Sealing SCOM MP’s

 

Sealing MP’s

This is an updated version of Kevin Holman’s blog, and Jonathan Almquist’s blog for SCOM2012R2 and 2016

 

First why seal?

If you seal the MP – we will be able to use the classes/groups created for overrides in any other override MP.

Unsealed MP – any overrides you use for classes/groups will be forced into this same MP.

 

 

If you don’t have Visual Studio 2013 and above with VSAE, or have other requirements, you will need to download the SDK to get the SN.exe utility

 

Download SDK

Win2008 & R2 SDK No longer available for Download

Win2012 & R2 SDK Download

Win10 SDK Download https://developer.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/windows-10-sdk

Release blog https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2017/05/11/windows-10-sdk-preview-build-16190-released/

NOTE Install path to go grab the sn.exe file

 

 

Install SDK

Copy file to the local machine

Open PowerShell window as administrator

cd $HOME/desktop

.\sdksetup.exe          # .\winsdksetup.exe for Server 2016/win10

 

 

Verify SN.exe is found after SDK install completes

Server 2008 – sn.exe located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.1\Bin\x64

Server 2012 – sn.exe located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.1A\bin\NETFX 4.5.1 Tools

Server 2016 and Win 10 – sn.exe located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools

 

 

 

Create the MPSeal folders

Repository where you want to keep the MPSeal.exe, SNK files, and related sealed packs for any MP sealed
C:\monadmin\MPSeal
C:\monadmin\MPSeal\unsealed
C:\monadmin\MPSeal\sealed # Reference sealed MP’s
C:\monadmin\MPSeal\key
C:\monadmin\MPSeal\output

PowerShell as Admin commands to create repository

new-item -itemtype directory -path c:\monadmin\
new-item -itemtype directory -path c:\monadmin\MPSeal
new-item -itemtype directory -path c:\monadmin\MPSeal\unsealed
new-item -itemtype directory -path c:\monadmin\MPSeal\sealed
new-item -itemtype directory -path c:\monadmin\MPSeal\key
new-item -itemtype directory -path c:\monadmin\MPSeal\output

 

 

Copy MPSeal utility from Support directory on SCOM ISO

On ISO, copy mpseal* from ISO SupportTools\AMD64 directory to c:\monadmin\MPSeal

 

 

 

Let’s get the Key file generated and start sealing MP’s!

 

Create SNK files
Note SN.exe only needs to be run once to create the SNK file
***Critical note – you need to keep a backup of this key… because it will be required for making updates to this MP in the future, re-sealing, and keeping the ability to upgrade the existing MP in production.

 

sn -k <yourDomainNameHere>.snk

Sample syntax from win2k8 server

Copy this SNK file to c:\monadmin\MPSeal\key

 

 

Copy Referenced MP’s
This is a good opportunity to add the MP’s referenced in the ISO, UR updates, and/or RTM folder when installing SCOM, Unix MP’s, etc.

Copy sealed MP’s to c:\monadmin\MPSeal\sealed

 

 

Seal MP

MPSeal.exe c:\monadmin\mpseal\unsealed\<mpNameHere>.xml /I “c:\monadmin\mpseal\sealed” /Keyfile “c:\monadmin\mpseal\key\PairKey.snk” /Company “CompanyName” /Outdir “c:\monadmin\mpseal\output”

 

 

References
How to Seal MP https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/system-center/system-center-2012-R2/hh457550(v=sc.12)

 

 

SCOM Maintenance Mode PowerShell

My thanks to Matt Taylor and Kevin Holman, Ralph Kyttle, and John Kavanagh for their guidance!

Updated 24 Jun 2022

 

 

Read on if these apply
Trying to start, update, or end SCOM MM

Get alerts when MM is updated
PowerShell only in your shop!
SCORCH in play but need to convert runbooks to straight PowerShell

Ran into issues using Set-SCOMMaintenanceMode, as the cmdlet doesn’t put ALL the recursive classes under Windows Computer

 

 

Background

Set-SCOMMaintenanceMode cmdlet is actually “by design.”  ☹

 

Start-SCOMMaintenanceMode assumes you want recursive action when you start maintenance mode….

Pick a Windows Computer and it places the Windows Computer object (AND all contained objects) into MM.

 

Computer in MM

All contained objects in MM

 

 

However, the problem is that Set-SCOMMaintenancemode does not have an understanding of recursiveness.

Command changes the MM entry for the Windows Computer, but NOT all the contained objects.  So they retain the original setting.

 

Health explorer looks like this, resulting in unwanted alerts

 

 

 

Details

NOTE these $Time and DateTime Method are dependent on the delay between running the commands
If you start MM, and wait 5 minutes, then update, the total MM duration will be ~20 minutes

 

 

 

Maintenance Mode options and examples

# Setup variables for MM

# Example 1 Windows Computer

$server = “Servername.FQDN”

$instance = (get-scomclass -DisplayName “Windows Computer” |Get-SCOMClassInstance | where { $_.DisplayName -eq $server } )

# Set time for 6 minutes

$Time = (Get-Date).addMinutes(6)

Start-SCOMMaintenanceMode -Instance $Instance -EndTime $Time -Comment “Starting Maintenance Mode.” -Reason “PlannedOther”

 

# Example 2

# Business needs require Windows Operating System monitoring to occur while Application is in maintenance

# My Example is Defender, could be SQL, MSMQ, Lync, Skype, or your custom class created for your application

$Class = (get-scomclass)
$Class | ? { $_.Name -like “*Defender*” } | fl DisplayName,Name
$Class | ? { $_.Name -like “*Defender*” } | fl DisplayName,Name

DisplayName : Protected Endpoint
Name        : Microsoft.WindowsDefender.ProtectedServer

