Hi,

As promised I will write 1 blog post a week. This time I will describe a method I used the last 5 years for authoring my management packs. I can say that all of this below will change completely over about 2(?) months. This because the “VisualStudio Authoring Console Extensions” will be officially released by Microsoft. But I was one of the lucky ones to test this extensions and I must say its amazing. Before you think ‘give me more’ I say… wait till next blog post .. This blog post will be all about the old method making authoring less time consuming.

For daily authoring I use VisualStudio , VSS and the Scom Authoring Console. This combination works really good. The main MP body I make in VS and when I must create modules / rules / monitors … I use the Scom authoring console. Then when I want to verify the MP I use the MPverify tool and when I want to seal it I use the MPseal tool. Because I didn’t want to open a external window every time, I created  External tools in VS. So now I simply click the external tool and the work (verify / seal / import) is done. The output of the external tool will be displayed in VS. So no need for switching windows.

Using this combination is really decreasing the duration of making a SCOM management pack.

Here’s my External tool window in VS:

And here is a (old) MP I created using XML in VS and the authoring studio

So when I want to Verify the MP I go to the tools menu and select the “MP Verify” tool. Now the MP XML will be checked and the output will be written to the output windows below.

If any error is detected it will report also in this window so you can quickly see what's wrong without leaving VS.

For the MP seal action it’s the same way. Pick the tools –> mp fast seal. The output will be:

When I want to add a module I could choose to create it in XML (see also my blog on how to enable the MP schema check in VS) but I could also simply use SCOM authoring console , select tools > MP autoing console ,  and create the module here , save it , and reload the XML file by clicking YES to all in VS.

Hope you see the time saving here.

Okay enough bla bla. Give me the the code to to this…

What you have to do is:

1. Install VSS 2005 if you want to safe you're work with revisions. I say this is a MUST for every MP author USE A SOURCESAFE TOOL!! Sometime later this will be your live safer.

2. install VS 2010

3. install the SCOM authoring console AND the Authoring tools so you can use the workflow simulator.

4. create empty VS solution

5. add a Empty VS project

6. make a directory tree and put here your certificate you want to use for MP sealing.

7. now create the external tools in VS. Press tools > External tools…

And press Add.

Fill in the new name “MP verify” and fill in the command , arguments , install directory .

See the table below for all the tools I created.

The tool below need a Powershell script. If you google Bing you will find plenty of MP import scripts you can use.

Now you have created all the tools you need.

One thing before I stop. Save your just created tools settings. I have seen plenty of issues after installing VS patches that will reset you tools configuration. You can safe it by doing an export. And if needed you can restore it by using the import function.

So now you are ready to develop with speed.

Next time I will blog on the new way of doing the SCOM authoring by using the “VisualStudio Authoring Console Extensions” and believe me this tool you may not miss !!

Happy Scomming,

Michel Kamp