- Monitor the health of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
-
Available for immediate download, the
operations management pack for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
(version 14.0.19.1000) monitors the health of the key components in your FAST Search Server 2010 deployment.
Key features of this management pack include:
- Discovery of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint processes and services;
- Search topic folders with related performances views and dashboards for advanced performance analysis;
- Monitoring and views of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Windows events;
- FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint back-end performance collection rules;
- Content Plugin discovery and performance collection rules;
- State views for process, services and data objects;
- Embedded administrative tasks, including:
- Process and service start/stop/restart;
- Reset all event log monitors;
- Periodic QRServer Test Query (HTTP) with monitors and performance rules;
- Farm-wide search availability monitor;
- Indexer monitors (disk space, fault-tolerant sync, status code, missing data folder).
Download the management and guide today from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6f9ea2ae-b82f-4e42-82cf-b510bfd19e4e&displaylang=en
Sacha Dawes, CISSP
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center Solutions for Dynamic Datacenters
- Management Pack Enthusiast? Announcing a New Contest Open to the Community
-
We’ve got
promos galore heading into the spring
, but I want to call out one in particular that we’re really excited to be sponsoring.
The
Management Pack Extensions Contest
, which we are officially launching today with our friends from System Center Central, is all about creating add-ons or extensions to any of the management packs in the
System Center Management Pack Catalog
. It is broadly open to the community, but requires submitting entries on the
SystemCenterCentral.com
website. While the focus may typically be on Operations Manager MPs, we are also taking all qualified entries for management/configuration packs for other System Center products (such as System Center Essentials).
Officially the
System Center Influencers Program
is sponsoring it, but it is being run entirely by the members of the community associated with System Center Central. You’ll find
plenty of helpful info over on their site
, and the
rules are right here, in this blog
. There are 6 prizes up for grabs (total purse is $2000), so there’s a real good chance you could grab some cool cash for putting together a nifty extension that the rest of the community can enjoy. Contest runs through June 7, which we might want to dub MPE Day, in the honor of that other, famous alphabet-soup day that falls on June 6.
G’wan!
?give it a shot and learn, build, document, enter, share, and maybe even win!
- dave//
 |
Dave Morehouse
, Sr. Product Manager
System Center & Virtualization Outbound Marketing
Web & Communities
|
Connect with Me:
    |
| 'Torious D-Mo
|
- Promotion Motion, What’s Your Notion?
-
Sorry, couldn’t resist. For some reason that ol’ “Schoolhouse Rock” song bubbled to the surface of the boiling cauldron of my brainpan in these hyperactive days before
MMS
and
Convergence
.
But, let me get to the point, straightway: We’ve got 3 promotions in flight, the tail end of one and two others spinning up. Let me give you the low-down.
Blogging Contest Stakes Now at $300 for Each of Two Winners in April
As we plough through the middle of April, we’ve still got
this contest in the field
, with current topics for blogging having to do with client management (in our world, mostly Configuration Manager and Service Manager-related stuff). This will become much more interesting as a topic in the weeks ahead as the announcements, etc. out of MMS help focus the discussion. Note that this contest is for member of the
Influencers Program, but it’s still a simple matter to join
.
The prize pot is now up to $300 for two talented bloggers who blog seriously and copiously on client management by the end of April. And also note: this contest isn’t limited to entries we deem favorable or anything like that?we only want to foster discussion and contributions in the community, whether they be positive, neutral, or (gasp!) negative. Just make sure they’re insightful and technically accurate; refer to
the rules here
.
Announcing the Management Pack Extensions Contest with $500 Grand Prize
In the runup to MMS we are setting loose a new promotion:
dessine-moi un mouton
. (Just kidding; a little joke for any “Little Prince” fans out there.) No, the contest is all about creating add-ons or extensions to any of the management packs in the
System Center Management Pack Catalog
. It is broadly open to the community, but requires submitting entries on the
SystemCenterCentral.com
website.
Officially the
System Center Influencers Program
is sponsoring it, but it is being run entirely by the members of the community associated with System Center Central. You’ll find
plenty of helpful info over on their site
, and the
rules are right here, in this blog
. There are 6 prizes up for grabs (total purse is $2000), so there’s a real good chance you could grab some cool cash for putting together a nifty extension that the rest of the community can enjoy. Contest runs through June 7, which we might want to dub MPE Day, in the honor of that other, famous alphabet-soup day that falls on June 6.
