Active Directory 2012-2016 Addendum packs updated

Man time flies!

 

Thought I’d share some new functionality for AD DS (Active Directory Domain Services)

 

Ran across some customer errors with AD Event ID 1084, which exists in the old 8321 pack, but not in the v10.x pack.

Well, if you get these errors, your DC isn’t replicating, and most likely will need to be rebuilt.

 

Gallery download

 

Broke out the packs to separate the Recovery Tasks in their own pack, versus added functionality in the addendum.

Figured better to send packs NOT sealed, so that meant 2 packs,

WYSIWYG (wizzy-wig acronym)

 

What this means

v1.0.0.1 pack had just the AD DS Service Recovery Tasks

v1.0.0.2 pack has a Service Recovery Tasks pack, and the Addendum pack

What I think is cool is that the Addendum pack contains 2 rules, simple rule event (enabled by default), and also a PowerShell rule.

 

Rule Figured out how to simply look for criteria, count it, and alert on it.

We always look for alert suppression, some of the sliding/counting monitors are too much.

 

Starting with Holman’s alerting rule fragment, we can create more powerful combinations than just a single symptom.

Using Variations of the get-date command, we can actually specify how far back to look, to count for alerts.

Easier method to count events, to figure out an alert threshold.

 

From the rule in the Addendum pack

# Check blog for more detail https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/2015/01/21/adding-and-subtracting-dates-with-powershell/
# If you want this in other time increments – AddHours, AddSeconds, AddMilliseconds
#
$LastCheck = (Get-Date).AddMinutes(-65)

[int]$TempCount = (get-eventlog -logName “Directory Service” -Source “NTDS Replication” -InstanceID 1084 -Message “*8451 The replication operation encountered a database error*” -After $LastCheck).Count

IF ($TempCount -ge 1)
{
$Result = “BAD”
$Message = “The number of 1084 Replication Database error events was greater than 1”
}
ELSE
{
$Result = “GOOD”
}

 

Maybe we need multiple event ID’s, or search multiple event logs… you decide, and let me know.

 

Active Directory 2012-2016 Addendum Management Pack

A Post-it note is like an addendum, no?

 

 

As an Operations engineer, how many times do you get notified for a service restart?

 

Did you know about Service Recovery actions, or SCOM Recovery Tasks?

 

Why didn’t the SCOM Recovery tasks get added to many of the common Microsoft Applications?

 

 

Hopefully today, we can discuss some actions to help limit the amount of manual rework required to resolve service issues.

 

Let’s explain the basics

  1. Windows Servers have a Recovery tab in the Services.msc menu.
  2. Does your monitoring tool allow for recovery actions?

 

 

To implement recovery actions, here’s an example of the Services Recovery Tab

Here’s an example of the SCOM agent service

          NOTE 3 failures spaced 1 minute apart to restart the service

 

 

Let’s take it one step further, and add a restart to the service from another tool (insert your monitoring tool here).

 

In SCOM, taking an action after identifying the problem can be handled different ways

  • Services are related to Health, which are typically found as monitors, and to apply restart automation falls into Recovery Tasks.

 

  • In Monitors as a ‘Recovery Task’, or in Rules as a response

  • Rule Response

 

 

 

 

Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)

Now that we understand the methods available, let’s get to the Addendum.

The Active Directory Domain Services Addendum MP will add Recovery tasks to AD DS Service Monitors.

NOTE: This is for the newer v10.0.x.y management packs that support AD DS 2012-2016

 

Specifically, the Pack has 12 Recovery tasks for DFS, NTDS, DFSR, IsmServ, KDC, NetLogon, NTFRS, W32Time, Group Policy, DNS Client, ADWS, and DNS.

 

The recovery tasks verify service state, start ‘not running’ services, and include the option to recalculate health.

 

 

My goal is automation that helps anyone work smarter versus harder, with the goal to avoid being woke up at 2am just to restart a service.

 

Gallery Download      https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/SCOM-AD-Directory-Addendum-22d0473a