Section 6.9. Summary

6.9. Summary

The Operator console is used to consume and manipulate all of the data that MOM collects and has in the operational database; it does not have access to information that is in the data warehouse database. Out-of-the-box it provides a wide range of preconfigured views (queries) that have been sorted into groups according to the type of data they focus on.

The data that is accessible to you in the Operator console is first controlled by the console scope that you are a member of. A console scope is a non-secure association between a set of computer groups and user accounts. By default, all accounts in the MOM Users group are assigned to the MOM Users console scope. This scope has access to all computer groups.

To use the Operator console effectively, you must understand how to navigate it and then how to use the information in the view groups. Navigation, or building filters, is done by first selecting the view group, then the view query, and finally the computer group of interest. The view groups can be broken down into two major uses. One type is notification, where MOM is letting you know what is going on in your environment (alert, state, and diagram views). The other is more research-oriented, providing you with historical or configuration data (computers and groups, performance, and events views).

You can modify any existing view query or create your own in the My Views group. This is especially useful for developing custom views that you can later publish by copying to any of the other view groups, which are all publicly accessible.

Use the Operator console to find out what is going on in your environment right now or at least within the past four days if you have accepted the default grooming settings. If you want to make use of data that is older than that, you have to install and configure the MOM 2005 Reporting solution, which gives you a longitudinal look at your data.

Both the current and historical uses of the collected data depend entirely on the MOM 2005 databases. At a minimum, you must install the operations database; if the MOM 2005 Reporting solution is included, then the data warehouse and SQL Server Reporting database are added to the mix. The next chapter covers the basic components of the operational database and teaches you what you need to know to maintain and protect it.