Best of MMS 2013

Quick Facts

About Us

• 23rd Year

• Grand Rapids & Royal Oak

• 30 Staff

Approach

• Vendor Independent

• Non-reseller

• Professional Services Only

Partnerships

• Microsoft Gold

• VMware Enterprise

• Citrix Silver

• Cisco Premier

• Novell Gold

Microsoft Gold Partner

Competencies

Three Gold

Five Silver

Successes

Customer

Excellence Award

Virtual Technical

Specialist (VTSP)

Managed Partner

Numerous Partner

Awards

Pinpoint

Microsoft’s official partner directory

5-star rating

Expertise

Get Social with C/D/H

facebook.com/cdhtech @cdhtweetstech

www.linkedin.com/company/cdh

Your Presenter

Erik Gilreath MCSE, MCITP, CNE, CCNA, CCDA, CCA, CCEA

• Consultant with C/D/H

• Currently focusing on System

Center, infrastructure and

virtualization

• Been with C/D/H since 1999

erikg@cdh.com

Today’s Agenda

• Keynote Highlights

• Keynote Debrief

• System Center Overview: V-SCOOPED

• SQL Configuration Tips for System Center

• Global Services Monitoring

• System Center Advisor

Keynote Highlights

• Started 25 minutes late due to loss of

Internet – when all demos use the cloud,

the Internet is pretty important.

• Key takeaways:

– Cloud optimize your business

– Mix public and private clouds for greatest

flexibility

– Microsoft workloads run best on Microsoft

Cloud platforms

Keynote Highlights (cont.)

• Public cloud

– Microsoft Azure

• Private cloud

– Windows Server 2012

– SQL Server 2012

– System Center 2012

• Microsoft cloud products are enterprise

grade and ready to scale and deploy

Keynote Highlights (cont.)

• Server 2012 Hyper-V

– Supports the largest virtual disk

– Largest scale unit: 64-node cluster. Capable of hosting 8,000 VMs

• A few fun facts:

– Microsoft’s test environment provisioned 80,000 VMs in a single day

– On an average day, spin and tear down 20,000 VMs a day

– Exchange 2013 was able to host 48,000 mailboxes on a single Hyper-V host

– SharePoint server farm (5 servers) was able to host 1,000,000 users on a single Hyper-V server

Keynote Highlights (cont.)

• Hyper-V is THE BEST platform for all

Microsoft workloads (SQL, Exchange,

Lync, System Center, etc.)

• Watch the keynote online at:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/20

13/KEY1

Keynote Debrief

• Went through and showed how every demo in the keynote was created

• Showed there were no smoke and mirrors (although there was the occasional 10GB connection)

• Showed that they actually use their products to do incredible things

• Watch it online: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/MMS105

Domino’s Pizza Case Study

• 15,000 Hyper-V VMs managed with System Center

• 99% reduction in help desk calls over “the other guys”

• 28% faster hard drive reads

• 38% faster memory operations

Case study video overview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3MIcvsQ71YA

Case study:

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/case_study_detail.aspx?casestudyid=710000002307

V-SCOOPED

Virtual Machine Manager

Service Manager

Configuration Manager

Orchestrator

OPerations Manager

Endpoint Protection

Data Protection Manager

System Center

Virtual Machine Manager

• Heterogeneous Hypervisor Management Microsoft, VMware, Citrix (Public and Private Cloud)

• Enterprise Toolset for Hyper-V Libraries, Templates, Live-Migration, Backup, Dynamic Optimization

• Service and Application Management Integrates with App Controller, App-V, and Azure

• Optimization and Standardization Power, Compute Resources, Bare Metal Hypervisor Deployment

• New in SP1: Highly Available VMM MS SMB 3.0, Cluster-Free Live Migration, Network Virtualization

System Center

Virtual Machine Manager

DEMO

Managing Services in Multiple Clouds

Public Private Private

Public

App Controller SP1

– Common experience across

public and private clouds

– Platform as a Service

application

– Windows Azure virtual machine

(SP1)

– Start, stop, remote desktop

– Scale, upgrade

– VMM to Windows Azure

App Controller is Cloud Independent

Windows Azure Hosted Site

On-PremiseDR Site

System Center

Service Manager

• ITIL / MOF Aligned IT Processes Incident, Problem, Change, Knowledge Management - CMDB

• Integrations with SC2012 Suite OpsManager, ConfigMgr, Orchestrator, VMM

• Integration with Microsoft Infrastructure Exchange, Active Directory, SharePoint, Project, Azure

• User Self Service Catalog Driven by Workflows and Orchestrator Runbooks

• New in SP1: Cost Center Chargeback SQL 2012 & OLAP, Windows 8 SSP Support

System Center

Service Manager

Stacking Up SCSM

• There are NO LEADERS

• SCSM hasn’t even made it

to “the quadrant”*

• Big players are BMC,

ServiceNow, LANDesk,

IBM, CA

• Deployment is highly

provider focused

*Do you really care?

