Configuring the Native Exchange 2007 MP for OpsMgr 2007 R2 (Part 2)

By / September 9, 2017


If you would like to read the other parts in this article series please go to:

Introduction – Add The Exchange Servers as Agent Managed Computers

Adding the Exchange servers to manage as agent managed computers is pretty much the same as in the previous versions of OpsMgr. Let us review the process;

  1. Click the Administration tab and then click Configure computers and devices to manage on the Actions pane. This will start the Computer and Device Management Wizard (Figure 3). Click Next, choose Advanced Discovery (Figure 4) and select Servers Only from the Computers and Device Classes drop-down box.


Figure 3: Computer and Device Management Wizard


Figure 4: Advanced discovery

  1. On the next window, browse for the computers you are adding (Figure 5) and click Next. Select Use selected Management Server Action Account (Figure 6), click Discovery and wait for the discovery results (Figure 7).  Figure 8 shows a brief summary that is displayed at the end of the wizard. It is mandatory that all systems running Exchange Server 2007 that are managed by Operations Manager use Local System as the Agent Action Account. Click Finish.


Figure 5: Discovery Method


Figure 6: Administrator Account


Figure 7: Select Objects to Manage


Figure 8: Summary

  1. If the agent installation was successful, on each Exchange server you will be able to see the System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Agent listed on the Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features on Windows 2008 (Figure 9). A new service is also created, the System Center Management Service, as depicted in Figure 10.


Figure 9: Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs)


Figure 10: System Center Management Service Properties

  1. To enable Agent Proxy configuration on all managed Exchange servers, in the Administration pane, under Administration, Device Management, Agent Managed, right-click on each Exchange server (Figure 11), select Properties, then the Security tab (Figure 12), and check the box Allow this agent to act as a proxy and discover managed objects on other computers. This step will also make exchange cluster instances to appear in the Agentless Managed section (ensure that all physical nodes of the cluster are monitored). Repeat the process for every managed Exchange 2007 server in the list.


Figure 11: Agent Managed Properties


Figure 12: Enabling Agent Proxy

Installing the Agent on Edge Server

Just like in my previous article, I decided to install the Edge Server as a standalone (workgroup) server. This means that authentication against the Operations Manager server must be done with certificates, because the agent in the workgroup cannot authenticate with the management server in the domain using the Kerberos protocol.


Figure 13: Certificate Authentication

Although the configuration process is pretty much the same as the above mentioned article, let’s quickly review the necessary steps:

  1. In this scenario, the agent must be manually installed. From the Edge server, browse to the folder where you installed the OpsMgr binaries on the Management server. In my case this was \\OPSMGR2K7R2\C$\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager 2007\AgentManagement\AMD64\ (Figure 14). Double Click MOMAgent.msi to trigger the setup process (Figure 15). Click Next.


Figure 14: Agent installation binaries


Figure 15: Operations Manager Agent Setup

  1. On the Destination Folder window (Figure 16), accept the default installation path and click Next. On the next window (Figure 17), click Next to specify Management Group information.


Figure 16: Destination Folder


Figure 17: Management Group Configuration

  1. On the Management Group Configuration window (Figure 18), specify the Management Group Name, the Management Server and the Management Server Port. Click Next.


Figure 18: Management Group Configuration (Cont.)

  1. On the Agent Action Account window (Figure 19), select Local System and click Next. Review the summary (Figure 20), click Install and them Finish (Figure 21).


Figure 19: Agent Action Account


Figure 20: Ready to Install


Figure 21: Finish

  1. After these steps the agent will be installed, but it will not be able to communicate with the OpsMgr Management Server, since it does not have a certificate assigned yet. Both the computer hosting the agent and the OpsMgr Management Server will require a certificate from a trusted certification authority (CA). To enable the certificates for OpsMgr authentication, the MOMCertImport tool (located on \SupportTools\AMD64 in the OpsMgr installation media) must be used. Run the following command:
    MOMCertImport /SubjectName <Certificate Subject Name>
    Note:
    You can also export the previously issued certificate to a .PFX file and run the command MOMCertImport <Certificate File Name>.pfx.
    If you ever need to remove certificates imported with the MOMCertImport tool, just run MomCertImport /Remove. For more information, please read the following article titled; Authentication and Data Encryption for Windows Computers in Operations Manager 2007.


