Hi, We have two physical locations and in primary datacenter we have installed SCOM 2012. We want to monitor the MPLS link between these two sites. Can it be done using SCOM. if yes then how. Thanks M S Rathore

Hi M S Rathore: I am assuming the MPLS link consists of a router at each site? Certainly you can use SCOM 2012 to monitor the routers, and thereby you would be monitoring the MPLS link. You would do this by: 1. Deploy SCOM managment server(s) and/or gateway servers in primary datacenter. 2. Install a gateway server in the remote datacenter. 3. Have a management server or gateway server in the primary datacenter discover and monitor the routers at the primary datacenter. 4. Have the gateway server in the remote center discover and monitor the routers in the remote datacenter. John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM

Hi M S Rathore: I am assuming the MPLS link consists of a router at each site? Certainly you can use SCOM 2012 to monitor the routers, and thereby you would be monitoring the MPLS link. You would do this by: 1. Deploy SCOM managment server(s) and/or gateway servers in primary datacenter. 2. Install a gateway server in the remote datacenter. 3. Have a management server or gateway server in the primary datacenter discover and monitor the routers at the primary datacenter. 4. Have the gateway server in the remote center discover and monitor the routers in the remote datacenter. John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM

Thanks John, New to SCOM so a bit uncertian, 1. In remote Datancenter I am going to install one Management server Once we discover routers at both the datacenters, will they be able to monitor the link? i.e point to point connectivity is up/down, what is the link speed or so? Thanks

Hi M S Rathore: You can also monitor the routers both at the datacenter and the remote site from the same management server at the datacenter. Using a gateway at the remote site would provide a more accurate / stand-off perspective for monitoring the router at the remote site. But technically you should be able to use one management server and monitor the remote site across the WAN assuming the latency is low. You would have a network device discovery rule that included both the local and the remote routers. Each discovered router will have its interfaces discovered. One or more interfaces will be associated with your MPLS network. You will have up/down availability status on the device and its interfaces. For each interface, you will have a library of performance counters such as % utilization and % error for charts and reports. Optionally you could author a Distributed Application in the SCOM console that represented the end to end MPLS circuit and included selected interfaces and routers from both the datacenter and the remote site in one diagram. John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM John Joyner MVP-SC-CDM