Category Archives: System Center

Azure management services and System Center: What's New in May 2019

To stay up to date on news about Azure management services and System Center, our community releases this monthly summary, allowing you to have an overview of the main new features of the month. In this article you will find the news, presented in a synthetic way and accompanied with the necessary references to be able to conduct further studies.

Azure Log Analytics

New version Agent for Linux systems

This month the new agent version of Log Analytics for Linux systems introduces improvements concerning the stability and reliability. For more information about this, you can access the GitHub official page.

Availability in new regions

The availability of Azure Log Analytics has been extended for another five new regions: Central US, East US 2, East Asia, West US and South Central US.

Azure Site Recovery

Improvements in the monitor of VMware and physical systems

In the replication scenario of VMware systems and physical machines , the role Process Server acts as replication gateway, then receives replication data, performs an optimization through caching and compression mechanisms, provides encryption and sends them to the storage in the Azure environment. This role is also responsible to make the discovery of virtual machines on VMware systems. There are several factors that may impact on the smooth functioning of this component: high data change rate (churn), network connectivity, bandwidth availability, undersizing of the computing capacity required. In ASR were added different States of health that facilitate troubleshooting for this component. For each alert is also proposed corrective action deemed necessary, in order to better manage this role, essential for the proper functioning of the replication process.

Azure Backup

Network Security Group service tags for Azure Backup

Microsoft announced the ability to use within the Network Security Groups (NSGs) the service tag for Azure Backup. Using the tag AzureBackup it is possible to allow in the NSG outbound access to the Azure Backup service, so you can protect your workloads (SQL Server) on board of the virtual machines, instead of having to manage a whithelist that contains the IP addresses of the service. This is useful, in addition in the presence of the SQL Server workloads to be protected, also to make VM backup via MARS agent.

System Center Configuration Manager

New release for the Technical Preview Branch

For Configuration Manager was released the update 1905 that among the main innovations provides the ability to create application groups to be sent to collection of users or devices into a single deployment. The applications in the group can be installed with a specific order and the group will be displayed in Software Center as a single entity (suite of products).

To verify the details about what's new in this update you can see this document.

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

Evaluation of Azure and System Center

To test and evaluate free of charge the services offered by Azure you can access this page, while to try the various System Center components you must access theEvaluation Center and, after registering, you can start the trial period.

Azure management services and System Center: What's New in April 2019

Microsoft announces constantly news about Azure management services and System Center. Our community releases on a monthly basis this summary that provides a general overview of the main new features of the current month, in order to stay up to date on these news and have the necessary references to conduct further study.

Azure Log Analytics

Agent

This month the new version ofLog Analytics agent for Linux systems fixes important bugs and improves stability. To obtain the updated version of the Log Analytics agent you can access to the GitHub official page.

Figure 1 – News of the new release of Log Analytics agent

Availability in new regions

The availability of Azure Log Analytics has been extended into three new regions: France Central, Korea Central, and North Europe. Furthermore, it can be activated in preview in the following regions: Central US, East US 2, East Asia, West US and South Central US.

Azure Automation

New features in Azure Update Management

Azure Management Update added the option to have as a target of patch deployment groups of virtual machines, generated by queries that rely on native Azure concepts (such as resource group, location, and tags). The virtual machines can be added dynamically to existing patch deployment based on defined criteria.

System Center Configuration Manager

End of support for SCCM 2007 and FEP 2010

Please note that the support for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2010 end on 9 July 2019. After this date will be discontinued by Microsoft: updates (security and non), assisted support and for FEP Microsoft will no longer releases antivirus signatures and engine updates. For those who are using these products it is time to consider switching to the latest version of SCCM.

New releases for the Technical Preview Branch

Released version 1903

For Configuration Manager was released the update 1903 and among other changes was the ability to use a new tool for cost estimates for the deployment of cloud management gateway.

Figure 2 – SCCM Clooud Cost Estimator

For full details of what's new in this release you can consult this document.

Released version 1904

For Configuration Manager was also released the update 1904 which includes new dashboards to identify the devices ready to be upgraded to Office 365 ProPlus.

To verify the details about what's new in this update you can see this document.

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

System Center Operations Manager

Support for Windows Server 2012 and for SCOM 2019

After the release of SCOM 2019, Microsoft has decided to change the support statement to allow even the monitor of systems Windows Server 2012. To see the full list of System requirements for System Center Operations Manager 2019 you can consult this document.

Evaluation of Azure and System Center

To test and evaluate free of charge the services offered by Azure you can access this page, while to try the various System Center components you must access theEvaluation Center and, after registering, you can start the trial period.

