SCOM plugin

Visit our website to see the data that you can access if you use this plugin to add the data source to SquaredUp:

SCOM

Monitor your SCOM environment, including Windows Computers, Enterprise Applications and more.

The SCOM data source is for accessing data in your on-premises SCOM environment, see How to add a SCOM data source

The SCOM Managed Instance data source is for accessing data in the PaaS monitoring service. See How to add a SCOM Managed Instance (MI) data source

Blog: SCOM MI data source

How to add a SCOM data source

Note: This data source is an on-premises data source.

What is an on-premises data source?

An on-premises data source connects a service running in your internal network to SquaredUp. They require an agent installed on a machine that has access to your internal network.

Configure and deploy an agent

If you have already created an agent in SquaredUp that you can use for this data source, you can skip this step and choose the agent group you want to use while adding the data source.

Deploying an agent

1. Create a unique API key for your agent and add the agent to an agent group in SquaredUp.

   You create an API key by creating an agent in SquaredUp:
   

   1. Go to Settings > Relay and add an Agent.

   2. Give the new agent a name and a description that helps you identify where the agent is installed. For example:
      Name: server1.domain.local

      Description: Test server in production domain

   3. Choose the Agent Group for this agent:

      1. If you already have agent groups, assign it to an existing group and click create.

      2. If you don't have any agent groups yet or want to assign the new agent to a new group, leave the Agent Groups field empty and click create. Then create the agent group by clicking on Add Agent Group and select the new agent in the Agents field for the new group.

   4. After you created the agent, the API key for this agent will be shown to you. Copy the key and store it until you inserted the key into the configuration of the agent you want to deploy on your machine.

      The API key will only be displayed to you once. If you lose this API key, you need to generate a new one (by creating a new agent) and any references to the old API key in the configuration of the agent you deployed on your machine will need to be updated.

   5. The agent status will show as gray until the next stage of configuring the service is completed successfully.

2. Deploy the agent on a machine that has access to the service the data source connects to.

   1. Download the latest release of the SquaredUp agent zip file, by clicking the download icon under Options next to the agent you have just added.

      Prerequisites for agents

      • The agent needs to run on a Windows machine that has access to the entry point for the on-premises data source.

      • Make sure the agent is able to make outbound connections on port 443 to SquaredUp (api.squaredup.com), *.amazonaws.com and Microsoft Azure Relay (*.servicebus.windows.net) - this may include firewall rules and proxy server allow lists.

      • If a Proxy is required, set a system environment variable named ALL_PROXY with the location of the proxy server, as modern .Net applications do not use the proxy as shown in netsh.

        The proxy server may be a hostname or IP address (optionally followed by a colon and port number) or it may be a http URL (optionally including a username and password for proxy authentication). A proxy URL must be started with http, not https, and cannot include any text after the hostname, IP, or port. If the agent is running as a service, you will need to restart it, and may need to restart the server itself in some cases in order to apply the environment variable.

      • For information about Relay Agent versions see Release Notes - Relay Agent

   2. On a Windows machine, with access to the entry point your data source needs to use, extract the downloaded zip file.

   3. In the folder of the extracted zip file, open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command:

      Copy

      ./Install-SQUPAgent.ps1 -ApiKey "key" -AsService -ServiceSuffix "name" -ServiceAccount domain\username

      Parameters to replace:

      -ApiKey "key"	Mandatory	Replace key with the API key you created for the agent in SquaredUp
      -AsService	Recommended	Run the agent as a service on the machine
      -ServiceSuffix "name"	Optional	To change the default service name of squpagent replace name with your new service name.
      -ServiceAccount domain\username	Optional	To run the agent as a domain service account (for example, for the SCOM data source), provide the username as domain\username and it will prompt for the password when it sets up the service
      -InstallPath	Optional	Specify a folder location for where the agent will be installed. If this is not specified then the agent will be installed in the folder where the zip file is extracted.

      Consider restricting access to the folder where the agent is installed to prevent anyone from updating or viewing the configuration files.

   Running the agent as a domain service account

   By default, the SquaredUp agent service uses the local system identity, but this can be changed to a domain service account if required, for example for the SCOM data source.

   • Configure a domain service account using the installation script, for example:

     ./Install-SQUPAgent.ps1 -ApiKey "key" -AsService -ServiceAccount domain\username

     where key is the API key, and domain\username is the domain service account

   • Alternatively, in Services > SquaredUp Cloud Agent > Properties select the account on the Log On tab.

   • Use a dedicated user account for the agent's service identity. Create a special service account for this domain service account, do not use an existing user account.

   • The account (typically a service account) needs to have the log on as a service permission.

   4. Adjust any permissions for the service and start the service.

      How to start the agent service

      You can start the agent service from Services > SquaredUp Cloud Agent, or using PowerShell using either:

      Start-Service -Name <ServiceName>

      Where <ServiceName> should be replaced with the service name shown in brackets in the upgrade script output (or Properties of the service).

