In November there have been several announcements from Microsoft concerning Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. This article will summarize briefly with the necessary references to be able to conduct further studies.
Operations Management Suite (OMS)
Log Analytics
As already announced since 30 October 2017 Microsoft has launched the upgrade process of the OMS workspaces not yet updated manually. In this regard has been released this useful document that shows the differences between a legacy OMS workspace and a updated OMS workspace, with references for further details.
Solutions
Those that use circuit ExpressRoute will be glad to know that Microsoft announced the ability to monitor it through Network Performance Monitor (NPM). This is a feature currently in preview that allows you to monitor connectivity and performance between the on-premises environment and vNet in Azure in the presence of ExpressRoute circuit. For more details about the features announced you can consult theofficial article.
Figure 1 – Network map showing details of ExpressRoute connectivity
Agent
As usual it was released a new version of the OMS Agent for Linux systems that now takes place on a monthly basis. This release fixes bugs related diagnostics during agents onboarding. Are not being introduced new features. To obtain the updated version please visit the official GitHub page OMS Agent for Linux Patch v 1.4.2-124.
Protection and Disaster Recovery
Azure Backup always protected backups from on-premises world toward Azure using encryption that takes place using the passphrase defined during the configuration of the solution. To protect VMs in Azure the recommendation for greater security in the backup was to use VMs with disk-encrypted. Now Azure Backup uses Storage Service Encryption (SSE) to do the encryption of backups of virtual machines on Azure, allowing to obtain in an integrated manner in the solution a mechanism for the implementation of the backup security. This also will happen to existing backup automatically and through a background task.
Microsoft, in order to bring more clarity with regard to pricing and licensing of Azure Site Recovery, updated the FAQ which you can see in the official page of pricing of the solution.
System Center
As is already the case for the operating system and System Center Configuration Manager, the other System Center products, in particular, Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, and Data Protection Manager will follow a release of updated versions every 6 months (semi-annual channel). The goal is to rapidly deliver new capabilities and to ensure a speedy integration with the cloud world, which is essential given the speed with which it evolves. In November was announced the System Center preview version 1711 which you can download at this link.
Figure 2 – Summary of what's new in System Center preview version 1711
To know the details of the new features in this release, please consult theofficial announcement.
System Center Configuration Manager
For System Center Configuration Manager current branch version 1706 was issued an important update rollup you should apply as it solves a lot of problems.
Released the version 1710 for the Current Branch (CB) of System Center Configuration Manager that introduces new features and major improvements in the product. Among the main innovations of this update definitely emerge the possibilities offered by the Co-management that expand the possibilities for device management using either System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune.
Figure 3 – Features and benefits of Co-management
For a complete list of new features introduced in this version of Configuration Manager, you can consult theofficial announcement.
Released the version 1711 for the Technical Preview branch of System Center Configuration Manager. The new features in this update are:
- Improvements in the new Run Task Sequence step.
- User interaction when installing applications in the System context even when running a task sequence.
- New options, in the scenario of using Configuration Manager associated with Microsoft Intune, to manage compliance policy for devices Windows 10 related to Firewall, User Account Control, Windows Defender Antivirus, and OS build versioning.
I remind you that the releases in the Technical Preview Branch allows you to evaluate in preview new SCCM functionality and is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.
Released an updated version of the Configuration Manager Client Messaging SDK.
System Center Operations Manager
Released the new wave of the SQL Server Management Packs (version 7.0.0.0):
- Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2017+
- Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2017+ Replication
- Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server Dashboards
- Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2016
- Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2014
- Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server
The Management Packs for SQL Server 2017 can be used for the monitor of SQL Server 2017 and subsequent releases (version agnostic), this allows you to avoid having to manage different MPs for each version of SQL Server. The controls for versions of SQL Server earlier than 2014 are included in the generic MP "Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server".
System Center Service Manager
Microsoft has published a series of tips and best practices to be followed during Authoring Management Pack of System Center Service Manager (SCSM).
Please remember that in order to test and evaluate for free Operations Management Suite (OMS) you can access this page and select the mode that is most appropriate for your needs.