Azure management services and System Center: What's New in March 2019

In March there have been several news announced by Microsoft on the Azure management services and System Center. In this summary, that we report on a monthly basis, there are listed all the main news, accompanied by the necessary references to be able to conduct further studies.

Azure Monitor

Availability in Central Canada and UK South

The new service that allows you to monitor the virtual machines, called Azure Monitor for VMs, is also available in Central Canada and UK South.

Azure Log Analytics

Availability in new regions

Azure Log Analytics is now available in the regions of Azure China, Australia East and Central Australia. It is also available in Public Preview in the following regions: France Central, Korea Central and North Europe.

Azure Site Recovery

Support for storage accounts protected with firewall rules

In Azure Site Recovery was introduced support for storage accounts that are configured with firewall rules for the Virtual Networks, in replication scenarios from VMware or physical systems to Azure.

Support for managed disks in replication scenarios with VMWare and physical systems

Azure Site Recovery now supports disaster recovery of VMware virtual machines and physical systems, replicating directly towards the managed disks. This avoids creating and managing different storage accounts target for the replica of these systems. The on-premises data are sended to a cache storage account in the target region and written in managed disk by Site Recovery.

New Update Rollup

For Azure Site Recovery was released theUpdate Rollup 35 which it addresses several issues and introduces some improvements. The details and the procedure to follow for the installation can be found in the specific KB 4494485.

Azure Backup

In Azure Backup was officially released the functionality to back up the SQL Server installed in Azure IaaS virtual machines.

Figure 1 – Azure Backup Features for SQL Server in Azure VMs

Among the benefits of this solution there are:

  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes
  • Point-in-time restores: to make easy and rapid the recovery operations of the DBs.
  • Long-term retention: ability to keep backups for years.
  • Protection of encrypted databases: chance to make the backup of encrypted SQL databases and safely keep via an encryption at rest integrated into the solution. All backup and restore operations are managed by role-based access control mechanism.
  • Auto-protection: is handled automatically the detection and the protection of new databases.
  • Management and monitoring: allows to carry out a centralized management and monitoring the protection status of the systems.
  • Cost savings: are not required infrastructure costs and allows to easily scale to meet your needs.

System Center

Released System Center 2019

The main novelty regarding System Center is the release in general availability of the major release of System Center 2019. This is the release belonging to the long term servicing channel (LTSC) that will be supported for 10 years and that introduces full support for Windows Server 2019.

Starting from this release, Microsoft has decided to change the System Center product release policies. There will be no more releases in the Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) and new features, before the next release Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), can be obtained via Update Rollup.

System Center 2019 supports upgrade from the two recent Semi-Annual Channel releases (SAC), System Center 1801 and System Center 1807 as well as System Center 2016.

Customers who have a valid license of System Center 2019 can download it from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).

Among the main features of System Center 2019 we find:

Virtual Machine Manager

  • Integration in VMM with Azure Update Management simplifies patching of virtual machines
  • Dynamic Storage Optimization in VMM enables higher availability of workloads
  • VMM now provides health and operational status of storage disks in Hyper Converged as well as disaggregated deployment
  • New RBAC role in VMM ensures that IT admins can be provided access commensurate with their role and no more
  • Support for latest versions of VMware in VMM (to enable migration to Hyper-V)

Operations Manager

  • SCOM supports integration with Azure services – Dependency Map (Service Map) provides comprehensive visibility of dependencies across servers along with health.
  • Azure Management Pack integrates alerts and performance metrics for Azure resources in SCOM
  • Along with modernized and extensible SCOM web console, subscriptions and notifications are now modernized with support for HTML based email
  • Maintenance schedules in SCOM with SQL server AlwaysOn
  • Update and recommendations for Linux workloads enables discovery of up-to-date MPs for Linux environments
  • Linux monitoring is now resilient to SCOM management server failover
  • All Windows Server Management Packs now support Windows Server 2019

Data Protection Manager

  • Faster backups with DPM with a 75% increase in speed and a monitoring experience for key backup parameters via Log Analytics.
  • DPM further supports backup of VMWare VMs including to tape

More news

  • Orchestrator supports PowerShellv4 +
  • Service Manager has an enhanced AD connector
  • Support for service logon across the System Center suite aligning with security best practices

More information about it can be consulted in the article System Center 2019 is now in general availability.

System Center Configuration Manager

Released version 1902 for the Current Branch

There are many new features in this release designed to enrich and improve different features of the solution. To get the complete list of new features introduced with this build, you can consult this official document. The transition to version 1902 can be done by following the installation checklist, at the end of which it is appropriate to continue with the Checklist post-update.

