SCOM and SCVMM

You can combine System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager with System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager to monitor the integrity and availability of virtual machines managed by SCVMM and Hyper-V hosts [4]. You can also monitor the integrity and availability of SCVMM Management Server, the VMM database server, and the library server and visualize the virtualized environment using the Operations Manager console.

In this integrated scenario, the VMM Management Packs for Operations Manager are imported automatically; Operations Manager provides performance and resource optimization (PRO), integrates a maintenance mode, and offers support for SAAS (SQL Server Analysis Services) and related reporting. Before you can open a connection between SCOM and SCVMM, you need to create the following prerequisites:

• TCP port 5724 between VMM and Operations Manager must be allowed on the Windows Firewall.
• The Operations Manager console must be installed on the VMM server.
• The Operations Manager Agent must be installed on the SCVMM management server and on all Hyper-V hosts that are managed by SCVMM.
• For each managed Hyper-V and SCVMM host, the Agent Proxy feature must be enabled in Operations Manager.

You also need to import the following Management Packs on the Operations Manager server:

• Microsoft Windows Server Internet Information Services 2003
• Windows Server 2008 operating system (discovery)
• Windows Server operating system library
• Windows Server 2008 with Internet Information Services 7
• Windows Server Internet Information Services library
• SQL Server Core library

Then, integration of SCVMM and SCOM [5] is handled by starting the SCVMM management console on the Virtual Machine Manager server. Navigate to Settings | System Center Settings and then launch the wizard in the Operations Manager Server settings. During the setup, you are prompted for administrative permissions to access Operations Manager. After integration, the connection status icon should appear in green.

The SCOM management console now displays a variety of Management Packs, including a PRO Management Pack. To check whether PRO integration has been set up successfully, you can click the Test PRO button in the SCVMM management console's Operations Manager Settings dialog. The SCVMM management console opens a new window with a PRO status message. The PRO diagnostic warning is automatically resolved by the SCVMM and only serves to test the connection between the VMM and Operations Manager.

In addition to numerous charts and diagnostic views for managed Hyper-V systems, SCOM also offers a chart view of all systems integrated with SCVMM. In the chart view, you can navigate through the VMM infrastructure, display all the installed systems and components, select the component with a problem, and collect more information for troubleshooting and remedial action.

Thanks to the integration of SCVMM in SCOM, the health state of all virtual machines is now monitored. In the Virtual Machine Manager Management Pack, you are given an overview of the integration status of virtual machines below the Managed Resources/Virtual Machine Manager Server Health folder. In the status display for the virtual machines, you are given an overview of the VM status.

A common reason for integrity constraints messages is missing: non-installed or disabled components of the Hyper-V Integration Services. When you open the Health Explorer in the Operations Manager console, you are shown the entity health status of the virtual machine configuration with warnings, and you will see a notice that the virtual guest service is not installed or not enabled.

Conclusions

System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager offers comprehensive monitoring of physical and virtualized environments, as well as application servers such as Exchange. Using a variety of dashboard and health views, administrators can gain a comprehensive overview. If you are using SCVMM, it is a good idea to import the System Center Virtual Machine Manager Management Pack to provide a more accurate overview of the configuration and performance of the Hyper-V environment.