SCOM plugin

This feature is available with an Enterprise plan

The SCOM plugin allows you to monitor your SCOM environment, including Windows Computers, Enterprise Applications and more, in SquaredUp.

Use the SCOM plugin to connect to a traditional SCOM server, or to a SCOM Managed Instance.
This is an on-prem plugin so it uses a relay agent, meaning you don't need to open up your firewall.

We recommend you use the SCOM plugin in preference to the SCOM MI plugin, if you have the Enterprise plan, for several reasons:

The SCOM plugin can access your SCOM Managed Instance or traditional SCOM.
The SCOM plugin uses an on-prem agent so is able to access your traditional SCOM or SCOM MI without the need to open up your firewall.
The SCOM plugin also supports object indexing.
The SCOM plugin includes many more data streams (20 vs 6) so can therefore visualize more of your data.
The SCOM plugin installs more pre-configured dashboards, so you can instantly visualize your data.

An on-prem data source uses a relay agent to connect SquaredUp to a data source running on your internal network.

A relay agent is installed on a server on your internal network, and has access to your data source.

Using a relay agent means that you don't need to open your firewall to allow access.

For more information about what this plugin does and the data streams it retrieves, see:

SCOM

To add a data source click on the + next to Data Sources on the left-hand menu in SquaredUp. Search for the data source and click on it to open the Configure data source page.

You can also add a data source by clicking Add data source on the Settings > Data Sources page, but pre-built dashboards are not added when using this method.

Before you start

This plugin can be used to connect to a traditional SCOM server or to a SCOM Managed Instance.
This is an on-prem plugin so it uses a relay agent, meaning you don't need to open up your firewall. Some extra configuration is required in order for the agent to connect to SCOM, as described below.
The plugin is only compatible with Windows Server.

Configuring Windows Authentication for Entra ID

If you have configured Entra ID, you need to configure Windows Authentication for Entra ID with the incoming trust-based flow, as described by this Microsoft article: How to set up Windows Authentication for Microsoft Entra ID with the incoming trust-based flow

Configuring the agent for a SCOM data source

The SquaredUp agent service uses the local system identity by default. SCOM uses Windows authentication which requires a minimum of Network Service or a Domain User account. Therefore, the agent you use to access the SCOM data source needs to have its service identity changed to such an account.

When using the Network Service account for the service, the computer account (for the computer that the agent is running on) must be added to a Read-Only Operator Role in SCOM.
If using a domain user account for the service, then the domain user account must be added to a Read-Only Operator role in SCOM.

Install a new agent or choose an existing agent
The agent you use to access SCOM needs its service identity changing from the local system identity to either the Network Service account or a domain user account.
You can either:
- Install a new agent and change the service identity during or after installation. To deploy a new agent see Configuring an agent (Windows platforms).
- Use an existing agent which can access your SCOM instance, and change its service identity.
Change the service identity of the agent (if not done during installation)
By default, the SquaredUp agent service uses the local system identity, but this can be changed to a domain service account if required, for example for the SCOM data source.
- Configure a domain service account using the installation script, for example:
  ./Install-SQUPAgent.ps1 -ApiKey "key" -AsService -ServiceAccount domain\username
  where key is the API key, and domain\username is the domain service account
- Alternatively, in Services > SquaredUp Cloud Agent > Properties select the account on the Log On tab.
- Use a dedicated user account for the agent's service identity. Create a special service account for this domain service account, do not use an existing user account.
- The account (typically a service account) needs to have the log on as a service permission.
Add SCOM permissions for the service account
Consider which objects you want to index and set the permissions for the service account accordingly. As the SCOM data source supports SCOM RBAC you can use scoping in the user role for the account in SCOM to control which objects will be indexed.
See SCOM: Implementing user roles
Add Data Warehouse permissions for the service account
You need to manually add the service account to the opsmgreader role of the Data Warehouse in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
See Manually creating the Data Warehouse permissions

Configuring the data source

Display Name:
Enter a name for your data source. This helps you to identify this data source in the list of your data sources.
SCOM Management Server:
Enter the FQDN for your SCOM management server or SCOM Managed Instance.
For example: server.domain.local
Agent Group:
Select the Agent Group that contains the agent(s) you want to use.
Dashboard Server SCOM Edition URL (optional):
If you use SquaredUp DS for SCOM, you can enter the URL for your instance. This will create a link from a SCOM object in SquaredUp to the same object in your SquaredUp DS for SCOM.
Enter the URL to the root domain including https.
For example: https://myserver.mydomain/SquaredUp/

Advanced Settings:
Optionally, define additional classes of data to be retrieved from SCOM.

