System Center Advisor (formerly Microsoft codename “Atlanta”) is a cloud service that enables IT professionals to assess their server configuration and proactively avoid problems. With System Center Advisor, support staff is able to resolve issues faster by accessing current and historical configuration data, all with the security features that meet their needs. Additionally, System Center Advisor helps reduce downtime by providing suggestions for improvement, and notifying customers of key updates specific to their configuration.

The basic idea is to have your servers monitored in a Microsoft Cloud, with a web interface for the management part. Technically, you will need to have a gateway server in your enterprise (A gateway is just a server which has an internet access and all your monitored servers will contact to that gateway for updating informations to the cloud and not directly to internet).

Attention, currently System Center Advisor only supports the monitor of Windows Server 2008, Sql Server 2008 and some AD part.

System Requirements

The System Center Advisor agent and gateway require either 32-bit or 64-bit versions of:
Windows Server 2008 or later

The System Center Advisor agent analyzes both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or later
Windows Server 2008 or later

To access the System Center Advisor web portal you will need a browser that supports Silverlight 4.0, such as Internet Explorer 7.0 or later.

Let’s starting:

Microsoft just published the RC of Advisor, and as it’s free for the moment, it’s the right time to test it. Just go on https://www.systemcenteradvisor.com/ and create an account thanks to you Windows Live ID.

Once your account created, you have to download the Certificate and the setup program. This certificate will be used for authentication between the Microsoft Advisor Cloud and your Gateway server. You don’t need to add this certificate in your certificate store, the setup will ask for it during the installation process, nothing more.

Once your gateway ready, the process will install the Operations Manager Agent. You don’t need to have a Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 infrastructure in place, System Center Advisor will just installed the agent and configured it for working with the Microsoft Advisor Cloud.

When everything, we will have to wait some times for having data retrieved in your web console

Overview

The web console has 5 min parts:

• Alerts: in that view, we could see all your servers’ alerts and manage it. Changing the status, disabling not needed alert…

• Configuration : In that part, we have a global snapshot of the current configuration of your servers

  

• Change History : History of your configuration changes

• Servers : View of all your monitored servers and gateways

  

   

• Account: In that part we could manage your user access (base on Windows Live Id), the name of your company and closing your company account.

Conclusion

Microsoft System Center Advisor could be really a great product for small companies that don’t have the money and the resources for the implementation of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. The setup is really quick and the entire configuration is saved in the Microsoft Cloud.

Currently Advisor has only a few monitoring rules for AD, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008. I hope that Microsoft will soon add all the rules/monitors available in the different OpsMgr Management packs.

I invite you to read the comment of Paul Mestemaker / Sr. Program Manager / Microsoft / System Center Advisor below.

Below, all the alerts that could you have with Microsoft System Center Advisor RC:

I invite you to read the comment of Paul Mestemaker / Sr. Program Manager / Microsoft / System Center Advisor below.

advisor · cloud · microsoft · monitoring · system center

• Thoughts on OpsMgr – ACS Database Dashboard Report http://bit.ly/9oRiiZ #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Console Exception in the UNIX/Linux Servers view – ’Value cannot be null’ http://bit.ly/cfnNHh #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – MMS 2011 Open for Registration! http://bit.ly/cxONJL #
• Opalis Blog – Solution: Connecting to BMC Remedy via Opalis Integration Server fails with "Connection test failed" http://bit.ly/ctJ51w #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – SQL Server 2008 R2 and SCOM R2: My Personal Installation Experiences http://bit.ly/birRdF #
• JIMMY HARPER'S OPERATIONS MANAGER BLOG – ACS Database Dashboard Report http://bit.ly/bZRCqm #
• Opalis Blog – Let's Get Dangerous with "Link" Text–Replacing "Link" via SQL Query http://bit.ly/b4D3zm #
• JIMMY HARPER'S OPERATIONS MANAGER BLOG – Alert Count by Hour Report http://bit.ly/d48T2x #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – Monitoring Windows Services – Automatic, Manual, and Disabled, using CheckStartupType http://bit.ly/bXElwJ #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – An incredibly useful tool–The Opalis UI Generator http://bit.ly/dzS8X1 #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Tech-Ed Berlin 2010 – Day One http://bit.ly/bnn0xe #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – How to Monitor Print Services on Server 2008 R2 http://bit.ly/bx9Ue3 #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Tech-Ed Berlin 2010 – Day Two http://bit.ly/biPO9s #

nexus · opalis · SQL · sql server · Text

• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Unit Monitor ‘Basic Service Monitor’ does not work correctly when monitoring a Service is set http://bit.ly/c8O1As #