SCSM: Perspective

• Biggest strength is the suite

• Green field: for better or worse

• Single pain of glass…

• Designed for scale

• Console is not elegant

SCSM: Server Roles

• Management Server

• SQL Server: CMDB

• Data Warehouse Management Server

• SQL Server: DW

• Self Service Portal

• Service Manager Console

SCSM: Server Roles

Source: SCSM Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245470

SCSM IPD Guide

Source: SCSM Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245470

After Installation

• Establish Process

• Customize Lists

• Author Templates

• Runbook Automation

• Authoring Tool

• Integrate System Center Suite

• Third Party Offerings

System Center

Configuration Manager

• Client Application and Desktop Deployment Updates Management, Operating System Deployment

• Multi-Platform Device Management iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, Unix

• EndPoint Protection

• Hardware and Software Inventory Reporting, Asset Intelligence

• New in SP1: Windows 8 and Mobile Device Intune Integration for On-Demand MDM, Robust Alerting

System Center

Configuration Manager

Gartner Magic Quadrant –

Client Management Tools

SCCM 2012

New

• Improved settings

management with

remediation

• Integrated anti-malware

• Delegated administration

Benefits

• Reduce compliance

complexity

• Reduce cost through

integrated security

SP1 release includes the ability to manage and deploy thin

clients, POS devices, and other Windows embedded

devices, as well as create and provision Windows To Go

portable workspaces

SCCM 2012 Feature Set

• Systems Management/Remote Control

• Inventory

• Software Metering

• Software Updates

• Application Management

• Operating System Deployment

• Endpoint Protection

• Mobile Device Management

Software Updates

• Integrated with Windows Server Update

Services (WSUS)

– Leverages the client agent

– No need for GPOs in this case

• Create packages of updates for deployment

(just like applications)

• Updates can be configured for automatic

approval

– Endpoint Protection definition updates

Application Deployment

• Deployment Type

• Detection Method

• Install Command

• Requirement Rules

• Dependencies

• Supersedence

• Updates

System Center

Orchestrator

• Graphical IT Workflow Engine Activities Managed through Custom Workflows

• Automation for System Center Suite OpsManager, ConfigMgr, ServiceMgr, DPM, VMM, Self-Service

• Extends to entire Microsoft stack Windows Server, SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, FTP

• Extensive Third Party Integration VMware, HP, IBM

• New in SP1: Server 2012 and SQL 2012

System Center

Orchestrator

Orchestrator Automation

• Several good sessions on Orchestrator

automation and organization

• Automate as much as you can

• Not everything makes sense to automate

• Orchestrator ties into all of the System

Center applications

• With the ability to call PowerShell scripts

and EXEs the power of Orchestrator is

seemingly limitless.

DEMO

System Center

Operations Manager

• Server and Application Monitoring Extensible through Management Packs

• Alerts and Incident Generation Integrates with Exchange and/or ServiceMgr

• Agentless Monitoring Unix, Linux, Network Devices, Web Applications

• Synthetic Transactions Simulate Client Activities

• New in SP1: Improved Application Monitor 360 .NET Dashboards, TFS Integration, Global Service Monitoring, System Center

Advisor

System Center

Operations Manager

Why SCOM is so rarely installed

• First iterations were less than stellar

• Easy to install poorly

• More complicated than it looks

• Poor planning

• Not understanding what SCOM really does

• Bad reputation from people who use or

install it incorrectly

Why it’s a mistake not to install:

SCOM in real life

• Notifications of system issues

• Notifications of possible problems

• Alerts of performance issues

• Correct issues with the use of scripts

• Generates help desk tickets

SCOM Installation Tips

• Decide ahead of time what MPs to install

– Exchange / IIS / SharePoint / SQL / etc.

