I wanted to modify the alert messages that SCOM sends via the built in management packs. This is to make the subject a bit clear and concise. How can this be done? I know you can modify the alert messages for custom unit monitors.

The most usually way is to create a custom monitor while disable original one but MSutara provides another way to doing this. For detail please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mariussutara/archive/2008/07/15/monitor-from-sealed-mp-generated-alert-and-i-do-not-like-its-description.aspx roger

Hi Within sealed management packs you cannot change the alert message. To change each and every alert message as per the link -http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mariussutara/archive/2008/07/15/monitor-from-sealed-mp-generated-alert-and-i-do-not-like-its-description.aspx - is just not a scalable solution for an enterprise of any size. It depends on your situation as to whether you consider it feasible. A more scalable option would be to leverage notifications and change the information in the notification: http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2007/12/12/adding-custom-information-to-alert-descriptions-and-notifications.aspx Cheers GrahamRegards Graham New System Center 2012 Blog! - http://www.systemcentersolutions.co.uk View OpsMgr tips and tricks at http://systemcentersolutions.wordpress.com/

Thanks, Graham. Does this mean I need to create a new notification channel and format the email alert, then, create a new subscription based on that? What I did was to modify the default SMTP notification channel with this as my email subject $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityPath$: $Data/Context/DataItem/AlertName$ However, the Health Service Watcher Agent, the ManagedEntityPath$ value defaults to Microsoft.SystemCenter.AgentWatchersGroup. I want to change it to the server hostname property value (it uses the server hostname property value for everything else.) How can this be accomplished?

Hi Yes - sadly since SCOM 2007 SP1, you need a new channel for each SMTP email format. What is the specific alert? Cheers GrahamRegards Graham New System Center 2012 Blog! - http://www.systemcentersolutions.co.uk View OpsMgr tips and tricks at http://systemcentersolutions.wordpress.com/

It's the alert for the Health Service Watcher Agent. The $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityPath$ parameter for this (Microsoft.SystemCenter.AgentWatchersGroup) is not the same as everything else (server hostname.) I want to use the server hostname instead in the subject line

Try to use this parameter $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityDisplayName$ roger

I initially thought about that. But after reviewing the email alerts that came in, I was worried that I would have a different value for alerts using the same parameter, such as non-Microsoft management packs such as Dell, VMWare, etc. They would have different values for the $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityDisplayName$ won't they?

Hi I think you'll need to a little trial and error (or is that improvement) here. For example, if in the monitoring tab you go to Operations Manager, Agent Details, Agent Health State and the left hand state view is "Agent State from Health Service Watcher" - you can right click next to Clear and choose the option to Personalise View and see that you can also add in and view the following: - Name - Path - DisplayName - Health Service Name This suggests that either of the following will do what you want: $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityDisplayName$ ManagedEntity Display name $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityFullName$ ManagedEntity Full name Have you tried them? Cheers GrahamRegards Graham New System Center 2012 Blog! - http://www.systemcentersolutions.co.uk View OpsMgr tips and tricks at http://systemcentersolutions.wordpress.com/

I'll try these out, Graham. Thanks

I used the $Data/Context/DataItem/ManagedEntityFullName$ parameter and I now get this value for one of the servers: Microsoft.Windows.OperatingSystem:FQDN_of_the_server. I'm still waiting for the other alerts to come to have a feel of how the parameter value looks like. As a follow-up question, is there a way to just display the FQDN of the server and remove the namespace? Maybe using some VBScript functions or something?

Hi The Agent State from Health Service Watcher State View shows the display name as the FQDN so you might want to try that instead of ManagedEntityFullName$ As a follow-up question, is there a way to just display the FQDN of the server and remove the namespace? Maybe using some VBScript functions or something? Although you can manipulate data submitted to SCOM, it is done via property bags at the "agent level" - within your script you'd collect data \ manipulate that data and send it bag to SCOM in the format you want. You can't subsequently manipulate the data once it is in the database. A possible workaround, though one I don't generally like due to scalability and potential performance isssues, is to use scripting via notification channels. So although you don't manipulate data within the database, you can fire off a script that pulls the data from the database and manipulates it before firing off a notification: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/steverac/archive/2010/08/17/updating-custom-alert-fields-using-subscriptions-and-powershell.aspx Cheers GrahamRegards Graham New System Center 2012 Blog! - http://www.systemcentersolutions.co.uk View OpsMgr tips and tricks at http://systemcentersolutions.wordpress.com/

I tried these different parameters for the email subject and I seem to get different values per alert. ManagedEntityPath$ManagedEntityDisplayName$ManagedEntityFullName$ I guess I'm down to creating a custom script to customize the alert. I'll use VBScript instead of PowerShell to at least alleviate the potential performance problem that may be caused by the script firing