How This Book Is Structured

One of the challenges in writing a book that covers a broad range of products and tools is structure. To best address this issue, the book is organized to cover the material in logical sections. This book covers the basics of systems management and the products, followed by installation and configuration procedures. In later chapters, topics covered include patching, monitoring, tuning, and reporting of the management tools. Finally, the book describes the roadmap for future management products from Microsoft.

More specifically, Chapters 1 and 2 cover the basics of operations management and how the MOM 2005, SMS 2003, and other update technologies fit together. These chapters should set the stage for the material to be discussed and provide some insight on what these products can do for IT. Chapters 3 through 5 are focused on the installation and deployment of MOM, SMS, MU, and WSUS. These chapters include a review of installation procedures and considerations, along with some discussion of configuration. Chapter 6 is a deeper dive into the configuration and administration of the MOM environment with MOM and alert tuning, and should help the reader to understand how to get the most out of the operations monitoring tools. Chapter 7 goes into the agent technologies that make MOM and SMS work in your environment.

In Chapters 8 through 11, the book moves into a deeper discussion of MOM management packs, including the deployment of management packs and the use of third-party management packs and product connectors. Appendix A also provides more detail on the management packs available from Microsoft and other vendors. Chapter 12 covers the security and patching features that can be supported by MOM and SMS. Chapters 13 and 14 cover monitoring and the security aspects of deploying MOM, SMS, and the update technologies, helping to ensure that IT administrators lock down these powerful tools. Chapter 15 covers the reporting capabilities of MOM and SMS detail with information on how administrators and operators can retrieve critical information from these tools. Chapter 16 covers the Microsoft System Center solutions and considers the future of Microsoft's management tools.