How to tune a group in SCOM
What is a SCOM Group?
“In Operations Manager, a group is a logical set of objects that can be used to define the scope of overrides, views, user roles, and notifications. Some groups are provided in the Operations Manager installation, such as All Windows Computers group and Agent Managed Computer Group. You can create your own groups and add members to groups explicitly or dynamically”
Groups are key to managing and maintaining Microsoft’s System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). The most common uses for Groups are:
To apply overrides to a specific group of computers.
To apply alert notifications to a specific group of computers.
To apply to user consoles, so they only see specific servers.
To apply to a specific group of computers scheduled for maintenance mode.
To create a rollup Health State view for a specific set of computers.
To group a set of computers due for a specific report.
The typical way to assign an object to your group is by using its class to define the desired object. Once you set up a group you will then want to apply overrides so you can change the parameters or rules that govern that specific group.
Overrides allow customization and modifications to be made to the groups in your IT environment, so they can be adapted to suit your business needs. They typically evolve over time and eventually form a complex web of monitoring activity.
It is for this reason that groups can become difficult to manage, it is advisable to tune all elements of SCOM to keep alert noise under control. But this can be a challenging task, as it literally requires thousands of clicks to create your overrides.
What are the benefits of tuning SCOM Groups?
Tuning groups in SCOM is useful as it means you can set different alert behavior for a specific group (or set of groups) at different levels. For example, you may want to know if available memory dips below 10% for longer than 1 hour at a global level, but may want to see this data much sooner for your production SQL servers at a group level.
It is best practice to tune a group rather than an object, tuning individual items is inefficient as you have to repeat the task numerous times to cover a whole set of computers, servers, or anything else you monitor with SCOM. Tuning a group avoids replicating changes and ongoing amends to your monitoring.
How can I tune SCOM Groups?
You can use the SCOM Console & Authoring Pane. But, even the thought of trying to use native SCOM to create overrides will probably fill you with dread, it can be done, but it is a laborious and repetitive task that can consume hours of your life! We actually tested this theory and quantified the amount of time and number of clicks it would take to tune SCOM manually versus using our free tool, Easy Tune. The results speak for themselves:
“Easy Tune will save you 98.4% of the time you would spend tuning SCOM natively”
“Easy Tune takes just 7% of the clicks of the native SCOM UI to set the same tuning”
If you want to accelerate your tuning and save your clicks for more important matters, then read the full blog here.
If you prefer to use Powershell, then Tao Yang, Microsoft MVP, has created a handy MP to use Powershell SDK to automate repetitive tasks in SCOM. You can find out all about Tao’s, OpsMgrExtended tool, here.
Kevin Holman recommends the Override Creator Tool (originally posted by Boris, and updated By Daniele Muscetta) this is a free tool listed in his blog on Top SCOM Tools.
Silect’s MP Studio is a more sophisticated option that enables you to create individual or group overrides, using a simple copy & paste function. It also has a central repository for all your MPs, so you can track changes. Plus, the reporting function means you can sort, filter, and compare MPs, making it easier to manage duplicates and versions. The cons of this tool are that it is not free and all of your data ends up being stored in a third-party tool.
Can I migrate my overrides to a new SCOM Group?
Upgrading or migrating to a new version of SCOM can be a daunting task, as you may fear losing or at best having to redo all your old overrides.
Good news, with Easy Tune Enterprise you can upgrade SCOM without rewriting any overrides. Instead, you can simply find, capture, and copy the overrides you want to keep in your old management group and transfer them directly into your new deployment.
Want to find out more
Watch our 7-minute guide to upgrading SCOM with Easy Tune >>>
We think you’ll also enjoy our blog on ‘Alert Tuning For Your Upgraded SCOM Environment’.