I did something like this recently. My customer has a custom written CMDB with all the information already present. Instead of adding a new regkey (and maintaining it), I created a discovery that runs once per hour and adds a lot of environment-specific data to SCOM, like: what team supports it, is it prod/test/..., what SLA is attributed to that system, is it virtual, what rack is the physical server installed in, what is the function of the server, etc...
This makes it a little harder to create the initial discovery but eliminates the need to add a reg key and maintain it. I can also easily add a lot more environment-specific data: I just need to add a new property and change the discovery slightly to add more data that is already present in the CMDB. I can now make different overrides for PROD/ACC/... and send notifications with e.g. rack number of the server. I also use this to segment the alerts in different alert views in the SCOM console. On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 8:02 AM, Steven Peck <[email protected]> wrote: > Sarbjit, > > Some additional considerations since you are looking at doing this. > > For my environment I essentially have 5-6 different teams who have > a ‘primary’ responsibility for the health of a given set of servers. Being > able to split out subscriptions is a requirement for me getting off the on > call rotation for 60% of our servers (note, I am highly motivated). The > initial ‘Team’ regkey entry will be set via a script since I know how to do > this. > > Long term manual data entry is something that falls through the cracks and > while I plan on building automation eventually, I can’t count on it short > term. I plan on figuring out and creating a view/report/monitor for ‘no > regkey’ (no class) and or ‘not a approved value’ to accommodate finding > typo’s. I hate having to report I missed something and therefore a system > isn’t being monitored. I recently also came across a task MP that would > allow you to add/change that value from the console so I will either post > here, or get my site up and post there and link to it. > > Probably a few weeks for that part. Just a consideration for this method > when operating at a scale. > > Steven > > > *From:* Sarbjit Singh <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 4:47 PM > *To:* [email protected] > > Thanks for the discussion below. > > > > I was just about to start requirements gathering from customer for SCOM > based dashboard for the operations team. > > > > Once I know how the customer wants the grouping to be, I will be creating > the grouping via the methods discussed below. > > > > Regards > > Sarbjit Singh > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Steven Peck > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 14, 2015 7:22 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [msmom] Groups in SCOM2012r2 > > > > Site died a while ago… been meaning to fix it… mumble mumble mumble … I > was the documentation team lead for a large open source project so there > was a lot of Drupal and PowerShell stuff on it which seems an odd mix now. > Need to recover the backups and fix it. [image: 😊] Maybe just start > over. > > > > Got the Team attribute part of it implemented and working, I will export, > save a version of the xml, seal it and import it back in tomorrow and get > the next one done. It’s slowing me down as I am writing a MP doc on it as > I go to correct a problem we had with the SCOM2007r2 environment > (insufficient documentation over time). > > > > This is starting to be fun again! > > > > > > *From:* Kevin Holman <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 3:06 PM > *To:* [email protected] > > > > Bingo. > > > > And agreed with blogging your examples…. super helpful for people to see > blog examples put to the real world. > > > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Steven Peck > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 3:54 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [msmom] Groups in SCOM2012r2 > > > > So, looking at the article and putting on paper for me since I am at the > rub sticks together to make fire stage of this… > > > > Create a MP named: FooBarInc Group Library (seal it) > > Regkey named: Team > > Create a discovery for the key > > Creates a class called Team and will have an attribute of what is in the > registry key. > > (i.e your articles picture on SupportLevel) > > > > > > --- > > Create a MP named: FooBarInc Group Management Pack > > Dependency on FooBarInc Group Library. > > This is where I will create groups based on the attributes. In this > starting case, one of 6. (t1, t2, s1, n1, s2 <- random examples) > > > > Since there is no discovery involved in this MP, any changes to ‘group > names’, updates, added keys I make in future will not result in a new > forced discovery. > > > > --- > > OK. Off to try it. I really need to get my site back up so I can post > stuff like this so I can find it again. > > > > > > *From:* Steven Peck <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 9:32 AM > *To:* [email protected] > > > > No no! I am all about trying to avoid the mistakes we made in the previous > deployment. > > > > It’s why they pulled me back off messaging for the stalled SCOM deployment > last week (Happy New