Professional MOM 2005, SMS 2003, and WSUS
Overview
The heart of MOM is the management pack (MP). Otherwise, it's just a monitoring tool in an already crowded market for systems monitoring software. Many other tools could be set up to perform in many of the same ways, providing the same functionality as MOM. In this chapter, we cover the following topics:
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Importing management packs
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Computer Groups
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Discovered Groups
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Rule Groups
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Event Rules
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Performance Rules
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Alert Rules
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Notification Groups
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Scripts
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Providers
MOM stands apart from other monitoring software because Microsoft and many other third-party vendors deliver knowledge in the form of management packs. Installing a monitoring system is typically the easiest part of the job. Figuring out what to monitor can take up an excessive amount of time! With management packs, essentially all the research is done for you. You can expect most management packs to deliver the things that should be monitored, such as:
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Useful events and their criticality
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Baseline performance counters
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Acceptable performance thresholds
Because most of the MPs come from the vendors, it stands to reason that the vendors know their product best. We can assume they have determined how their product works and how best to monitor it (or have at least come within a very healthy proximity).
There are times when some things may be present in one environment and not in another. Although management packs include a knowledge base, you may find that there are additional items to monitor.
Chapters 9, 10, and 11 cover specific management packs in detail.