Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
tool, and it has no real-time data capture or alerting features. Here's a summary of the environ-
ments that can be monitored at the time of writing:
➤
Windows Server 2008 and later
➤
Active Directory
➤
Hyper-V Host
➤
General operating system
➤
SQL Server 2008 and later
➤
SQL Engine
➤
Exchange Server 2010
➤
SharePoint Server 2010
SCA functionality is based on periodic coni guration snapshots, taken over time. It reports coni gu-
ration changes and missing or new updates. Note that SCA will not monitor CPU utilization, disk
space, memory, or any other operational monitoring counters or thresholds. For these purposes,
SCA can be used to supplement any operational monitoring, rather than replace such tools.
It supports an evolving knowledge base, acquired from the i eld experience of Microsoft CSS, sup-
porting SQL Server deployments. The SCA knowledge base will expand to include rules (recom-
mendations) for service packs, cumulative updates, Quick Fix Engineering (QFE) releases, and
coni guration changes that resolve new issues — identii ed and resolved after a product is in the in-
life product life cycle phase. The recommendations provided are far more specialized than anything
that can be provided through traditional software update models such as Windows Server Update
Service (WSUS), which does not contain the coni guration view or logic to determine applicability of
updates with the same level of sophistication provided by SCA.
Topolog y
Although the SCA is a cloud-based service, two components require on-premise installation.
However, this process is streamlined and relatively non-intrusive. Two roles must be deployed on-
premise: Gateway and Agent.
Each environment requires a Gateway that uses certii cate-based authentication to upload data to
the web service. The Gateway collects and uploads monitoring data captured from each Agent. The
Gateway must be in the same security zone (Active Directory domain or trusted domain) as the serv-
ers to be monitored. Additionally, the Gateway must have Internet connectivity to complete the data
upload to the web service.
Each server that will be monitored with SCA requires an Agent installation. If the server is not in
the same domain as the Gateway, the Gateway and certii cate must also be installed on the server.
Additionally, the Agents must have network communication with the Gateway. The data collection
process runs approximately every 24 hours; once the deployment is complete, you can check the fol-
lowing day to ensure that the server is displayed correctly in the web console.
Reporting
The alerting and administration for SCA is accessed via the web portal found at
http://www.systemcenteradvisor.com
.
The web console provides an easy-to-use overview of
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