System Center Operations Manager

Management Packs

Following, are reported the news about the SCOM Management Packs:

  • System Center Management Pack for Message Queuing version 7.1.10242.0
  • System Center Management Pack for Microsoft Azure Stack version 1.0.3.11
  • System Center Management Pack for SharePoint Server 2019 version 16.0.11426.3000

Evaluation of Azure and System Center

To test and evaluate free of charge the services offered by Azure you can access this page, while to try the various System Center components you must access theEvaluation Center and, after registering, you can start the trial period.

Azure management services and System Center: What's New in February 2019

The month of February was full of news and there are different updates that affected the Azure management services and System Center. This article summarizes to have a comprehensive overview of the main news of the month, in order to stay up to date on these topics and have the necessary references to conduct further exploration.

Azure Monitor

Multi-resource support for metric alerts

With this new feature, you can configure a single metric alert rule to monitor:

  • A list of virtual machines in an Azure region.
  • All virtual machines in one or more resource groups in an Azure region.
  • All virtual machines of a subscription, present in a given Azure region.

Azure Automation

The runbook Update Azure Modules is open source

Azure Automation allows you to update the Azure PowerShell modules imported into an automation account with the latest versions available in the PowerShell Gallery. This possibility is provided through the actionUpdate Azure Moduleson the page Modules of the Automation Account, and is implemented through a hidden runbook. In order to improve diagnostics and troubleshooting activity and provide the ability to customize the module, this has been made open source.

Support for the Azure PowerShell module Az

Azure Automation introduces support for the PowerShell module Az, thanks to which you can use the updated Azure modules within runbooks, to manage the various Azure services.

Azure Log Analytics

New version of the agent for Linux

This month the new OMS Agent version for Linux systems solves a specific bug during installation. To obtain the updated OMS agent version you can access at the GitHub official page.

Availability in new region of Azure

It is possible to activate a Log Analytics workspace also in the Azure regions of West US 2, Australia East and Central Australia. In this way the data is kept and processed in this regions.

Azure Site Recovery

New Update Rollup

For Azure Site Recovery was released theUpdate Rollup 33 introducing new versions of the following components:

  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup (version 9.22.5109.1): used for replication scenarios from VMware to Azure.
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (version 5.1.3900.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure or to a secondary site.
  • Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent (version 2.0.9155.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure.

The installation of this update rollup is possible on all systems running Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Service providers, by including:

  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider for System Center Virtual Machine Manager (3.3.x. x).
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Hyper-V Provider (4.6.x. x).
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (5.1.3500.0) and later.

The Update Rollup 33 for Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup applies to all systems that have installed the version 9.17.4860.1 or later.

For more information on the issues resolved, on improvements from this Update Rollup and to get the procedure for its installation is possible to consult thespecific KB 4489582.

Protection of Storage Space Direct cluster

In Azure Site Recovery (ASR) is introduced, with the Update Rollup 33, also the support for the protection of Storage Space Direct cluster, used to realize Guest Cluster in Azure environment.

Azure Backup

In Azure Backup has been released the feature of Instant Restorefor the virtual machines in Azure, that allows using the stored snapshots for the VMs recovery. Also it is given the option to configure the time of retention for the snapshots in the backup policy (from one to five days, the default is two days). This increases control over the protection of the resources, adapting it to specific requirements and depending on the criticality of the same.

Figure 1 – Retention period of the snapshot

System Center Configuration Manager

Released versions 1902 and 1902.2 for the Technical Preview Branch

Among the main new features of this release is included the ability to manage more effectively the restart notifications on systems managed by Configuration Manager.

For full details of what's new in this release you can consult this document. Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

System Center Operations Manager

Management Packs

Following, are reported the news about the SCOM Management Packs:

  • Microsoft System Center 2016 Management Pack for Microsoft Azure version 1.6.0.7
  • Microsoft System Center Management Pack for SQL Server 2017+ Reporting Services version 7.0.12.0
  • Log Analytics Management Pack forSCOM 1801 version7.3.13288.0 and SCOM 2016 version7.2.12074.0
  • System Center Management Pack for Windows DNS Server version 10.0.9.3

Evaluation of Azure and System Center

To test and evaluate free of charge the services offered by Azure you can access this page, while to try the various System Center components you must access theEvaluation Center and, after registering, you can start the trial period.

OMS and System Center: What's New in December 2018

In December have been announced, by Microsoft, a significant number of news regarding Azure management services and System Center. Our community releases this monthly summary that gives you a comprehensive overview of the main news of the month, in order to stay up to date on these news and have the necessary references to conduct further study.

Azure Monitor

The service Azure Monitor for containers is now available to monitor the health and performance of Kubernetes cluster hosted on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). Azure Monitor for containers gives you complete visibility on the performance, collecting metrics on memory and processor of controllers, of the nodes and containers. Also collects the logs of containers. After you enable the monitor for Kubernetes clusters, metrics and logs are automatically collected by a Log Analytics agent version for containers for Linux and stored in a workspace of Log Analytics.