When Configuring the data source, you can select the Advanced Settings check box to display the Custom Classes section, which allows you to retrieve additional classes from SCOM.

If you want to retrieve custom classes, do the following:

Click the Add new custom classes button to display the entry fields.
Enter a name for the additional class in the Class name field. For example, Windows Computer.

Enter / paste the JSON for the class you want to import in the Custom class JSON field. For example:

[
   {
      "name":"Import class 'Microsoft.Windows.Computer'",
      "classId":"ea99500d-8d52-fc52-b5a5-10dcd1e9d2bd",
      "types":[
         {
            "className":"Microsoft.Windows.Server.DC.Computer",
            "type":"addomaincontroller"
         },
         {
            "className":"Microsoft.Windows.Computer",
            "type":"host"
         }
      ],
      "properties":[
         
      ],
      "children":[
         {
            "name":"Import related class 'Microsoft.Windows.LogicalDevice'",
            "classId":"3361982a-7dfd-288d-f48c-e04e85149750",
            "types":[
               {
                  "className":"Microsoft.Windows.LogicalDisk",
                  "type":"volume"
               },
               {
                  "className":"Microsoft.Windows.NetworkAdapter",
                  "type":"interface"
               }
            ],
            "properties":[
               
            ]
         }
      ]
   }
]

The optional properties parameter is a special property that provides a mechanism to add or modify properties from the target class. Here is the basic structure of the properties parameter:

"properties":[
   {
      "name":"Parameters",
      "as":"monitorUrl",
      "XPath":"/Parameters/Parameter[@name='URL']",
      "transform":"url"
   }
]

Example

To add a new property, simply omit the XPath, jsonPath, and transform options. Here is a functional example that adds the NetbiosComputerName field to the Windows Computer class:

[
   {
      "name":"Import class 'Microsoft.Windows.Computer'",
      "classId":"ea99500d-8d52-fc52-b5a5-10dcd1e9d2bd",
      "types":[
         {
            "className":"Microsoft.Windows.Server.DC.Computer",
            "type":"addomaincontroller"
         },
         {
            "className":"Microsoft.Windows.Computer",
            "type":"host"
         }
      ],
      "properties":[
         {
            "name":"NetbiosComputerName",
            "as":"netbiosComputerName"
         }
      ],
      "children":[
         {
            "name":"Import related class 'Microsoft.Windows.LogicalDevice'",
            "classId":"3361982a-7dfd-288d-f48c-e04e85149750",
            "types":[
               {
                  "className":"Microsoft.Windows.LogicalDisk",
                  "type":"volume"
               },
               {
                  "className":"Microsoft.Windows.NetworkAdapter",
                  "type":"interface"
               }
            ],
            "properties":[
               
            ]
         }
      ]
   }
]

Optionally, click the Add another custom class button to add an additional class and enable another line of entry fields.
Example
Here is a functional example of Custom class JSON you can enter to imports the Web Application Test Web Test Base class from SCOM:

[
   {
      "name":"Import class 'Microsoft.SystemCenter.WebApplicationTest.WebTestBase'",
      "classId":"8e5cb3e8-3a88-4301-a703-553772fe72dd",
      "types":[
         {
            "className":"Microsoft.SystemCenter.WebApplicationTest.WebTestBase",
            "type":"monitor"
         }
      ],
      "properties":[
         {
            "name":"Parameters",
            "as":"monitorUrl",
            "XPath":"/Parameters/Parameter[@name='URL']",
            "transform":"url"
         }
      ],
      "children":[
         
      ]
   }
]

Restrict access to this data source:
You can enable this option if you only want certain users or groups to have access to the data source, or the permission to link it to new workspaces. See data source access control for more information.
Install Dashboards:
Select whether you would like to install pre-built dashboards and perspectives with the data source. By default, this is set to on.
Click Test and add to validate the data source configuration. SquaredUp will now attempt to connect to SquaredUp using the provided authentication method.
- Testing passed – a success message will be displayed and then the configuration will be saved.
- Testing passed with warnings – warnings will be listed and potential fixes suggested. You can still use the data source with warnings. Select Save with warnings if you believe that you can still use the data source as required with the warnings listed. Alternatively, address the issues listed and then select Rerun tests to validate the data source configuration again. If the validation now passes, click Save.
- Testing Failed – errors will be listed and potential fixes suggested. You cannot use the data source with errors. You are able to select Save with errors if you believe that a system outside of SquaredUp is causing the error that you need to fix. Alternatively, address the issues listed and then select Rerun tests to validate the data source configuration again. If the validation now passes, click Save.
You can edit any data source configurations at any time from Settings > Data Sources.

