sigmasystemcenter 2.1 release notes

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Release Notes Published: 2009/Feb/27, Edition 2.0

Welcome to SigmaSystemCenter 2.1Release Name

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1Release Date

2009/Mar/02Internal Revision

r7936

SigmaSystemCenter is an integrated management software product that can manage machines,storages, and networks. This is an integrated management tool for system administratorsoperating a medium to large IT environment, which abstracts complex IT systems and make iteasy to perform configuration change or other management operations.

SigmaSystemCenter is a suite product of DeploymentManager, NEC ESMPRO,SystemProvisioning, and SystemMonitor.

About This Document

This document is a release note mainly describing changes in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1. For moredetails of functions and settings, see related documents and manuals. NEC may make changes tothis document, at any time without notice.

What's New

2.1 Update 1 Release Notes

2.1 Release Notes

What's NewFixes for issues detected by 2.1 and several functional enhancements are implemented inSigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1. The changes in Update 1 are:

Supporting Cluster and EVC - SigmaSystemCenter can now manage a clusteredenvironment, which enables you to manage an environment where Enhanced VMotionCompatibility (EVC) is enabled. EVC is a function that realizes VMotion between ESXs thathave CPUs of various generations. (#4894)

Creating and Assigning Xen Server Virtual Machine - Disk Clone realized customizingvirtual machines. (#5234)

Linked Clone - Linked Clone function which refers to an image of a master VM and createa virtual machine is newly supported. This function is provided as a trial in this release.(#4178)

Disk Clone - Disk Clone function which copies configuration files and virtual disks of a VMto create a clone of the VM is newly supported. (#4178)

Enhanced Performance of Collecting Process of Machines List - Reconsidered theprocess of collecting a list of machines, and an issue of slow display of a machine list ifthere are large quantities of machines is resolved. Previously, there was a case that it tookseveral minutes to collect information of machines if there were large quantities ofmachines, however, in Update 1, the process is improved to complete in several seconds.(#5110)

Improved Heartbeat Alarm Setting Function - The way to created a Heartbeat alarm is

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1 Release Notes

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changed. You can now change the setting for Heartbeat alarm in VirtualCenter 2.5u1 orlater. You can also control creation of the Heartbeat alarm even in earlier versions ofVirtualCenter with this release. (#5313)

Ssc Command Support - Commands for operations that take time with GUI, such ascreating hosts, are provided. The ssc commands are newly supported. This support isoffered as a trial in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1. In our future release, specifications,including an option specifying method, will be changed. (#3645, #5185)

Enhanced VM Controlling Commands - The following functions of VM controllingcommands are added:

A function to leave virtual disk when deleting a VM (#5314,#5188)

A function to specify whether starting up a virtual machine or not when moving a VM(#5316, #5189)

A function to specify a destination Datastore when moving a VM (#5319)

A function to move all VMs on a VM server to other VM server (#4999, #5315)

Copying Policy - Added a function to create a new policy by copying an already createdpolicy. (#5133)

VM Standard Policy - Added the Standard Policy (Virtual Machine) for VMs as a policytemplate. (#5187)

Improved Storage setting - In earlier releases, it took time to display information on aStorage setting if there were large quantities of disk arrays and disk volumes. This releasethis issue is resolved by separating registration of disk arrays and disk volumes. (#5062)

Exclusive Control of When Multiperforming Is Done to One Device - When youexecuted multiple VLAN control processes or load balancer control processes, a timeoutused to occur in the communication with MasterScope Network Manager, and the processesmight throw an error. This release resolved the issue. (#5303)

Fixed VHD on Hyper-V - Starting with this release, if a virtual machine of a HW ProfileClone Template has a fixed-sized VHD, a VM created by Create and Assign Machine fromthe template has a fixed-sized a virtual disk. (#4623)

Changed Destination of Machine Move of When Releasing Assignment - Now youcan return a machine to a group pool when you release an assignment of the machinecreated by Create and Assign Machine or registered by Register Master Machine. (#5138)

Enhanced Virtual Machine Server Selection in VM Optimized Placement - Changedto use memory usage as a selection criterion of a VM server in VM Optimized Placement.(#5344)

