System Center Service Manager 2010 Unleashed

Kerrie Meyler, MVP, is the lead author of numerous System Center books in the Unleashed series, including System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed (2008), System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed (2009), System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Unleashed (2010), and System Center Opalis Integration Server 6.3 Unleashed (2011). She is an independent consultant and trainer with more than 15 years of Information Technology experience. Kerrie was responsible for evangelizing SMS while a Sr. Technology Specialist at Microsoft, and has presented on System Center technologies at TechEd and MMS.   Alexandre Verkinderen, MVP, is a Principal Consultant and trainer at Infront Consulting Group, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Alexandre is an industry expert in the systems management area, and actively consults to large organizations helping them architect, implement, configure, and customize System Center technologies by integrating them into their business processes. Alexandre founded the System Center Users Group Belgium and was a contributing author for System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Unleashed (Sams, 2010). Alexandre was an early tester in the Service Manager 2010 TAP.   Anders Bengtsson is a Microsoft senior premier field engineer, focusing on System Center. He was involved in the Service Manager TAP with one of the largest Service Manager TAP customers. Anders has written a number of System Center training courses, including the Service Manager and Operations Manager advanced courses for Microsoft Learning. Before joining Microsoft, Anders was a Microsoft MVP from 2007-2010 for his work in the System Center community, including more than 10,000 posts in news groups and forums. Anders has presented and worked at numerous Microsoft conferences and events, including Microsoft Techdays and Microsoft TechEd EMEA.   Patrik Sundqvist is a senior consultant working as a solution architect, focusing on developing automated solutions for IT processes on the System Center platform. Since the early beta of Service Manager, Patrik has worked with the Service Manager product team to develop community solutions for Service Manager. Over the past eight years, Patrik has developed custom System Center solutions for some of Europe’s largest companies. Patrik was also one of the authors of the level 400 Service Manager course for Microsoft Learning. He often speaks at Microsoft events and is a member of the Microsoft Extended Expert Team.   David Pultorak, ITIL Expert (V3), ITIL Manager (V2), MCSE, MCP, MCT, and CTT, is founder and principal consultant of Acceleres, specializing in Microsoft® System Center Service Manager and Orchestrator implementation and training, and Pultorak & Associates, specializing in IT Service Management implementation and training. David is a recognized leader in the field of IT Service Management with more than 24 years of IT experience. He has contributed to ITIL® (V2), MOF, and COBIT. His most recent books are Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0 (Van Haren 2008), System Center Service Manager Unleashed (SAMS 2011), and the ITIL® V3 Foundation Exam Study Guide (Van Haren 2012). His articles have appeared in periodicals from Data Center Magazine to Directors Monthly, and his work has been featured on nearly every leading industry portal including BetterManagement, Data Center Management, Support World, and ITSMwatch. Mr. Pultorak is a regular and passionate speaker at national and international IT events including AFCOM, AITP, CMG, HP Software Forum, HP World, HDI, itSMF, PMI, SHARE, and SIM. 

Foreword     xiv

Introduction     1

 

PART I:  SERVICE MANAGER OVERVIEW AND CONCEPTS

 

Chapter 1  Service Management Basics     5

Ten Reasons to Use Service Manager     6

The Problem with Today’s Systems     7

Service Management Defined     13

Evolution of the CMDB     14

Strategies for Service Management     15

Overview of Microsoft System Center     30

The Value Proposition of Service Manager 2010     35

Summary     36

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Chapter 2  Service Manager 2010 Overview     37

The History of Service Manager     38

Introducing Service Manager 2010     39

Technology and Terminology     40

Tools and Utilities     47

Overview of SP 1     52

Summary     53

 

Chapter 3  MOF, ITIL, and Service Manager     55

Introduction to MOF and ITIL     56

Incident Management     67

Problem Management     72

Change Management     77

Configuration Management     83

Summary     87

 

Chapter 4  Looking Inside Service Manager     89

Architectural Overview     90

Management Group Defined     92

Server Components     93

Windows Services     99

Connectors     101

Modeling and Management Pack Schema     102

Workflow     106

Service Manager Console     108

PowerShell     110

Communications     118

Summary     120

 

PART II:  PLANNING AND INSTALLATION

 

