My goal is to create an mp for a LOB application to monitor services running. The LOB app has 3 different components running on 3 different servers. All of them have a common registry key installed on all servers indicating the app exists. However, each of them have different services running depending on the role. Regarding my discovery strategy, would it be best to start with a "seed" registry discovery for the application, then another registry discovery targeting the seed class looking for the service in the registry to identify what component of the app it is. I see all services for the app on all components listed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services. Seems like I can do all my discoveries in the registry for this case. Would you say that if I can do all my discoveries in the registry then I should? Many thanks in advance!

This is pretty similar to the sample application that I use in the training.  I like using a seed class here because it gives us a quick and efficient way to identify which agents have any components of the application installed.  You can then target that class with discoveries for the services or any other component of the application. 

You probably want an abstract class to represent the application’s services and then a separate class for each service based on that abstract.  That gives you a target for common monitors that apply to all services but still allows you to uniquely monitor each one.  If the entire application is represented just by those services and you don’t see ever adding any other classes, then the seed class might be redundant.  I’m a believer in designing for the future though so I like using the seed which adds minimal complexity and overhead.

As far as which discovery methods you want to use, you’re correct that we always want to use the registry if we can.  It’s the most simple and efficient method of discovery.  That’s especially true when you’re targeting a broad class like Windows.Computer since you don’t want to put any additional overhead on agents where the application isn’t even installed.  You certainly can discover services from the CurrentlControlSet\Services key.  I tend to like WMI for that because you got back some information that isn’t in the registry, and it’s a little easier to read.  You may not use any of that additional information though, so the registry method may be just fine.  Of course, I would only use the WMI method against the seed because I don’t want to run unnecessary queries against all agents. 

Hopefully that answers the question.  Like programming, there is a degree of art and personal preference to management packs, so it’s often difficult to give a simple answer with only one option.  If there are more questions, please throw it out on a comment here.

Since this is a training for advanced management pack development, the training is primarily focused on using Visual Studio Authoring Extensions.  We present a sample application early in the training and walk through the creation of a complete management pack through the different lessons.  While we don’t have them posted yet, I am planning on making the Visual Studio solution for each completed lesson available for download.

There are currently 8 lessons available with a couple more in final production.  I’m working to get a lesson or two completed each week, and we will be posting them as they are completed.  From this point forward, I’ll make sure to send a tweet each time we post a new lesson.

I am happy to report that I have put out an initial set of documentation on Dashboards and a sample management pack that illustrates several critical concepts.  This sample is full of comments that should explain the configuration of the included components and how we are achieving particular functionality.  It includes several of the most common components and illustrates concepts such as passing data between components and displaying the details of an object.

There is definitely still more information to put out there.  The primary thing we’re missing is a reference of the different components and their properties.  That’s something that I’m working on now.  In the meantime, this content should provide a huge start.

https://blogs.technet.com/b/wincat/archive/2013/05/03/3570491.aspx

A little bit different for me personally this year as I’m not doing a breakout session for the first time in ten years.  Instead, I’ll be delivering an instructor led lab on Visio Management Pack Designer.  Doing the session three times on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so there should be plenty of space for people to attend.  I’ll also be participating in a session on Thursday with Marcin Jastrzebski and Daniele Muscetta that includes new Azure monitoring and a good demo of Visual Studio Authoring Extensions.  Plenty of other outstanding sessions this year including one on custom dashboards, and I’m looking forward to attending several myself.

I’ve had requests for another set of sessions like the full day marathons on MP authoring that we delivered at MMS a couple of years ago.  I’m actually in the process of updating those materials and am going to get them recorded this summer.  Those will go online so we can finally have them available for everyone.

I have some free time during the conference if anyone wants to talk about management pack challenges that you're trying to solve.  I’ll be in the Expo most of Wednesday.  Or just send me a message, and let’s work out another time to meet.  Special bonus if we can work out a discussion over pints of Guinness!

In addition to the updated exercises, we have a collection of the completed management pack and Visual Studio project in the TechNet Gallery for you to download.  There is a separate download for Service Model and Health Model.  This allows you to have a look at what the completed exercise should look like and help troubleshoot any issues with your own work.

There are some other topics that we need to cover for VSAE such as how to create a management pack bundle and how to work with resources such as images.  That content will be coming shortly.

Please also keep in mind, that this is a wiki.  If you see any issues with our exercises or content, or if you think that you can augment them with some better content, then please go ahead and do that.  As always, please send a mail to MPAuthor@microsoft.com if you have any questions or concerns.  If there is any management pack authoring topic that you feel we have not addressed properly, then we want to know.