Over the past few months solutions of monitoring, management and security, available from the Operations Management Suite (OMS), have been incorporated into the Azure Portal. Starting from 15 January 2019 the OMS portal will be permanently withdrawn and you will need to use the Azure portal. Before this date you should complete the following steps:

For more details you can refer to this Microsoft's document.

Azure Log Analytics, now part of Azure Monitor, is now available in the Azure region of West US 2.

In January by selecting views and Log Analytics solutions, you will use the new Azure Monitor Logs UX, that provides a query editor more functional and improvements in views.

Azure Site Recovery

For Azure Site Recovery was released theUpdate Rollup 31 introducing new versions of the following components:

  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup (version: 9.20.5051.1): used for replication scenarios from VMware to Azure.
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (version 5.1.3700.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure or to a secondary site.
  • Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent (version 2.0.9144.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure.

The installation of this update rollup is possible on all systems running Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Service providers, by including:

  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider for System Center Virtual Machine Manager (3.3.x. x).
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Hyper-V Provider (4.6.x. x).
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (5.1.3300.0) and later.

The Update Rollup 31 for Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup applies to all systems that have installed the version 9.16.4860.1 or later.

For more information on the issues resolved, on improvements from this Update Rollup and to get the procedure for its installation is possible to consult the specific KB 4478871.

In Azure Site Recovery is also introduced the ability to update the Mobility Agent installed aboard Azure virtual machines, in the replication scenario of VMs in Azure. Whereas Azure Site Recovery releases an update that introduces new features and enhancements every month, the ability to maintain automatically updated infrastructure is especially convenient. These updates do not require restarting the virtual machines and have no impact on the systems replication. By enabling automatic update, the process takes place via a runbook, within an automation account, created in the same subscription of the vault. By dafult the runbook runs at 12:00 AM, but the schedule can be changed at will.

Figure 1 - Enablng automatic update in the activation phase

Figure 2 – Enabling automatic update in the Revovery Service vault

Another important feature introduced in Azure Site Recovery is the ability to replicate and fail over to other regions of virtual machines that belong to Availability Zones. Such functionality has been made available for all Azure regions that support Availability Zones.

Azure Backup

In Azure backup was simplifies the procedure to perform the restore of virtual machines, introducing the feature In-Place restore of disks, which allows to restore the disks of a virtual machine, without the need to create a new system. To do this simply select the following option at restore time:

Figure 3 – In-Place restore from the Azure Portal

Currently this feature is supported only for VMs managed unencrypted. There isn't currently support for generalized VMs and for VMs created using custom images, but this feature is definitely going to increase functionality.

In Azure Backup there is the possibility to activate the protection of SQL Server installed on a virtual machine Azure. In this area of functionality has been added Auto-protection and, if activated, lets make the discovery and protection of all the databases that will be added on that instance of SQL Server, standalone or in an Always On availability group.

Figure 4 – Auto-protect SQL databases with Azure Backup

System Center

System Center Virtual machine Manager

The installation of the following updates 'KB4467684', 'KB4478877', 'KB4471321' or 'KB4483229' on a host Windows Server 2016 managed by SCVMM, may mean that SCVMM is no longer able to enumerate or manage Logical Switch configured on the host. The problem is the fact that the above updates remove the registration of WMI classes used by SCVMM agent to enumerate and manage Logical Switch on the host. The solution is to record the classes in the WMI repository, as reported by this article.

System Center Configuration Manager

Released the version 1811 for the branch Technical Preview of System Center Configuration Manager.

Through the major new features in this release are the ability to insert code PowerShell as a Task Sequence step, thus eliminating the need to create and distribute the package to run PowerShell commands.

Figure 5 – PoerShell code injection in a Task Sequence

In this release are covered further innovations that can be found in this document.

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

For the branch Technical Preview System Center Configuration Manager has been released version 1812. All that's new in this release can be found in this Microsoft's document. Please note that the Technical Preview releases Branch help you evaluate the new features of SCCM, so that you can investigate and provide feedback to the product team. These updates is recommended only apply them in test environments.

System Center Operations Manager

Following, are reported the news about the SCOM Management Packs:

Evaluation of Azure and System Center

To test and evaluate free of charge the services offered by Azure you can access this page, while to try the various System Center components you must access theEvaluation Center and, after registering, you can start the trial period.

OMS and System Center: What's New in November 2018

Microsoft announces constantly news about Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. Our community releases this monthly summary that gives you a comprehensive overview of the main news of the month, to stay up to date on these topics and have the necessary references to conduct further investigation.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Azure Monitor

SQL Data Warehouse now allows you to send diagnostic information to a workspace of Log Analytics. This setting allows developers to better analyze the behavior of their application workloads to optimize queries, to better manage the use of resources and undertake troubleshooting operations.

