When was your server rebooted last

Use this command in windows cmd to get the last time your server booted up or was rebooted.
C:\>systeminfo | findstr /i boot
System Boot Time: 10/5/2016, 1:13:08 PM
Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume2
As to who rebooted it ;). You can search the system event log for events with id 1074.

Put Scom Agents and Cluster Servers in Maintenance mode and reboot

Here is a script to put your scom agents including clusters in maintenance mode and rebooting them at a specified time. First you will have to create a task and a management pack in SCOM for rebooting the servers. Link on how to create the management pack is here. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh563486%28v=sc.12%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396.
Works on System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2.

Create the input files and output files on the locations that you prefer. I have created them in C:\Reboots folder. Add your server names in the input file. Then the script given below can be put in a scheduled task and run at specified times or on demand. You can also run the script manually. Make sure that you modify the maintenance window.

I have not yet added any code to verify and alert if the rebooted servers are not back up.

Will probably do so at a later time. Till then feel free to use this one and modify any way that you like.

#################Script Start ####################################

$RootMS = "RMSName"
$Minutes =  90
$Comment = "Unknown"
#Setting up SCOM connection

Import-Module OperationsManager
$null = New-ScomManagementGroupConnection -ComputerName $RootMS
Add-PSSnapin "Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.OperationsManager.Client" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

$eventLog = New-Object System.Diagnostics.EventLog("Operations Manager")
$eventLog.Source = "Maintenance Mode"

$Servers = GC "C:\Reboots\input.txt"
Function Out($output)
{
Out-File -Filepath "C:\Reboots\output.txt" -InputObject $output -Append
}

Out "###############  Starting Script at $(Get-Date)  ##########################"
foreach($Server in $Servers)
{

$output = "Starting for $Server on $(Get-date)"
Out $output

###Putting the agent and cluster in maintenance mode###########
$agent = Get-ScomAgent | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName –eq $Server -or $_.ComputerName -eq $Server -or $_.PrincipalName -eq $Server }
if(!$agent) { Write-Host "ERROR: $Server is not a monitored system in SCOM." -ForeGroundColor Red; Set-Location $originalPath; return }
$Server = $agent.PrincipalName
$startTime = (Get-Date).ToUniversalTime()
$endTime = $startTime.AddMinutes($Minutes)
if(($clusters = $agent.GetRemotelyManagedComputers())) {
$clusterNodeClass = Get-SCOMClass -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cluster.Node
foreach($cluster in $clusters) {
#$clusterObj = Get-SCOMClass -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cluster | Get-ScomMonitoringObject -Criteria "Name='$($cluster.ComputerName)'"
$clusterobj = Get-SCOMClass -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cluster | Get-SCOMClassInstance | ?{$_.displayname -eq $cluster.ComputerName}
if($clusterObj) {
$clusterObj.ScheduleMaintenanceMode($startTime,$endTime,"PlannedOther",$Comment,"Recursive")
$nodes = $clusterObj.GetRelatedMonitoringObjects($clusterNodeClass)
if($nodes) {
foreach($node in $nodes) {
Out "Putting $node into maintenance mode."
$eventLog.MachineName = $node.Name
$eventLog.WriteEntry("The server entered into maintenance mode $(if($Server -notcontains $node.Name){"on behalf of $Server"}).`r`n`r`nDuration:`t$Minutes minutes`r`nReason:`t$Comment","Information",42)
}
}
}
Out "Putting $($cluster.Computer) into maintenance mode."
New-MaintenanceWindow -StartTime $startTime -EndTime $endTime -MonitoringObject $cluster.Computer -Reason PlannedOther -Comment $Comment
}
}
else {
Out "Putting $Server into maintenance mode."
$eventLog.WriteEntry("The server entered into maintenance mode.`r`n`r`nDuration:`t$Minutes minutes`r`nReason:`t$Comment","Information",42)
New-MaintenanceWindow -StartTime $startTime -EndTime $endTime -MonitoringObject $agent.HostComputer -Reason PlannedOther -Comment $Comment
}
#####Sending commands to the server###########

$Task = Get-SCOMTask -DisplayName "Reboot Computer"
$Overrides = @{Arguments = '"$Target/Property[Type="MicrosoftWindowsLibrary7585010!Microsoft.Windows.Computer"]/PrincipalName$" "true"'}
$Instance = Get-SCOMClassInstance | ?{$_.Name -eq $agent.name}
Out "Starting task to reboot $($Instance.Displayname) at $(Get-Date)"
Start-SCOMTask -Task $Task -Override $Overrides -Instance $Instance

}

Out "###############  Script Complete at $(Get-Date) #########################"

#################Script End ####################################


I don't take credit for all the scripts that I written. Whenever I can credit the original creators, I do.  If I don't at times please do inform me so that I can include them in the page.

Visual Studio installation failing

Visual Studio 2015 installation failing.

