SCOM: Monitoring Lync 2013

The Lync 2013 Management Pack provides great monitoring possibilities, it is well documented and works as expected. Below I will share some screenshots, just to give an idea on what to expect.

Monitoring Folders and views that are created.

 Sites State View

Pools State View

Servers State view

Diagram view with the health state of the major components.

The Management Pack also includes some reports.

The Lync Component Alerts Report

 And the System Usage Report

I also created a custom “Synthetic Transactions” availability report. It shows the configured Synthetic Transactions and will report downtime if a test didn’t run properly.

The Lync 2013 really is a great Management pack, providing deep monitoring, visualization and reporting.

Samuel.

Intune software deployment

Hello,

Deploying software using intune is easy , but what is it goes wrong ?

Then we need to some digging.

Step 1 what gets executed at the side ?

If we add no parameters to the installation in intune there are still some default parameters added by the intune installation. In order to find out open the log file updates.log in C:\Program Files\Microsoft\OnlineManagement\Logs. On the example we deployed orca.msi without parameters in the console.

So in intune it looks like this

In the log file it looks like this

Attention if you open the log file in cmtrace you’ll get a non realtime view but a “old” content. Check with notepad to be sure that you see the latest content.

So make sure that if you run the command manually ( as system ) that it works. Now let’s say we add the conventional install parameters.

So the commandline looks like this

Now force a refresh policy on the client

I had to manually check for updates using intune console before the installation kicked in once more and then

As you can see on the following link the /q parameter will cause the installation to fail. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/jj662695.aspx

Now we’ll see the failed install in intune.

You can click on the link for additional info

That’s all for now, next time we’ll go into the detection mechanism in intune.

Regards

Gino d

Bitlocker in windows 8 pro

Hello,

Since the release of windows 8 there was change in features between prof and other editions.

The details are explained here

Windows 8 Enterprise | Enterprise Software | Enterprise Edition

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/products-and-technologies/windows-8/enterprise-edition.aspx

As you may have noticed bitlocker is no longer limited to enterprise os, you now have this feature on windows 8 professional as well.

So, let’s activate it.

Open your apps and look for bitlocker.

Start the encryption wizard

Turn on bitlocker



You now have a new option of saving the recovery key to the ms account. I choose save to file because my logon user is not an admin.



I choose the option of only encrypting used space.



Run the bitlocker check and the tablet will be rebooted.



You can continue working while encryption is in progress.



Done.

Deploy Windows Store Application to Windows RT using Windows Intune

Hi all,

Previously I showed how to enroll a Windows RT device for Windows Intune.

Today I will show you how a Windows Store application can be made available through the company portal. Let’s get started!

First of all open the Windows Intune Admin console: https://account.manage.microsoft.com/Default.aspx

First of all we have to create the software that needs to be available. Select the Software Tab and go to managed software.

Here you have an overview off all software that was previously created, click Add Software. A setup.exe file will be downloaded. When a popup appears to ask if you want to run this application click Yes (obviously). Sign in with your Windows Intune account.

When the before you begin page appears, click Next

Select External link and provide the URL to the Windows Store application you want to add to the company portal.

Here I will add Onenote from the Windows Store. To find the link to the application simply google (or bing or whatever): “Onenote Windows Store”. Normally the first hit will be the right one, copy this link into the wizard page and click Next.

Provide all information needed. Add an icon if wanted, click Next

Review all information, edit by going back if needed. If everything is as it should be click Upload

Review succes .

Now go back to the Windows Intune Admin console and review the managed software, Onenote should be available here.

Now we still have to deploy the application, therefore a user group should be created which will be targeted by the deployment. Befor clicking the Manage Deployment button make sure this group is present.

Click Manage Deployment.

Select the right group and click Add, add additional groups if needed. When finished click Next

Change the approval to Available Install and click Finish

When a user which is member from the targeted group opens the company portal on a Windows RT device, he should see Onenote being available for him.

When the application is selected, the user gets redirected to the Windows Store where he is able to download the appropriate application.

That was all for today.

Cheers,

B

Manage Windows RT with Windows Intune

Hi all,

As you might have seen in the previous post it is possible to manage iOS devices using Windows Intune.

In this post I’ll describe how to enroll and manage a Windows RT device.

To start, logon to the Intune Admin Page:

https://login.microsoftonline.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=2&ct=1359573844&rver=6.1.6206.0&wp=MCMB

Open the admin console and go to Administration, select Mobile Device Management, Windows RT Management

A Sideloading key can be added to install line of business apps on Windows RT devices.

On the Windows RT device open the charms bar and search for company applications.

The Company applications setting opens in desktop mode

Login using the credentials known in the Windows Intune Console.

Also fill in the serveraddress enterprisenrollment-s.manage.microsoft.com (this is the serveraddress that can be seen in the Windows RT Mobile Device Enrollment Setup). If there was a domain name provided earlier enter it again here (possibly this will not be needed if the Windows RT device is connected to a corporate WLAN network).

