The Configuration Manager 2007 Management Pack might interfere with the installation of non-Microsoft software that accesses the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service. Most of the Management Pack’s scripts use WMI to access the registry and can restart the WMI service. If the WMI service is enabled and can be started, Component Object Model (COM) will successfully restart WMI.

If non-Microsoft software stops but does not disable WMI during an installation or upgrade, the automatic restart of the WMI script might impact the success of the non-Microsoft software installation. This can pose a problem for WMI or WMI provider upgrades if the installation program does not first disable the WMI service. This issue applies to any client of WMI.

• The following rules are based on Windows NT® system event log events from Service Control Manager for unexpected service failures. There are no known operating system limitations for these rules.
  
  
• Configuration Manager 2007 dependent service failure: Windows Management Instrumentation terminated unexpectedly.
  
  
• Configuration Manager 2007 dependent service failure: Windows Management Instrumentation hung on starting.
  
  
• Configuration Manager 2007 dependent service failure: Windows Management Instrumentation failed to start.
  
  
• Configuration Manager 2007 dependent service failure: Windows Management Instrumentation was unable to log on.
  
  
• Configuration Manager 2007 dependent service failure: Windows Management Instrumentation depends on another service which failed to start or is nonexistent.
  
  

The installation of a Configuration Manager 2007 Administrator console on a computer that is also a Configuration Manager 2007 secondary site server causes the Configuration Manager 2007 Management Pack to fail to identify the server as a Configuration Manager 2007 secondary site server.

As a workaround for this issue, when you install the Configuration Manager 2007 Administrator console on a Configuration Manager 2007 secondary site server, you need to change the registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Setup\Type from 4 to 2.

In the case of a system restart, you might receive only a few service stop alerts. There are no events or alerts indicating that the system was restarted. The best solution to detect an expected or unexpected system shutdown is to install the Microsoft Windows Servers Base Operating System Management Pack, which contains a rule that alerts you of a system restart. Other methods for determining whether a system restart has occurred are to check Configuration Manager 2007 logs, Operations Manager 2007 NT event log, Windows NT event logs, and Operations Manager 2007 events for agent communication.

When the Configuration Manager 2007 status message table exceeds 4,294,967,296 messages, the record ID restarts at zero. The Monitor SMS Status Messages script in Configuration Manager 2007 does not have a mechanism for detecting when the record ID has restarted at zero. The script currently looks forward only from the record ID of the last status message that it processed. If the record ID restarts, the Management Pack is not able to detect any new status messages.

On the site server, note the Next Status Message Record ID registry value in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\COMPONENTS\SMS_STATUS_MANAGER registry key. This is the next record ID placed in the SQL StatusMessages table. If this value is less than the LastRecordID value, the StatusMessages table has looped back around and restarted. The script does not process messages again until the Next Status Message Record ID registry value is greater than the LastRecordID value in the VarSet file.

You should periodically monitor the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\COMPONENTS\SMS_STATUS_MANAGER registry key on the site server for the record ID of the next status message. Small organizations or small sites that are low in the SMS hierarchy should check this registry key every two to three months. Large organizations or sites with several child sites should check this registry key every month. If the value approaches 4,294,967,296, monitor it more frequently. After the record ID has reset to zero, you must unblock status message monitoring on the computer running your site server.

One way to automate registry key monitoring is to create a script or discovery rule for computers that are nearing this threshold.

To locate all Configuration Manager 2007 site databases in your configuration group, perform the following procedure. Note that the Site Database Server role is actually discovered now in ConfigMgr on the Site Server in order to support clustered SQL Servers.

Procedure

The interval at which the Monitor Site System Summarizer script in Configuration Manager 2007 runs is offset by 10 minutes from the site system status summarizer polling interval of one hour on the hour. Although the Configuration Manager Administrator console allows for configuring the site system status summarizer schedule, it does not change this polling interval, rather only the interval for other maintenance tasks. The Monitor Site System Summarizer script in Configuration Manager is run Every 60 Minutes Synchronize at 00:10. The 10-minute offset period allows time for the site system status summarizer to complete its cycle. If this is an insufficient period of time, it should be extended; otherwise, the script finishes before the site system summarizer completes its cycle. This can result in old site system status being reported.

