Microsoft: Windows Server PowerPack, version 113

Version 113 of the Microsoft: Windows Server PowerPack merges the content of the Microsoft: Windows Server Services PowerPack and addresses updates to the device class and alignment process.

  • Minimum Required SL1 Version: 10.1.0

Before You Install or Upgrade

Ensure that you are running version 10.1.0 or later of SL1 before installing Microsoft: Windows Server version 113.

For details on upgrading SL1, see the appropriate Release Notes.

Installing or Upgrading to this Version

By default, installing a new version of a PowerPack will overwrite all content in that PowerPack that has already been installed on the target system. You can use the Enable Selective PowerPack Field Protection setting in the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior) to prevent the new version of the PowerPack from overwriting local changes for some commonly customized fields.

If you are currently using the Dynamic Applications in this PowerPack to monitor devices, collection errors might occur for one or two polling cycles during the installation of a new version. To prevent collection errors during an upgrade, you can optionally disable collection for monitored devices before performing the following steps and re-enable collection after the upgrade.

To install this PowerPack:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the Known Issues for this release.
  2. See the Before You Install or Upgrade section. If you have not done so already, upgrade your system to the 10.1.0 or later release.
  3. Download the "Microsoft: Windows Server" version 113 PowerPack from the Support Site to a local computer.
  4. Go to the PowerPack Manager page (System > Manage > PowerPacks). Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. When prompted, import "Microsoft: Windows Server" version 113.
  5. Click the Install button. For details on installing PowerPacks, see the chapter on Installing a PowerPack in the PowerPacks manual.

For more information about using the PowerPack, see the Monitoring Microsoft: Windows Server manual.

Features

Version 113 of the Microsoft: Windows Server  PowerPack includes the following features:

  • Dynamic Applications that collect configuration and performance data about Windows Servers
  • Event Policies that are triggered when Windows Server devices meet certain status criteria
  • Device Classes for each type of Windows Server

NOTE: The Device Classes include older device types that can be discovered but are no longer supported by ScienceLogic.

  • Run Book Policies and Run Book Actions that align a more detailed device class with each discovered device
  • A sample Credential for discovering Windows Server devices

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included in version 113 of the Microsoft: Windows Server PowerPack:

  • Added the Microsoft: Windows Server 2022 Device Class with classic and AP2 icons.
  • Merged the updated PowerPack to SL1 11.2.0.
  • Addressed an issue in which the RBA for Windows device alignment did not read the "Azure Edition" at the end of the OS. The RBA was updated to remove "Azure Edition" in order to match the OS to Windows Server 2022.

  • Renamed the “Swap Usage" Presentation Object, for the "Microsoft: Windows Server Memory Performance" Dynamic Application, to “Virtual Memory in Use”. The "Swap" Label and "Vitals" Group have been removed.

  • Renamed the “Paging File Usage" Presentation Object, for the "Microsoft: Windows Server Memory Performance" Dynamic Application, to "Paging File Usage (Swap)". The "Swap" Label and "Vitals" Group have been added to this Presentation Object.

  • Addressed an issue in which the Dynamic Application incorrectly reported successful service runs despite the service's actual failed behavior. The Dynamic Application now reports correct service status.
  • Addressed an issue in which PowerShell data collection contained gaps for the "Microsoft: Windows Server Disk Performance" Dynamic Application on SL1 version 11.1.

  • Updated the "Microsoft: Windows Server Service Configuration" Dynamic Application to allow the comparison of the Display Name or Service Name fields with blacklist services.

  • Updated the "Microsoft: Windows Automatic Service is running or in blacklist" healthy alert, for the "Microsoft: Windows Server Service Configuration" Dynamic Application, to be triggered for items that have been blacklisted, or changed state; only if they have been alerted. When triggered, the healthy alert will clear out those corresponding items.

Known Issues and Workarounds

The following known issues affect version 113 of the Microsoft: Windows Server PowerPack:

  • If the list of IP addresses assigned to an interface is longer than 235 characters, the "Microsoft: Windows Server Interface Configuration" Dynamic Application will strip the list of IP addresses after 235 characters and the following will appear in the logs:

    90.PoolWorker-2.Extended_Internal_Collection: Skipping IPv6 Address due to powershell collector characters limit of 235 chars. did: <did> app_id: <app_id> Interface: <if>

    90.PoolWorker-2.Extended_Internal_Collection: Skipping IPv4 Address due to powershell collector characters limit of 235 chars. did: <did> app_id: <app_id> Interface: <if>

     

    If an IPv4 address is invalid, the "Microsoft: Windows Server Interface Configuration" Dynamic Application will remove the address and the following notice will appear in the logs:

    90.PoolWorker-2.Extended_Internal_Collection: Skipping IPv4 Mask due to powershell collector characters limit of 235 chars. did: <did> app_id: <app_id> Interface: <if>

  • When updating the PowerPack, in the "Microsoft: Windows Server IC Interface Inventory" Dynamic Application, corrupted IPs with empty spaces, curly brackets ({}), or ellipses (...) will need to be deleted.

     

    The first step is to review the rows that will be deleted with the following query in the SL1 database:

    SELECT id, did, ip, netmask FROM master_dev.device_ip_addr WHERE ip REGEXP '(^([{])|([}]$)|([.]{3}$)|([...}]$)|(\\s))';

     

    (This step is very important because it will display all rows that will be deleted in the second step.)


    The second step is to delete the rows if the customer is satisfied with the results. Use the following query in the SL1 database:

    DELETE FROM master_dev.device_ip_addr WHERE ip REGEXP '(^([{])|([}]$)|([.]{3}$)|([...}]$)|(\\s))';

     

    (After running this query, it can't be reverted.)

  • Dynamic Applications will produce errors and data will not be collected if your language is set to anything other than English (i.e. Turkish, Portuguese).
  • For mount point paths, all instances of "\" have been changed to "/" in the "Windows: Server IC Filesystem Inventory" and "Windows: Server IC Filesystem Performance" Dynamic Applications. Drives that are hidden will not be loaded, but will be visible in the "Microsoft: Windows Server Disk Configuration" Dynamic Application.
  • The Collector Affinity setting for Windows Server IC Dynamic Applications changes to Default if there are any changes made under the Properties tab. To keep the setting as Assigned Collector, run the following query:

UPDATE master.dynamic_app SET cu_affinity=2 WHERE ppguid IN ('<PP-GUID>');

 

  • If you use the "Microsoft: Windows Server IC Interface Performance" Dynamic Application to populate interface performance data, then you cannot enable the Packets setting on the Interface Properties page (Registry > Networks > Interfaces > interface wrench icon) without causing an unhandled exception.
  • The "Microsoft: Windows Server Software Configuration" Dynamic Application cannot properly parse installation dates that are not in yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss format, such as "Wed Jul 05 12:41:46 EDT 2017".

  • The Dynamic Applications with "Microsoft: Windows Server IC" in the name may not align to newly discovered devices until Nightly Discovery runs.