT

Recently I had some very interesting conversations with several CTOs about software and hardware asset management. A topic that repeated in those conversations was gathering software titles with SCCM. They were using SCCM to gather asset data and even had Asset Intelligence running, the problem was that the Assent Intelligence reports was far from satisfying.
The reports contained tens of thousands of software titles, most with had no importance to the organization's day to day operations. They needed a way to shorten the list and have it contain only the software titles they wanted to see.

Another subject repeated in those conversations was the need for some sort of tool that will enable them to select which software title they want to display in the reports, and which should be discarded.

My first response was to have some sort of GUI that updates a table in the database and change the report to use that table … not smart…
anyway, after talking to some friends we came with a better way:

Assent intelligence enables us to set custom tags to software titles.
We do it in the asset intelligence part of the SCCM console. Simply go to asset intelligence, select custom catalog and create a new label

Name the label (call it something like "LOB Software")

After you create the label you will need to assign it to a software title. Go to "All Inventoried software titles" and select properties on the software title that you want to add as LOB. In the properties window select custom labels and assign the LOB label to one of the custom fields.

All that left to be done is to go the reports section and select the "Software titles with a specific custom label defined" report.

That all,

Good day

Gal.

SCCM WMI Helper C#

galhut1 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:55:34 GMT

Hello,

recently I have started to develop a C# library that enables you to perform all sorts of actions automatically with c#.

this library was originally developed for a customer that has a very large SCCM environment that need a lot of automation. I have implemented the following actions :

WMI_Query - a function to return a single columns from a SCCM provider query.
ReSyncSCCMInventory – a function that send a resync command to a client.
DeleteAllPackagesFromDP – a function to delete all packages from a DP.
DeleteDP and DeleteDPSavingPackages – functions to delete a BDP or DP while saving the packages deployed to it
CreateBDP
AssignPackageToDistributionPoint

All those actions were implemented in C# using the SCCM SDK.

I have included the code to the AssignPackageToDistributionPoint I will continue to post functions from this code in the future.

public void AssignPackageToDistributionPoint(string PkgID,string serverName)

{

try

{

   IResultObject dp = Connection.CreateInstance(“SMS_DistributionPoint”);

   DP[“PackageID”].StringValue = PkgID;

   string query = “Select * from SMS_SystemResourceList WHERE RoleName = ‘SMS_DistributionPoint’ AND SiteCode =SMS_<SiteCode>”;

   IResultObject listOfResources = Connection.QueryProcessor(query);

   foreach (IResultObject resource in listOfResources)

      {

         DP[“ServerNALPath”].StringValue = resource[“NALPath”].StringValue;

         DP[“SiteCode”].StringValue = resource[“SiteCode”].StringValue;

      }

   DP.Put();

}

catch(SMSExeption ex)

{

    throw;

}

}

The next step for this library will be to compile to a DLL file and use the file to create a QIK System Center Orchestration IP… but that for another time.

gal.

I back and … SQL report to export all sub collection tree

galhut1 — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:59:38 GMT

Hello, after some time that I haven't posted anything in this blog I decided that its time to get myself together and write something.

before I start to get dirty and technical I would to update you all about what I was up to in the last 6 mounts.
so, for those of you how don’t know me, my name is gal hutman. I currently work at NESS.IT as a senior system center consultant. I started working here about 3 mounts ago , before that I worked at Bynet data communication, also as system center consultant.

today I am going to decide how to create a SQL report that export all the sub collection in a collection tree.
for example lets assume that we have the following SCCM collection tree :

Company X
-> Headquarters
     -> Finance
     -> IT
        -> Helpdesk
        -> System
     -> Trainings
-> Site A
-> Site B

-> and some on and so on….

let say that we want to extract all the collection IDs for the Headquarters collection and lets say that we have an unknown number of levels in the tree collections.

