Jim Moldenhauer's Tech Blog: SCOM 2012

For the first segment on SCOM 2012 I plan to walk through the prerequisites you need to do before hand as well as the actual install process. This segment will just be for the Management server and Operations console. I will cover Web and Reporting Services as well as adding additional Management servers in a later segment.

Hardware Requirements:
   Disk space: %SYSTEMDRIVE% requires at least 1024 MB free hard disk space.
     Server Operating System: must be Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
     Processor Architecture: must be x64.
     2GB of memory minimum, 4GB recommended
          (it will install with less than 2GB but it will run like crap)

Operating System Requirements:
SCOM 2012 needs to be installed on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Prerequisites:
For the Management Server you need to have .NET 3.5 and .NET 4.0 installed as well as enabling the remote registry service and installing Microsoft Report Viewer 2010

For .NET 3.5
Open Server Manager
Click on Features
Click Add Features
Check the box for .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features
     You will be prompted to install:
     Web Server (IIS) and Windows Process Activation Service
   Click Add Required Role Services to continue
     On Web Server (IIS) Click Next
   On Select Role Services Click Next
   On Confirm Installation Selections Click Next

For .NET 4.0
If you don't already have a copy of .NET 4.0 you can get it from Microsoft.

Run the .NET 4.0 executable
Check I have read and accept the license terms
Click Install (this will take a few minutes depending on the specs of the box)
Click Finish

Services:
The Remote Registry Service needs to be enabled and running before you start the install. It is disabled by default

      Start > Administrative Tools > Services
      Scroll down to Remote Registry Service, Right Click, Properties
      In Startup type: Change to Automatic and Click Apply
      Then Click Start
      Then Click OK

Microsoft Report Viewer 2010:
The Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 needs to be installed prior to installation of SCOM 2012. you can download it from Microsoft here. Once you have it downloaded,

     Right Click on ReportViewer.exe and Run as administrator
     On the setup page Click Next
     Accept the EULA and Click Install
     When the install is complete Click Finish

Service Accounts:
For the installation of SCOM 2012 you will need four service accounts created. Their information and access requirements are listed below:

Account	Description	Permissions
Management server action account	This account is used to carry out actions on monitored computers across a network connection.	-This needs to be a domain based account -This account needs local administrative permission on all servers to be monitored
System Center Configuration service and System Center Data Access service account	This account is used to read information from the operational database.	-This account needs to be assigned to the SDK_user role in the operational database -This account must have local administrative privilege on the SQL server and the Management Server -Should be different from the Management server action account
Data Warehouse Write account	The Data Warehouse Write account writes data from the management server to the Reporting data warehouse and reads data from the operational database.	-This account needs write permission on the Data Warehouse database and read permission on the Operational database -This account needs SQL Server Logon rights and Logon rights to the SQL Server hosting both the Data Warehouse and Operational database.
Data Reader account	The Data Reader account is used to define which account credentials SQL Server Reporting Services uses to run queries against the Operations Manager reporting data warehouse.	-This needs to be a domain based account -Needs SQL server and management server logon rights

SPN Creation:
If the System Center Data Access service account is a domain account (and it should be) Service Principal Names need to be registered for each management server. Register both the netbios name and fully qualified domain name of the management server using the following syntax:

setspn –a MSOMSdkSvc/<netbios name> <DAS account domain>\<DAS account name>
setspn –a MSOMSdkSvc/<fqdn> <DAS account domain>\<DAS account name>

This does not need to be done prior to install for it to be successful, but it does not hurt.

SQL Instances:
You will need a SQL instance created for the Operational database and the Data Warehouse database. For assistance in determining how large to make the database instances refer to the System Center 2012 Operations Manager Sizing Helper Tool v1

If you do not already have SQL installed you can review my SQL 2008R2 install guide here.

*Gotcha* - When creating the database instances leave the sizes set to their default. Once you have SCOM 2012 installed then extend them to the size that is required. If you extend them first the instillation of SCOM takes considerably longer. In addition you want to make sure your Operations database has at least 50% free space at any given time. Less than that will effect performance. Also, never set your Operations database to auto-grow. This will also effect performance.

Ensure that you have the service accounts and their respective permissions configured correctly as indicated above or the installation can fail.

*Gotcha* - The account you are using to do the SCOM 2012 installation needs have logon rights on SQL box as well otherwise you may run into permission issues.

Installation:
OK, So if you have all of your ducks in a row you should be read to do the install. From the install media Right Click on Setup.exe and Run as administrator. You will be greeted with the Microsoft System Center 2012 splash page. Click Install

On the Select features to install page, you will be prompted to do just that, to select the features you wish to install. Since this is the first server in the Management pool we will select Management server and Operations console and Click Next (I will be covering the Web console and Reporting server features in a followup segment)

For Select installation location we can leave this default or choose an alternate location if you would like. For this example we will go with the default. Click Next

If we followed the steps above all of your prerequisites should pass. If not click on each one for resolution details. Click Next

Again, since this is the first server in the Management pool we will select Create the first Management server in a new management group, supply a name for this group in the field provided and Click Next

Accept the terms of the EULA and Click Next

For the Operational database setup you will need to provide the database instance information you created above in the <server name>\<instance name> format. If you did not use the default SQL Server port (1433) during instance creation, you will need to provide the new port number as well. The installer will attempt to connect to the server\instance you provided and if successful the four fields below will become active. I leave all of these set as default. Click Next

Same as the Operational database page, for the Data Warehouse, you will need to provide <server name>\<instance name> of the data warehouse instance as well as the port number if not default. Select Create a new data warehouse database and leave the rest of the fields default. Click Next

On the Configure Operations Manager accounts page you will need to provide the <domain name>\<user name> and password of the four service accounts you created earlier. These accounts need to be active at this time. When you Click Next the installer will attempt to validate all four accounts. If it fails it will tell you which ones it cannot validate. Double check the user name and password and Click Next again. If successful you will advance to the next screen.

As far as the Customer Experience Improvement Program is concerned I generally opt out, but it is dealers choice, you do what you like here. Select your options and Click Next

For Microsoft Update, again this is dealers choice, but I generally turn this feature On. Select and Click Next

On the Installation Summary you will be able to review your installation decisions and go back if necessary if you would like to change anything. Click Install