Support

MP Studio 2.x

MP Studio 2007

You are unable to load Management Packs from a registered Management Server

Ensure you are logged on as a user that is a member of the MOM Users group. Also ensure that your anti-virus software is not blocking MP Studio

Disabling Message of the Day and Auto-Update features

MP Studio includes features to automatically check for updates to the product and provide an informative Message of the Day. These features can be disabled in the Tools - Options - Support dialog

Startup wizard reports SQL Server failures

In some isolated cases, selecting SQL Authentication to access the MP Studio database can cause SQL failures on a locally installed SQL or MSDE database. It is recommended to use Windows authentication whenever possible.

When starting up MP Studio, you are presented with an error indicating the MOM consoles are not installed

Please ensure the MOM Administrator console is installed on the same system where MP Studio is being installed. Also MP Studio is not currently supported on 64 bit versions of Windows. You will need to install and run MP Studio on another version of the Windows operating system.

Support for Windows x64

MP Studio is not currently supported on 64 bit versions of Windows. You will need to install and run MP Studio on another version of the Windows operating system.

Errors when trying to profile a server

Ensure that your anti-virus software is not blocking the MP Studio Profile service.

If my trial license has expired how do I update it?

MP Studio license can and should be updated by simply first exiting the application, then copy the unzipped file into the following folder: C:\Program Files\Silect\MP Studio\V2. Choose to overwrite the existing copy if updating your license with a new extended license.

If a license was imported into Studio at any time using the "I already have a license" link of the "This is a Trial" screen and then on the next prompt the user had selected "Install license for all applications that use this component", MP Studio will copy the license file into the following directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Xheo\SharedLicenses

If later the license expires, and an extension license is required, it will need to be copied into this location. The reason for this is that MP Studio's licenses mechanism keeps track of the path(s) where license files are known to have existed previously.

Note the ZZZZMPStudioTrialInstallation.lic file is an important place holder, do not delete this file. If multiple license files exist, MP Studio will try using them alphabetically.

trial license
Support for Vista

As the Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (MOM2005) console is a prerequisite for MP Studio 2.1, and MOM2005 is not supported on Vista, MPStudio 2.1 is not Vista compatible.

 

MP Studio 2007

What database permissions are required in run MP Studio 2007?

During the startup wizard MP Studio will create two databases, it is recommended to use the default names including SilectStudio3 and SilectVault3 although these names are not mandatory. The Silect Studio database cannot be shared amongst multiple users as such if multiple users will be installing on the same database server be sure to customize this database name. The second database created, SilectVault is used by the MP Studio Store feature for version control and backup of management packs. This database can be shared by multiple users.

  • You will be prompted for credentials to be used when creating the two databases. The accounts specified require the following minimum permissions: CONNECT, DELETE, INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE, and EXECUTE.
  • It is highly recommended that Windows authentication be used to access the SQL databases. The installation wizard will prompt for an RMS server and credentials to connect with. This is an optional yet recommended configuration item. As a minimum, the account used must be a member of the Operations Manager Role - Read Only Operator.
  • You will be prompted for credentials to be used when testing management packs. These credentials require local administrator privileges on any servers being targeted.

 

I'm getting a prompt about a referenced MP when checking it into the store. Why do we need the referenced MP anyway?

You need the referenced MPs, because the MP that you're checking in includes portions of it.

Your MP is not a single standalone piece of "code". It includes some "code" of its own, but it also selects and includes bits and pieces of "code" from other MPs. As a result, it can't exist by itself.

This is a very difficult concept to grasp - particularly for those from MOM 2005 who were used to a MP including ALL the "code" that made up the MP. This is the exact opposite of MOM 2005 where MPs would contain duplicate pieces of "code" because they weren't able to reference each other. And when you loaded two different MOM 2005 MPs, one MP's piece of "code" could overwrite another MP's piece of "code" with the same name, but that was functionally different.

What port do I need to open up for MP Studio to connect to my RMS?

MP Studio uses the same ports as Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 console. No addition ports need to be opened in your firewall.

MP Studio 2007 won't install on my system because it incorrectly thinks that System Center isn't installed.

This is a limitation of 64-bit operating systems and the way that System Center Operations Manager Console works. The registry keys that MP Studio uses to determine if the Console software is installed are only created when the user who is currently logged in has opened and closed the OM Console. This should be the only step necessary to continue with the install.

I'm getting a serious error trying to launch MP Studio in a newly installed multi-user environment.

When you launch MP Studio for the first time, the application requires additional information from the MSI file in order to establish user settings. If you wish to install MP Studio for multiple users, the MP Studio MSI file must be in a folder which all of the users have access to.

How do I best avoid out-of-memory errors when working with file-based MPs?