the following SQL query exports all the sub collections :

declare @CollectionTable TABLE (

CollectionID char (15),

CollectionName char (100),

ParrentCollectionID char (15),

level int);

with xxx as (

select cs.subCollectionID,col.name,cs.parrentCollectionID,0 as level

from v_CollectToSubCollect cs

join v_Collection col on col.CollectionID = cs.subCollectionID

where parrentCollectionID = ‘Enter Collection ID Here’

union all

     select cs.subCollectionID,col.Name,cs.parrentCollectionID,level +1

     from v_CollectToSubCollect cs

     join v_Collection col on col.CollectionID = cs.subCollectionID

inner join xxx as x on x.subCollectionID = cs.parrentCollection ID)

insert into @CollectionTable (CollecationID ,CollectionName ,ParrentCollectionID ,level)

select subCollectionID,Name,parrentCollectionID,level from xxx;

you can also extent this query to select all agents in the sub collection :

all you have to do is to add this query :

select resourceID from v_FullCollectionMemebership where CollectionID in ( select * from @CollectionTable )

Gal.

ps. excuse me there are any typos in the code, I wrote it from memory after implementing it in a client site.

SCCM 2012 DCM

galhut1 — Sun, 22 May 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Hello ,

Every one who has been following SCCM 2012 webcasts and information heard about the new capabilities of DCM (Desire configuration management), DSM-SET.
the idea behind DCM-SET is to use the DCM mechanism no only to monitor a certain CI (Configuration Item) but to also to enforce the desired value.

DCM uses two important terms : CI and Baseline.
A “CI” is a set of definitions how to monitor a certain value , for example using registry, and what to look for in that value .
A “Baseline” is a set of CI’s. we use baselines to assign CI to a Collection of users or devices.

DCM baseline can be imported from the System Center catalog or created manually using the SCCM console, the new SCCM console embed new GUI features used to create CI’s and is more usable then the previous one.

I have put together a small demo showing the creation of a registry based CI.

In the first screen we select the name and assign categories to the CI.

the next screen allows us to select the OS that this CI will assess.

in this screen you will create a new CI , press on the new… button and fill in the details.
when you click on Browse… you will receive the next screen allowing you you to select the registry key to monitor.

notice that you can fill in the criteria

click ok and finish the wizard.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 and BynetExpo 2011

galhut1 — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:08:00 GMT

hello,

In the past few week I have been busy preparing the demos for the annual Bynet Exposition- BynetEXPO. for does of you how doesn’t know BynetExpo is considered one the leading ICT exposition in Israel, and hosts almost all the important vendors in Compute, Networking, Security and Video conference .

This year I took on myself the responsibility to organize the Microsoft private cloud and management solutions booth, and of course SCVV 2012 was my main focus.

System center virtual machine manager 2012 is a small revolution in managing and maintaining virtual infrastructure , SCVVM implements a cloud approach to virtual infrastructure management,providing the ability to divide you network to clouds and allocate resources among them.

lets look at some of the new and exiting things I found interesting in SCVMM 2012:

* cloud : its all about cloud management : you can create several private clouds and divide resources between them ,you can for example create a private cloud for VDI machines or a cloud for a service.

* Services : you can create a service templates. A service template , for example a web application service , consists of a web server a database server . you can also manager the virtual networks , create a new virtual network for the service with load balancers.

* Cross-Platform management : SCVVM 2012 can manager ESX and Citrix hyper-visors with all the capabilities of SCVVM 2012 including template and fabric management,.

* Fabric management : SCVMM 2012 can manage Hyper-V, ESX and Cirtix hyper-visors. It can also manage Network and Storage(Connecting to EMC,IBM,NetApp and HP storage)

* The new self service portal with the capability to request for a new virtual machine or a service.

Back to BynetExpo:

we will have a demonstration of the interoperability of SCMM 2012 with SCOM (pro tips still not working that good in the beta version) , we will also have a SCCM 2012 and Opalis 6.3 and wish I will be able to install SCSM to complete the demonstration.

to end this post I have included some screen shots of SCVMM:

Failover OPSMGR RMS using SQL 2008 log shipping and Opalis integration server–Part 4 and final.

galhut1 — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:54:00 GMT

looking back at the main policy, we still have to :

changing the SQL server in DB
disable the SQL jobs
reversing the log shipping
promote MS to RMS

5)Change SQL server in DB : in the previous post I have explained how to update the database location in registry, as it appears SCOM also looks for database settings in its own database so we have to update the MT_ManagmentGroup table.

