Nicole Welch
Azure and SCOM
Renaming an Azure Windows VM (Managed Disks)
In Azure, the renaming of resources (such as a VM) isn’t allowed. That is, you can rename the...
Date: 01/11/2019
My blog is moving!
Due to changes in the Microsoft blogging policy, my blog will be moving back to WordPress. You can...
Date: 10/31/2018
Free Azure Training Resources
updated July 24, 2018 When you’re getting started with Azure there is so much to learn and so little...
Date: 06/15/2018
Azure Automation–Using Sample Runbooks in Azure Government
If you hit issues using the Gallery runbooks (like StopAzureV2Vm seen below), you may need to add a...
Date: 02/21/2018
The Importance of a Growth Mindset in a Technology First World
This week I attended an internal Microsoft conference. The little group I spend my week with was...
Date: 02/09/2018
Comparing OMS/Log Analytics and SCOM
updated 13 August 2018 When organizations move to the cloud, they often aren’t sure when to use...
Date: 02/07/2018
The Inevitability of the Cloud
Overview After working on Microsoft Azure for over three years I think I understand the cloud pretty...
Date: 01/24/2018
Azure Government – Missing Features or Services?
If you’ve experimented with the general Azure cloud (often called Microsoft Azure Commercial or...
Date: 12/11/2017
Moving files between Azure Storage and RHEL
written with assistance from Harshal Dharia, Michael Hansen, and Kan Mongwa of Microsoft There are...
Date: 09/05/2017
Working with Azure ARM VMs, Images, and Unmanaged Disk (Storage Accounts)
A lot of the pre-managed disk documentation has become hard to find. Below is a cheat-sheet on...
Date: 07/27/2017
Using Azure CLI 1.0 to Copy a File between Subscriptions
note: examples are from the Azure Government cloud but the command used will work in all clouds...
Date: 05/17/2017
The OMS Agent for Azure Government – A Cheat Sheet
Below are the quick and dirty details you need to connect your Windows servers to OMS hosted in...
Date: 05/15/2017
Using OMS to Alert on Azure Service Outages
If you are unable to alert from the Azure Portal, or simple wish to have all your alerting from one...
Date: 03/17/2017
OMS - Azure Activity Logs Solution - Access to the Subscription was Lost
Error Seen in the Azure Activity Logs solution view. Detail: Access to the subscription was lost....
Date: 03/03/2017
Azure IP Ranges
Updated June 15, 2018 For a myriad of reasons it's nice to know what IPs you can expect to see...
Date: 02/21/2017
Connecting to MySQL for Azure Site Recovery (ASR)
When using ASR to replication VMware or physical machines into Azure two roles are required – the...
Date: 02/17/2017
Connecting OMS in Microsoft Azure Government (MAG) to SCOM
note: this is a supplement to...
Date: 01/06/2017
Azure Classic Portal | How to Add a Data Disk Using a Different Storage Account than the OS Disk
When you add a new disk to an existing VM, you can only modify the disk name and size which means...
Date: 09/15/2016
Azure VMs need Internet Access
When customers move into the cloud, they tend to mimic their setup on-prem. Not a bad thing, but...
Date: 08/30/2016
How to Use Storage Explorer with Microsoft Azure for Government (MAG)
Update 02/16/2017 - The latest version of Storage Explorer allows you to connect with your Azure...
Date: 08/04/2016
Removing OMS from your SCOM Management Group
Have you inherited an environment where someone had "played" with OMS? OMS is partially configured,...
Date: 06/16/2016
Azure IaaS - Can't Logon? Wrong ID/PW?
If you forgot your VM's logon ID/PW, you have a few options to get back in there. Note: Domain...
Date: 05/25/2016
Azure IaaS VMs and the Three (now Four!) R's
updated 27 May 2016 When you have a problematic IaaS VM (won't start, won't stop, can't RDP even...
Date: 05/19/2016
Moving Azure Images from the Commercial to the Azure Government Cloud (MAG)
Some times we see customers move Microsoft provided images from the Azure commercial cloud to the...
Date: 04/21/2016
Learning Azure, aka "The Cloud"
I spend my days supporting Azure and SCOM here at Microsoft. When I mention to my SCOM customers...
