So I imported the Linux/UNIX Management pack, and I finally was able to get the agent installed on the servers (that is still an ongoing issue actually but that's for another time). I have now 4 servers in SCOM being monitored. When you open the health explorer window, you see different pieces of information for each server. For server 1 I see Unix Heartbeat monitor and under the configuration node I see hostname resolution health, Windows RMA, WS Management Cert health and WS Management Run as account, all have values. Performance and security are blanked out as are the other entries under Availability. For Server 2 I see only Unix Heartbeat monitor. For Server 3 I see only Unix Heartbeat monitor. For Server 4 I see nothing. Everything shows blank and unmonitored. All servers have the same credentials and were installed under the same credentials. I have a Unix Run as account defined, but when I try to add that account to these servers it won't show the servers in the search window. It will show windows servers, but it won't show these particular Linux servers. Do I have to create profiles and run as accounts for these servers especially? They show as Linux Red Hat machines, not sure if that makes any difference. I am not a Unix guy but I have some resources to help with any UNIX tasks I may need. Any ideas on why I cannot see the disks for these machines in SCOM? I will need to monitor the disks and some specific services running on the machines.

Hi Mike, the reason for this is that the management server you are using to monitor these crossplat machines is the one actually doing the monitoring. And thus you need to distribute the runas accounts to the management servers who do the monitoring.Bob Cornelissen - BICTT (My BICTT Blog)

It was distributed to the management server first. I selected the less safe option to see whether that would help the issue, but it doesn't appear to have helped. I just reselected the management server and just to be safe added in all my management servers. How long should I wait before I test and continue to investigate?

You will have to specify both privileged and non privileged UNIX accounts. So create them as type Simple. only distribute them to the managenent servers. Specify them in the run as profiles. Within a few minutes you should see the change if it works. 10 minutes for instance would be enough to see the first stuff turn green for you.Bob Cornelissen - BICTT (My BICTT Blog)

I specified both using the same root account to start. It's been more than 10 minutes and I still don't see any information under these servers. Server 1 shows me more than Server 2 and 3 yet they all have the same account with the same access. Does it matter that these are Linux systems and not Unix? I am completely unfamiliar with monitoring Linux servers using SCOM.

In this case the unix and linux are the same. as long as you have the management pack for the right redhat version installed. I would suggest not using the account "root" for this as a lot of the times it doesnt have the right permissions, like remote ssh and the like. The first account is a normal user on the linux box. (create for instance an account scoma for scom action account). And create another account used for priviledged monitoring. (for instance scomp for scom privileged). Ask the linux admin to add that account to the wheel group. And use those accounts.Bob Cornelissen - BICTT (My BICTT Blog)

Is the eventlog on the management server not telling you what is going wrong?Regards, Marc Klaver http://jama00.wordpress.com/

Doesn't show anything on the management server logs. I know have all 4 servers at least showing something, but I'm still unable to see any of the disks contained on these boxes. As far as using root, should the root account have access to monitor the disks of the server and it's processor?

Hi Mike, You should not use root for monitoring. It is only used when deploying the agents. Best to create two accounts on the redhat boxes. One normal account and one privileged account (make the privileged one a member of the wheel group for it to get root-like rights). Use those two accounts in the runas profiles (make them Simple accounts and distribute to management servers). Only a subset of commands is run with the privileged account when it needs root rights for something.Bob Cornelissen - BICTT (My BICTT Blog)

You say you also ran into deployment issues for the agents. Please take a look at http://www.bictt.com/blogs/bictt.php/2010/07/26/scom-troubleshoot-cross-platform-agent-discovery-and-installation-part-1 and further for some tips. Hope that helps as well. Also when on my blog you can search for the word "cross" and it will pop up more things we came across while deploying agents to Redhat and Sun and other boxes.Bob Cornelissen - BICTT (My BICTT Blog)