Server Core - Operations, such as backup, restore, and update, on Server Core are nowavailable. (#4092) However, there is a defect in restoring an image of Sysprep deployment(Disk Duplication Installation), and it is not supported in this release. (#5567)

Resolved Simultaneous Startup - This release resolved an issue of a DB connectionerror generation if you started up 100 or more units of machines by Optimized Startup.(#5176, #5072)

Other enhancements in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 from version 2.0 includes:

VMware ESXi - You can now manage VMware ESXi with SigmaSystemCenter 2.1. You canmanage ESXi both from SigmaSystemCenter directly and via VirtualCenter.


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VC2.5u2 - Supported VC2.5u2 English version as a management target. (#3685)

Microsoft Hyper-V - The Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environment is supported.(#2877, #3673)Managing the Hyper-V environment had been the trial, but this time, it is officiallysupported. (Updated on 2008/Dec/25)

Citrix XenServer 4.1 - SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 supports XenServer 4.1 as a managementtarget. (#3533, #3957)

Citrix XenServer 5.0 - SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 supports XenServer 5.0 as a managementtarget. (#4379, #4755) (Updated on 2008/Dec/25)

VMware VM Console - SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 enables you to open the console screen ofvirtual machines on VMware ESX from the SigmaSystemCenter Web Console in the Virtualview. (#699) This function is offered as a trial.

MasterScope Network Manager 2.0: With SigmaSystemCenter 2.1, you can managenetwork devices managed in MasterScope Network Manager collectively. (#3736, #3737)

iSCSI Support - With SigmaSystemCenter 2.1, you can change the configuration ofstorages of NEC Storage E1 from SigmaSystemCenter using the local script function.(#2049) In addition, it enables backup / restore and disk copy for disks on iSCSI. (#3399)

EXPRESS CLUSTER X Event - SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 can receive events of EXPRESSCLUSTER X. (#3438)

Optimized Restart - The VM Optimized Startup function is extended inSigmaSystemCenter 2.1, and enabled to move VMs to an optimal VM server whenrestarting as well. (#3880)

Improved VLAN Controlling Sequence - The timing of VLAN control when activating amachine or making a machine stand by, including replacing a machine is improved.(#3895)

Local Script - Executing local scripts after shutting down a machine is implemented.(#4106)

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 incorporates all changes in SigmaSystemCenter 2.0 as well as fixes forsome issues detected in SigmaSystemCenter 2.0.


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Legal NoticesCopyright (C) NEC Corporation 2003-2009.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, Microsoft Internet Explorer, SQL Server, and Hyper-V areeither registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/orother countries.Linux is a registered trademark or trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and/or othercountries.SUSE is a registered trademark or trademark of Novell, Inc., in the United States and/or othercountries.Red Hat is a registered trademark or trademark of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and/orother countries.Intel, Pentium, Itanium, and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and othercountries.AMD is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.EMC, Symmetrix, and CLARiiON are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation in the UnitedStates and other countries.VMware, ESX, ESXi and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in theUnited States and other countries.Xen, Citrix, XenServer, and XenCenter are registered trademarks or trademarks of CitrixSystems, Inc.ORACLE is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.PXE Software Copyright (C) 1997 - 2000 Intel Corporation.Copyright (C) 2005, 2007, ALAXALA Networks Corporation. All rights reserved.(C) 1992-2007 Cisco Systems Inc. All rights reserved.Foundry Networks, FastIron, ServerIron and the 'Iron' family of marks are trademarks orregistered trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. in the United Status and other countries.BIG-IP is a registered trademark of F5 Networks, Inc. in the United States and/or othercountries.InstallShield is a registered trademark and service mark of Macrovision Corporation and/orMacrovision Europe Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries.Java and all Java related trademarks are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in theUnited States and other countries.This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation( http://www.apache.org/).This product contains JRE (Java Runtime Environment), which is distributed by SunMicrosystems, Inc. without charge, and Tomcat, which is distributed by Apache SoftwareFoundation without charge. Use these products after accepting their license agreements. Fordetails of copyright and ownership rights, refer to the following license files:Tomcat: <folder where Tomcat is installed>\LICENSEJRE: <folder where JRE is installed>\LICENSE

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All other brands and products used in this document are the trademarks or registeredtrademarks of their respective trademark holders. The (R) and TM marks are not explicitly in thisdocument.