      For example:

      Start-Service -Name squpagent

      or

      Start-Service -DisplayName <DisplayName>

      Where <DisplayName> should be replaced with the service name shown before the brackets in the upgrade script output (or Properties of the service).

      How to find the agent folder location or Service name in Properties

      Look at the Properties of the SquaredUp Cloud Agent service:

      1. On the server running the agent, open Services

      2. Scroll down to the SquaredUp Cloud Agent in the list

      3. Right-click on the SquaredUp Cloud Agent service and then Properties

      4. Here you can see the Service name, Display name and Path to the agent folder.

      5. You can also start or stop the service from here.

   5. Check the agent status in SquaredUp  Settings > Relay

For more information see Configuring an agent for on-premises data sources

Configure the agent for a SCOM data source

Why do agents for the SCOM data source need special configuration?

The SquaredUp agent service uses the local system identity by default. SCOM uses Windows authentication which requires at a minimum Network Service or a Domain User account, the agent you use for the SCOM data source needs to have its service identity changed to such an account.

Permissions for the service account:

• Consider which objects you want to index and set the permissions for the service account accordingly. As the SCOM data source supports SCOM RBAC you can use scoping in the user role for the account in SCOM to control which objects will be indexed.

• You need to manually add the service account to the opsmgreader role of the Data Warehouse in the SCOM console see Manually creating the Data Warehouse permissions

Running the agent as a domain service account

By default, the SquaredUp agent service uses the local system identity, but this can be changed to a domain service account if required, for example for the SCOM data source.

• Configure a domain service account using the installation script, for example:

  ./Install-SQUPAgent.ps1 -ApiKey "key" -AsService -ServiceAccount domain\username

  where key is the API key, and domain\username is the domain service account

• Alternatively, in Services > SquaredUp Cloud Agent > Properties select the account on the Log On tab.

• Use a dedicated user account for the agent's service identity. Create a special service account for this domain service account, do not use an existing user account.

• The account (typically a service account) needs to have the log on as a service permission.

Add a SCOM data source in SquaredUp

1. To add a data source click on the + next to Data Sources on the left-hand menu in SquaredUp. Search for the data source and click on it to open the Configure data source page.

2. Display Name:

   Enter a name for your data source. This helps you to identify this data source in the list of your data sources.

3. SCOM Management Server:

   Enter your SCOM management server as a FQDN, for example server.domain.local

4. SquaredUp DS for SCOM URL:

   Optional. If you use SquaredUp DS for SCOM, you can enter the URL to your instance. This will create a link from a SCOM object in SquaredUp to the same object in your SquaredUp DS for SCOM.

   Enter the URL to the root domain including https, for example: https://myserver.mydomain/SquaredUpv5/

   What is my SquaredUp DS for SCOM URL?

   By default, the URL to your SquaredUp instance is: http://SquaredUpServer/SquaredUpInstance

   SquaredUpServer is the name of the server where SquaredUp is installed.

   By default, SquaredUpInstance is SquaredUp. For v5 it is SquaredUpv5 and for v4 SquaredUpv4. If you gave your SquaredUp instance a different application name when you installed it, use the name you chose.

5. Agent Group:

   Select the Agent Group that contains the agent(s) you want to use.

6. Optionally, select whether you would like to restrict access to this data source instance. By default, restricted access is set to off.

   Restrict access to this data source

   The term data source here really means data source instance. For example, a user may configure two instances of the AWS data source, one for their development environment and one for production. In that case, each data source instance has its own access control settings.

   By default, Restrict access to this data source is set to off. The data source can be viewed, edited and administered by anyone. If you would like to control who has access to this data source, switch Restrict access to this data source to on.

   Use the Restrict access to this data source dropdown to control who has access to the workspace:

   • By default, the user setting the permissions for the data source will be given Full Control and the Everyone group will be given Link to workspace permissions.

   • Tailor access to the data source, as required, by selecting individual users or user groups from the dropdown and giving them Link to workspace or Full Control permissions.

   • If the user is not available from the dropdown, you are able to invite them to the data source by typing in their email address and then clicking Add. The new user will then receive an email inviting them to create an account on SquaredUp. Once the account has been created, they will gain access to the organization.

   • At least one user or group must be given Full Control.

   • Admin users can edit the configuration, modify the Access Control List (ACL) and delete the data source, regardless of the ACL chosen.

   Data source access levels

   Access Level:

   Link to workspace	User can link the data source to any workspace they have at least Editor permissions for. Data from the data source can then be viewed by anyone with any access to the workspace. User can share the data source data with anyone they want. User cannot configure the data source in any way, or delete it.
   Full Control	User can change the data source configuration, ACL, and delete the data source.

   See Access control for more information.

7. Click Add.

   You can also add a data source from Settings > Data Sources > Add data source, but sample dashboards are not added when using this method.