• Install one MP at a time

– Let it bake a week or two

– Start with Windows Core

– Create custom MP for each installed MP for

overrides

– Name each custom MP with the same starting

letters

• Alert Monitors vs. Alert Rules

Monitoring Services

Monitoring Services

Synthetic Transactions

• Real time actions performed on monitored

objects

– Test website responsiveness

– Monitor database performance

– TCP port monitoring

System Center

Endpoint Protection

• Enterprise Malware and Security Platform Antivirus, Firewall

• Integrates with ConfigMgr

• Seamless Updates Software Update Point, Automatic Deployment Rules

• New in SP1: ADR Template

System Center

Endpoint Protection

System Center

Data Protection Manager

• Volume Shadow Copy Based Backup

• Disk-to-Disk: Archive to Tape

• SQL, Exchange, Hyper-V, SharePoint

• New in SP1: Live Migration Support Azure Online Backup, “Phase 13”

System Center

Data Protection Manager

V-SCOOPED

Data Center Automation

• Template Based VM Deployment

• Monitoring of Critical Servers

• Backup and Disaster Recovery

• Dynamic Scaling of Heavy Use Applications

Client Automation

• User Driven Incident Management

• Self-Service Request Portal

• Automated Provisioning

• Web Based Knowledgebase

Service Desk Automation

• Automated Incident Remediation

• Change Management Workflows

• Runbook Driven Escalation

• ITIL / MOF Aligned Knowledge Management

SQL Server Configuration

• Proper installation and configuration of Microsoft SQL Server is critical for System Center products.

• Misconfiguration of SQL Server can cause issues: – High CPU

– Memory shortages

– Inbox/file backlogs

– Workflow delays

– Stale or inaccurate data in reports

• Carefully consider and plan for data volume System Center products generate and the load this will place on SQL server

SQL 2012: What’s new?

• Increased performance and scalability

• Power View – SQL Reporting Services

add-in for SharePoint

• PowerPivot - Excel add-in

• PowerShell support to enable automation

• AlwaysOn

SQL 2012 AlwaysOn

What is AlwaysOn? • Provides SQL server high availability and disaster

recovery for databases

• Failover cluster instance for SQL server instances

• Uses Windows Server failover clustering

• Supported in several System Center 2012 products

• Requires SQL 2012 Enterprise edition

SQL 2012 AlwaysOn & System

Center 2012

SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn supported on: • App Controller

• Operations Manager

• Orchestrator

• Service Manager

• Virtual Machine Manager

SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn not currently supported on: • Data Protection Manager

• Configuration Manager

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj628198.aspx

SQL Memory

• Buffer Pool

• Consists of 8KB pages

• Data cache stored here

• Execution plans that is less that 8KB

• SQL engine

• SQL components

• Execution plan that is more than

8KB

• SQL CLR (Common Language

Runtime)

• Also called MemToLeave 60

Maximum Server Memory

Consider limiting SQL to 50%-80% of total memory if SQL will

co-exist with another System Center product

Example: One server running ConfigMgr

primary site server & SQL database

Consider limiting SQL to 80%-90% if SQL server is dedicated

Example: Dedicated SQL server that only

hosts databases or a SQL cluster

NOTE: Setting the maximum and/or minimum server memory

settings only controls the Buffer Pool Memory

SQL: Memory Settings

SQL: Memory Settings

Minimum Server Memory • SQL does not allocate Minimum Server Memory at start up

• Grows until reaches maximum

• Once Buffer Pool hits Minimum Server Memory, SQL will not

release the memory

NOTE: Setting the Maximum and/or Minimum Server memory settings

only controls the Buffer Pool Memory

Detecting SQL Memory Pressure

• SQL Buffer Pool Memory pressure happens

when SQL does not have enough memory to

hold data in memory

• Can result in excessive I/O

• Check the following perfmon counters:

– SQL: Buffer Manager Lazy writes/sec goes up

– SQL: Buffer Manager Page Life Expectancy

goes down

– SQL: Buffer Manager Free Pages goes down

SQL: Useful SQL Perfmon

Counters

• SQL Server: Buffer Manager

– Buffer cache hit ratio(>90-95%)

– Free pages(>640)

– Lazy writes/sec (<20)

– Page life expectancy (>300)

– Page reads/sec (<90)

– Page writes/sec (<90)

• SQL Server: Memory Manager

– Target Server Memory (KB) (Target >= Total)

– Total Server Memory (KB) (Target >= Total)

Monitor SQL Performance

• SQL Server: Memory Manager: Tells

how much memory SQL Server would

like to use to operate efficiently

• SQL Server: Memory Manager: Tells

how much memory SQL Server is

using

• If Total Server Memory >= Target

Server Memory, may indicate SQL is

under memory pressure

• CPU

– Processor: %Processor Time – If 80-90% for a

sustained period, identify the process with

Process: %Processor Time and determine if

faster/more processors are needed

– Processor: %Privileged Time – If counter is

consistently high and in-line with Physical Disk

counters, disk sub-system is bottleneck

• Memory

– SQL Server: Buffer Manager: Buffer Cache Hit

Ratio – less than 90% indicates memory

pressure

– Memory: Pages/sec – a high rate for this

counter indicates excessive paging

Monitor SQL Performance

Monitoring via Operations Manager

• Deploy the System Center Management Pack

for SQL Server

• Monitors SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 and

2012

• Monitors the database instances, the databases

themselves, and the SQL agents

• Provides a wealth of data around performance,

availability and configuration. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10631

SQL: AutoGrow

If Autogrow setting is too small:

• SQL spends significant processing time autogrowing the database

• Each file grow in log file creates a Virtual Log File (VLF)

• Excessive VLF may cause performance issues: – When VLF>250, performance will be impacted

– When VLF >10000, SQL will take longer to bring up database

Additional information on VLFs available at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2455009

SQL: AutoGrow

If Autogrow setting is too large:

• During autogrow, SQL will write zeroes in the space that is grown.