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Term & Definitions

(#xxxx)Internal tracking number

Related Information

Product Information: http://www.nec.co.jp/sigmasystemcenter/download_eng.html

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 First Step Guide

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Installation Guide

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Configuration Guide

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Reference Guides

2.1 Update 1 Release NotesSigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1 is an update release to improve upon version 2.1 and includesenhancements in both quality and functions.

You can upgrade 2.1 to Update 1 by applying the patch, SSC0201-0002. Installation from 2.1 to2.1 Update 1 with the installation media is not supported. You can upgrade the version earlierthan 2.1 with the installation media. The installation media is marked as "2.1 Update 1."

Update 1 release will be a base patch of 2.1 for future releases.

Resource Specific Information

Operating System as Managed Machine

Support for the following managed machine operating systems has been added for Update 1.

Windows Server 2008 Standard (x86) (Server Core Installation)

Windows Server 2008 Standard (x64) (Server Core Installation)

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (x86) (Server Core Installation)

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (x64) (Server Core Installation)

VMware

Cluster, EVC Support - The ability to manage a clustered environment is provided inSigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1. This enables to manage an environment whereEnhanced VMotion Compatibility (EVC) is configured as well. EVC is a function that realizesVMotion between ESXs with CPUs of various generations. By registering ESX to a cluster towhich EVC is enabled, you can execute VMotion between CPU with different generations.With this release, the cluster of VirtualCenter is implemented to be handled as thedatacenter of SigmaSystemCenter so you do not see levels between datacenters andclusters, and see them on a same line on the Web Console. (#4894)Note the following points in managing a cluster.

Creating a cluster is not supported.

Set a unique name for a datacenter and cluster in Virtual Center.


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http://www.nec.co.jp/sigmasystemcenter/download_eng.html

You cannot make a Datastore shared between a datacenter and cluster.

VM Console - You can operate a console of a VM from SigmaSystemCenter. With our priorreleases, you needed to install the MKS Plugin to your browser and started the consolefrom ESX manually. SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1 automated the installation of theMKS Plugin to a browser. When you attempt to access to a VM console, the system urgesyou to install the MKS Plugin. (#5107) The VM console is offered as a trial continuously.

Improved Heartbeat Alarm Setting - SigmaSystemCenter creates a Heartbeat alarm ofa VM in VirtualCenter. This release changed the creation method of the Heartbeat alarm toconfigure settings for the alarm in VirtualCenter 2.5u1 or later. In addition, even withVirtualCenter of earlier version, you can suppress creation of the Heartbeat alarm bycreating "DisableHeartbeatEvent" of DWORD value with one to the registry subkey below.To reflect the setting on registry, you need to restart SigmaSystemCenter. (#5313)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NEC\PVM\Provider\VM\VMware\Event

ESX Provisioning - In earlier releases, SigmaSystemCenter had registered ESX with its IPaddress after installing the ESX in ESX Provisioning. However, SigmaSystemCenter 2.1Update 1 changes the default action to register ESX with its host name to VirtualCenter. Ahost name is acquired from the Host Name specified on Host Setting, and FQDN of adomain is acquired from the Domain Suffix specified on the OS Setting of a group. Youneed to note that when you register ESX with its host name, the host name and IP addressneed to be resolved in the system. (#5403) In addition, you can register ESX with its IPaddress by creating "EnableIPSetting" of the DWORD value with one to the followingregistry subkey.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\NEC\PVM\Provider\VM\VMware

Enhanced Retry Action in Timeout - Added APIs to retry operations for when calling VIAPI is timed out. (#4453)

ESX 3.5 Update 3 KB1007899 - KB1007899 is issued for ESX 3.5 Update 3, whichaffects the VM startup check process in SigmaSystemCenter. SigmaSystemCenter usesHeartbeat of a VM to check if a VM is started; so that KB1007899 slows down starting andrestarting a VM. Apply the workaround of editing config.xml to set heartbeatDelayInSecs tozero which is described in KB1007899. (#5482)