Shhhh! Super-Secret Promo for MMS 2010 Attendees Only!
If you’re going to MMS 2010 in Las Vegas, April 19-23, you will also be able to get a chance to win one of four $500 prizes. Look for the teaser on CommNet, and all shall be revealed. Or, you can just come find me in the
Community Lounge
and, for a little “incentive” (*wink wink, nudge nudge*), I’ll tell you what the scoop is.
- dave//
|
Dave Morehouse
, Sr. Product Manager
System Center & Virtualization Outbound Marketing
Web & Communities
|
Connect with Me:
|
| 'Torious D-Mo
|
- Heading into MMS next week. Not going? We got you covered too…..
-
Hello everyone, we managed to grab a few minutes with Brad this week to briefly talk about the Management Summit happening next week in Vegas. We talked about what will be happening there at the event, and for those of you that cannot get there, how you can stay up to date on all the traffic and news that will pop.
Check it out…..
Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center
- The Extending Reach of Opalis
-
It’s always great to see blogs on our System Center products, especially when it relates to a recently acquired technology, and when it comes from outside the organization. Marnix Wolf from the Netherlands has written this
introductory blog on Opalis with Operations Manager
, where he shares his experiences with the 180-day trial versions of
Opalis
and
Operations Manager
that he downloaded from Microsoft.
To grab a quote from his blog:
For some days now I run an Opalis environment connected to one of mine SCOM R2 test environments. So I am barely scratching the surface here. But already I am deeply impressed. Therefore I have decided to write a series of blog postings about Opalis in conjunction with SCOM R2.
I look forward to reading his next blog on his experiences with Opalis and Operations Manager!
Sacha Dawes, CISSP
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center Solutions for Dynamic Datacenters
- Have a question on the next release of Configuration Manager? Ask us. We are listening
-
Whether you are attending
#MMS2010
next week in Las Vegas or not, we want to hear your questions about the next release of Configuration Manager. We are running a panel session at MMS on the Thursday, details are:
EA01 - Configuration Manager v.Next - Ask the Panel of Experts
Veronese 2404-2506
5:30-6:30
We have the entire product team leadership attending, from Product Unit Managers, to Group Program Managers, and all of the feature leads. We already have over 500 scheduled for the session. It should be a lot of fun. In this session you will be able to talk to the actual decision makers about what is in, what is out, why something was designed and more.
We have also been taking questions in from Twitter. You can follow and submit questions using the #MMSEA01 session tag (or hit the connections below to ask us directly) , and
we are collecting those questions to be answered
. We will post those after in a blog, but hopefully you will be there in person!
We look forward to seeing you next week.
Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center
- Meet Operations Management Experts at our MMS Panel Session (EB01)
-
At
MMS 2010
this year in Las Vegas we have a panel of experts ready to address your Operations Management questions at our
EB01 Operations Management - Ask the Panel of Experts
session, running on Wednesday 21st from 5:30pm to 6:30pm in Veronese 2501A.
With
expertise across all products in the System Center suite
, both from the product groups in Redmond as well as some of most distinguished MVPs, there’s likely to not be a question that cannot be answered!
![MP900409679[1]](https://web.archive.org/web/20100416042117im_/http://blogs.technet.com/blogfiles/systemcenter/WindowsLiveWriter/MeetOperationsManagementExpertsatourMMSP_D61B/MP900409679%5B1%5D_thumb.jpg "MP900409679[1]")
Bring your toughest (or simplest) questions to the panel, which includes myself (moderating), Justin Incarnato (Operations Manager), Charlie Chase (Service Manager), Rehan Jaddi (Opalis and Interop), Ashvin Sangvhi (System Center Principal Architect), Robert Hearn (Cross Platform), Omar Kouatly (Virtual Machine Manager), and many of our MVPs including Maarten Goet, Rory McCaw, Gordon McKenna, John Joyner, Cameron Fuller and more!
So, if you haven’t done so already, add EB01 - Operations Management Panel of Experts to your list of ‘must attend’ sessions for MMS 2010. We’re also accepting questions ahead of time via Twitter (use hashtag #mmseb01), which we’ll also be monitoring through the session!
