If you've worked with both MOM 2005 (or MOM 2000) and OpsMgr 2007, you will have noticed that the structure of management packs has changed with Operations Manager 2007. Let's talk about that a little.
Management packs (MPs) provide a snapshot of operational health and are the mechanism OpsMgr 2007 uses to manage and monitor specific applications and services. Management packs make it possible to collect and utilize a wide range of information from various sources. They describe what data to examine and provide analysis of that data. Management packs are the brain of OpsMgr. Without MPs, OpsMgr is like a big empty shell, as the management packs provide the logic of what to monitor and what to do when a condition warrants attention.
In early versions of Operations Manager, management packs were stored in a binary format with an extension of AKM. These files could not be viewed or edited outside of the MOM console interface.
OpsMgr 2007 moves from an AKM format to using XML. The XML language deals with how to describe the data defined within its tags, differing from HTML which merely formats data.
Like any other computer language, an XML document must follow a prescribed format in order for an XML parser to be able to read and execute the commands in that document. In the case of Operations Manager, the XML document must follow the OpsMgr management pack schema, which in turn complies with the standard XML document format adopted by the W3C.
The Operations Manager management pack schema is divided into sections or elements, with each section used to define a certain aspect of the management pack. Included sections are:
The sections utilized will vary between different management packs, but every management pack must have a manifest. The manifest is the only required section in an OpsMgr management pack.
Kerrie Meyler, a Microsoft MOM MVP, is an independent consultant and trainer with more than 15 years of Information Technology experience. A previous senior technology specialist at Microsoft, she focused on infrastructure and management solutions, presenting at numerous product launches. More recently, she presented on Operations Manager 2007 and gave several podcasts at TechEd 2007.
Kerrie has worked with Microsoft Learning to develop Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) for several courses, including the Implementing Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 course, and did the beta teach for that course.
Kerrie is the lead author of Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Unleashed and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed
Check out an excerpt from System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed, Chapter 3: Looking Inside OpsMgr.
The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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