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V

Fixed VHD - Starting with this release, if a virtual machine of a HW Profile Clone Templatehas a fixed-sized VHD, a VM created by Create and Assign Machine from the template has afixed-sized a virtual disk. (#4623)

Lifted Notes - The following notes in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 are lifted in this release:Display of VM servers on details of a virtual manager - Names of VM servers thathost a VM are not displayed under Running VM List and Unused VM List on details ofa Hyper-V Manager in the Virtual view. (#5038)

Specifying a default VHD path of Hyper-V - If you specify a directory that does notexist as a default VHD path of Hyper-V, registering a VM server and collectinginformation fails. (#5048)

A number of CPUs of a VM server - If the number of CPUs of a VM server is two


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sockets or more, the number is displayed fewer than actual when displayinginformation of the virtual machine server on the Web Console. (#5095)

Resolved an issue that a cancelation process is called twice and an error is recorded if atimeout occurs in creating a VM. (#5050)

Citrix XenServer

Create and Assign Machine to Xen Machine - With Disk Clone, you can now customizea VM from SigmaSystemCenter. (#5234)Note the following when creating a VM.

A specified virtual network setting for a creating VM of Xen by Create and AssignMachine is not reflected. A setting specified to its template is succeeded. (#5234)

ColdMigration to a Stopped Host - If you execute ColdMigration to a stopped host,although the move process succeeds, starting up the VM after the move throws an error.The program is changed not to allow ColdMigration to a stopped host.(#4626, #5226)

Resolved an Issue that Multiple NICs with the Same MAC address Are Registeredfor a Xen Server - There was a case that multiple NICs with the same MAC address wereregistered for a Xen Server. The trouble shooting of Subsection 6.1.11, "Multiple NICs Withthe Same MAC Addresses Are Registered on a Virtual Machine Server" in Reference Guideis deleted with this release. (#4702, #5227)

Improved an Issue of Taking a Long Time to Fail Over on Xen Server5.0 - Forjudging vitality of a XenServer, host_metrics.live was used in prior releases. WithXenServer 5.0, it took around ten minutes for host_metrics.live to transit to false. And infailover, the system took time to process operations as it kept waiting to forhost_metrics.live to transit to false, which deteriorates the performance. The judgment ofvitality of XenServer is changed to only the session connection to not wait till transit tofalse. (#5496)

Change of Virtual Disk Name - Changed a virtual disk name display to a name in the"[SR name]" format. (#5289)

Maintenance - Changed the version of a library to control the XenServer environment to5.0. (#5291)

Network Subsystem

Improved Edit VLAN - The following points on the Edit VLAN window are improved.(#5407)

The program is changed to not be able to change a VLAN name and VLAN ID if theVLAN is configured to an operation group. Previously, if you changed them with theVLAN configured to an operation group, when you executed Allocate Machine on anoperation group, an error, "Failed to find VLAN defined in a server group." mightappear.

The program is changed configure or release VLAN to only changed ports when youadd or delete ports. In SigmaSystemCenter 2.0 and 2.1, the system released settingsof all ports once and configured VLAN setting to necessary ports when you added ordeleted ports. In addition, in this release, you can configure VLAN setting or releaseVLAN by setting a target machine Maintenance On even if a port is occupied by arunning machine (resource allocated).

Even if you changed only Description, the system used to release settings of all ports


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and configured VLAN to the ports.

Network Manager

Exclusive Control in Multiperforming to One Device - When you executed multipleVLAN control processes or load balancer control processes, a timeout occurred in thecommunication with MasterScope Network Manager, and the processes might throw anerror. With this release, this issue has been resolved. (#5303)

Enhanced Guard of Changing LB Group - If you changed a LB group setting specified toan operation group to which a running machine belongs and then, made the machine standby, the LB group could not be deleted from a load balancer device. To resolve this issue, weenhanced guarding to not change settings if a target machine is running. Verify thatchanging a LB group setting during operation does not affect the operation, and performthe following steps (#5406, #4774)

Release a LB group from its operation group.1.