Basic · Service · twitter · Unit · Updates

• Thoughts on OpsMgr – SCOM R2 Agent Installation Error: HRESULT: 0x80070BC9 http://bit.ly/djHPcy #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – EventID 10: Active Directory Helper Objects Installation unsuccessful. MSI was not found http://bit.ly/dboRS1 #
• I love MobileRSS on my iPhone, Check it out – http://bit.ly/9xkO5W #
• SCUG.be – SCDPM 2010 Management Pack has been released http://bit.ly/95KLMb #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Looking for VHDs? http://bit.ly/9W37qP #
• Jonathan Almquist on Operations Manager – Rebuild a management group (disaster recovery) http://bit.ly/dA8Cua #
• Ex2010 MP issue: new-testcasconnectivityuser.ps1 script generates errors like ‘Mailbox could not be http://bit.ly/anzHP5 #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – TechEd EMEA – Opalis Sessions http://bit.ly/9NlDWE #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Exchange 2010 SP1: a known issue, a canary and flip flopping… http://bit.ly/b4QXef #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – CU#3 for SCOM R2: PRO Tip Issue / 23619 SDK Service Related http://bit.ly/bYUnJg #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – After moving your OperationsManager Database–you might find event 18054 errors http://bit.ly/9L5cOs #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Windows Azure Monitoring Management Pack Release Candidate (RC) http://bit.ly/bkikku #
• Operations Manager Team Blog – Trouble with setup due to SQL not being detected? http://bit.ly/95TDCs #

database · disaster · nexus · Thoughts · twitter

• SCUG.be – TechEd BOF Session Proposal Voting http://bit.ly/b6XMG1 #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Comparison Matrix II: Savision Live Maps 5.01 vs. Visio 2010 Add-in for SCOM R2 http://bit.ly/apqvqj #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – Clustering the Exchange 2010 Correlation Engine service http://bit.ly/91GK7w #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Exhange 2010 MP: Checklist of what to do when importing that MP http://bit.ly/9naIMg #
• JIMMY HARPER'S OPERATIONS MANAGER BLOG – Group Membership Count Report http://bit.ly/dwjS83 #
• Jonathan Almquist on Operations Manager – When was the last time this agent inserted data and what was the latency? http://bit.ly/cG8ebK #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Tech-Ed 2010 Europe: Are you going to be there? http://bit.ly/bt92Xp #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – New MP released: Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server Monitoring MP http://bit.ly/9GPl74 #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Opalis: QIK Video Tutorial Series http://bit.ly/aVeDKp #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Opalis: Installation Video Tutorial Series http://bit.ly/ad5N04 #
• MPAuthor – How Discovery Works http://bit.ly/bnaRXG #
• My Twitter value is $1.72, according to http://www.twalue.com … What about yours? #twalue #

Group · Live · monitoring · TechEd · twitter

• Belgium iPhone – Geohot rend disponible son nouvel outil de jailbreak : “Limera1n” http://bit.ly/9Icj1c #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Windows 2003 Server and XP Security MP http://bit.ly/b1s1tk #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – System Center Licenses: SMSE and SMSD http://bit.ly/djqD7t #
• Operations Manager Team Blog – Introducing the new Microsoft Support Top Solutions RSS feed for System Center OpsMgr http://bit.ly/aDLezu #
• Kevin Holman – Command line and software distribution patching scenarios for applying an OpsMgr Cumulative Update http://bit.ly/bk4KPX #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – SCOM R2 CU#3 installation issue: ‘Warning 25362. Failed to start OMCFG service.’ http://bit.ly/a3ErjB #

