• Article

Using Advanced Search

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager, System Center 2012 - Operations Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Operations Manager

In System Center 2012 – Operations Manager, advanced search is available in My Workspace, when you create a new search. You can also open advanced search in the Monitoring workspace on the Tools menu.

Use advanced search to search for a specific object type that meets specified criteria. Advanced search has two steps:

  • Select the Specific Object Type and Criteria

  • Set the Criteria Values

You can also save the searches you create. For more information, see Running and Saving Searches.

Select the Specific Object Type and Criteria

Each object type will display a unique set of criteria for your search. The following table lists the object types and the criteria available for each.

Object type

Criteria associated with the object type

Alerts

  • Of a specific severity

  • Of a specific priority

  • Created by specific sources

  • With specific resolution state

  • With a specific name

  • With specific text in the description

  • Created in specific time period

  • Assigned to a specific owner

  • Raised by an instance with a specific name

  • Last modified by a specific user

  • That was modified in specific time period

  • Had its resolution state changed in a specific time period

  • That was resolved in a specific time period

  • Resolved by specific user

  • With a specific ticket ID

  • Was added to the database in a specific time period

  • For a specific site

  • With specific text in the available custom fields

Events

  • Generated by specific rules

  • With a specific event number

  • From a specific source

  • Generated in specific time period

  • Raised by an instance with a specific name

  • With specific severity level

  • From a specific user

  • Logged by a specific computer

Managed Objects

  • With a specific name

  • In specific health state

  • Contained in a specific group

Monitors

  • With a specific name

  • With specific text in the description

  • The monitor has been overridden for any context (excluding category overrides)

  • With specific category

  • Creates an alert when specific state is detected

  • The monitor generates alerts of specific priority

  • Auto-resolves alerts

  • The monitor is a unit monitor

  • The monitor is an aggregate monitor

  • The monitor is a dependency monitor

Object Discoveries

  • With a specific name

  • With specific text in the description

  • The object discovery has been overridden for any context (excluding category overrides)

  • With specific category

  • Is enabled

  • The object discovery confirms delivery

  • The rule is remotable 1

  • Was added in a specified time period

  • Was modified in a specified time period

Rules

  • With a specific name

  • With specific text in the description

  • The rule has been overridden for any context (excluding category overrides)

  • With specific category

  • The rule generates alerts of specific priority

  • Is enabled

  • The rule confirms delivery

  • The rule is remotable 1

  • Was added in a specified time period

  • Was modified in a specified time period

Tasks

  • With a specific name

  • With specific text in the description

  • Is enabled

  • Was added in a specified time period

  • Was modified in a specified time period

Views

  • With a specific name

  • With specific text in the description

  • Was added in a specified time period

  • Was modified in a specified time period

1 A remotable rule or discovery can run against a computer that does not have an agent installed.

Set the Criteria Values

If you have ever created a rule in Microsoft Outlook, setting criteria values for an advanced search will be familiar to you. When you select a criterion for an object, it is added to the Criteria description section. Most criteria contain a variable value. For example, in the criterion With a specific name, specific is a variable and will be underlined in the Criteria description section. (The criterion Is enabled is only true or false, so it contains no variables; you either select it or you do not select it.)

To assign a value to the variable, click the underlined portion of the criterion. A dialog box appears. In the example of With a specific name, you enter a text string for the specific name. For variables with limited values, such as alert priorities, the dialog box provides checkboxes that you can select.

Running and Saving Searches

After you set the values for the search criteria, you can run the search by clicking Search or you can save the search by clicking Save parameters to My Favorites. Saved searches are displayed in My Workspace and can be run at any time.

When you run a search or a saved search, a window opens with a view appropriate to the object type of your search. For example, a search on object type Alerts opens an Alert View window. A hyperlinked action, Show parameters, is displayed below the view title bar. You can click Show parameters to change the search parameters.

Note

When you run a saved search, change the parameters, click Search, and then close the results window, you will be asked if you want to save the changes to the search.