Applies to 2013,2015. OS Windows 8.1

Installation kept failing with the following error in event log.

Faulting application name: vs_professional.exe, version: 14.0.23107.10, time stamp: 0x55414f16

Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.3.9600.18233, time stamp: 0x56bb4e1d

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x0001dd93

Faulting process id: 0x14a8

Faulting application start time: 0x01d2105f30c9cadb

Faulting application path: C:\Parag\Softwares\VS2015\vs_professional.exe

Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

Report Id: 6e7b1bf9-7c52-11e6-8264-64006a57cea4

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

This error was seen in the installation log file located in

C:\Users\Parag\AppData\Local\Temp\dd_vs_professional_20160916160240.log

[1A94:1A98][2016-09-16T15:59:06]e000: Error 0x800705b4: Failed to wait for child to connect to pipe.
[1A94:1A98][2016-09-16T15:59:06]e000: Error 0x800705b4: Failed to connect to elevated child process.
[1A94:1A98][2016-09-16T15:59:06]e000: Error 0x800705b4: Failed to actually elevate.
[1A94:1A98][2016-09-16T15:59:06]e000: Error 0x800705b4: Failed to elevate.

Solution:

Copied the installation files to a local drive from the ISO. Right click the vs_professional.exe. Check the box for Run this program as an administrator.

Then run the exe again.

 

 

 

Audit collection Services

How to determine the Server being used for Audit Collection Forwarding and Collecting.

Open the operations manager console and navigate to Monitoring--Microsoft Audit Collection Services -- Collector or Forwarder. The state view should give you the names of the specific servers.

How to determine the SQL server being used for Audit Collection Database.

1. Log on to the management server with Administrator permissions.


2. Click Start, select Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK to start Registry Editor.


3. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\OpsMgrAC, check the name in  Server value.

How to zoom a page using touchpad on laptop

For those folks who would like to zoom in and zoom out of a page but do not have the luxury of an external mouse with a scroll button for a laptop. Worry no more.

Hold Ctrl key and drag two fingers across your touchpad. This will zoom out if you swipe upwards and zoom in if you swipe downwards. Tested on HP,Lenovo and Dell laptops.

Not sure about the others but go ahead and give it a try. If it works or doesn't ,do post in the comments with the make and model of your laptop to help others.

Contacts not syncing between Android and Outlook.com

I recently had to get a new phone because my trusty old Nokia WP stopped charging altogether. I broke the USB port on the phone.

They really should be having a backup port on the phones. It takes a whopping amount to repair once they are out of warranty.

Anyways, I got this new Android phone and added my Hotmail account. The contacts synced perfectly the first time. But then I had to factory reset it once and when I added the account I could not see any contact syncing. Not matter how many times I reconfigured my account on the phone. The contacts just did not sync. I stumbled on this post which talks about making changes to my windows live account.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail-oapps/outlookcom-not-syncing-all-my-contacts-to-my/5a30f3dc-1bfb-475a-a67c-b282d1cd9c89

But sadly I did not have the time for someone to make changes to my account. So, I made a backup of my account contacts by logging to the account from a computer. Then deleted all the contacts from my windows live account. Waited a couple of minutes, signed out.

and signed back in. Not really sure if that was required, though. Imported all the contacts from file after cleaning up the duplicates using MSExcel's "Remove duplicates button" and without reconfiguring my account on the phone all the contacts started syncing.

Export all rules and monitors with thresholds

Exporting all rules and monitors with thresholds in your SCOM environment.

I found these on the following link

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff723847.aspx


[code language="css"]
##Export all rules

function GetPerfCounterName ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
return ($config.Config.ObjectName + "\" + $config.Config.CounterName)
}

function GetFrequency ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
$frequency = $config.Config.Frequency;

if($frequency -eq $null)
{
$frequency = $config.Config.IntervalSeconds;
}

return ($frequency)
}

function GetDisplayName($performanceRule)
{
if($performanceRule.DisplayName -eq $null)
{
return ($performanceRule.Name);
}
else
{
return ($performanceRule.DisplayName);
}
}

function GetWriteActionNames($performanceRule)
{
$writeActions = "";
foreach($writeAction in $performanceRule.WriteActionCollection)
{
$writeActions += " " + $writeAction.Name;
}
return ($writeActions);
}

$perf_collection_rules = get-SCOMRule # -criteria:"Category='PerformanceCollection'"

$perf_collection_rules | select-object @{name="Type";expression={foreach-object {(Get-MonitoringClass -id:$_.Target.Id).DisplayName}}},@{name="RuleDisplayName";expression={foreach-object {GetDisplayName $_}}} ,@{name="CounterName";expression={foreach-object {GetPerfCounterName $_.DataSourceCollection[0].Configuration}}},@{name="Frequency";expression={foreach-object {GetFrequency $_.DataSourceCollection[0].Configuration}}},@{name="WriteActions";expression={foreach-object {GetWriteActionNames $_}}}  | sort Type,RuleDisplayName,CounterName | export-csv  "C:\Outputs\CollectionRules.csv"