The next screen shot shows how to configure the task.

6) Disable SQL log shipping : The next two tasks tell both the servers to disable SQL jobs. The purpose of this step is to make sure no SQL log shipping will occur after the services are restated. (We want to reverse the log shipping direction.)

7)Reverse log shipping: Now we have to reverse the log shipping direction. This is done by putting the new destination server (previously the source server) in standby mode, then we have to enable the reversed log shipping jobs. (as I have explained before, you have to define the log shipping both ways in order for this procedure to work.)

I have put this task in a dedicated policy in order simply things.

8) Promote MS to RMS :That's it. We have reach the final task,a simple run command line task, you run it on the destination server and it’s a built in command line tool that basically tells SCOM that the RMS role has changed places and promotes the MS server to be RMS, it also demotes the RMS back to MS.

The command is “ManagementServerConfigTool.exe” and you run it with the parameter: “PromoteRMS”. I have also added a “<result.txt” at the end of the command so I will be able to see the command results.

thats all you now have a working process.

feel to free to comment and ask questions.

gal.

Failover OPSMGR RMS using SQL 2008 log shipping and Opalis integration server–Part 3. My 64bits registry tweak…

galhut1 — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:40:54 GMT

In the previous posts I have explained how to preform an automated SCOM DRP process using SQL log shipping and OPALIS integration server.

Looking back at our policy…

The next task we have to deal with is changing the registry keys settings on both servers. Changing the settings tells the application that the database location has been changed, the next time the application services starts it will try to connect to the database in the new location (making the stand-by database active).

this is the policy that made me start writing this post, let’s look at the policy and see way.

Our OAPLIS lab is installed on a windows 2008 R2 server as you must have know R2 is a 64Bit operating system.
There are several ways to perform registry tasks in OAPLIS, you can drop an “Add registry key” from the opalis utilities IP, (can be downloaded in the opalis codeplex page.) you can use a run script command with the command “regedit” ,or something like that.
The problem with all those methods is that when trying to update a 64bit server from a 32bit application (opalis is a 32bit application) , and that key is in the software hive, windows will treat the updating application as a 32 bit application and the will be drop the change under the SysWOW key.

In order to overcome this problem a have created a reg file , copied it to both server and had opalis run a “regedit /s” command on it(I could also do it with opalis), using opalis’s text editing capabilities I simply changed the values in the reg file.

The policy looks something like that:

using the “Delete line” and “Append line” : the first tasks are to delete the line that we want to change. opalis does not have a replace line task so we have to delete the line and then use an append line task to add the new value.
the second task is to append the new value to the reg file
the last task will be to run “regedit /s” command on both servers.

are some screen shots:

I know this is probably not the best way to do this and I hope to have some comments about this blog with more ideas to how to overcome thins issue. anyway the next opalis version (called “System center orchestrator “) should be release this year and should have a native 64bit support.

Failover OPSMGR RMS using SQL 2008 log shipping and Opalis integration server–Part 2

galhut1 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:45:00 GMT

When I have to deal with large tasks I usually like to divide them into small , easy to understand parts. using this method allow me more control over what's comes where and makes it easy to debug a problem if something goes wrong.
The ability to create sub polices to do small tasks helps keep things in order and Opalis is the perfect tool if you want to use a “Divide and Conquer” method.

without further talking let’s continue with our policy.

1) The “Stop Services” policy
The first step in the main policy is to stop all the SCOM services on the both the RMS and MS servers. The purpose of this step is to make sure no data can be written to the database.
here is how its done:

Like most polices used in this solution It is started it with a custom start. This method allows us transfer the source and destinations servers name to the policy, maintaining a policy that can be triggered on both ends.
(we want a bidirectional policy so we can switch between the currently active RMS and MS )
The first step in this policy is to send a stop command to all the services following by a “junction” that waits for all the stop commands to complete.