Edit the LB group.2.

Configure the LB group to an operation group.3.

Improved Operation Logs - The application or release process skips processing when acurrent status of the setting is already applied or released. In this release, the program ischanged to record the skip in the Operation log. (#5304)

Storage Subsystem

Improved Storage Setting - The Register disk array and disk volume window, which canbe opened from "Resource" > "Storage" > "Register Disk Array & Volume, was a windowthat displayed information of all acquired unregistered disk arrays and disk volumes in atree and made you select a target so if there were quantities of disk arrays and diskvolumes, it took a long time to display them. In this release, registering disk arrays andregistering disk volumes are separated. (#5062)

Releasing the Restriction of When Using a Shared Disk Volume - In controlling NECStorage, when you set a machine in a pool shared by groups with different OS types thatwere set in the Operations view, and set also a disk volume shared, the SQL timeoutoccurred in the access path control process of storage and the process fails. In this release,this issue is resolved. (#4709)

Releasing the Restriction of When Using CLARiiON CX3-20 - You could not use thefourth or fifth port of CX3-20 service processor with prior releases. In this release, thenumber of usable ports is extended 12 ports. (#4923)

Correction of an Issue of Multiple NEC Storages Connected to One HBA - If multipleNEC Storage devices are connected to one HBA, the process of connecting / disconnectingto storage is processed to LDs that belongs to each device. There was a defect in theprocess of searching the LDs, and the system regarded a LD that does not belong to anydevice as that belongs to a device, and executed the connection / disconnection process,which caused an error. This release resolved this issue to not cause the error in theconnection / disconnection process by selecting a correct LD that belongs to a device.(#5384, #5556, SSC200027-0015-PVM)

General System ManagementEnhanced Operations Log / Job Window - Starting with this release, a function to


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narrow a list down by an Event Category is added. In addition, on the Operations Logwindow, a function to search a log that corresponds to a Job ID or event number is added.With this enhancement, the window displays a log matching to a specified Job ID and eventnumber. (#5175)

Sending Mails - SigmaSystemCenter implements a function to send an event by mail atthe same time that it outputs an event log. This release resolves an issue that you couldnot specify multiple addresses, separating by "," (#4969)

Power Control Timeout - A timeout value is extended from 30 minutes to 60 minutes.(#5416)

Resolved an Issue of a Job Not Displayed on Dashboard - Previously, there was acase that the system determined a job whose status was changed to Warning wascompleted even though the job was still being executed. The dashboard displays jobs beingexecuted and those that have completed in three minutes so in the above case, jobs in stillprocessing were not displayed on the dashboard and could not be referred to or canceled.If you executed a job that contains multiple actions, if a warning occurred during one ofthe actions, the system updated the status of the job to Warning at that point, and itdetermined the job still in processing was completed. This update is fixed to update the jobstatus after acquiring results of all actions of a job. (#5578)

Streamlining Collecting Machines - Identifying a target machine in a database in theprocess of collecting physical machine information is improved. (#5583)

Speeding up Imaging - With this release, the Javascript processing on the Web UI isreconsidered and improved imaging performance. The time until displaying images can becut by half partly, but in average, improved by 15 to 20%. (#5040, #4255, #5110)

Acceleration of Acquiring Machine List - In this release, the process of acquiring amachine list is reconsidered and an issue of slow display of a machine list in the case whenthere were quantities of machines is resolved. Acquiring the information would takeseveral minutes in the case when there were quantities of machines, but in Update 1, theprocessing can take only several seconds. (#5110)

Improved Column Width - The column width in the list display is reconsidered. Thisupdate resolved an issue of some breaking IP addresses and MAC addresses. (#5097)

Misc.