• During autogrow, queries involving updates, inserts, deletes may be blocked.

• Can enable Instant File Initialization for the DB but possible security risk as deleted data may still be viewable

• Instant File Initialization does not work for log file

Additional information available at

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-

us/library/ms175935(v=sql.105).aspx

TempDB

• TempDB database typically heavily used

• Consider pre-sizing the data file. Don’t rely on

autogrow.

• If you need to autogrow, use fixed amount to avoid

frequent growth intervals, which affects performance

(10% of tempdb size good starting point)

• Divide TempDB into multiple files, one data file per

CPU, and each file should be set to the same size

• Additional information here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175527.aspx

Storage

• Isolate transaction log files from database files

at disk level

• Recommended to have at least 20% free disk

space on all drives. Important for performance

and to prevent running out of space.

• SQL Server and System Center 2012 supported

on physical and virtual servers

• More customers using virtual servers for SQL and

System Center infrastructure. Benefits include:

– Reduced server hardware costs

– Reduced data center costs

– Easier to move virtual servers from one host to another

– Easy to add/remove memory, CPU, etc. to/from guest

OS

– Snapshot technology allows rollback for issues, upgrade

failure, etc.

• If you use virtual servers:

– Verify host server can handle the additional load

– Slow disks, low memory and high CPU utilization can have major impact on SQL Server and System Center products

– Avoid using dynamic virtual drives (VHDs) as they can decrease performance

– Allocate at least two virtual CPUs for SQL Server instance

– Do not allocate more virtual CPUs than the number of available logical CPUs

• Ensure recommended memory/CPU/disk requirements are at least met, if not exceeded. Don’t reduce resources because it’s a VM

SQL: Local or Remote

For System Center 2012 product X,

should I use local or remote SQL server?

Answer: It depends!

Product Specific Guidance

Look at product specific planning guidance.

Some links below:

• Configuration Manager:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846235.aspx

• Service Manager: SM Sizing Helper Tool, part of SM job

aids http://www.microsoft.com/en-

us/download/details.aspx?id=13605

• Operations Manager: OM 2012 Sizing Helper Tool

http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2012/04/02/operatio

ns-manager-2012-sizing-helper-tool.aspx

Global Service Monitoring

• Azure based service that ties into SCOM

• Available free with Software Assurance

• Monitors from both inside and outside

– Monitor applications from 15 different locations

• Two kinds of monitors

– Web Application Availability

– Visual Studio Web Tests

Global Service Monitoring -

Installation

• Signup for GSM: https://orgaccount.microsoft.com/signup?offerIds=BE2A46EF-0639-43a4-8323-

BB5E1D4340D3

• If doing Visual Studio tests, import the Alert

Attachment MP: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj899889.aspx

• Import the GSM MPs into OpsMgr 2012 SP1

• Configure GSM in OpsMgr 2012 SP1 with

your GSM account

• Start configuring tests!

Web Application Availability Monitor

• Test is defined as one URL from one

location

• One test every 5 minutes is the most

frequent interval

• Total tests = # tests * # locations

• Total tests cannot exceed 25 per

subscription

Visual Studio Web Tests

• Test is defined as one .webtest file

• One test every 5 minutes is the most

frequent interval

• Total tests = # tests times # locations

• Total tests cannot exceed 25 per

subscription

• Microsoft Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 or

2012 required to view test results

Global Service Monitor

DEMO

System Center Advisor

• Cloud-based service that examines your

Microsoft-based installations

• Available free to everyone

• Alerts generated due to improper

configuration, potential issues, missing

patches, or simply straying from best

practices

• Remediation recommendations based on

thousands of MS Support cases

How System Center Advisor works

SERVER CONFIGURATIONS

Microsoft Servers

BEST PRACTICES & RECOMENDATIONS

System Center Advisor

Royal Oak 306 S. Washington Ave.

Suite 212

Royal Oak, MI 48067

(248) 546-1800

Grand Rapids 15 Ionia SW

Suite 270

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

(616) 776-1600

Thank You

www.cdh.com