Windows Server2008/2012 DFS Namespaces Management Pack for Operations Manager2012 Guide
Microsoft Corporation
Published: August2012
Written by Manoj Kadam, Jason Gerend and Mallikarjun Chadalapaka
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Contents
DFS Namespaces Management Pack Guide for System Center Operations Manager2012 5
Introduction to the DFS Namespaces Management Pack 5
What's New 6
Supported Configurations 7
Getting Started 8
Before You Import the Management Pack 8
How to Import the DFS Namespaces Management Pack 8
Complete the Management Pack Configuration 8
Allow WMI through the Windows Firewall on all Monitored Computers 8
Create a New Management Pack for Customizations 9
After You Import the DFS Namespaces Management Pack 9
Enabling the Agent Proxy Setting on All Namespace Servers 10
Configuring a DFS Namespaces Discovery Account 10
Setting the Windows2003 Support Tools Path Value 11
Optional Configuration 12
Enabling Client Monitoring 13
Enabling Folder and Folder Target Monitoring 14
Configuring an Account for Folder Target Monitoring 14
Enabling DFS Namespaces Components Discovery 16
Enabling Monitoring of Folder Targets 17
Setting Parameters for Tasks 18
Security Considerations 18
Low-Privilege Environments 18
Groups 19
Run As Profiles 19
Understanding Management Pack Operations 19
Objects the Management Pack Discovers 19
Classes 20
How Health Rolls Up 20
Key Monitoring Scenarios 22
Viewing Information in the Operations Manager2012 Console 23
Views 23
Product Knowledge 24
Reports 25
Troubleshooting the DFS Namespaces Management Pack 25
DFS Namespaces Management Pack Guide for System Center Operations Manager2012
The Distributed File System (DFS) Namespaces Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager2012 monitors the health of DFS Namespaces including the DFS Namespace service (Distributed File System on Windows Server2003) and other components of DFS Namespaces.
For background information about DFS Namespaces including a discussion of the terms that are used in this document, see Overview of DFS Namespaces (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=178506).
Document Version
This guide was written based on the 7.0.8560.0 version of the DFS Namespaces Management Pack.
Revision History
Release Date / Changes /August 2012 / Original release of this guide
Introduction to the DFS Namespaces Management Pack
The DFS Namespaces Management Pack monitors servers running Windows Server®2012, Windows Server®2008 R2, Windows Server®2008, Windows Server2003R2, and Windows Server2003. It can also be configured to monitor the health of DFS Namespaces from client computers running Windows Vista® or Windows®XP. This management pack monitors events that are recorded in the System event log by DFS Namespaces. It also monitors the overall health of DFS Namespaces and alerts you to critical issues.
Getting the latest Management Pack and Management Pack Documentation
The latest versions of the management pack and this document are available on the Microsoft® Web site.
· For the latest version of DFS Namespaces Management Pack, see:
System Center Marketplace
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82105)
· For the latest version of this document, see:
System Center Operations Manager Management Pack Guides
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=85414)
What's New
The following features are new in this release of the DFS Namespaces Management Pack:
· Documentation corrections/updates.
Supported Configurations
The following table details the supported configurations for the DFS Namespaces Management Pack. Use of this management pack is supported on System Center Operations Manager2012.
Monitored Computer / SupportWindows Server 2012 / Supported
Windows Server2008R2 / Supported
WindowsServer2008 / Supported
Windows Server2003 and Windows Server2003R2 / Supported
Windows 8 / Supported
Windows7 / Supported
WindowsVista / Supported
WindowsXP / Supported
Configuration / Support
Virtual environment / Supported
Clustered servers / Supported (Windows Server 2012 & Windows Server 2008 R2 Monitored Computers Only)
Agent-less monitoring / Not supported
Upgrade from beta or prerelease versions / Not supported
Note: Upgrading from the beta or other prerelease versions of the DFS Namespaces Management Pack is not supported. Remove the beta or prerelease version of the DFS Namespaces Management Pack that is currently installed before you install this version.
Getting Started
This section describes the following:
· Actions that you should perform before you import the management pack
· Configuration steps that you should perform after you import the management pack
· Information about post installation customizations that you can perform.
Before You Import the Management Pack
Before you import the DFS Namespaces Management Pack, perform the following actions:
· Verify that each namespace server and client computer that you plan to monitor has the Operations Manager2012 agent installed.
· Enable the Agent Proxy setting on each namespace server.
How to Import the DFS Namespaces Management Pack
For instructions about importing a management pack, see How to Import an Operations Manager Management Pack (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212691.aspx).
Important
Remove any existing DFS Namespaces packs prior to installing the new DFS Namespaces pack.
Complete the Management Pack Configuration
After you import the management packs, use the following sections to finish your initial configuration.
Allow WMI through the Windows Firewall on all Monitored Computers
The DFS Namespaces Management Pack uses Windows® Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts extensively for its discovery rules. The management pack will not operate properly if a monitored computer has been configured to disallow WMI connections. To configure Windows Firewall to enable WMI connections, see Connecting to WMI Remotely Starting with Windows Vista (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=189162).
Create a New Management Pack for Customizations
Most vendor management packs are sealed so that you cannot change any of the original settings in the management pack file. However, you can create customizations, such as overrides or new monitoring objects, and save them to a different management pack. By default, Operations Manager2012 saves all customizations to the Default Management Pack. As a best practice, you should instead create a separate management pack for each sealed management pack you want to customize.
