How to Deploy Agents Using SCOM?

Follow the steps below to find how you can deploy agents using System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007. Know exactly what are agents and agentless monitoring.

Use the discovery wizard to deploy agents

Ideal installation method: deploy agents from the operations manager console.

  • target systems must first be discovered by operations manager
  • the discovery process skips machine that are already being monitored
  • Once a system is discovered, the SCOM agent is published to that machine
  • For the agent installation, SCOM sends and uses administrator – defined credentials that have local administrator’s rights for the target computer.

Understanding Agents:

  • Health (green check mark) all is well
  • Critical (red x) all is not well
  • Unknown (green circle ) the agent status unknown
  • Unknown (gray) health alerts are no longer being received by the root management server from the agent.

Managing Agents:

  • Agent heart beats: default agents check in every 60 seconds
  • Changing agent setting Globally or On a per management server basis

Agent less Monitoring:

  • Can be performed by a management server or a device to which an agent has been installed.
  • When a managed device handles agent-less monitoring, this device is known as proxy agent.
  • This is one instance in which a domain account is useful for the agent
  • The proxy agent action account must have local administrator rights on the devices that it will monitor.
  • Not all management packs support agent-less monitoring. Use an agent whenever possible to avoid problems.
  • Very resource intensive. No more than 10 agentless managed computers per management server.