SCOM Installation Headache !!! (pt.2)

In my previous post, I was not able to test out the kb974886 hotfix since I was not able to reproduce the error in my lab environment. Well as of today, I got the luxury of simulating the problem using a live data.

A few things to keep note before applying the fix in the DC is that, firstly it is better for you to check out the version of the samsrv.dll file in the DC (under %systemroot%\system32 directory.) The current version should be less than 5.2.3790.4250.

Next, proceed to install the hotfix. Installing the hotfix should be straight forward whereby the installation wizard will leave you an option “not to reboot the server” after the installation completes. But if you do no check this option, the wizard will automatically reboots your DC, once the installation completes.

When the DC is back online, you may check the version number of the samsrv.dll again. By this time, the version number should be 5.2.3790.4250.

Now, proceed with the SCOM installation. At first you might be hitting the same old authentication problem again, when the SCOM installation wizard prompts you for the SCOM action account credential. If you have the similar experience, what you need to do is to relogin to the SCOM server again and re-initiate the SCOM installation. By this time, your credential should be successfully authenticated.

The same goes to other SCOM servers, if you are installing the components in different servers.

Activating SCOM 2012

Be default, even after you had successfully installed SCOM 2012 into your environment, it will be in Evaluation version.

Searching around the net, you might have found the ways to inject the productID but unfortunately for me, it does not seemed to be smooth for me. After a few tries, the following should be the easiest way (at least to me ) to apply the product key.

• run the PowerShell via elevated permission
• follow the commands as attached above

Once successfully done, repeat the steps in all other SCOM servers you have in your environment. Once done, it is best to reboot your SCOM servers. After the server is reboot, launch the SCOM console again and check if license key had been successfully registered. If it is, then you will see the status similar to the below

SCOM 2012 Cumulative Update (CU) 1

The CU 1 for SCOM 2012 has been released. Thank god, this time around, the installer size seems to be less than 100mb, (75mb to be exact), where you can get it here.

Cutting the story short, once extracted to a desired folder, there will be several .MSPs and .MPBs files extracted. It also comes with readMe.txt file which refers you to the KB2674695 article.

The installation order for the patch should be started by Server, then followed by each of the components installed in your SCOM Management Servers. Final step will be importing the updated management packs bundled with this update.

Apart from the update dll updates for console and webconsole, another thing to take note is that once the “KB2674695-AMD64-Server” patch has been applied, the patch for the SCOM agents will be automatically extracted to the AgentManagemt\amd64 folder

With SCOM 2012 CU1, you do not have to manually patch the Agents, once the Management Servers has been updated. In fact, this can be done automatically whereby what you need to do now is to open the “Pending Management” tab, you will be able to see a list of the Agents that need to be updated.

Once approved, for the update, a job will be invoked and display you the status, similar to what we have when installing a SCOM Agent

From here, you have the option to select all the agents from the same Management Server to perform the update at one go.

To check if all the Agents had been successfully patched, at the SCOM Console, go to OperationsManager –> Agent Details –> Agents by Version, and you should be able to see the patch list information

To have a complete listing about the SCOM 2012 CU1, please visit here.

Changing Management Servers for SCOM 2012 Agents

I think most of the SCOM experts out there already know how to switch the Management Server a SCOM 2012 Agent is reporting to. Nevertheless, I am posting it again as a handy quick reference if is it needed eventually.

Imaging on a scenario that your existing Management Server is a little tied up with the resources and you now have a new Management Server to ease things a little bit. This first thing you decide is to move some of the agents to the new server. At the existing SCOM Management Server, highlight the agent that you would like to move, and select “Change Primary Management Server”

Once done SCOM will then display you all the Management Servers within the Management Group, together with the Agents there are managing.

Select the desired Management Server and click OK

Once done, Agent of the selected server is now pointing to another Management Server