See you next week!
Sacha Dawes, CISSP
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center Solutions for Dynamic Datacenters
- Operations Management Podcast Series Available
-
My colleague Chris Fox has been hard at work creating a series of podcasts that focus on Operations Management, and that have been published through
Opsmanjam.com
, as well as through
Zune Marketplace
and
iTunes
.
Today the following six podcasts available for download:
- Series Introduction
- Baelson Duque on What’s New in Operations Manager 2007 R2
- Cory Delamarter on CommandShell
- Brian Wren and the Authoring Space
- Dan Rogers and the MP Catalog
- Brijesh Bhatia, Operations Manager PUM
Over the coming weeks and months the series will continue to expand with content covering MMS, ‘how to’ discussions, management packs, and more.
I recommend you check out this valuable resource!
Sacha Dawes, CISSP
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center Solutions for Dynamic Datacenters
- How New Efficiencies in Software Can Help Businesses Go Green
-
Hello everyone, while we are hammering full throttle towards the
Microsoft Management Summit 2010
in
Las Vegas
next week, we are also quickly approaching another significant point on the calendar.
Earth Day
.
The team got together and talked to a few experts around
Redmond
and we have posted a link over on our
System Center Experts
site, about
Environmental IT
and our focus on sustainable engineering from a product development perspective.
If you had a few minutes,
feel free to check it out
……..
See you in Vegas!
Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center
- Monitor the Availability and Health of Dynamics CRM 4.0
-
I know that a lot of people have been awaiting the arrival of the Dynamics CRM 4.0 operations management pack, and judging by the feedback I’ve received since it became available last week the news is very well received!
With this management pack, administrators of Dynamics CRM can respond quickly to critical events and take action to prevent service outages, reducing the resolution time for alert conditions, and increasing the overall availability and performance of the Dynamics CRM system.
To summarize the features of the management pack for Dynamics CRM 4.0:
- Monitors the availability and health of the following component services:
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing service
- World Wide Web Publishing
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deletion service
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases
- Monitors the availability and health of the following application components and functionality:
- Deletion of deleted records
- Operability of ISV plug-ins
- Web application requests processing, SOAP exceptions, and unexpected failures
- Detects brute-force attacks and denial of service attacks.
- Monitors the performance metrics of the following components:
- Web application requests processing
- Database query processing
- Monitors the system for configuration-related failures.
The management pack is available for immediate download from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c2c9c4b6-69d5-432a-9560-8e4a6e01573a
Sacha Dawes, CISSP
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center Solutions for Dynamic Datacenters
- MSMQ 4.0 and 5.0 get New Operations Management Packs
-
Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) enables applications to communicate across heterogeneous networks and systems that may be temporary offline or otherwise inaccessible. In the past week I’m excited to announce the addition of new operations management packs for both version 4.0 and 5.0 of MSMQ, which are immediately available for download.
The Message Queuing Management Pack provides monitoring for the following:
- MSMQ Servers
- MSMQ Triggers
- MSMQ Queues
- Dependant Clients
More information on each management pack, as well links to their downloads, can be found as follows:
Sacha Dawes, CISSP
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center Solutions for Dynamic Datacenters
- Encounter Experts in the MMS 2010 Community Lounge
-
One of the things we’re introducing this year to deepen community engagement at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas (April 19-23, 2010) is something we’re calling “Experts Encounters.”
Concept
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday,
from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
in the Community Lounge (adjacent to Registration and the Hands-on Labs area), experts from Microsoft and the community will cycle in to talk informally about their areas of expertise, and chat/connect with folks in attendance for 30 minutes at a time. Anticipate a five- to ten-minute “here’s what I’m passionate about” introduction, followed by open discussion. In some cases, presenters will have things to demo or show on a plasma we’ll have on hand; in others, it will be an informal meet-and-greet-and-gab session. Intentionally, we don’t want to over-structure it, because the point is to encourage open dialogue, free of the usual constraints and conventions of the formal event program. We of course hope it will be useful to attendees and presenters alike.
Exec Encounters, Too!
In addition to the experts who will be talking shop in the Lounge, each day at noon System Center execs will be on hand to talk about the business from their vantage points. Meet the likes of Vij Rajarajan, GM of the product group; Garth Fort and Ryan O’Hara, who run the marketing organization; and Brad Anderson himself, the VP of MSD, the Day 2 keynoter, and all-around good guy. Don’t miss this opportunity to get up real close to the big picture.