DisplayName : Protected Candidate
Name        : Microsoft.WindowsDefender.ProtectedServerCandidate

DisplayName : Unprotected Endpoint
Name        : Microsoft.WindowsDefender.UnprotectedServer

DisplayName : Microsoft Windows Defender Class
Name        : Microsoft.Windows.Defender.Class

# Choose the class needed

$server = “Servername.FQDN”

$instance = ( $Class | ? { $_.Name -like “Microsoft.Windows.Defender*” } |Get-SCOMClassInstance | ? { $_.DisplayName -eq $server } )

# Verify Instance variable

$instance

PS C:\Users\scomadmin> $instance

HealthState     InMaintenanceMode  DisplayName
———–     —————–  ———–
Success               False        WFM.testlab.net

 

# Don’t forget to add time variable

$Time = (Get-Date).addMinutes(6)

# Start maintenance mode

Start-SCOMMaintenanceMode -Instance $Instance -EndTime $Time -Comment “Starting Maintenance Mode.” -Reason “PlannedOther”

 

 

 

 

Start, Update, End and Verify Maintenance mode syntax

 

# Start MM via PoSH cmdlet

Start-SCOMMaintenanceMode -Instance $Instance -EndTime $Time -Comment “Starting Maintenance Mode.” -Reason “PlannedOther”

 

 

# Start MM using method vs. PowerShell cmdlet

Note Recursive in $WCobj.ScheduleMaintenanceMode

$windowsComment=”PlannedOther”
$windowReason=”PlannedOther”
$windowsComment=”Testing Maintenance Mode”
$windowDuration=15

$server= “wfm.testlab.net”
$instance = (get-scomclass -DisplayName “Windows Computer” |Get-SCOMClassInstance | ? { $_.DisplayName -eq $server } )
$instance.ScheduleMaintenanceMode([datetime]::Now.touniversaltime(),([datetime]::Now).addminutes($windowDuration).touniversaltime(), “$windowReason”, “$windowsComment” , “Recursive”)

# Drop Recursive if you don’t want it (but can’t imagine why you would!)

 

 

# Update MM

# Make sure you’ve put object in MM

$server= “wfm.testlab.net”
$instance = (get-scomclass -DisplayName “Windows Computer” |Get-SCOMClassInstance | ? { $_.DisplayName -eq $server } )

# 15 minutes in the future
$instance.UpdateMaintenanceMode([System.datetime]::Now.touniversaltime().addminutes(15),[Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Monitoring.MaintenanceModeReason]::PlannedOther,[System.string]::”Adding 15 minutes to the end time.”,[Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Common.TraversalDepth]::Recursive);

 

# Stop MM

# Make sure you’ve put object in MM

# Immediate
$instance.StopMaintenanceMode([System.DateTime]::Now.ToUniversalTime());

My thanks to Jan Nevaril

$server.StopMaintenanceMode([System.DateTime]::Now.ToUniversalTime(),“Recursive”)

 

 

 

Verification steps

 

# Verify MM

get-scommaintenancemode -ComputerName $instance.Name|fl MonitoringObjectId,StartTime,ScheduledEndTime

NOTE This will error if you’ve stopped maintenance

Example

PS C:\Users\scomadmin> get-scommaintenancemode -ComputerName $instance.Name
get-scommaintenancemode : The Data Access service is either not running or not yet initialized. Check the event log
for more information.
At line:1 char:1
+ get-scommaintenancemode -ComputerName $instance.Name
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (Microsoft.Syste…anceModeCommand:GetSCMaintenanceModeCommand) [Get-S
COMMaintenanceMode], ServiceNotRunningException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExecutionError,Microsoft.SystemCenter.OperationsManagerV10.Commands.GetSCMaintenanceMode
Command

 

 

# Validate MM through Operations Manager Event ID’s 1215 and 1216 logged

get-eventlog -LogName “Operations Manager” | ? { $_.EventID -eq 1215 -OR $_.EventID -eq 1216 } |fl EventID,TimeGenerated,Message

# Alternate command to check latest 100 events

get-eventlog -LogName “Operations Manager” -newest 100 | ? { $_.EventID -eq 1215 -OR $_.EventID -eq 1216 } |fl EventID,TimeGenerated,Message

 

 

# Error if object NOT in MM

Cannot find an overload for “UpdateMaintenanceMode” and the argument count: “1”.

At line:1 char:1

+ $WCobj.UpdateMaintenanceMode(([System.datetime]::Now).addminutes(15). …

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest

 

PS C:\Windows\system32>

 

Testing System datetime

PS C:\Windows\system32> [System.datetime]::Now.addminutes(15)

 

Thursday, August 24, 2017 9:18:04 AM

 

 

PS C:\Windows\system32> ([System.datetime]::Now.addminutes(15)).touniversaltime()

 

Thursday, August 24, 2017 2:18:16 PM

 

 

 

 

References

2012 PowerShell cmdlets https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/system-center/hh920227(v=sc.20)

2016 PowerShell cmdlets https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/operationsmanager/?view=systemcenter-ps-2016

2019 PowerShell cmdlets https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/operationsmanager/?view=systemcenter-ps-2019

SDK

Ralph Kyttle Blog https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/ralphkyttle/2014/11/10/scom-2012-r2-use-powershell-to-end-an-active-maintenance-mode/

DateTime Methods https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.datetime

SCOM 2019 Maintenance Mode
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/system-center/scom/manage-maintenance-mode-overview?view=sc-om-2019

MSDN MaintenanceModeReason Method https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/system-center/developer/bb465591(v=msdn.10)

MSDN StopMaintenanceMode Method

UpdateMaintenanceMode Method https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/system-center/developer/bb424495(v=msdn.10)

 

MM deluxe custom script https://gist.github.com/stegenfeldt/b3f044aa77894ed80d82f8849a48035b