Many transactions when dealing with file-based MPs require MP Studio to load all relevant MPs into memory. If it cannot find all of the MPs in the reference folder, it will go to your working folder and reload the MPs a second time. The best way to avoid this is to ensure that your reference folder contains all of the MPs that you will be working with as well as all of the MPs that they reference. The easiest way, of course, is to make your reference folder the same as the registered folder you are working with.

When I launch MP Studio Enterprise and select the Store button, I don't see any folders my co-worker created. Also if I right click the top level the options such as Add Management Group and Add Project are grayed out. Why is that?

The store permissions are controlled by user roles within the store itself. If your user is not registered in the Store, you will not have access to the Store and the administration node and any existing folders will not be visible. Log in as the user who initially installed MP Studio, and add your user to a group within the store. Then, log out, and log back in as your proper user. The store should now be available.

How does MP Studio handle scripts in testing?

MP Studio runs all scripts locally, much like Operations Manager does when running "agentless" monitoring. Local and remote scripts are run on the machine running MP Studio. Many remotable scripts run correctly when run agentless, but not all. MP Studio specifically checks for and logs an error if it appears that the script will be accessing the file system since this will try to access the local file system, and not the file system on the machine being tested.

What are the MPs that MP Studio is looking for during the install?

MP Studio references several core management packs several of its standard operations. These are usually found in the Program Files directory of your management server. More precisely, it is looking for:

  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.2007.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.ClientMonitoring.Internal.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.ClientMonitoring.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.ClientMonitoring.Views.Internal.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.DataWarehouse.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.DataWarehouse.Report.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Image.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.InstanceGroup.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Internal.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Internal.UI.Tasks.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.NetworkDevice.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Notifications.Internal.xml
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.Notifications.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.NTService.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.OperationsManager.2007.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.OperationsManager.AM.DR.2007.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.OperationsManager.DefaultUser.xml
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.OperationsManager.Internal.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.RuleTemplates.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.ServiceDesigner.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.SyntheticTransactions.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.TaskTemplates.mp
  • Microsoft.SystemCenter.WebApplication.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.Windows.Client.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.Windows.Cluster.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.Windows.Image.Library.mp
  • Microsoft.Windows.Library.mp
  • System.ApplicationLog.Library.mp
  • System.BaseliningTasks.Library.mp
  • System.Hardware.Library.mp
  • System.Health.Internal.mp
  • System.Health.Library.mp
  • System.Image.Library.mp
  • System.Library.mp
  • System.Mom.BackwardCompatibility.Library.mp
  • System.Performance.Library.mp
  • System.Snmp.Library.mp

My password has changed. How does that affect MP Studio?

Many companies require users to change their passwords after a certain amount of time. If the users you specified during the Startup Wizard change their passwords, you may find that you start getting database errors while performing certain actions such as testing, or reviewing the store.

To make sure your passwords are correct, simply go to the Options dialog, and re-type the passwords for the MP Studio Database and the MP Store Database. When you hit Apply, it will verify that the login information is correct and you should no longer receive those errors.

What is the best way to configure my Virtual Memory for MP Studio?

In Windows XP:

  1. Quit all applications.
  2. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel and double-click System.
  3. Click the Advanced tab and then select Settings in the Performance section.
  4. Click the Advanced tab, and in the Virtual memory section, click Change.
  5. From the Drive list, select a hard drive that has 1.5 times the amount of your computer's installed RAM. For example, if your computer has 512 MB of RAM, select a hard drive that has at least 1 GB of free hard drive space, or 768 MB for Windows XP.
  6. In the Paging File Size for Selected Drive section, select Custom size (Windows XP only), and in the Initial Size box, enter a value equal to the twice the amount of your computer's installed RAM.
  7. In the Maximum Size box, enter a value equal to four times the amount of your computer's installed RAM.
  8. Click Set and then click OK.

Note: For the best performance, the Paging File should be on a separate, empty, de-fragmented hard disk.

Why do I keep getting errors when testing from a mapped drive? The MPs are there but MP Studio can't seem to find them.

Mapped drives (like H: mapped to \\server\path) are not mapped unless a user logs in. The profile service does not log in, so those mapped drives will never be available. UNC drives (\\server\path), however, work correctly.

Note that UNC drives do work, but performance is poorer than working with local files.

Can I get a list of all of my thresholds?

As of release 3.1.16, we do not explicitly separate out the "threshold" values. The reason for this is that the "threshold" can be called a number of different things: InnerSensitivity, OuterSensitivity, Threshold, GoodValue, etc. We plan on implementing a solution in a future release once we establish the best way to present this information.

In the mean time, all of this information is available within other fields that we currently display:

  • Rules: DatasourceCollection
  • Monitors: Configuration

These fields are easily exportable into Excel with our full version software. This feature is disabled in MP Studio Lite.