Figure 1 – SQL Data Warehouse Diagnostics settings

Log Analytics

Starting from 1 February 2019 changes are foreseen regarding service-level agreements (SLAs) for Log Analytics and Application Insights (which are now part of Azure Monitor). The new SLAs refer to the availability of the query (Query Availability SLA) that for a given resource will be of 99.9 %. Previously, SLAs were referring to data latency (Data latency SLA).

Agent

This month the new version ofOMS agent for Linux systems fixes important bugs and improves stability. To obtain the updated version of the OMS agent you can access to the official GitHub page OMS Agent for Linux Patch v 1.8.1-256.

Figure 2 – Bug fixes and what's new for the OMS agent for Linux

Azure Backup

For Microsoft Azure Backup Server has been released version 3 (MABS V3), which includes important bug fixes, introduces support for Windows Server 2019 and SQL Server 2017, and introduces new features and improvements including:

  • Support for the protection of VMware virtual machines for production environments.
  • Use TLS 1.2 for communications between MABS and protected servers, for certificate-based authentication, and for cloud backups.

The MABS V3 code is based on the System Center Data Protection Manager 1807. To get more information about it, please consult the Knowledge Base Microsoft Azure Backup Server v3.

Azure Site Recovery

In Azure Site Recovery was introduced support for the firewall-enabled storage accounts. Thanks to this support you can replicate to another region, for disaster recovery purposes, virtual machines with unmanaged disks, residing on firewall-enabled storage accounts. The firewall-enabled storage account can also be selected as a storage target for unmanaged disks. You can also restrict access to the cache storage account, so that you can write only by the virtual network that host virtual machines. In these cases it is necessary to enable the exception as described in Microsoft documentation Allow trusted Microsoft services.

 

System Center

System Center Configuration Manager

For the Current Branch (CB) of System Center Configuration Manager has been releasedupdate 1810, that introduces new features and major improvements in the product.

The main novelty of this update reveals the possibility for Central Administration sites and child primary sites to have an additional site server in passive mode, on-prem or on Azure.

Figure 3 – Site server High Availability Architecture

For a complete list of new features introduced in this version of Configuration Manager you can consult the official documentation.

System Center Operations Manager

Following, are reported the news about the SCOM Management Packs:

  • Windows Server Cluster 2016 and 1709 Plus version 10.6.6
  • Windows Print Server 2016 and 1709 more version 10.6.1
  • Windows Server Network Load Balancing 2016 and 1709 plus versione 10.2.1
  • Internet Information Service 2016 and 1709 Plus version 10.9.1
  • Windows Server DNS versione 10.9.2
  • Windows Server DHCP 2016 and 1709 Plus version 10.11.0
  • Active Directory Federation Services version 10.3.0
  • Active Directory Federation Services 2012 R2 version 1.10172.1
  • Skype for Business Server 2019 version 2046.19
  • Windows Server 2012 DHCP version 6.0.7307.0
  • UNIX and Linux Operating Systems versione 7.7.1136.0
  • Microsoft Windows Server File & iSCSI Services 2012 R2 version 7.1.10100.2
  • Microsoft Windows Server File & iSCSI Services 2016 and 1709 More version 10.0.0.0

 

Evaluation of Azure and System Center

To test and evaluate free of charge the services offered by Azure you can access this page, while to try the various System Center components you must access theEvaluation Center and, after registering, you can start the trial period.

OMS and System Center: What's New in October 2018

In October were announced, by Microsoft, a considerable number of news about Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. Our community, through these articles that are released on a monthly basis, want to provide an overview of the main news of the month, in order to stay up to date on these arguments and have the necessary references for further information.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Log Analytics

The documentation of the language used in Azure Log Analytics and Application Insights (Kusto) was incorporated within the standard Log Analytics documentation which can be found at this link. As announced at Ignite, Log Analytics and Application Insights are now an integral part of Azure Monitor and even the documentation was therefore adequate.

In Azure Log Analytics was introduced the possibility to receive logs from Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). This is a long overdue feature that allows you to take advantage of the potential of Log Analytics for the data contained in the logs of Azure AD. For details please visit the technical documentation.

Figure 1 – Configure sending Azure AD Log in Log Analytics

Agent

This month the new version ofOMS agent for Linux systems fixes some bugs related to the custom logs that cause occasional duplicates and improves reliability.

 

Azure Backup

Azure Backup introduces support in every region for disks Standard SSD managed.

The Azure Backup service has been extended to Central Australia region, where can now be used with the reliability and performance described in this document Azure Backup SLA.

