Exploring the sample Enterprise Applications

A new installation of SquaredUp DS v4.7 and above includes 5 sample Enterprise Applications (EAs) to help demonstrate the kinds of dashboards and capabilities provided by Enterprise Application Monitoring (EAM).

These sample EAs allow you to explore EA configuration and learn more about how to create your own EAs. You can also demo the benefits of Enterprise Application Management to others by showing them the Enterprise Application dashboards, and the information they will see once you add your own EAs.

They are installed by an optional "SquaredUp Enterprise Application Monitoring Samples" management pack (SquaredUp.EAM.Samples), and each EA is configured to demonstrate a typical use case of EAM.

If you have an existing SquaredUp DS installation and you'd like to add the sample EAs you can do this by importing the SquaredUp.EAM.Samples management pack jump to How to import the sample Enterprise Applications.

To remove the sample EAs you simply remove the SquaredUp.EAM.Samples mp from SCOM (jump to How to remove the sample Enterprise Applications).

Walkthrough: Exploring the sample Enterprise Application dashboards

1. Log in to SquaredUp DS.
2. To view the Enterprise Applications click on Applications on the navigation bar, then Enterprise Applications.
   
   
   You will see 5 sample Enterprise Applications as shown above:
   
   • Tailspin Toys
   • Parts Unlimited
   • SmartHotel 360
   • AdventureWorks OLTP
   • Contoso Sales App
3. Click on Sample - Tailspin Toys to explore the most basic sample EA. 
4. Tailspin Toys simply has an availability test configured, nothing in the map or dependencies. You can click edit app > configure availability monitoring to explore how the simple URL monitoring has been configured. For information about how to configure an availability monitor for your own EA see Enterprise Applications - How to configure an availability test.
5. Return to the Enterprise Applications dashboard by clicking on Applications on the menu.
6. Click on Sample - Parts Unlimited.
7. Parts Unlimited has a couple of servers in the map, but no availability test. You can browse to the Map perspective to explore the VADA map view in analyze mode, and you can click the report availability button to experiment with manually changing the application's health state. See Enterprise Applications - How to map an Enterprise Application using VADA and How to manually set the health state of an application.
8. Click on the Applications menu and then Status to view the top level status dashboard for all EAs.
9. Check out the Operational Status and Availability Report dashboards to see the range of information that you'd have access to once you create your own EAs.
   
   
   
10. The Contoso Sales App uses all the elements of an EA. You can click edit app and then explore all 3 elements: Availability, Map and Dependencies.

For more information see How to create an Enterprise Application.

What's included in the samples

These sample Enterprise Applications (EAs) function just the same as regular EAs - they appear in all dashboards scoped to EAs (such as Applications > Operations Status) and can all be identified by the prefix "Sample -" at the start of their name. In addition, they are named after fictitious companies commonly used in learning examples from Microsoft, so IT operations staff should immediately recognize that they are examples.

Sample EAs each have a perspective that details the fact this EA is a sample, an explanation of the monitoring scenario this application demonstrates, and a discussion of how the health of various aspects of the components makes up the overall reported application health.

Note: You can click the Edit App button to view the full configuration of any sample EA to learn how it has been configured or play around with the editor to view other options. You will however be unable to save or export any changes as the Samples management pack is sealed and SCOM will not accept any changes.

Health reporting and performance collection

Sample EAs do not contain real objects from your SCOM management group. Instead, fake objects are discovered (these will not appear in existing dashboards or views in the SCOM console so should not interfere or confuse IT operators). These fake objects have fixed health state (their monitors always report the same health state), and fixed performance collection baselines. Alerting for these objects is also disabled, to ensure that operators are not distracted or attempting to triage fake alerts polluting their alert lists.

Performance metrics for objects such as fake computers have been configured to only store values in the SCOM Data Warehouse. This is because SquaredUp DS only queries the Data Warehouse for performance metrics, and should ensure that valuable space in the Operational database is not consumed by these objects.

How to import the sample Enterprise Applications

In SquaredUp DS v4.7 and above the SquaredUp.EAM.Samples management pack is imported by default during a new install of SquaredUp DS, along with the other EAM management packs. At any time you may also import the management pack by logging in to SquaredUp DS as a SCOM and SquaredUp DS administrator, navigating to System from the top right menu and clicking on the EAM tab. If the pack is not currently imported, an Import button will be available alongside the list of core EAM management packs.

Alternatively, you can download the Samples management pack from https://download.squaredup.com and import manually using the SCOM console.

Sample EAs do not require any additional configuration once the management pack has been imported, and should be fully functional once discovery scripts have run (which can vary depending on the speed of your SCOM environment, but typically is complete within 10 minutes).

How to remove the sample Enterprise Applications

Once you have created your own EAs based on real applications in your environment and no longer require the samples for demonstration or learning, you can remove them simply by deleting the "SquaredUp Enterprise Application Monitoring Samples" management pack from the Administration > Imported Management Packs section of the SCOM console. You can re-import them at any time by following the above steps.