Figure 22: Running MOMCertImport

  1. If you have not previously installed any manual agent, the global setting must be changed from reject to ‘Review new manual agent installation in pending management view’. Open the Operations Console and on the Administration pane select Settings. On the right pane, expand Server and click Security (Figure 23). Click Properties and on the General tab select Review new manual agent installation in pending management view (Figure 24). Click OK to finish.


Figure 23: Allowing manual agent installations


Figure 24: Global Management Server Settings – Security

  1. Open the Operations Console, on the Administration pane expand Device Management and select Pending Management. On the right pane, right click each server requiring approval and select Approve (Figure 25). To check if the agent is successfully approved look in the Agent Managed folder for the approved agent to see if it is there.


Figure 25: Manual Agent Install Approval

Create a New Management Pack for Customizations

The customizations and overrides of sealed management packs, such as the Exchange 2007 MP, are usually saved in the default management pack. Best practice dictates that you should create and use a separate management pack for that purpose. 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.
  • It allows you to delete the original management pack without first needing to delete the default management pack.
  • It is easier to track and update customizations to individual management packs.

  1. In the Operations Console, click the Administration button. In the Administration pane, right-click Management Packs and then click Create Management Pack. The Create a Management Pack wizard displays.
  2. In the General Properties page (Figure 26), type a name for the management pack in Name, the correct version number in Version, and a short description in Description. Click Next and then Create.


Figure 26: Creating a Custom MP for customizations

Besides creating this additional management pack for Exchange 2007 customizations and overrides, you should also decide whether to create a new one for synthetic transactions. Use the following guidelines when planning destination management packs for these operations:

  • Plan logical groupings of synthetic transactions. Plan to group synthetic transactions in management packs so that it will be easy later for you to find a particular synthetic transaction.

  • When you make a change to a synthetic transaction within a management pack, the whole management pack is redistributed to every server that has a transaction defined in the management pack. If you anticipate making frequent changes to synthetic transactions, group the transactions logically in management packs so that the only pertinent management pack are redistributed to the servers involved in those transactions.

  • Do not store each synthetic transaction in a separate management pack, because the number of such management packs can grow into the hundreds, eventually having a negative impact on the Operations Manager 2007 environment.

For the purpose of writing this article I only used one management pack for customizations and synthetic transactions.

Install the Exchange Server 2007 MP

Before downloading and installing the Exchange Server 2007 MP, you might want to import some recommended additional management packs, such as (these are the ones I used):

With the recommended additional management packs already imported, download and install the latest Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 (by the time of the writing of this article it was version 6.0.6702.0). You can find the latest Management Packs at the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Catalog.

The installation of the downloaded .msi file is a very simple process that just extracts the required Management Pack files to the folder you choose:

  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Discovery – Contains discoveries and common monitoring that applies to all Exchange servers
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Library – Contains class definitions
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Monitoring.Cas – Contains Client Access server (CAS) role monitoring
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Monitoring.Edge – Contains Edge server role monitoring and discoveries
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Monitoring.Hub – Contains Hub server role monitoring
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Monitoring.Mailbox – Contains Mailbox server role monitoring
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Monitoring.UM – Contains Unified Messaging server role monitoring and discoveries
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Reports – Contains Reports for the Mailbox, Hub, and Client Access server roles.
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Reports.SLM – Contains Exchange 2007 reports using the Operations Manager R2 Service Level Management Reporting feature. Note that this is an unsealed management pack.
  • Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2007.Template – Contains the Mail Flow and Client Access server synthetic transaction templates.
  • OM2007_MP_EX2007_R2.doc – The management pack guide.

To import the Exchange 2007 MP, open the OpsMgr 2007 Operations Console. Click the Administration tab, right-click the Management Packs node and then click Import Management Packs (Figure 27).

Click Add, Add from disk and then click No on the Online Catalog Connection window. Select all the files from the Exchange MP directory (Figure 28), click Open and then click the Install button. After the import process is complete and the dialog box displays an icon next to each Management Pack that indicates success of the importation (Figure 29), click the Close button.


Figure 27: Import Management Packs


Figure 28: Select Management Packs to import


Figure 29: Import Management Packs

Summary

In this part we covered the first 3 steps of the 11 necessary, as described in part 1. Part 3 will be about the next 4:

  • Enable Exchange 2007 Server Role discoveries to discover Exchange 2007 servers and to start monitoring them.
  • Configure disk monitoring.
  • Configure Internet Information Services (IIS) Monitoring.
  • Assign Edge servers to a particular organization and site.

If you would like to read the other parts in this article series please go to:

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