Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 is a comprehensive system monitoring solution to help administrators monitor the performance, availability, and security of Microsoft Windows–based networks and applications, based on the data gathered from events and performance counters collected from the servers. MOM delivers enterprise-class operations management to improve the efficiency of IT operations, and Office Communications Server 2007 integrates with MOM so that administrators can manage their Office Communications Servers directly from the MOM Management Console. The following link provides a product overview of MOM 2005: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/bb498244.aspx.
The ways in which MOM 2005 helps administrators address server issues include, but are not limited to, the following:
Alerting administrators by e-mail, instant messaging (IM), and pager when problems occur
Providing detailed information about potential root causes of a problem
Suggesting solutions for resolving problems from its knowledge database, which was created by the engineering team
Office Communications Server 2007 offers a management pack that integrates with MOM to monitor specifically Office Communications Server 2007 servers. This management pack is available as a Web download from the Microsoft Download Center (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D04A9EB0-1F67-4535-B865-843621A1B16E&displaylang=en).
This management pack provides operational knowledge gathered from the expertise of the Microsoft engineering team to help keep Office Communications Server 2007 servers running smoothly. The knowledge necessary to best monitor Office Communications Server 2007 servers is built into the management pack, removing the need for administrators to figure out this work. It includes the rules, criteria, tasks, and views to monitor the events and performance counters of each Office Communications Server role. Before the Office Communications Server 2007 management pack can be used, Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 must be deployed.
To learn more about deploying MOM, refer to the deployment guide for MOM 2005 at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/mom/mom2005/Library/ed4712c6-96b5-4241-a2b5-0dfaed30619c.mspx?mfr=true. After deploying MOM, install the management pack for Office Communications Server 2007 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D04A9EB0-1F67-4535-B865-843621A1B16E&displaylang=en.
After installing the management pack, use the Administrator Console for MOM to monitor the activities of Office Communications Server 2007 servers. The Administrator Console offers some of the key elements of the management pack for Office Communications Server 2007 including, but not limited to, computer groups, events, performance counters, alerts, product knowledge, and tasks.
Computers with similar attributes or characteristics are grouped together to target rules for a particular set of computers.
The management pack groups various server roles for Office Communications Server as shown in Figure 13-7. A different set of monitoring rules is defined for each computer group. These rules govern the metrics to collect, the type of alerts to generate, and the type of remedies to suggest.
The Office Communications Server 2007 server roles available in the MOM Administrator Console include the following:
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 A/V Authentication Service Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 A/V Edge Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Access Edge Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving and CDR Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Audio/Video Conferencing Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Communicator Web Access Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Mediation Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Proxy Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Standard Edition Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Web Components Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Web Conferencing Edge Server Computer Group
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Web Conferencing Server Computer Group
All of these groups are discovered through registry keys on each computer where a particular server role is installed. Discovery occurs every 15 minutes. (So if you uninstall one, it will take a maximum 15 minutes for MOM to readjust its monitoring.)
Each server logs its events in the local computer's event logs. MOM then collects this event information from these logs and aggregates it to provide an operational view of the system in the Operations Console of MOM. When these metrics cross the thresholds defined in the management pack, an alert is sent to the administrator to warn of potential performance issues.
The management pack has a preselected list of events and performance counters that are monitored by default. The administrator can choose to monitor other events and performance counters in MOM. When enabled, these events and performance counters become visible in the Operations Console.
MOM calls attention to critical events that require administrator intervention. Alerts are created by rules defined in the management pack. These rules assess the health of the server that is being monitored. MOM enables the administrator to set an alert based on predefined rules, and it notifies the administrator via e-mail or pager notification.
As shown in Figure 13-8, the alerts can be viewed and sorted on various parameters. Every alert contains detailed information about the following:
The management pack provides the built-in expertise, in the context of the specific alerts, to guide administrators in resolving outstanding issues. As shown in Figure 13-9, alerts have built-in product knowledge information and display a detailed description of the problem, a potential cause for that problem, and any recommended resolution for that problem.
MOM enables the administrator to investigate and repair issues from the MOM Operations Console through tasks. As shown in Figure 13-10, the management pack for Office Communications Server 2007 has at least two tasks for every server role that allows the administrator to start or stop a particular service.