Resolved an Issue of Taking Time to Stop the Service of SystemProvisioning inRare Cases - Previously, stopping the SystemProvisioning service could take ten minutesor more. (#5284)

VM ManagementDeleting VM Leaving a Virtual Disk - When deleting a VM, a virtual disk, including vmdkand VHD files, was also deleted. In this update, you can select to leave a virtual disk or notwhen deleting a VM. (#5188)

Power Status After Moving a VM - In earlier releases, when you executed Move VM, thesystem changed the power status of the VM to On. With this update, you can select to notstart the VM after moving the VM. (#5189)

Evacuate VM - A function to evaluate all VMs on a VM server to other server is added. Atemplate is not moved. (#4999) Evacuate VM moves stopped VMs as well. VMs after the


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move are in the stopped status. You can execute Evacuate VM with the ssc evacuatemachine command at the command line. You cannot specify Evacuate VM as a policyaction.

Displaying Usage Status on a Datastore List - On the details of a VM server that canbe displayed in Virtual view, this release displays usage size, free capacity, and usage rate.In addition, the usage size is changed to be displayed in GB. (#4726) Note that aftercreating a VM and template, the size of a Datastore is not updated automatically.

Suspend Operation to a VM Server - Started from SigmaSystemCenter 2.0, the suspendoperation to a VM server was displayed on UI, but the operation itself was not supported.In SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1, the display on the UI is deleted. The followingwindows are changed. (#5544)

On details of a datacenter > Operation menu on VM Server List

On details of a VM server > Operation menu

Resolved Wrong Status of a VM on ESXi/Hyper-V - There was an issue of exclusionbetween the changing configuration process and creating a VM process, which caused thewrong status of a VM when you were creating the VM on ESXi and Hyper-V. (#5244,#5136)

Resolved an Issue of Displaying One Template Doubly - If the template creatingprocess and collecting information process were executed simultaneously, one templatemight be displayed doubly under Template List. This issue is fixed in this release. (#5374)

Resolved an Issue of Ability to Set a Machine in a Pool Unmanaged on EditDatacenter - You can set VMs and VM servers, including their belonging datacenter,unmanaged from details of a datacenter > Edit Datacenter. The issue that you could set amachine unmanaged even if the machine is in a group pool is fixed in this release. (#5473)

VM Creation

The following two methods for creating a VM as well as Full Clone and HW Profile Clone areadded:

Linked Clone - When creating a VM from a master VM, the system links the VM to themaster VM and keeps the difference data instead of copying the whole image of the masterVM, which shortens the time for creating a VM and reduces its disk capacity. InSigmaSystemCenter 2.1 Update 1, this function is offered as a trial, and it allows onlycreating a VM on Windows XP and Vista OS. This will be officially supported in our futurerelease of VirtualPCCenter. Please give us your feedback on this function. (#4178, #4726)There considers an operation model of applying a patch to a master VM to facilitate patchapplication for created VMs, however, this release does not support the function. Note thatdefragmentation to each VM causes increase of difference data and you cannot reduce diskcapacity.You can use Linked Clone in the VMware environment, including the Virtual Center andStandalone ESXi environments, and Microsoft Hyper-V environment.

This Linked Clone can be an optional product in our future release.

Disk Clone - This is a method of copying configuration files and a virtual disk of a VM, andcreating a clone from them. (#4726) This is realized by combining the copy function ofvirtualization products with customization by DeploymentManager, and this enables tocreate a VM faster than HW Profile Clone which distributes images via networks. Inaddition, you can now execute Create VM to XenServer that you could not execute withearlier release of SigmaSystemCenter.


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You need to note the following points on Linked Clone and Disk Clone.

Ensure not to execute the following operations from VI Client if you configure Linked Clonein the VMware environment.

Deleting a master VM - If you do, you will not be able to use all VMs created from aLinked Clone template that refers to the master VM.

Deleting a created VM - If you do, you will not be able to use all VMs created fromthe same Linked Clone template and its master VM.

Deleting a snapshot of a master VM after creating a template - If you do, you will notbe able to use all VMs created from a Linked Clone template that refers to the masterVM.

Deleting a snapshot of a created VM - If you do, you will not be able to use all VMscreated from the same Linked Clone template and its master VM.

Do not change hardware configuration of a master VM after creating a Linked Clonetemplate.

This release supports Linked Clone on client operation systems (XP or Vista), but not onserver operation systems.

This release does not support Disk Clone in the VMware Virtual Center environment. If youare operating the VMware Virtual Center environment, use a Full Clone template.

