As submitted to http://acanac.org/blogs/geek/

System Center Operations Manager, or SCOM as I will refer to it from now on, is Microsoft's offering to fill the need of server monitoring.  Every administrator knows that you have to keep a keen eye on your servers if you want them to stay up and running.  According to the promotional materials that I have read, and the events that I have attended, SCOM is the answer to every administrator's prayers.  It watches over your flock of servers, so you don't have to.  All of the excellent marketing will lead you to believe that SCOM is the easiest, most brilliant piece of technology that Microsoft has ever produced.  I can't tell you what I think of it yet, I can't get it to install.

That should be a red flag right there.  I have been working at this for 3 days straight and I don't feel as though I am really any closer to using this product as when I started the installation.  Along the way I have learned a few tips and tricks that may help alleviate your frustrations and get you, at the very least, to the point I am at now.  Let me give you a breakdown of the environment that I am working in.  We have several Windows 2003 servers in our farm:

• 2 SharePoint web front ends
• 1 SharePoint index server
• 2 IIS 6.0 based web servers (With SQL Reporting Installed)
• 1 SQL Server 2005 database server
• 1 Unused server (This will be the SCOM Server)

So now we are all set up!  Off to the races we go.  First I had to fulfill the hefty list of prerequisites that SCOM demands.  Most of these were straight forward.  I pretty much just had to locate the package, download and install it.  The ones that I didn't have, it gave me a link to.  This made it incredibly easy to get going.  At this point I thought that there might just be some truth to the Microsoft propaganda that sold me on how fun and easy SCOM would be.  Now, for some reason, the prerequisite checker kept failing on SQL Server 2005.  It wouldn't allow me to point it towards my SQL Server instance, it just kept failing.  So I did what every standard IT person would do.  I installed SCOM onto my unused server anyway.

The first pass at installation, I left the SQL Database component included.  I didn't get far before the whole install stopped and told me that I failed the prerequisite test.  Nice.  Ok, time for plan B.  I went to the database server and created a database.  After chuckling to myself, pleased at beating the SCOM demon, I attempted to install SCOM onto the unused server again, this time I removed the SQL Database component from the list.  The installation fired up and I started to feel good about the whole situation.  Very short-lived.  A screen came up and prompted me for the database server and database name.  No problem.  I enter in the details and expect it to create the database.  "Error - Database not found".  That's unacceptable.  

I flip to my trusty SQL Management Studio and create a database.  I then flip back to my install and redo the installation.  Again it prompts me for the database details.  I plugged them in and I got this lovely message:  "invalid database version".  Umm ok.  What does that mean?  Do I have the wrong version of SQL Server?  Nope.  The install checks the database for a table that has a field that contains the version number of the SCOM install.  My database was empty, so that won't do.  In a fit of rage, I swear at the monitor.  Nope, that didn't help either.

It's time to break out the big guns.  I put on my hoodie and my headphones - ahhh serenity.  I try Google for the 50th time and get no useful results.  Think, think think.  I go through the SCOM documentation from Microsoft with a fine toothed comb.  Still nothing to be found.  Just then the light turns on.  I copy the install directory of SCOM to the database server, log in remotely and start an install.  This time I select ONLY the SQL Database component.  ShaBAM - database and users created.  I go back to my SCOM server and redo the install again, this time it works.  YAY! = )

We're not done yet, but we at least have the base install done.  I can't wait to see what's next.  Shortly after all of this, I find a online video tutorial from Microsoft that shows us how to install the database first.  Newsflash Microsoft!  Hear Ye, Hear Ye - Video isn't searchable in a hypertextual search engine.