Management Packs (MPs)

What are Management Packs (MPs)?

MPs are essentially the core of SCOM - they discover every object and define the monitoring that's in place for them. MPs can contain new object discoveries, new tasks, rules and monitors, as well as a lot of other things related to SCOM.

Where do MPs come from?

MPs can be created by anyone, from companies who create MPs that solve specific problems to creators in the SCOM community who share their MPs.

Necessary MPs that SquaredUp DS needs for Enterprise Applications and VADA come with SquaredUp DS and are installed with it.

There are many useful optional MPs for SquaredUp, you can find them here: MP Community catalog

Management Packs for SquaredUp DS

There are some MPs that are necessary for SquaredUp DS, others that are recommended, and others that are optional useful additions depending on how you use SquaredUp DS.

Necessary MPs: "Core Libraries"

Core Libraries are the necessary MPs that enable SquaredUp DS to save and edit Enterprise Applications. They are also needed for the VADA feature.

About the Core Libraries MPs:

How do I install and update Core Libraries?

Core Libraries come with SquaredUp DS and are installed with it.

Recommended MPs: "Discovery Sources"

Discovery Sources are the recommended MPs that add great discoverability to VADA, meaning VADA becomes more detailed and can identify more application components. Each MP enables VADA to discover a new type of application component. For example the Citrix NetScaler MP allows Citrix NetScaler components to be discovered by VADA.

Level 1: The Discovery Source (the application component that can be discovered)
Level 2: The Management Pack(s) that the Discovery Source depends on. Some Discovery Sources have more than one MP on the second level. This means either the Discovery Source or the MP (or both) depend on the second MP.

Both levels show you an icon that indicates if they are up to date or if updates are needed.

How do I install and update recommended Discovery Sources?

Recommended Discovery Sources come with SquaredUp DS. Which Discovery Sources (and the MP(s) a Discovery Source depends on) get installed during the SquaredUp DS installation depends on two things:

• A recommended Discovery Source only gets installed if you already have the corresponding MPs installed in your SCOM environment. For example, if you have the F5 BIG-IP Load Balancers (HYCU) management pack installed, SquaredUp will install the relevant Discovery Source for it.
• Some of the MPs the Discovery Sources depend on can be installed and updated via SquaredUp DS, other need to be installed and updated manually via your SCOM environment. If an MP can be installed or updated via SquaredUp DS, you'll see an Import checkbox next to it.
  How to add a Management Pack via your SCOM console

  1. Download the Management Pack (MP) you want to add to your SCOM console.
     Tip if you are looking for MPs:

     There are many useful optional MPs for SquaredUp, you can find them here: MP Community catalog

  2. Open the SCOM console and go to the Administration workspace.
  3. Right-click on Management Packs and click Import Management Packs.
  4. Click Add > Add from disk, then Yes.
  5. Find the MP you downloaded and click Open and then Install.

Additional Discovery Sources

There are also additional Discovery Sources you can see when you click on all in the Discovery Sources section:

Those are suggestions for useful Discovery Sources. Those Discovery Sources have not been installed during the SquaredUp DS installation. If you want to install them, you need to add them to your SCOM console manually. When you extend the description of one of the suggested Discovery Sources you'll find a link to download them.

Filtered processes of Discovery Sources

Discovery Sources provide you with many additional processes for VADA, and maybe you don't need all of them. To keep your VADA UI clean, you can filter out processes you don't need in your VADA discovery. Here you can add and remove filters from the list.

Tip: You can add filters to the list directly in VADA:

Optional MPs

Optional MPs can add more functionality, for example they can provide you with additional SCOM tasks. Optional MPs need to be added in your SCOM console, they can't be added via SquaredUp DS.

There are many useful optional MPs for SquaredUp, you can find them here: MP Community catalog

MPs for SCOM tasks

Here are two examples for Management Packs that provide you with SCOM tasks:

Data on Demand management pack

The community Data on Demand management pack contains many useful tasks for getting data from your systems. For example, VADA uses the NetStat task from the Data on Demand management pack to get the information about which machines are connected to the server you're interested in.

The Data on Demand management pack is released by SquaredUp (free and open source), and it comes installed with SquaredUp DS as a recommended Discovery Source. You can check its status and if it needs to be updated directly in SquaredUp DS.

PowerShell monitoring management pack

When the Data on Demand management pack doesn't have a task for your need, you can use the PowerShell Monitoring management pack to author your own task from any existing PowerShell script.

You can download the PowerShell Monitoring management pack here:

PowerShell Monitoring management pack download

PowerShell Monitoring MP documentation

After the download, you need to import it to your SCOM console.

How to find, add or update MPs in SquaredUp DS

1. Go to the right-hand menu ☰ > System > EAM.
2. You find the necessary MPs under Core Libraries and the recommended MPs under Discovery Sources. If you're looking for additional Discovery Sources, click the all button in the Discovery Sources section.
   Note: You'll only find necessary MPs (Core Libraries) and recommended and additional Discovery Sources here. Other MPs (optional MPs) that you have added to the SCOM console won't be displayed on this page.
   Meaning of the icons:

   	A green icon indicates that the MP is installed and up to date.
   	A yellow icon indicates that action is required because an MP is missing or needs an update. Hover over the icon to find out more.
   	(only for Discovery Sources) A gray icon indicates that VADA would be capable of discovering these objects, but the MP(s) needed for it are not installed.
   	A blue icon indicates that a 3rd-party MP is out of date, it is not possible for SquaredUp DS to update it automatically with the Import button, but the updated version is available from the 3rd party's website.

3. If any MPs are missing or need an update, you see an Import button in the section. Clicking the Import button will automatically re-install the missing MPs and update outdated MPs.
   Note: The Import button is only available for necessary and recommended MPs. Additional Discovery Sources and optional MPs need to be added to the SCOM console manually.