You cannot execute Allocate Machine if you register a Disk Clone or Linked Clone (whenmanaging ESXi) template as software of a model or group. (#5312)

Disk capacity of a virtual difference disk of a VM created by Linked Clone is not displayedcorrectly.

VM Optimized Placement

Improved Selection of a VM Server - In VM Optimized Placement, the program ischanged to use memory usage as a selection criterion for a VM server. (#5344)

Resolved Simultaneous Startup Issue - This release resolves an issue of a DBconnection error occurrence if you executed optimized startup to 100 or more units ofmachines simultaneously. (#5176, #5072)

Deterrence of Excessive Move at Power Save - The VM Optimized Placement movesVMs to run on fewer number of virtual machine servers triggered by a low load event. Thisfunction powers off virtual machine servers with no VM, but you can set a unit of sparemachines to not power off even if the system can. In the earlier version there is a casethat VM is moved between spare machine and another without need. In this release, thisissue is resolved.(#5401)

Resolved Confliction Between Power Save and VM Startup Processes - This releaseresolves an issue that the system might power off a machine which is starting a VM due toa conflict between the power save process and VM start process. (#5392)

Improved Power Save Deterrence Process - The power save function executes loaddistribution and failover preferentially, and if there is a subsequent processing of theseprocesses, the function deters shutdown to execute preferential processes. The systemcould execute the power save process occurred in other group in parallel, but still executeddeterring control in that case. With this release, the program is changed to skip thedeterring process to other group. (#5435)

Improved Operation Log - The more detailed messages are outputted to the Operations


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Log, starting from this release. (#5349)

Deployment and ProvisioningChanging Destination of a Released Machine - Starting with this release, a machinecreated by Create and Assign Machine or registered by Register Master Machine can bereturn to a group pool when the machine is released from its group. (#5138)

Setting the Retry Count In Registering a Machine to NEC ESMPRO Manager - Youcan now change a retry count and retry interval for when registering a machine to NECESMPRO Manager on the Environment Setting. (#5161)

Server Core - You can now execute operations, such as backup, restore, and update, onServer Core. (#4092) However, there is a defect on restoring a Sysprep deployment (DiskDuplication Installation) image, and it is not supported in this release. (#5567)

Resolves an Issue of Taking Time to Process Scenario Execution Cancellation -This release resolves an issue that cancelling scenario execution might take time tocomplete. (#5066, #5258)

Improved Operation Log - The program is changed to output more detailed messages forerrors to the Operation Log. (#4704, #4902, #4494, #5063, #5104)

Resolved an Issue of a User Confirmation Screen Not Displayed When Executingthe Automatic Update Function - There was a defect on DPMTray.exe that displayed auser confirmation screen. And the screen might not be displayed when a user logged in andthe screen should have been displayed, depending on timing. The issue is fixed in thisrelease. (#5620)

Fix of an Issue that the Command Option Is Ignored When You Select [Perform atnext startup] During the Scenario Execution - If you selected [Perform at next startup]for the remote update scenario execution, a command option specified when creating apackage was ignored. This issue is fixed in this release. (#5621)

Resolved an Issue of Wrong Output to Event Log of Schedule Monitoring Service -When the DeploymentManager schedule monitoring service outputted a message on theEvent Log, the message, "The description for Event ID 2 from source schwatch cannot befound." was displayed. Also output (message) source is wrong value (sharedll).This issue isfixed in this release.(#4643, SSC200027-0012-DPM)

Policy and ActionCopying a Policy - The function to copy a created policy and create a new policy is added.(#5133)

VM Standard Policy - A Standard Policy for managing a virtual environment, which is"Standard Policy (Virtual Machine)," is newly added. (#5187)

Reduced Load of the Event Processing - By cashing policy settings stored in a databaseto memory, load on processing of when receiving quantities of events is reduced. (#4466)

Improvement of the Policy Action "Machine Status / Set Ready Status" - A functionto change the policy status to "On" with a policy action "Machine Status / Set ReadyStatus" if a target machine is ON is added. (#5426)

Revised an Issue of Disability to Manage Specific Event Occurred on a LinuxMachine - There was a case that an action was not performed when configuring a policy on


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an event detected by NEC ESMPRO Agent on Linux. (#5051, #4772) NEC ESMPRO Agenton Linux sends a notification source name in uppercase in either of the following cases.There was a case-sensitive process that reads the notification source name, and NECESMPRO Agent on Linux could not compare a received event from an event defined to apolicy.