Testing and Troubleshooting

Timeframe format differs in SquaredUp Cloud and SquaredUp DS for SCOM (Cloud using zero hour / minute for "hours and minutes"), meaning you will retrieve more values in Cloud if there is a noisy metric - which is more likely the further from the top of the hour you are.

For example, if you want to request the Last 24 hours in Cloud, the following format is used:

"timeframe": { "start": "2024-10-07T22:00:00.000Z", "unixStart": 1712527200, "end": "2024-10-08T22:00:00.000Z", "unixEnd": 1712613600, "enum": "last24hours", "interval": "PT15M" }

Whereas DS for SCOM uses the following format:

start: 10/07/2024 22:19:34 end: 10/08/2024 22:19:34

Likewise, the following format is used in Cloud for a seven-day request:

"timeframe": { "start": "2024-10-01T18:00:00.000Z", "unixStart": 1711994400, "end": "2024-10-08T18:00:00.000Z", "unixEnd": 1712599200, "enum": "last7days", "interval": "PT6H" }

Whereas DS for SCOM uses the following format:

start: 10/01/2024 18:09:56 end: 10/08/2024 18:09:56

Next Steps

Once the data source setup is complete click Explore dashboards to view the preconfigured dashboards that have been installed.

Take a look at the blog Getting started with SCOM dashboards for information about the preconfigured dashboards.

Data streams

Data streams standardize data from all the different shapes and formats your tools use into a straightforward tabular format.

While creating a tile you can tweak data streams by grouping or aggregating specific columns.

Depending on the kind of data, SquaredUp will automatically suggest how to visualize the result, for example as a table or line graph.

Data streams can be either global or scoped:

Global data streams are unscoped and return information of a general nature (e.g. "Get the current number of unused hosts").
A scoped data stream gets information relevant to the specific set objects supplied in the tile scope (e.g. "Get the current session count for these hosts").

See Data Streams for more information.

The following data streams are installed with this plugin.

Data stream	Description
Alerts - Open	All alerts currently open (not closed) for all objects, within the given timeframe.
Alerts - Recently Opened Critical Monitors	All open critical alerts for the object and contained children, raised within the given timeframe.
Alerts by Group	Alerts for SCOM Objects contained in a group.
Availability Test Response Time	Response time for EA availability tests.
CPU (% Time)	Percentage CPU usage.
Disk % Free Space	Percentage free disk space.
Disk Free MB	Megabytes of free disk space.
Health State	Current Health state for SCOM Objects.
Health State by Group	Current Health state for SCOM Objects contained within a group.
Memory Available MB	Megabytes of Memory Available.
Memory Used %	Percent Memory Used.

Configurable data streams

The following data streams have configurable Parameters.

Data stream	Description	Parameters
Alerts by Class	Returns open and closed alerts for the selected class, within the given timeframe.	Object Class: Select a SCOM Object Class. SCOM Object Filter: With the support of SQL Wildcards you can filter for specific objects from the selected SCOM class.
Health State by Class	Returns the current state of all objects within the selected class	Object Class: Select a SCOM Object Class SCOM Object Filter: With the support of SQL Wildcards you can filter for specific objects from the selected SCOM class.
Metric	Returns custom metric data.	Object Name: Enter the name of the object you want metrics for, for example, `LogicalDisk`. Counter Name: Enter a name for the metric, for example, `Free Megabytes`. Instance Name: Optionally, enter the name of the SCOM MI instance you want metrics from. Top N: Optionally, enter the Top N number of items you want to see in the results. Sort descending: Select if you want to sort the results descending instead of ascending.
Metric by Class	Returns all objects, counters, and instances for a given class	Object Class: Select a SCOM Object Class. Performance Rule: Select a Performance Rule. SCOM DisplayName Filter: With the support of SQL Wildcards you can filter for specific objects in the DisplayName field Performance Path Filter: With the support of SQL Wildcards you can filter for specific objects in the Path field. Performance Instance Filter: With the support of SQL Wildcards you can filter for specific object instances.

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