How to add a SCOM Managed Instance (MI) data source

The SCOM Managed Instance data source is for accessing data in the SCOM MI PaaS monitoring service. Use the instructions in this section to configure SCOM MI and add the SCOM MI data source to SquaredUp.

If you only have the traditional on-premises SCOM (and have followed the instructions to add the SCOM data source above) and do not have SCOM MI then you do not need to use this section to add the SCOM MI data source.

Configure SCOM Managed Instance in Azure

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.

2. Search for SCOM Managed Instance and click on the instance to connect to SquaredUp.

3. Under Reports click the PowerBI tab.

4. Copy DB Name and DB Host URL. You will use these in the next section adding the data source to SquaredUp.

5. Click the SquaredUp link at the bottom of the page to login to your SquaredUp organization, and follow the steps in the next section to add the data source.

Add a SCOM Managed Instance data source in SquaredUp

1. To add a data source click on the + next to Data Sources on the left-hand menu in SquaredUp. Search for the data source and click on it to open the Configure data source page.

2. Display Name:

   Enter a name for your data source. This helps you to identify this data source in the list of your data sources.

3. DB Name:

   The database name of the SCOM MI data warehouse. This value can be found in the Reports section of the SCOM MI instance.

4. DB Host URL:

   The URL of the SCOM MI database server. This value can be found in the Reports section of the SCOM MI instance. Keep the comma and port after the URL.

5. Username:

   Enter the username of a SQL account to logon to SCOM MI.

   The username must have data warehouse reader permissions to access SCOM MI data.

6. Password:

   Enter the password of the SQL account.

7. Optionally, select whether you would like to restrict access to this data source instance. By default, restricted access is set to off.

   Restrict access to this data source

   The term data source here really means data source instance. For example, a user may configure two instances of the AWS data source, one for their development environment and one for production. In that case, each data source instance has its own access control settings.

   By default, Restrict access to this data source is set to off. The data source can be viewed, edited and administered by anyone. If you would like to control who has access to this data source, switch Restrict access to this data source to on.

   Use the Restrict access to this data source dropdown to control who has access to the workspace:

   • By default, the user setting the permissions for the data source will be given Full Control and the Everyone group will be given Link to workspace permissions.

   • Tailor access to the data source, as required, by selecting individual users or user groups from the dropdown and giving them Link to workspace or Full Control permissions.

   • If the user is not available from the dropdown, you are able to invite them to the data source by typing in their email address and then clicking Add. The new user will then receive an email inviting them to create an account on SquaredUp. Once the account has been created, they will gain access to the organization.

   • At least one user or group must be given Full Control.

   • Admin users can edit the configuration, modify the Access Control List (ACL) and delete the data source, regardless of the ACL chosen.

   Data source access levels

   Access Level:

   Link to workspace	User can link the data source to any workspace they have at least Editor permissions for. Data from the data source can then be viewed by anyone with any access to the workspace. User can share the data source data with anyone they want. User cannot configure the data source in any way, or delete it.
   Full Control	User can change the data source configuration, ACL, and delete the data source.

   See Access control for more information.

8. Click Add.

   You can also add a data source from Settings > Data Sources > Add data source, but sample dashboards are not added when using this method.

Using the SCOM data streams

What is a data stream?

Data streams standardize data from all the different shapes and formats your tools use into a straightforward tabular format. While creating a tile you can tweak data streams by grouping or aggregating specific columns. Depending on the kind of data, SquaredUp will automatically suggest how to visualize the result, for example as a table or line graph.

Data streams can be either global or scoped:

• Global data streams are unscoped and return information of a general nature (e.g. "Get the current number of unused hosts").

• A scoped data stream gets information relevant to the specific set objects supplied in the tile scope (e.g. "Get the current session count for these hosts").

Data streams are installed with this data source.

How to create a data stream for this data source:

• Create a data stream using the configurable data stream see Creating a data stream using a configurable data stream

Creating a data stream using a configurable data stream

What is a configurable data stream?

A configurable data stream allows you to easily create new data streams specific to your needs, by entering information into a form, such as metric names or queries. Configurable data streams have a cog icon next to their name in the tile editor.

Any data stream you create can be edited by clicking the edit button (pencil) next to it in the tile editor, and also from Settings > Advanced > Data Streams.

Metric

This data stream calls an API endpoint to get metrics from your SCOM instance, and allows you to enter a custom object name, counter name and instance name.

1. In the tile editor, filter by the SCOM data source, select Metric from the data stream list and then click Next.

2. Select the objects that you want to use and then click Next.

3. Enter an Object Name, for example: LogicalDisk.

4. Enter a Counter Name, for example: Free Megabytes.

5. Optionally, enter an Instance Name.

6. Optionally, enter the Top N number of items you want to see.

7. Check Sort descending if you want to sort the results descending instead of ascending.

8. Click Save.