Year, oh by the way we are re-org’ing and you are on a > new team, best of luck because we want it done!). It just means relearning > a lot of the changes since I missed all the stuff with SCOM 2012. Objects > and classes have always been a challenge I was just getting a handle on my > last go around. I had just finally created my first MP that did all the > things I wanted it to the way I planned for (about my 5th stand alone MP) > before the last re-org a few years ago and was realizing what we had done > that wasn’t scalable or required so much more work to maintain because we > didn’t understand the best practice at the time. > > > > Our current 2007r2 environment is a little fragile and inflexible at this > point so trying to come up to speed and do it less wrong this time. We > have a SCOM2012r2 dev/test SCOM environment now and have agents deployed > and working on tuning, documentation and practices for production. The new > production environment is built and awaiting agent deployment. Solving the > teams/subscription issue and building and testing Orchestrator servers to > talk with HP OMU in both places is the last component to all out work work > work. > > > > I appreciate the advice and intend to act on it. > > > > > > *From:* Kevin Holman <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 9:06 AM > *To:* [email protected] > > > > You could put them all together in a single MP. There is no requirement > to separate them. It is simply a best practice – because you will make > changes to the groups MP often…. but you will/should not be making as many > changes to the one that contains the class and properties/discoveries. > This will limit the impact on the clients for them all having to > re-download the MP every time you make a change to a group which doesn’t > affect them. > > > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Steven Peck > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:48 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [msmom] Groups in SCOM2012r2 > > > > That should get me started. I kept looking at it as one MP. For my > needs, it looks like one class, five initial properties (5 teams). I was > just starting to begin to understand this stuff last go around before they > moved me. I suppose I had better get a better handle on it this time > around! [image: 😊] > > > > I think I had better schedule a meeting with myself so people leave alone > while I play with this. > > > > Thanks! > > Steven > > > > *From:* Kevin Holman <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 8:35 AM > *To:* [email protected] > > > > > http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2009/06/10/creating-custom-dynamic-computer-groups-based-on-registry-keys-on-agents.aspx > > > > Basically – you want to create ONE new class, and use Windows Computer as > your base class. > > > > Then keep adding properties to this class for anything special you will > need. Put this extended class, and the discovery/discoveries to populate > the class properties in its own MP and seal it. Only change it when you > need to add a property. Adding properties can be done in XML or using the > old SCOM 2007 R2 authoring console, or Visual Studio. > > > > Then – create another MP for your company groups. Place each group in > there with whatever criteria you need, and leverage class properties from > the above mentioned MP, or any others as needed. Seal this MP. > > > > > > Using the method above, you can leverage these groups anywhere else as > needed in unsealed or other sealed MP’s, and use the groups for scoping > views, notifications overrides, whatever. > > > > > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Steven Peck > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:13 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [msmom] Groups in SCOM2012r2 > > > > Greetings, > > > > I helped deploy our original SCOM 2007r2 environment several years ago and > create some management pack using the original MP Authoring tool before > they moved me to a different group. Our internal SCOM migration to 2012r2 > sort of stalled and so they moved me back after an absence of a few years. > Looking over our original environment I can say we learned a lot and are > looking to not repeat some of the previous practices. [image: 😊] > > > > With this change comes a requirement to ‘split the teams’ and alerts. I > am looking to create a custom sealed management pack for us > called ‘CompanyName Groups’. I figure the fastest, easiest way given our > environment is to create a regkey on the servers and use this to determine > which ‘group’ a server is in. Once I have this I will be able to filter > subscriptions to various alerts. > > > > However, I am finding it challenging to find any docs or blog posts on > this. One article I read seemed to indicate; create in console, export and > seal, but I am somewhat concerned about modifying that in the future. > > > > Any pointers to blog posts or articles would be appreciated. Using either > the Silect MP Authoring tool or the Visual Studio one (trying to go through > Brian Wren’s presentations on MVA). I suspect I am just missing a concept > or something others consider obvious. > > > > Thanks, > > Steven Peck > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