In Azure Backup it has been improved experience during restore of Azure virtual machines , allowing you to complete the restore operation without performing any task manually. Furthermore, the naming convention used to restore disks has been improved to make it easy to identify the various associated disks to virtual machines.

 

Azure Site Recovery

Azure Site Recovery introduces support for virtual machines with the option of Azure Disk Encryption (ADE). This allows you to replicate this type of Windows virtual machines that are enabled forencryption through AAD app. For more details please visit the Microsoft documentation.

For Azure Site Recovery was released theUpdate Rollup 30 introducing new versions of the following components:

  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup/Mobility agent (version 9.19.5007.1): used for replication scenarios from VMware to Azure.
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (version 5.1.3650.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure or to a secondary site.
  • Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent (version 2.0.9139.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure.

The installation of this update rollup is recommended in deployments where there are the following components and versions:

  • Unified Setup/Mobility agent version 9.15.4860.1 or later.
  • Site Recovery Provider for System Center VMM: version 3.3. x. x or later.
  • Site Recovery Provider in replication scenarios without VMM: version 5.1.3200.0 or later.
  • Site Recovery Hyper-V Provider: 4.6. version x.x or higher.

For more information on the issues resolved, on improvements from this Update Rollup and to get the procedure for its installation is possible to consult the specific KB 4468181.

 

System Center

System Center 2016 LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) sees the release ofUpdate Rollup 6, that solves different problems for SCVMM, SCDPM, SCOM e SCORC. To see the problems resolved for each product you can access the following pages:

System Center Configuration Manager

Released the version 1810 and the version 1810.2 for the branch Technical Preview of System Center Configuration Manager.

Among the main new features of this release there is the new Management Insights dashboard allowing you to have an instant view of the rules, bringing back those that may require corrective action.

Figure 2 – Management Insights dashboard

In this release are covered more news about:

  • Required app compliance policy for co-managed devices
  • Improvements to maintenance driver
  • Native task sequence support for Windows Autopilot for existing devices
  • Use Configuration Manager compliance policies to help assess co-managed devices
  • New boundary group options
  • Improvement to Co-management reporting
  • Boundary group relationship support of task sequences
  • Extended CMPivot
  • New client notification action to wake up device
  • Improvements to OData Endpoint Data
  • Documentation node

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

Released a update rollup for System Center Configuration Manager current branch version 1806, that solves different problems.

 

System Center Operations Manager

Following, are reported the news about Management Packs of SCOM:

  • Management Pack for SQL Server 2017+ Reporting Services (version 0.10.0).
  • Management Pack for SQL Server 2017+ Analysis Services (version 0.10.0).
  • Management Pack for Windows Server Active Directory Domain Services (version 0.2.2).
  • Management Pack for Microsoft Azure (version 1.6.0.0).
  • Management Pack for Office 365 (version 7.2.0.0).

 

Evaluation of OMS and System Center

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.

To try out the various components of System Center you must access theEvaluation Center and after the registration you can start the trial period.

OMS and System Center: What's New in September 2018

In September were announced, by Microsoft, various news about Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. Our community releases monthly summary that provides a general overview of the main new features of the month, in order to keep you informed on these arguments and have the necessary references to conduct further study.

 

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Azure Automation

In Azure Automation was introduced the ability to import (package format .whl, .tar or .gz), create and run runbook in Python 2. For these runbooks it is also provided the use of Automation resources such as schedules, variables, connections and credentials. Their execution can be done either by Azure that through Hybrid Runbook Worker. To investigate this new feature you can see this article.

Figure 1 - Import of a package in Python 2

In Azure Update Manager these new features have been released:

Figure 2 – Pre/post installation tasks

  • Dynamic groups (preview): allows you to create dynamic groups of Azure VMs as targets for update deployments. These groups are defined by using query (based on Subscriptions, Resource groups, Locations and Tags) and the membership is calculated at startup of the update deployment.

Figure 3 – Dynamic groups

  • Update inclusion: allows you to specify the list of updates included, to control exactly which updates are applied during deployment.

Figure 4 – Update inclusion

 

Azure Backup

In Azure Backup support has been extended to allow protection of virtual machines that have linked up to 32 disks. The previous limit was 16 disks.

 

System Center

System Center Configuration Manager

Released the version 1809 for the branch Technical Preview of System Center Configuration Manager.

In this release are covered several improvements regarding:

  • The functionality CMPivot. It is a new utility available in the Configuration Manager console to provide real-time information on connected devices in your environment. On this information you can apply filters and groupings, then perform certain actions.
  • Product lifecycle dashboards.
  • Data warehouse.
  • Maintenance windows for software updates.

Please note that the Technical Preview Branch releases help you to evaluate new features of SCCM and it is recommended to apply these updates only in test environments.