Creating a new management pack for storing overrides has the following advantages:
· It simplifies the process of exporting customizations that were created in your test and pre-production environments to your production environment. For example, instead of exporting the Default Management Pack that contains customizations from multiple management packs, you can export just the management pack that contains customizations of a single management pack.
· You can delete the original management pack without first needing to delete the Default Management Pack. A management pack that contains customizations is dependent on the original management pack. This dependency requires you to delete the management pack with customizations before you can delete the original management pack. If all of your customizations are saved to the Default Management Pack, you must delete the Default Management Pack before you can delete an original management pack.
· It is easier to track and update customizations to individual management packs.
For more information about sealed and unsealed management packs, see Management Pack Formats (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108355).
For more information about management pack customizations and the Default Management Pack, see What Is in an Operations Manager Management Pack? (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212794.aspx).
After You Import the DFS Namespaces Management Pack
After importing the DFS Namespaces Management Pack, use the procedures in the following sections to complete your initial configuration:
· Enabling the Agent Proxy Setting on All Namespace Servers
· Configuring a DFS Namespaces Discovery Account
· Setting the Windows2003 Support Tools Path Value
Enabling the Agent Proxy Setting on All Namespace Servers
Enabling the Agent Proxy setting allows each namespace server to discover the DFS Namespaces role service and all its components.
Note
If you do not enable the Agent Proxy setting on all namespace servers, the DFS Namespace Discovery and the DFS Namespace Components Discovery rules will fail.
To enable the Agent Proxy setting on each namespace server
1. Open the Operations console and click the Administration button.2. In the Administration pane, click Agent Managed.
3. Double-click a namespace server in the list.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Select Allow this agent to act as a proxy and discover managed objects on other computers.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each namespace server.
Configuring a DFS Namespaces Discovery Account
The discovery scripts in the DFS Namespaces Management Pack run with the privilege of the default action account. If the default action account does not have permission to export the DFS Namespaces configuration, the following discoveries will fail:
· DFS Namespace Discovery
· Namespace Server Discovery
· DFS Namespace Components Discovery
To prevent these discoveries from failing if the default action account does not have sufficient permissions, specify a different account. If possible, create a dedicated domain account without a password expiration policy to avoid requiring password updates. This account should have sufficient permissions to accomplish the following tasks:
· Export the DFS Namespaces configuration
· Write to the local folder where the System Center Operations Manager2012 agent is installed
To create a Run As account and associate it with the DFS Namespace Discovery Account profile
1. Open the Operations console, and then click Administration.2. In the Administration pane, expand Security.
3. Right-click Run As Accounts, and then click Create Run As Account.
Follow the prompts to complete the wizard. Carefully type the account password because the wizard does not check if the password you typed is correct.
4. In the Administration pane, click Run As Profiles.
5. Double-click DFS Namespace Discovery Account.
6. Click the Run As Accounts tab, and then click New.
7. Select the appropriate account from the Run As Account drop-down list.
8. Select the computer to associate with the account, and then click OK.
9. Repeat steps 7 through 9 for all managed DFS client computers and namespace servers in your environment, and then click OK.
Setting the Windows2003 Support Tools Path Value
The DFS Namespaces Management Pack relies on the dfsutil.exe command-line tool to run two discovery rules. This management pack also includes a task that enables users to run dfsutil.exe directly from within the Operations console. On servers running Windows Server2008, dfsutil.exe is installed in the System32 folder with the DFS Namespaces role service, and it runs with no additional configuration.
To use dfsutil.exe on servers running Windows Server2003, you must install the Windows Server2003 Service Pack2 32-bit Support Tools (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=171031).
If you install the Support Tools in the default location (%Program Files%\Support Tools), no further configuration is necessary.
If you install the Support Tools in a different location, you must override the Windows Server2003 Support Tools Path parameter for the DFS Namespace Discovery rule, the DFS Namespace Components Discovery rule, and the DFSUtil task. The parameter is used only on servers running Windows Server2003; servers running Windows Server2008 are unaffected by the setting.
To set the Windows2003 Support Tools Path parameter value
2. Expand Management Pack Objects, and then click Object Discoveries.
3. In the Object Discoveries pane, expand DFS Namespace.
4. Right-click DFS Namespace Discovery, click Overrides, click Override the Object Discovery, and then select the group or type of object for which you want to override the discovery rule.
5. In the Override Properties dialog box, in the Override column, select the check box next to the Windows Server2003 Support Tools Path parameter.
6. In Override Setting column, type the location where the Windows Server2003 Support Tools are installed.
7. Select a Management Pack for the override settings. Typically, you should store all of your custom overrides in a single Management Pack that you create for this purpose. If you have not yet created a Management Pack for your overrides, you can use the New button to create one now.
8. Click OK.
Optional Configuration
To obtain the full functionality of the DFS Namespaces Management Pack, after you import the management pack, use the procedures in the following sections and resource.
Additional information / Description /Enabling Client Monitoring / Enable monitoring of a computer’s ability to access DFS namespaces, folders, and folder targets.
Enabling Folder and Target Monitoring / Enable monitoring of folders and folder targets.
Setting Parameters for Tasks / Set parameters for commonly used tasks.
How to Override a Monitor (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=171027) / Change management pack default settings by overriding rules as appropriate to your environment.
Enabling Client Monitoring
You can enable client monitoring to test a computer’s ability to access DFS namespaces, folders (links), and folder targets. Do not enable this object on a large number of computers because testing the namespace can create a large amount of network traffic. Instead, use overrides to enable this object on specific computers only.