cu 3 · line · microsoft support · outil · twitter

• Thoughts on OpsMgr – SCOM and Dashboards – Part III – Visio 2010 Add-In for SCOM R2 http://bit.ly/9Bv9k7 #
• Belgium iPhone – Tango : la vidéoconférence “haute définition” sur iPhone http://bit.ly/bEfgND #
• SCUG.be – Announcement : System Center Day in Belgium http://bit.ly/9240IS #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – IT Governance Risk & Compliance solution now available http://bit.ly/aMaVHE #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Opalis in action with NetApp http://bit.ly/duGpGh #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – SCOM and Dashboards – Part IV – Savision LiveMaps for SCOM R2 http://bit.ly/cGPzrR #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Cumulative Update 3 for SCOM R2 has been released http://bit.ly/ciXnrl #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Updated MP: X-plat MPs http://bit.ly/9QwTZa #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – CU#3 for SCOM R2 and some things to reckon with http://bit.ly/as7rD0 #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – OpsMgr 2007 R2 CU3 rollup hotfix ships – and my experience installing it http://bit.ly/cdAkaH z #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – Uh Oh. Operations Database is full! http://bit.ly/d88dVH #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – Charts not showing up in scheduled reports? http://bit.ly/9YAyaj #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – SCOM R2 Authoring Resource Kit updated http://bit.ly/dw92vJ #

belgium · III · Thoughts · twitter · Weekly

• Opalis Blog – Opalis 8 Minute Video Demo : Nested Workflows http://bit.ly/clpo5t #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Community Strength: 1 plus 1 is sometimes 3 or more… http://bit.ly/c0UG6f #
• Opalis Blog – Opalis 8 Minute Video Demo : Opalis CMDB Federation and Event Remediation http://bit.ly/dCTztB #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – What Program is right for my organization? http://bit.ly/9TYgXD #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Opalis “8 minute” Demo Video series now on Microsoft Showcase! http://bit.ly/8ZzSuy #
• Kevin Holman's OpsMgr Blog – Installing the OpsMgr R2 Universal Connector http://bit.ly/9TInBV #
• Opalis Blog – Opalis 8 Minute Video Demo : The .NET Scripting Object and PowerShell http://bit.ly/9CVbHC #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Announcing the Forefront Endpoint Protection Community Evaluation Program http://bit.ly/buEkG0 #
• Opalis Blog – Opalis 8 Minute Video Demo : The .NET Scripting Object and C# http://bit.ly/bZVZrC #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – New MP released: BizTalk Server 2010 http://bit.ly/bS7Fjl #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – The Curious Case of The Empty Reports http://bit.ly/caKKwl #
• @julienboury En voici plein http://picasaweb.google.com/keyaert in reply to julienboury #
• Opalis Blog – Opalis 8 Minute Video Demo : The Query Database Object http://bit.ly/byo1ZM #
• Thoughts on OpsMgr – Generic Trouble Shooting Guide for SCOM http://bit.ly/blYO2e #
• Operations Manager – SQL Server 2008 R2 support announced for Operations Manager 2007 R2 http://bit.ly/b86GHC #
• @anthonypascucci déjà inscrit sur Please Rob Me ?
  Showing you a list of all those empty homes out there. pleaserobme.com in reply to anthonypascucci #

database object · Installing · Kevin Holman · Rob · twitter

• @julienboury case program in reply to julienboury #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Announcing the Configuration Manager v.Next Community Evaluation Program http://bit.ly/btOdsU #
• NewBlog Post: How to concert a Microsoft VHD to a VMware VMK?
  http://www.vnext.be/2010/09/19/how-to-concert-a-microsoft-vhd-to-a-vmware-vmk/ #
• SCUG.be – Belgian Scom and Security MVP trying to explain how to OpsMgr in a secure :p ! http://bit.ly/dsr3cl #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Opalis CEP resources now available! http://bit.ly/dklW8n #
• Opalis Blog – 8 Minute Demo – Opalis Product Overview http://bit.ly/dd25KE #
• Opalis Blog – Opalis 8 minute video demo: Opalis Incident Remediation http://bit.ly/9lObTM #
• Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog – Opalis “8 minute” Demo Video series now on Microsoft Showcase! http://bit.ly/8ZzSuy #

case program · evaluation program · opsmgr · twitter · Weekly