 

Released the version 1808 for the Current Branch (CB) of System Center Configuration Manager. The main novelty of this update reveals the possibility of a gradual release of the software updates automatically (Phased Deployment). The button that allows you to configure this is present in the console nodes All Software Updates, All Windows 10 Updates, and Office 365 Updates.

Figure 5 – Phased Deployment creation button

 

In this interesting article are reported the announcements made during Microsoft Ignite 2018 about System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune.

 

System Center Operations Manager

Microsoft has announced that the cloud service Global Service Monitor (GSM) present in SCOM and used to monitor the availability of external web applications from different geographical locations, will be retired in November 2018. The recommendation is to use Azure Application Insights, that offers next generation advanced capabilities for web applications monitors. For further information you can consult theMicrosoft's official announcement.

 

System Center Updates Publisher

It is reported the release of a update rollup for System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP) that resolves some important issues.

 

Evaluation of OMS and System Center

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.

To try out the various components of System Center you must access theEvaluation Center and after the registration you can start the trial period.

OMS and System Center: What's New in August 2018

In August have been announced, by Microsoft, a considerable number of news about Operations Management Suite (OMS) and System Center. Our community releases this monthly summary that gives you a comprehensive overview of the main news of the month, in order to stay up to date on these news and have the necessary references to conduct further study.

Operations Management Suite (OMS)

Azure Log Analytics

As already announced in the article The management of Log Analytics from the Azure portal Microsoft has chosen to abandon the OMS portal, in favour of the Azure Portal. The date announced for the final withdrawal of the OMS portal is the 15 January 2019. As a result of this choice also creation of new workspace of Azure Log Analytics can be performed only from the Azure Portal. Trying to create a new workspace from the old OMS portal you will be redirected to the Azure portal to complete the task. Have not made any changes to REST API and PowerShell to create workspaces.

Even the Advanced Analytics Portal is incorporated into the Azure Portal. At the moment you can access this portal by logging on to Logs (preview) available in the workspace of Log Analytics.

Figure 1 - Advanced Analytics available in the Logs (preview) from the Azure Portal

 

Azure Automation

Managing updates through Azure Automation Update Management sees the addition of a new option for the deployment of the updates. When creating or editing an update deployment is now an option the Reboot, that allows you to control whether and when reboot systems. For more information please visit the official technical documentation.

Figure 2 – Reboot option available in the update deployment

In the functionality of Change Tracking the following changes have been made:

  • To track changes and make the inventory of the files in the Windows environment now you can use: recursion, wildcards, and environment variables. In Linux there is already the support for recursion and wildcards.
  • As for the changes that are processed in files, both Windows and Linux, introduced the ability to display the content of the changes.
  • Introduced the possibility to reduce the frequency with which Windows services are collected (frequency is expressed in seconds and runs from a minimum of 10 seconds to a maximum of 30 minutes).

Agent

This month the new version ofOMS agent for Linux systems fixes some bugs and introduces an updated version for several core components, that increase the stability, the safety and improve the installation process. Among the various news is introduced the support for Ubuntu 18.04. To obtain the updated version of the OMS agent you can access to the official GitHub page OMS Agent for Linux Patch v 1.6.0-163. In the case the OMS agent for Linux systems has been installed using the Azure Extension and if its automatic update is active, this update will be installed independently.

Figure 3 – Bug fixes and what's new for the OMS agent for Linux

 

Azure Site Recovery

For Azure Site Recovery was released theUpdate Rollup 27 introducing new versions of the following components:

  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Unified Setup/Mobility agent (version 9.18.4946.1): used for replication scenarios from VMware to Azure.
  • Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (version 5.1.3550.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure or to a secondary site.
  • Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent (version 2.0.9125.0): used for replication scenarios from Hyper-V to Azure.

The installation of this update rollup is recommended in deployments where there are components and their respective versions below reported:

  • Unified Setup/Mobility agent version 9.14.0000.0 or later.
  • Site Recovery Provider (with System Center VMM): version 3.3. x. x or later.
  • Site Recovery Provider (for replication without VMM): version 5.1.3100.0 or later.
  • Site Recovery Hyper-V Provider: version 4.6. x. x or later.

For more information on the issues resolved, on improvements from this Update Rollup and to get the procedure for its installation is possible to consult the specific KB 4055712.

 

In Azure Site Recovery was introduced support for enabling disaster recovery scenarios Cross-subscription, for IaaS virtual machines, as long as belonging to the same Azure Active Directory tenant. This feature is very useful because often you have environments that use different Azure subscriptions, created primarily to have greater control of costs. Thanks to this new support you can more easily reach business continuity requirements creating disaster recovery plans without altering the topology of the Azure subscriptions in your environment.

