How to Extend Microsoft SCOM to Monitor & Diagnose the Performance of Citrix, SAP, and other Critical Business Applications

Editor's Notes

1. System Center Operations Manager (or SCOM for short) is a popular choice for enterprises to monitor and manage their Microsoft servers and applications.
2. However, today’s IT infrastructures are heterogeneous and multivendor. You can virtualization platforms like VmwarevSphere, remote access technologies like Citrix virtual desktops, middleware Java applications and enterprise applications like SAP. SCOM does not monitor these non-Microsoft environments in-depth. Management packs that augment SCOM for such environments are often provided by third party vendors.Administrators often have to rely on multiple management packs from different vendors to get their SCOM console to monitor their entire IT infrastructure.
3. The challenge in using multiple management packs from different vendors is that there is no integration between the management packs.Administrators get a lot of metrics about each management pack. But very little actionable information and correlated alerts are available to help them pinpoint the real root-cause of a performance issue. This leads to long problem isolation and diagnosis cycles, resulting in poor user experience and loss in user productivity. IT operations costs also increase as domain experts end up spending time in routine fire-fighting activities. What administrators need therefore is a single integrated monitoring approach that can support Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications spanning physical and virtual infrastructures.
4. Administrators can monitor Microsoft platforms with SCOM and use eG Enterprise for all the non-Microsoft platforms like Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop, SAP, Java applications, etc. Instead of sending raw metrics to System Center Operations Manager, eG Enterprise collects, analyses, and correlates metrics from every layer, every infrastructure tier using an industry first “virtualization aware” root-cause diagnosis technology. Only actionable information is sent to the SCOM console. This enables administrators to initiate the right corrective action to fix a problem.
5. Administrators can monitor Microsoft platforms with SCOM and use eG Enterprise for all the non-Microsoft platforms like Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop, SAP, Java applications, etc. Instead of sending raw metrics to System Center Operations Manager, eG Enterprise collects, analyses, and correlates metrics from every layer, every infrastructure tier using an industry first “virtualization aware” root-cause diagnosis technology. Only actionable information is sent to the SCOM console. This enables administrators to initiate the right corrective action to fix a problem.
6. The integrated solution provides best of breed capabilities from SCOM for Microsoft infrastructure monitoring and uses eG Enterprise’s broad and deep coverage of non-Microsoft technologies.The integration extends eG's multi vendor virtualization monitoring and root-cause diagnosis expertise to SCOM, enabling administrators to proactively detect issues in heterogeneous virtualized platforms and promptly resolve them.With this integration, the SCOM console becomes the primary console for performance and problem information collected from across the infrastructure. The combined solution leverages eG Enterprise’s automatic root-cause diagnosis capability to generate accurate root-cause alerts in the SCOM console.The eG monitoring console can be launched from the SCOM console in context. This allows administrators to instantly access detailed diagnostics available in the eG console for a speedy problem resolution.
7. The integrated solution provides best of breed capabilities from SCOM for Microsoft infrastructure monitoring and uses eG Enterprise’s broad and deep coverage of non-Microsoft technologies.The integration extends eG's multi vendor virtualization monitoring and root-cause diagnosis expertise to SCOM, enabling administrators to proactively detect issues in heterogeneous virtualized platforms and promptly resolve them.With this integration, the SCOM console becomes the primary console for performance and problem information collected from across the infrastructure. The combined solution leverages eG Enterprise’s automatic root-cause diagnosis capability to generate accurate root-cause alerts in the SCOM console.The eG monitoring console can be launched from the SCOM console in context. This allows administrators to instantly access detailed diagnostics available in the eG console for a speedy problem resolution.
8. The integrated solution offers administrators a lot of benefits. The combined solution is a single, integrated monitoring platform that supports both Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications equally well. Administrators can view the performance of entire heterogeneous environment in the familiar SCOM console and they do not need to learn another monitoring tool or master multiple management packs from different vendors.Administrators can even add custom monitors for new applications and devices using eG Enterprise and integrate these rapidly with SCOM.
9. The integrated solution offers administrators a lot of benefits. The combined solution is a single, integrated monitoring platform that supports both Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications equally well. Administrators can view the performance of entire heterogeneous environment in the familiar SCOM console and they do not need to learn another monitoring tool or master multiple management packs from different vendors.Administrators can even add custom monitors for new applications and devices using eG Enterprise and integrate these rapidly with SCOM.