The configuration for the stop services tasks is straight forward. Just dump the task and configure it to stop the SCOM services.

I have put the “Publish policy data” so we can return data to the main policy if needed.

All my sub-policies will look more or less the same (“Custom start” as the first action and “Publish policy data” as the last)

2) “Start log ship cycle” policy
the next step in this policy is to start a log shipping cycle. This is done in order to make sure that the latest data from the source database replicates to the target server.

The first task is a built in task called “Test MSSQL Connection” you can obtain this task from Codeplex, there is an integration pack there for SQL tasks. (I recommend browsing this site once in a while, there are several interesting articles and IPs there)

The following steps are a “Query database” tasks. Configure theme as shown in the following images.

Remember that we are creating a generic process intended to work both ways. The server names are set as parameters.

Assign those tasks to the source server. The “SourceServer” parameter is of course defined in the custom start task.

Set the task to run on the destination server (leave the source server in the SQL query. It’s just the name of the job)

3) “Restore database with recovery”
this task takes the destination database out of stand-by mode,allowing it to act as the active database.
to create this task simply drop a “query database” task and assign the following query to the destination server : “restore database operationsmanager with recovery”

4) The next task we have to deal with is changing the registry keys settings on the both servers. this task is easy and could be implemented in several ways.

in the next blog post I will explain in what cases this task is not all that simple…

Failover OPSMGR RMS using SQL 2008 log shipping and Opalis integration server–Part 1

galhut1 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:12:00 GMT

If you are familiar with implementing OpsMgr, you have probably dealt with failover and DRP scenarios.

In OpsMgr you have several options to DRP: SQL replication, SQL cluster , SCOM cluster and SQL log shipping. generally I prefer log-shipping.

The idea behind log-shipping is to install a SCOM hierarchy with two (or more) servers: one is of course is the RMS and the others are MS.
In the case of a failure we stop the services on the RMS server and change the active DB. some scenarios may ask you to activate the SQL standby database and reverse the log-shipping.

Going through this procedure can be quite intimidating (there are plenty of space for mistakes) you will need to change setting in the registry, run SQL script maybe change some DNS or NLB settings or run some command lines.
Now for a little confession, recently I started working with Opalis (I had done several POC’s with it and love it ) the product is flexible ,allows changes and custom code to be run. (you can run a .NET script, trigger DLL . for me WOW!)

I was sitting in my office thinking about things that can be done with Opalis. me and my colleagues have talked several times about using Opalis as a failover tool for SCOM, so I have decided to create a policy to handle failover OpsMgr servers…

here is what I done:

Let’s take a look at the main policy (the main workflow):

In order to achieve successful transfer between the servers we need to perform the following tasks:

1) Stop the Operations Manager services on the RMS and MS – this will stop the application from writing data to the database, making sure that we do not loss data during the transfer.

2) Start a log shipping cycle

3) Perform a restore with no recovery to the target database in order to take it out of standby mode.

4) Run a script (we will talk latter about why we need to do it with a script) to change registry settings so that the RMS and MS will know the new database’s location.

5) Run a SQL script to change the active database.

6) Disable all SQL replication jobs from the RMS to the MS.

7) Reverse the log shipping direction so we could return the role back to the RMS if we need to.

8) Run command line to let the MS know that it is now RMS.

In Part 2 I will start a deep-dive into the tasks, explaining how I have implemented each and every one.

Things I like in SCCM 2012

galhut1 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:02:00 GMT

Two days ago I have decided to go ahead and install SCCM 2012 beta 2.

I was toying with the first beta version ever since it came out, and couldn’t wait to see what’s new in this release.

As expected from Beat 2 this version is a lot more stable and have most of the functionality enabled.

For someone who has been working with SCCM from SMS 2003, the first impression is quiet “intimidating”. The new user interface finally joined the system center console family with a SCOM look and feel. Anyone who has been working with SCOM before will fell right at home.