Chapter 5  Designing Service Manager     123

Envisioning Service Manager     124

Planning Service Manager     131

Summary     158

 

Chapter 6  Planning Complex Configurations     159

Planning for High Availability     159

Service Manager and Virtualization     169

Performance and Capacity Planning     173

SQL Server Complex Planning     180

Summary     184

 

Chapter 7  Installing Service Manager     185

Planning Your Installation     185

Installation Prerequisites     186

Order of Installation     188

Single Service Manager Server Deployment     192

Multiple Service Manager Server Deployments     192

Installing Service Manager from the Command Prompt     222

Removing a Service Manager Installation     223

Troubleshooting Tips     224

Post-Deployment Steps     225

Summary     234

 

PART III:  SERVICE MANAGER OPERATIONS

 

Chapter 8  Using Service Manager    237

The Service Manager Console     238

Managing Service Manager with the Service Manager Console     241

About the Service Manager PowerShell Console     271

Using the Self-Service Portal     271

About the Analyst Portal     275

About the Authoring Tool     276

Summary     276

 

Chapter 9  Business Services     277

Introducing Service Manager Business Services     278

Using Operations Manager with Business Services     282

Creating a Business Service     287

Non-Operations Manager Components     295

Updating a Business Service     298

Mapping Operations Manager Incidents to a Business Service Automatically     301

Summary     304

 

Chapter 10  Incident Management     305

Understanding the Incident Process     305

Incident Management in Service Manager     307

Incident Management Process Activities     311

Configuring Incident Management     319

Incident Management Automation     342

Summary     354

 

Chapter 11  Problem Management     355

Understanding the Problem Process     356

Problem Management in Service Manager     358

Problem Management Process Activities     361

Configuring Problem Management     371

Problem Management Automation     379

Summary     379

 

Chapter 12  Change Management     381

Understanding the Change Management Process     382

Change Management in Service Manager     384

Change Management Process Activities     388

Configuring Change Management     402

Change Management Automation     411

Summary     424

 

Chapter 13  IT Management: Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance     425

Understanding Governance, Risk, and the Compliance Process     425

MOF 4.0 and the GRC Process     428

Service Manager 2010 SP 1 and the GRC Process     429

Installing the IT GRC Process MP     432

Configuring the IT GRC Process MP     436

Using the IT GRC Process MP     443

Summary     446

 

PART IV:  ADMINISTERING SERVICE MANAGER

 

Chapter 14  Notification     451

Notification Overview     451

Notification Setup     452

Workflows with Notification     465

Notification for Review Activities     470

Summary     473

 

Chapter 15  Service Manager Security     475

Role-Based Security     476

Data Warehouse and Reporting Security     504

Advanced User Role Scenarios     506

Run As Accounts     508

Security Best Practices     513

Summary     515

 

PART V:  BEYOND SERVICE MANAGER

 

Chapter 16  Planning Your Customization     519

What You Can Customize     520

Management Packs     523

Data Modeling     525

Presenting Data     532

Workflows     541

Scoping     544

General Considerations     548

Summarizing Required Knowledge     548

Summary     550

 

Chapter 17  Management Packs     551

Purpose of Management Packs     551

Sealed and Unsealed MPs     553

Differences Between Management Pack Schema Version 1.0 and 1.1     555

Management Pack Schema     557

MP Bundles     563

MP Deployment     563

Summary     565

 

Chapter 18  Customizing Service Manager    567

Customizing the Console     567

Creating Data Models     580

Creating Workflows     596

Customizing Forms     604

Sealing Using the Service Manager Authoring Tool     611

Web Portals     612

Summary     612

 

Chapter 19  Advanced Customization Scenarios     613

Custom Data Models     613

Customizing Column Display Names     620

Custom Views     624

Console Tasks Using PowerShell     628

Automating an IT Process     631

Creating Console Forms Using Visual Studio     637

Other Scenarios     641

Summary     642

 

Chapter 20  Reports, Dashboards, and Data Analysis     643

Reporting     643

Dashboards     654

Business Intelligence     656

Customizing the Data Warehouse and Reporting     661

Summary     663

 

PART VI:  APPENDIXES

 

Appendix A  Reference URLs     667

Appendix B  Available Online     679

Index     681