SolarWinds Orion Integration with MOM

When I previously looked at integrating SolarWinds into MOM before then SNMP was the only way to do it. A customer asked about integration recently and I assumed it would still be SNMP but I came across this press release from May 2006 that says that there is integration between SolarWinds and MOM

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-31-2006/0004371311&EDATE=%20

On the SolarWinds web site it says:-

“With the latest release of Orion Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds.Net customers can now integrate with MOM. The new integration features are available, at not cost, to SolarWinds.Net customers holding valid software maintenance agreements.”

http://www.solarwinds.net/Orion_Mom.htm

Unfortunately I could not find any information on their site about how it integrates so I e-mailed the support team and received a reply that it uses the MCF. That is good news and should make it easier to get the information in. The connector is not listed on the MOM Product Connectors page though.
 

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance

Just announced today is the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance which will be available in January 2007 and contains 4 tools.

• Microsoft SoftGrid
• Microsoft Asset Inventory Services (looks like AssetMetrix as it is hosted)
• Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (change management of GPOs and role-based delegation)
• Microsoft Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset (from Winternals purchase)

This will be available as an add-on subscription for Software Assurance customers. Customers with Open Value, Select, Enterprise Agreement (EA), EA Subscription and Campus and School agreements can subscribe through volume licensing, for an estimated retail price of US$10 a year per desktop. $10 – what a bargain!

This is interesting as the announcement is from the Windows Client Product Marketing Group and not the Windows and Enterprise Management Division. Which explains no mention of System Center in the products.

Although the press release states that these tools can be used in conjunction with SMS it does seem that there is some overlap. If you have an EA you already own the CALs for SMS and just need to buy the Primary Servers (Secondary SMS Servers are free). That aside it is a great price to get hold of SoftGrid. When you look at the advantages that it gives – no more complex testing matrix of applications to see if they are suitable for an upgrade – combined with the OS Deployment Feature Pack for SMS along with the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator then it is going to be hard not to upgrade to Vista and Office 2007 if you have an EA.

Press release – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/oct06/10-17Desktop.mspx

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/optimizeddesktop.mspx
Initial marketing page but links at bottom to 4 PDFs for more detail on each of the components.
 

Updated Timelines

On Wednesday we had the UK day of the Best of MMS 2006 tour and good sessions from Vlad Joanovic and Wally Mead.

There were some timelines given out in the sessions.

SCOM 2007 Release Candidate by the end of this month (potentially)
SCOM 2007 RTM – Q1 2007 (I would say more towards the end of the quarter).
Which means that it will be ready for launch at MMS 2007.

Interestingly they gave out a new URL – www.microsoft.com/opsmgr which resolves to the main MOM site but it seems like they may be trying to wean us off the MOM name.

SMS 2003 SP3 – Q1 2007 (after Vista ships)
 Full support for Vista
 Adds in AssetMetrix

They showed some great reports that you can now do on the asset management of installed software which will really please SMS customers.

SCCM 2007
 Beta available now and feedback is that it is a solid beta
 Release in summer 2007

Softricity version through MS code checks – available Sept 06
Full Microsoft branded Softricity – Q1 07
There was a hint of more announcements on Softricity but they were not giving out any clues. Perhaps at IT Forum.

“Service Desk”
 Beta2 H1 2007
 RTM H2 2007

SC Virtual Machine Manager – expected in 9 to 12 months.

Models are core to SCOM and SCCM and are a cornerstone of Microsoft’s Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) vision. These are based on Systems Definition Model (SDM) v2. Version 3 will be the new SML standard.

The presentations are available at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/technet/postevent/default.mspx?month=2006-10

WEMD buys DesktopStandard

The Windows and Enterprise Management Division are still on the aquisiyion trail and have purchased DesktopStandard specialist in Group Policy products.

 The Press Release and FAQ are on the companys web site at http://www.desktopstandard.com/.

It will be interesting to see how it will be branded and whether it will continue to be sold separately or integrated with SMS or bundled as part of Longhorn.

Delays to SCOM 2007?

SCOM 2007 release candidate should have been out by now. I suspect that there are delays.

So why do delays happen. Coding is a difficult task. I used to do it when I was younger but decided writing code was not for me and went into infrastructure. The thing is that you can not double the developers and half the time. It does not work like that.

The variables you can work with are:

1. Reducing the code quality by pressurising the developers and cut down on testing

2. Cutting features

3. Slip the date

Well nobody wants the first option – not even Microsoft. Although some people still say to install a Microsoft product until SP1. That may have been good advice pre Windows 2000 but Microsoft has put a lot of work into testing the code before release which is why new releases do not have the same issues that sometimes happened before. That is not to say that they are bug free. It is very hard to get bug free code – even open source, regardless of what they say. 

Cutting features is done but usually once a product reaches release candidate the features are set unless a show stopper is found. Feature lists are juggled with all the time and a decision has to be made on which features are desirable and must haves and which ones can be sacrificed to a future release. If there are not enough new and compelling features then organisations will not upgrade and will skip a version. That is why some organisations join the Technology Adoption Program (TAP) so that they can get petition for what they want to see in the product. The theory being that if all the TAP customers want the same features then it is likely everyone else will want them. It does not work out that way but if there are features you want to see then add your feedback at http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=209. The Product Group are always looking for good constructive feedback that will help them make a product that everyone wants to use.
 

The last one is to slip the date. This is the most usual option as if you cut too many features then it won’t sell. Microsoft gets a hard time for this and id always accused of “running late”. That is why the Product Group does not like giving out dates as they then get lambasted in the press (and now blogs) for slipping. But would you want the alternative options? Personally I would wait to get the product right. The problem is customers (especially the large ones) want dates as they need to plan budgets and project schedules so rough dates are given out. I have always said not to take the Microsoft estimated date as gospel but as a guideline that the software will NOT be released before then.

Still the MOM product group have traditionally been very good on hitting their dates. And it is only 2 years (Oct 2004) since MOM 2005 was released. After all the SMS team took 5 years between SMS v2.0 and 2003 and the SQL team even longer between 2000 and 2005 versions. With the Microsoft sales channel pushing Enterprise Agreements and Software Assurance there is now pressure on the product groups to have releases within three years otherwise those customers will not get the next version which is one of the main reasons for taking out those agreements. So the team have a year to get SCOM 2007 out and still be within the three year window but hopefully it will be out long before then. Having said that SMS 2003 was delayed by 6 months due to feedback from the TAP group which meant a large recoding but the customer is (nearly) always right. 

So we wait with bated breath for the release candidate of SCOM 2007 and an indication of RTM.