Those of you who haven’t been working with SCOM, SCSM or SCVMM, finding what you are looking for can take time but not too much time.
the new version brings with it a lot of changes in operational concepts and the new user interface suits well to the new ideas.

I will not talk about the main idea that SCCM 2012 brings, the user centric approach. rather I will like to talk about the things that I liked in the new version, beside the new user interface.

Some of the paragraphs taken from the “what’s new” document.

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682075.aspx )

· Add or Remove Provider Roles “when you choose to perform site maintenance, you now have the option to add or remove additional SMS Provider roles for the site. This replaces the option from Configuration Manager 2007 where you only had the option to move the SMS Provider”.

· Central Administration Site maybe the biggest change in SCCM 2012 is the hierarchy change. The central site role is now what it is a central site, only used for joining together primary sites. the other important thing is that a primary site can no longer have child sites, only secondary sites.
You can only have one central site and N primary sites all in the same level. (no more primary under primary)
What you can do is distribute the managements and destitutions points. a primary site is not limited to one default management point. now you can have several MPs installed on a site and have all of them work at the same time. (providing abilities to failover if a MP stopped working)

· Database replication Site-to-site communication now uses database replication in addition to file-based replication. site-to-site data transfers, including configurations and settings, will now replicate via SQL replication.
For all of you SCCM admins guys that mean that in addition to the file replication mechanism you will have to learn SQL replication (yea… )

· The Configuration Manager Console well what’s to say. It’s new. It’s cool. You have search and search options everywhere.it’s a change.

· Fallback Site for Client Assignment “In Configuration Manager 2007, automatic site assignment would fail if the client was not in a specified boundary. New in Configuration Manager 2012, if you specify a fallback site (an optional setting for the hierarchy) and the client is not in a boundary group, automatic site assignment succeeds and the client is assigned to the specified fallback site”.
The result of this can be machines going the wrong way. if configured badly…

· Include rules and exclude rules “In Configuration Manager 2012, you can easily include or exclude the contents of another collection from a specified collection.”

· Hardware Inventory “In Configuration Manager 2012, you can enable custom hardware inventory classes without editing the sms_def.mof file”. Cool!

· Distribution point groups “Distribution point groups provide a logical grouping of distribution points for content distribution. When you distribute content to a distribution point group, all distribution points that are members of the distribution point group receive the content. If you add a distribution point to the distribution point group after an initial content distribution, the content is automatically distributed to the new distribution point member. You can also add a collection to distribution point groups, which creates an association, and then target the collection to distribute content. When you distribute content to a collection, Configuration Manager 2012 determines the content that is associated with the distribution point group, and then the content is distributed to all distribution points that are members of distribution point group. “

To conclude I like the new version. SCCM 2012 looks promising. there is a lot to learn.
like the previous versions the challenge will not be in understanding how to work with the product. the challenge will be to understand what is the BEST way to work with the product…

Hello?

galhut1 — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:16:00 GMT

Well I have finally done it.

After 10 years of working in IT , 3 year of working as a system center consultant. I have a blog!

This new found passion for writing began several weeks ago, I was reading some blogs posts here and there and suddenly got the urge to try and write.
I started writing to my drawer (drawer these days will be the “My Documents” folder on my laptop),I started off with some technical stuff. then, more intimate stuff about my work and coworkers.all remained hidden in my drawer…
A few days ago I gave a coworkers of mine a taste of my “work”. well, the guy was laughing his heart out. not because I was that funny, but because it amused him that I actually wrote those things.
That was the nudge I needed to start publishing a blog.

So who am I? I'm a system center consultant working in Bynet , Israel. I have about 8 years of experience with system center products and always had a passion for writing code. I also have an obsession of knowing how products works and even a greater obsession with trying to automate their process.

I don’t believe that my “drawer” writings will ever be published, they are personal. I do intend to write about System center products, tips,tweaks and automation. hoping to do a good job at it.

Gal.