Figure 4 - VM replica configuration to a different subscription target

 

Azure Site Recovery now can integrate with Veritas Backup Exec Instant Cloud Recovery (ICR) with the release of Backup Exec 20.2. Using ICR, Backup Exec users are able to configure replication of VMs on-premises to Azure and easily operate the DR plan if necessary, reducing the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and the Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Instant Cloud Recovery requires a subscription Azure and supports Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines. For more details and references you can see thespecific announcement.

Azure Backup

In this interesting article there is the procedure to monitor all workloads protected by Azure Backup using Log Analytics.

System Center

System Center Configuration Manager

Released the version 1806 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 there is a new feature called CMPivot. It is a new utility available in the Configuration Manager console that can provide information in real time about connected devices in your environment. On this information you can apply filters and groupings, then perform certain actions.

Figure 5 – Features and benefits of CMPivot functionality

For a complete list of new features introduced in this version of Configuration Manager, you can consult theofficial announcement.

 

Released the version 1808 for the branch Technical Preview of System Center Configuration Manager. This update introduces the ability to perform a gradual release of software updates automatically. The button that allows you to configure this operation is shown in figure below and can be found in the console nodes All Software Updates, All Windows 10 Updates, and Office 365 Updates.

Figure 6 – Phased Deployment creation button

For more information about configuring Phased Deployments in Configuration Manager, you can refer to the Microsoft technical documentation .

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.

 

System Center Operations Manager

Released the updated version of Microsoft System Center 2016 Management Pack for Microsoft Azure (version 1.5.20.18).

There are also the following news:

 

Evaluation of OMS and System Center

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.

To try out the various components of System Center you must access theEvaluation Center and after the registration you can start the trial period.

System Center: guide to release options and roadmap

For System Center products you have the option of choosing two different release: Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) or Semi-Annual Channel. In this article will be reported the features of each release model and what aspects should be taken into consideration to make the most correct choice. You will also see planned roadmap for releases of System Center products.

Characteristics of Semi-Annual Channel

The release channel defined Semi-Annual Channel is characterized by these elements:

  • Are released approximately two product releases every year. This releases include new features, improvements and resolution of issues.
  • The versions are identified by a four-digit number, two for the year and two for the month. To date, two versions have already been released, the 1801 (January 2018) and the 1807 (July 2018).
  • Given the rapid release cycles, there are not expected Update Releases (UR) for products belonging to this release channel.
  • The Semi-Annual Channel releases have a support of 18 months from the date of publication.
  • The use of products released in the Semi-Annual Channel is only open to Microsoft customers with a Software Assurance contract.

Considering the constant releases and the support period not particularly long, it follows that this channel is suitable for customers with the aim to innovate in a constant and fast way, to keep up with the rapid evolution of the cloud.

Characteristics of Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)

The release model defined Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) has the following features:

  • A new major version of System Center is released approximately every two or three years. The latest version is now System Center 2016 and in the future will be released System Center 2019.
  • In the LTSC products receive updates, inclusive of security updates, through Update Releases (UR). The Update Releases (UR) do not contain the new features included in the releases belonging to the Semi-Annual Channel, which will be incorporated into the next release in the Long-Term Servicing Channel.
  • The products belonging to the LTSC have 5 years of mainstream support and more 5 years of extended support.
  • Products belonging to the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) may be adopted by customers regardless of the licensing model that adhered (Software Assurance is not needed).

The use of the products in the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) is appropriate in case you want to have a longer period of service of products and greater stability of the services functionality.

Additional considerations

In terms of compatibility, unless several communications, the minimum requirements to use System Center products belonging to the Semi-Annual Channel are the same as the latest version of the System Center product released in Long-Term Servicing Channel.

Customers with Software Assurance can do theupgrade of products of System Center 2016 or 2012 R2 to System Center products released in the Semi-Annual Channel model. Upgrading from release of the Semi-Annual Channel towards release belonging to the LTSC is not supported.

System Center roadmap

For System Center products was announced by Microsoft the following roadmap:

Figure 1 – System Center Roadmap

The figure below lists the currently available versions of the System Center products, with a summary of the main features introduced.

Figure 2 – Current versions of System Center and main features

In addition to the upcoming release of the Update Release 6 of System Center 2016, in the coming year will be released System Center 2019 and the new release belonging to the Semi-Annual Channel. These releases introduce new functionality to provide integration and full support of Windows Server 2019. Following, there are the next planned releases for System Center:

Figure 3 – Future releases of System Center and main features

Other useful references

Conclusions

With this release model of new versions of System Center products, you should make a careful choice by establishing the most suitable for your needs and your business model. To do it in the best way you should be aware of the characteristics of each model and all that it follows from this choice.