Tentative
Final Final Schedule
We’re still working on the schedule, but here’s the first draft ready for public viewing. This will be finalized by April 14 or so, and we’ll update you.
This schedule is now final (as of 4.13.10),
This re-re-revised schedule now takes into account some glaring conflicts and omissions we saw at the last minute, and is now
FINAL FINAL
(though it is still likely to change during the event due to unforeseen contingencies). Attendees will also find this schedule posted on CommNet (the onsite intranet site) and in the Lounge itself. We will also be regularly tweeting announcements to remind the community about incoming experts and any changes to the program. Look for tweets marked with the
#clounge
hashtag together with the event’s hashtag,
#mms2010
.
| Tuesday, April 20
| Wednesday, April 21
| Thursday, April 22
|
| 09:00 ? 09:30
| 8:30 ? 9:45, Main Hall & Online:
DAY 1 KEYNOTE
,
Bob Muglia
“Managing Systems from the Datacenter to the Cloud”
| 8:30 ? 9:45, Main Hall & Online:
DAY 2 KEYNOTE
,
Brad Anderson
“Managing Clients in a User Centered World”
| Jeremy Winter
,
Olof Mases
,
David Armour
“Hybrid Cloud Management”
|
| 09:30 ? 10:00
|
|
| NEW:
Lidiane Souza
“Application Virtualization
(App-V)”
|
| 10:00 ? 10:30
| Steve Thompson
“SQL Reporting in Configuration Manager 2007”
| Travis Wright, Ketan Ghelani, Marc Umeno
“Service Manager”
| Michael Kleef
“Desktop Virtualization”
|
| 10:30 ? 11:00
| Steve Kaczmarek, Dionysia Sofos
“System Center Content Architecture, Innovation, and the Information Experience”
| Dan Rogers
“Migrating from MOM to SCOM”
| UPDATED:
Kerim Hanif
“Virtualization Management (VMM)”
|
| 11:00 ? 11:30
| Ganesh Babu gnana Sundaram, Michael Jacquet, Rob Davies
“System Center Support”
| Ganesh Babu gnana Sundaram, Michael Jacquet, Rob Davies
“System Center Support”
| Kerim Hanif
“Virtualization Management (VMM)” (cont’d)
|
| 11:30 ? 12:00
| Peirong Liu, Robert Hearn, Rehan Jaddi, Larry Steinberg, Jeff Coffler
“Cross Platform”
| Josh Pointer, Mike Cureton
“SCCM Supportability”
| Asim Mitra, Prabu Ambravaneswaran, Michael Jacquet
“DPM 2010 & Hyper-V Protection”
|
| 12:00 ? 12:30
| EXECUTIVE GUESTS
Vij Rajarajan
GM, System Center product group
Ryan O’Hara
Sr. Director, System Center Marketing
| EXECUTIVE GUEST
Garth Fort
GM, System Center Marketing
| EXECUTIVE GUEST
Brad Anderson
CVP, Management and Services Division
|
| 12:30 ? 13:00
| Matthew Hudson
“Queries and Collections”
| UPDATED:
Steve Wilson
“Application Monitoring”
| Josh Pointer, Mike Cureton
“Configuration Manager Supportability”
|
| 13:00 ? 13:30
| Maarten Goet
“Service Manager: Data Warehouse and Reporting”
|
| Greg Ramsey
“Configuration Manager”
|
| 13:30 ? 14:00
| Steve Kaczmarek, Dionysia Sofos
“System Center Content Architecture, Innovation, and the Information Experience”
| UPDATED
:
Jason Sandys
“Configuration Manager Operating System Deployment”
| Boris Yanushpolsky
“Azure-based Applications Monitoring & Operations Manager”
|
| 14:00 ? 14:30
| NEW:
Jason Githens, Chris Adams
“
Branch Cache & Virtualization with Configuration Manager at Microsoft”
| Shilpa Ranganathan
“Overview of Operations Manager Next & Future Plans”
| NEW:
Brian Copps
“Managing Microsoft.com Using Operations Manager”
|
| 14:30 ? 15:00
| UPDATED:
Jason Lewis
“SC Updates Publisher (SCUP)”
| UPDATED:
Larry Steinberg, Rehan Jaddi, GP De Ciantis, Kaj Wierda
“Opalis”
|
|
| 15:00 ? 15:30
| UPDATED:
Vlad Joanovic
“Management Pack Authoring with Operations Manager”
| UPDATED:
Meet and Greet with
Kerrie Meyler, Cameron Fuller, John Joyner, Andy Dominey
, authors of “System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Unleashed”
|
|
| 15:30 ? 16:00
| UPDATED:
Dan Rogers
“Management Pack State of the Business”
| NEW:
Paul Thomsen, Shitanshu Verma
“Configuration Manager at Microsoft”
|
|
| 16:00 ? 17:00
|
| Service Manager TAP Customer Meet-up
|
|
Addendum 4.14.10
A little bit of insider info for you, and a burning question:
We originally envisioned this mini, super-informal, conference-within-a-conference as a morning gig from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, Tu-Thur. In putting it together, it seems that more and more experts wanted to participate and, basically, choose our venue, too, as a place to connect more immediately with attendees. Before you knew it, we had a pretty full schedule to coordinate in mornings and afternoons. Now, the big question: will attendees, with their multiple obligations and distractions (including the main show itself), flock to our little corner of the event for the opportunity to meet stars in their fields?
- dave//
|
Dave Morehouse
, Sr. Product Manager
System Center & Virtualization Outbound Marketing
Web & Communities
|
Connect with Me:
|
| 'Torious D-Mo
|
- Upcoming Live Meeting for Influencers on 4.14.2010: Building and Extending System Center Management Packs
-
Hi, I’d like to announce a surprise addition to our schedule of Live Meetings for System Center Influencers, in the run-up to MMS 2010…
On
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM. PST,
we are hosting a Live Meeting presentation for System Center influencers entitled, “Building and Extending System Center Management Packs,” presented jointly by Dan Rogers and Vlad Joanovic from the System Center Operations Manager product team.
Please note:
- This Live Meeting presentation is exclusive to members of the System Center Influencer Program. Not a member? Visit
the program information page on TechNet
to learn more and apply to join.
- Join information will be available on the System Center Influencers Program portal by Friday, April 8. Members of the program will need to log into the Connect site to access the Live Meeting join information.
Abstract:
This Live Meeting presentation for System Center influencers will cover management packs, authoring tools, and various kinds of custom extensions that can be created to meet specific business needs and operational scenarios. They will show, in a short demo, how you can, for example, add monitors to a management pack, and discuss additional resources for those who wish to explore further how to get the most out of their implementations of System Center Operations Manager.
- dave //
|
Dave Morehouse
, Sr. Product Manager
System Center & Virtualization Outbound Marketing
Web & Communities
|
Connect with Me:
|
| 'Torious D-Mo
|
- What’s in store for MMS ……
-
I thought I would re-post this video, in case some of you missed the original release. We had a chance to catch up with Brad and talk about what is in store for MMS this year. It is going to be a stellar event………
Some resources for you:
- MMS 2010 Website
link
- MMS also has a twitter hashtag, simply follow #mms2010
Kind regards
Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center
- System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard: now available
-
The Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard lets customers keep track of application and operating system deployments, security updates, the health status of computers, and IT compliance with key regulations?with an easy to use, customizable dashboard.
The dashboard has a collection of key benefits for customers:
- Actionable information out of the box: the dashboard lets customers easily stay on top of deployments, security updates, client health, and compliance status. Six default datasets provide customers with valuable information “out of the box”.
- Near-real-time access to key information: the graphical dashboard lets customers view configuration manager metrics in near-real time.
- Easy to build and configure: wizard-based tools let customers easily create new dashboards in minutes. · Easy to customize: the dashboard can easily be customized to meet the needs of different departments and other groups. Any dataset in the Configuration Manager database can be presented on the dashboard, in chart, gauge, and table formats.
- Flexible & interactive: users can easily filter data and create ad hoc, custom views. Filters allow users to quickly drill down from high-level to more specific data.
Some resources for you:
- The dashboard can be downloaded
here
.
- More information about the Dashboard can be found
here
.
Jeff Wettlaufer
Sr. Technical Product Manager
System Center