Date: 02/04/2016
SCOM 2012, WSMan, and Unix/Linux Computer Discovery
Summary System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) Linux/UNIX monitoring uses WS-Management/WSMan...
Date: 01/12/2016
Bitlocker and Domain Controller Logical Disks
Recently I had a customer hit an issue that was hard to resolve.....until we stopped looking at the...
Date: 01/12/2016
Monitoring Azure for Government (MAG) with SCOM - Subscription Configuration
updated 05/22/2018 Clarification of the correct endpoints for MAG (defaults are for the...
Date: 01/07/2016
SCOM 2012 - Large Event.Parameter Table(s)
Last year, an issue with the SCOM DW event grooming was detected which was addressed in SCOM 2012 R2...
Date: 01/07/2016
SCOM/OMS - Failed to enable Advisor Connector on the computer.
Problem After rebuilding SCOM and reconfiguring OMS (Operations Manager Suite, formerly System...
Date: 10/29/2015
SCOM - Scoped User Roles unable to See Heartbeat Alerts
SCOM can be quite complicated! One of the biggest confusions is around why agents go gray, why you...
Date: 10/28/2015
SCOM 2012 - Empty Graphs in Windows Server Performance Dashboards?
Problem Microsoft Windows Server -> Performance -> Disk Performance and Disk utilization views...
Date: 10/27/2015
SCOM AD Replication Monitoring Failed (fSMORoleOwner attribute)
This is a repost of an excellent blog by René van Maasakkers...
Date: 10/20/2015
Azure Express Route: Error Setting up VPN Gateway
This week I hit a new oddity while working with a customer. Yes, an Azure customer! He had setup...
Date: 08/28/2015
Allowing SCOM to Monitor SQL with Local System
Configuring SQL Monitoring with Local System In previous versions of SQL, Local System had access to...
Date: 08/05/2015
SCOM 2012: Sealing MPs that Reference MPBs
Sealing a SCOM 2012 MP using Visual Studio If you want to seal an XML MP that references an MPB...
Date: 07/17/2015
Scheduling Maintenance Mode - SCOM 2016 Tech Preview 2
I'm beginning to play with SCOM 2016 (TP 2) and noticed something quite cool.... We finally are...
Date: 07/17/2015
Unable to Find VBScript Script Engine?
Everyday SCOM teaches me something new, and necessarily about SCOM! Recently I was onsite with a...
Date: 06/16/2015
"Server Down" View
A customer recently asked me how to create a view (or list) of offline servers. Initially this...
Date: 06/07/2015
Monitoring Azure Resources with SCOM
Have any of you been tasked with monitoring "Azure" but are unfamiliar with it? As the SCOM guru,...
Date: 05/27/2015
SCOM - Where is your Perf Data Coming From?
Kevin Holman has already published the SCOM SQL bible -...
Date: 05/26/2015
Tuning SCOM Data - An Overview
Updated: 15 September 1015 This is designed as a high-level overview of the data the comes into SCOM...
Date: 04/30/2015
Stolen Memory?
Per the comments in this post:...
Date: 04/15/2015
Errors Connecting to the Data Warehouse (Health Service Module Events 31557, 31561, 31563, 31569)
Today I worked with a user...a smart user. He told me a story I'd heard before - "I didn't touch...
Date: 03/25/2015
SCOM 2012 Update Rollups
This is my quick cheatsheet with links to all the URs. SCOM Interoperability Will my agent work with...
Date: 03/23/2015
Changing the SCOM Web Console to Use SSL/HTTPS
I recently worked a case where a client had installed the web console and configured it to use HTTP....
Date: 03/23/2015
Monitoring Window 2012 AD - Multiple Monitoring Scripts Failing (or Why I need IPv6)
I recently worked a case where a client was getting irregular, but frequent alerts across all...
Date: 02/02/2015
SCOM 2012 - Empty Reports?
Updated 06 July 2015 A few years ago I hit an issue with my logical disk reports being empty...and...
Date: 01/16/2015
Setting Up a SCOM Notification Channel to Launch a Powershell Script
For any subscription, there are three pieces that all must be configured correctly: the channel,...
Date: 12/16/2014
I've moved!
Now that I've joined Microsoft, I'm moving my blog to MSDN. To view older articles, please see...
Date: 12/16/2014