If you are interested in creating a custom shape for the VMPD then this should be all you need.  We are planning on creating a project on CodePlex in the near future to collaborate on some custom shapes.  The idea is to give you a base starting point for your own requirements in addition to giving you access to some custom shapes that you can use for your own management packs. 

As always, please contact me at MPAuthor@microsoft.com if you have any suggestions on how we can improve your access to content that you need.  I would also like to hear about custom shapes for the VMPD that you think would be valuable since those could form the base of a sample project.

This is meant to address two issues related to authoring content that we've been challenged with for some time.  First is a way to better get the assistance of the community.  The MP Authoring Guide has been well received and has been our definitive source of knowledge for technical content related to designing and writing management packs. The problem though is that it's not easy for us to readily update, and we have no opportunity for the community to contribute to it. 

The second challenge is that there are a variety of technologies to automate Operations Manager and other System Center components, and they aren't properly associated with one another.  A single monitoring scenario might include a management pack, a runbook, and some SDK customization, but we've left it up to you to figure out where all that content lives.  In addition to that, we really don't have a suitable place to document scenarios that include multiple components.

Our vision with the Authoring Hub is to tie together all of the authoring and customization content across System Center under a single umbrella.  We will still maintain deep content like the MP Authoring Guide as its own entity, but it will now tie back to the top level hub as opposed to living under the Operations Manager content as it does now in the TechNet Library.  The idea is to put it alongside other content like the System Center Integration Guide and content that we will be creating in the future such as a proper Runbook Authoring Guide.

As you can see, this will involve a combination of new content in addition to moving content from the TechNet Library to the TechNet Wiki.  We are in the process of moving the entire MP Authoring Guide and updating it to include exercises for the new authoring tools.  I'll make sure to announce on our Twitter feed when we get significant updates out there.  At some point when all the content is moved, we'll consider removing it from the Library altogether.  New content and guides will be delivered on the wiki in order to maintain community involvement.

As always, please don't hesitate to provide your feedback and requests to MPAuthor@microsoft.com. 

The primary reason that we created the site in the first place was because we did not have a suitable location to house content from the community.  Since the time it was created though, we have some great resources on TechNet designed specifically for this purpose.  We have the TechNet Wiki for providing technical documentation and other content, and we have the TechNet Gallery for providing downloads such as sample management packs.

The primary advantages of the TechNet sites over OpsManJam are as follows:

• They are housed within the umbrella of TechNet which is Microsoft’s primary repository of technical information.  OpsManJam is an external site making it more difficult to locate and to link to related content.
• Community members can freely contribute content.  With OpsManJam, no one can contribute content without going through an administrator of the site.
• Community members can freely edit existing content on the TechNet Wiki.  With OpsManJam, no one can edit existing content.
• The rating system in the Gallery and the point system for TechNet contributors allows users to assess the value of content.

So what do with the existing OpsManJam content? I’ve moved all of my MPAuthor sample management packs into the TechNet Gallery.  Just do a search for MPAuthor, and you should be able to find those.  I’ve also talked to other contributors about moving their contributions into the Gallery so we should see those show up.

The Featured Articles section has a variety of useful articles that different people have provided.  Ideally, that content would be moved into the TechNet Wiki, but that’s a significant amount of work.  Rather than try to do that, I zipped them all up into a single file and made it available in the TechNet Gallery. 

I’ve gone through other content that we have on the site, and it appears the majority of it is either out of date and/or hasn’t been significantly used.  We’re going to go ahead and retire that content along with the site.  If anyone knows of any content that you think we need to keep available, then please let me know.

I don’t have a specific date yet when we will pull the site offline, but I’ll announce when it goes  We’ll redirect the URL to an explanation to alleviate any confusion.  The current target is to have that completed by the end of the calendar year.

As always, please send a mail to MPAuthor@microsoft.com if you have any comments.

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Update 1/7/2013

OpsManJam is officially offline.  The URL will bring you to this blog entry.  Again, please send me a mail if there is any valuable content that we didn't account for.

Sample Management Pack - Business Hours
Sample Management Pack - Network Devices
Sample Management Pack - Working with a Property Bag
Sample Management Pack - Diagnostics and Recoveries
Sample Management Pack - Process Data Source
Sample Management Pack - Registry Monitor
Sample Management Pack - Linked Reports
Sample Management Pack - Cookdown
Sample Management Pack - Discovery