Wait until connection succeeds

Click Install the management application

You will be redirected to Internet Explorer, from there you can can choose to view the application in the Windows Store.

From there the application can be installed.

Open the application and sign in with the Windows Intune account

After being logged in the company portal shows an overview off all available applications. They can be ordered using categories. Some information about the devices is also present and contact details which can be useful for support. These contact details are provided in the Windows Intune Admin Console.

The complete enrollment procedure shown here, can also be found on http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh441723.aspx. This website also describes the enrollment of other mobile devices.

An additional device is shown in the Intune console.

Now you can enforce all kinds of items like :

-> Remote wipe

-> Allow picture password

-> …

A full list is available at http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/windowsintune/jj738616.aspx

In the next post I’ll show you how an app from the Windows Store can be made available in the company portal.

Cheers,

B

Manage iOS with Windows Intune

Hello,

Did you know you can manage iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8RT through direct management ( without EAS ) using Windows intune ?

Windows Intune is the SaaS Microsoft management Client solution.

Let’s complete the steps for managing a standard Ipad.

First take an Intune 30-day trial account and verify the online help : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/jj733654.aspx

Log on to the Intune Admin Page : https://login.microsoftonline.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=2&ct=1359573844&rver=6.1.6206.0&wp=MCMBI&wreply=https:%2F%2Faccount.manage.microsoft.com%2Flanding.aspx%3Ftarget%3D%252fDefault.aspx&lc=1033&id=500516

Open the admin console and set Intune as mobile device management authority.

Now the next steps are described in the help file on the right. You need to create a certificate in order to allow your intune service to communicate with the Apple push notification service.

First download the CSR from the intune portal.

Then use this csr in order to create a apple certificate. Use the following website : https://identity.apple.com/pushcert/

Log on with an Apple ID and use the create certificate in order to create the certificate.

Watch out ! There is a certain procedure that needs to be followed if you create the certificate using IE. Details are provided in the help file or you can just use a Safari browser for the creation of the certificate.

Now browse using your Ios device ( 5.0 or higher ) to https://m.manage.microsoft.com/ in order to enroll the device.

But … The following error occured when browsing to the site :

Solution was to open the Intune portal and verify the the user used to log on is part of the Intune Group. This is not the case default.

Retry and … Success !

Install the profile.

After the correct installation you’ll see a new app on the iOS device, this supplies access to the company portal where you can offer signed application package.

Now the device appears in the intune console.

Now you can enforce all kinds of items like :

-> Enforce passwords

-> Allow camera

-> …

A full list is available at http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/windowsintune/jj738616.aspx

We’ll perform this next time. Bye.

Alert Summary Management Pack

Alert Summary Management Pack

Introduction

Some time ago i’ve created a Daily Alert Summary report (http://dynamicdatacenter.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/scom-daily-alert-summary/). Based upon that post i decided to create my “Alert Summary Management Pack” for Operations Manager 2012 and i’m sharing it here.

This Management pack collects various alert counts and stores them in a performance counter targeted to the Management Server class. It also creates an informational alert that reports on the alerts that were created over time. This report lists the names of alerts that occurred most frequently. SCOM operators can use this to start tuning/resolving those alerts. Managers can use this report to have an overview of how many alerts are generated and how well the IT infrastructure/Operators are doing.

The performance counters are useful for trending. How many alerts are created daily? How many Critical Alerts are created? Is the trend going up/down? …

There is also one Task that’s created “Close Alerts Created by a rule” which does exactly what the name says. This can be useful for operators that don’t close Rules and these alerts remain in the console for ever and ever. If the alert is still active it will shortly re-appear of course.

After importing the Management Pack

Add an account that has sufficient rights to execute scom powershell commands to the “Alert Summary MP Account” profile.

Rules

Get All Alerts Created Yesterday

Runs by default ones a day and collects the number of alerts that were created yesterday.

Get Yesterday Closed Alerts

Runs by default ones a day and collects the number of alerts that were closed yesterday.

Example:

Get Current Active Alerts

Runs by default every hour and collects the number of active alerts.

Get Current Active Critical Alerts

Runs by default every hour and collects the number of active Critical alerts.

Example:

Create Alert Summary Report

This rule generates a report and writes it to the Operations Manager eventlog (event id 2013)

Alert Summary Report Rule

Picks up the 2013 event from the Operations Manager eventlog and creates an informational alert.

Tasks

Close alerts created by a rule

This task closes all active new alerts that were created by a rule.

You can download the Management Pack here:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=3BD58DFFB262BCA1!1224&authkey=!ANkYoe2cbxSNu9E

Version 1.0.2.5
Filename: AlertSummaryManagementPack.mp

NOTE: The files are provided “As Is” without any guarantee. Please implement in your test environment first and check functionality.

Enjoy,
Samuel.