[/code]



[code language="css"]

## Export all monitors

function GetThreshold ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
$threshold = $config.Config.Threshold
if($threshold -eq $null)
{
$threshold = $config.Config.MemoryThreshold
}
if($threshold -eq $null)
{
$threshold = $config.Config.CPUPercentageThreshold
}
if($threshold -eq $null)
{
if($config.Config.Threshold1 -ne $null -and $config.Config.Threshold2 -ne $null)
{
$threshold = "first threshold is: " + $config.Config.Threshold1 + " second threshold is: " + $config.Config.Threshold2
}
}
if($threshold -eq $null)
{
if($config.Config.ThresholdWarnSec -ne $null -and $config.Config.ThresholdErrorSec -ne $null)
{
$threshold = "warning threshold is: " + $config.Config.ThresholdWarnSec + " error threshold is: " + $config.Config.ThresholdErrorSec
}
}

if($threshold -eq $null)
{
if($config.Config.LearningAndBaseliningSettings -ne $null)
{
$threshold = "no threshold (baseline monitor)"
}
}
return $threshold
}
Function GetFrequency ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
$Frequency = $config.Config.Frequency
if($Frequency -eq $null)
{
$frequency = $config.Config.Frequency;
}
return ($frequency)
}
Function GetNumsamples ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
$Samples = $config.Config.Samples
if($Samples -eq $null)
{
$Samples = $config.Config.NumSamples;
}
return ($Samples)
}
Function GetCounterName ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
$Counter = $config.Config.Counter
if($Counter -eq $null)
{
$Counter = $config.Config.CounterName;
}
return ($Counter)
}
Function GetObject ([String] $configuration)
{
$config = [xml] ("<config>" + $configuration + "</config>")
$Object = $config.Config.Object
if($Object -eq $null)
{
$Object = $config.Config.ObjectName;
}
return ($Object)
}
$perfMonitors = get-scommonitor
$perfMonitors | select-object @{Name="MP";Expression={ foreach-object {$_.GetManagementPack().DisplayName }}},@{name="Target";expression={foreach-object {(Get-SCOMClass -Id:$_.Target.Id).DisplayName}}},DisplayName,enabled,@{name="Threshold";expression={foreach-object {GetThreshold $_.Configuration}}}, @{name="Frequency";expression={foreach-object {GetFrequency $_.Configuration}}}, @{name="Samples";expression={foreach-object {GetNumSamples $_.Configuration}}}, @{name="Counter";expression={foreach-object {GetCounterName $_.Configuration}}}, @{name="Object";expression={foreach-object {GetObject $_.Configuration}}} | sort Target, DisplayName | export-csv "C:\Outputs\PerformanceMonitors.csv"

[/code]

Connecting to SCOM 2012 using powershell

Use the below snippet to connect to your OpsMgr powershell using Windows Powershell ISE.
There after you can use the cmdlets present in SCOM 2012 freely

## Common script for connecting to SCOM 2012 Management Server
$reg = Get-Item "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\3.0\Agent Management Groups\SCOM2012PROD\Parent Health Services"
$RMS = $reg.GetValue("NetworkName")
Import-Module -Name OperationsManager
New-SCmanagementGroupConnection $RMS | Out-Null
Write-Host $RMS -foregroundcolor Red
########################################################################################

In organizations where you have multiple management groups. And have production environments which need SCOM to be working all the time. Its advisable to have two action accounts in the SCOM environment. When one account's password is near expiry you can switch to another account and change your healthservice to run from that account.
Its a big task to rotate the action accounts on all management groups and this is where my script comes handy. It helps change the default action account on SCOM 2012 and also changes the Data Warehouse Report Deployment Account. The script files are below.
Change the extension to .ps1 after downloading. The usage is given at the top of the scripts.

Om12ActionAccountRotate

Om12ActionAccountpasswordUpdate

Increase SQL server performance by using WIFI(Windows Instant File Initialization)

This is an interesting post I came across by Saleem Hakani. I have not tested it yet.
It promises to reduce the time for
Creating a database
Expand data files for additional growth
Automatic data file growth due to auto-grow settings
Restoring a database, etc.
http://sqlcommunity.com/SQL-ARTICLES/Post/1514/SQL-Server-File-Operations-on-Steroid"

MSI installation package did not run successfully.

At times you find that some msi installer that you ran did not install successfully.
You can enable MSI verbose logging by running below command and view the logs from %temp% folder.
You will have to add the below reg key to the machine you are installing the msi on.
Run this command in the admin prompt to add the key.

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer /v Logging /t REG_SZ /d voicewarmup /f