This section contains information about developing connectors by using the System Center 2012 – Operations Manager software development kit (SDK). A connector is a custom service or program that makes it possible for Operations Manager to communicate with external systems. For example, you can create a connector that sends Operations Manager alerts to an application that tracks the alerts. The application can also use the connector to send an update to Operations Manager, indicating that the alert has been resolved.
Uses for Connectors
You can use connectors to share data between applications in your environment. This makes it possible to combine the strengths of individual monitoring and tracking tools, while providing a single user interface (UI) for viewing system data.
Some common uses for connectors include the following:
- Sending alert, event, or performance data
from an external system to Operations Manager. In this case,
Operations Manager can create alerts or monitor data that is sent
from the external system. For information about creating this type
of connector, see How to Create Inbound Connectors.
- Sending alert data from Operations Manager to
an external management system. In this case, the system that
receives the alerts can monitor or resolve the alerts outside of
Operations Manager. For information about creating this type of
connector, see How to Create Outbound Connectors.
Developing a Connector
You can develop a custom connector by using the Operations Manager Connector Framework (OMCF). The OMCF provides methods and types that you can use to initialize and manage a connector and to get or send operations data.
When you are developing a connector, you can access the OMCF in either of the following ways:
- Using the Operations Manager class libraries.
Using the class libraries is the preferred method for accessing the
framework in applications that run on Windows-based computers. For
more information, see How to Create or Remove a Connector by Using
the Operations Manager Class Libraries.
- Using a Web service. The System Center Data
Access service provides a web service interface for accessing the
framework in custom applications that run on non-Windows-based
computers. The web service provides a subset of the functionality
that the class libraries provide. For more information, see
How to Create or Remove a Connector by Using the
OMCF Web Service.