Because the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) service is started upon demand by the Configuration Manager 2007 Client, the following rule is disabled by default in the Configuration Manager Management Pack:

• ConfigMgr 2007 dependent service running: Background Intelligent Transfer Service
  
  

You should enable this rule if you have the service configured to automatically start.

The following rules are enabled by default in order to monitor issues with the BITS service and to report if the SMS Agent Host is unable to start the BITS service when required:

• ConfigMgr 2007 service failure: Background Intelligent Transfer Service terminated unexpectedly.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 service failure: Background Intelligent Transfer Service hung on starting.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 service failure: Background Intelligent Transfer Service failed to start.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 service failure: Background Intelligent Transfer Service was unable to log on.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 service failure: Background Intelligent Transfer Service depends on another service which failed to start or is nonexistent.
  
  

The following component rules use application logs:

• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the LAN (Standard Security).
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the RAS connection.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the LAN (Advanced Security).
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Distribution Manager failed to process a package.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Distribution Manager failed to insert an SMS Package because SDM Type Content is not present in the CI_Contents table.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Policy Provider failed to get new software update policies from the SMS Site Database.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Policy Provider failed to create new software update policy.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Policy Provider failed to get new compliance policies from the SMS Site Database.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Policy Provider failed to create new compliance policy.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Policy Provider failed to notify Hierarchy Manager of a policy change
  
  

For these rules to work, you need to create the %SMS_INSTALL_DIR_PATH% environment variable on your site server with the installation path that was specified for your site installation. The environment variable path should not end in a backslash. Each Configuration Manager 2007 server with a sender must be a managed computer.

All rules except ConfigMgr 2007 Component: Distribution Manager failed to process a package are enabled by default.

If the sender cannot connect to its parent site, status messages do not flow up the Configuration Manager hierarchy and the Management Pack does not generate an alert on those status messages. This is especially significant in the case of secondary sites, which do not have the ConfigMgr 2007 Monitor Status Message script running. The following status message rules that monitor sender connectivity have a dependency on the sender functioning and are disabled by default:

• ConfigMgr 2007 Status: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the LAN (Standard Security).
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Status: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the RAS connection.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Status: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the LAN (Advanced Security).
  
  

Note
All of these rules are disabled by default. For these rules to work, each SMS site database server, or at a minimum the central site, must be a managed computer.

A parallel monitoring method has been provided based on the Configuration Manager 2007 sender log. These rules are enabled by default. If you disable these rules, you should consider enabling the above companion status message rules. Do not enable both sets of rules because duplicate alerts will be raised. There is no consolidation of these events or alert rules that addresses both the status message and the component rule being active.

• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the LAN (Standard Security).
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the RAS connection.
  
  
• ConfigMgr 2007 Component: The sender cannot connect to remote site over the LAN (Advanced Security).
  
  

For these rules to work, you need to create the %SMS_INSTALL_DIR_PATH% environment variable on your site server with the installation path that was specified for your site installation. The environment variable path should not end in a backslash. Also, each Configuration Manager server with a sender must be a managed computer. For more information, see Application Provider Path Is Set to SMS_INSTALL_DIR_PATH% \ Logs by Default, That Might Not be Valid on Every Configuration Manager Site Server.

When viewing script errors from the ConfigMgr 2007 Site Hierarchy Discovery script and from natively created rules, the installation class of the computer generating the error is portrayed as the Source. The computer name of the computer generating the error is portrayed as part of the Alert Description or the Path for the script error.

For the Site Hierarchy Diagram to function, the agent must be installed locally on all Configuration Manager Servers in a site, including any remote SQL servers hosting the site database. This is true for all sites being monitored, including central sites, primary sites, and secondary sites.

When both System Management Server (SMS) 2003 and Configuration Manager 2007 Management Packs are installed, the SMS 2003 tasks are visible in the Configuration Manager 2007 State view because SMS 2003 tasks are targeted at Windows Computer class instead of SMS Server class.

Concepts

Other Resources