If a notification source name was read from a notification table

If a source of user definition was added from the Syslog monitoring event settingwindow

Command

pvmutl

pvmutl vmdelete /u - The option "/u" is added to pvmutl vmdelete to not delete a virtualdisk in this release. (#5314, #5188)

pvmutl vmmigrateandmove /n - The option "/n" is added to pvmutl vmmigrateandmoveto not start a stopped VM after moving in this release. (#5316, #5189)

pvmutl vmdelete /d - If you omit specifying a target machine with pvmutl vmdelete /dand pvmutl delete, the system selects a target machine in running machines. In theprocess, a different machine might be selected for each method. The specification ofvmdelete /d is changed to select a machine that belongs to multiple group pools, accordingto the specification of delete in this release. (#5119)

ssc

This release supports configuring multiple managed machines collectively by executingcommands from a script with ssc.exe, which is a new command. Previously, you needed toconfigure settings to each machine from the Web Console, however, this function can reduceburden of setting up a large-scale environment. (#3645, #5185)

The specification of this ssc command will be changed in the way to specify options in our futurerelease. This function is offered as a trial in this release.

Our future release will provide useful function for script processing. The available functions inUpdate 1 are:

ssc create host - Creates a host in a group.

ssc evacuate machine - Can execute Evacuate VM and Failover with a command.(#5315, #5318, #5185, #4999)

ssc update host - Can Move VM to another group. (#5319, #5185)

ssc maintenance cmdb - Can manage a database, including resolving fragmentation of atable.

Misc.

Installer

Registering Exception to Windows Firewall - Previously, when the system failed toregister an exception to Windows Firewall, SigmaSystemCenter displayed an error dialogbox. This did not indicate failure of installation, and actually, it was not that installationitself failed. In addition, the message was ambiguous, so starting from this release, the


13

error dialog box is not displayed. (#3428)

Database

Prevention of Overlap Registration to a Specific Table in a High Load Condition -There was an issue that uniqueness constraint of a key on a used key value table(TBL_GeneralParameter) was not assured, which causes double registration in thenumbering process of event numbers when load is high, and the GUI operations belowmight fail with an error. (#4789, #4799, #5217)

Virtual View > Create Template

Virtual View and Resource View > Template > Edit

Monitor View > Environment Setting

Maintenance

Improvement of Steps to Exchange a Primary NIC - You needed to delete a machineonce to exchange a primary NIC (NIC1). With this update, you can execute the operationcomparatively easily with the GUI operations. (#5393)

Trace Log

The following is added as a target of a trace log of SystemProvisioning.

PVM/log/MaintenanceCmdb%d.log DB maintenance processing (#5217)


14

2.1 Release NotesThis chapter and the following chapters provide changes in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 except thosein the Update 1 release.

Release NameSigmaSystemCenter 2.1

Release Date2008/10/31

Internal Revisionr7112


15

Product Configuration

SystemProvisioning

Administers the various functions, including the provisioning function and policy function, as anorchestration function. The version of SystemProvisioning is upgraded from 5.0 to 5.1.

DeploymentManager

Administers the function to deploy Windows and Linux machines.

The version of DeploymentManager included in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 is Ver 5.2.

The version of DeploymentManager (Windows/Linux) is upgraded from Ver5.1 to Ver5.2.

ESMPRO

Administers the function to monitor machines and manage machines. ESMPRO is composed ofNEC ESMPRO Manager as a manager and ESMPRO Agent as an agent. SigmaSystemCenter doesnot contain NEC ESMPRO Agent, for it has a dependency on a machine. It is bundled with NECExpress series.

The version of NEC ESMPRO Manager is upgraded from Ver4.41 to Ver4.42.

System Monitor - Performance Monitoring Services

Provides the function to monitor machine performance values. The version of System Monitor -Performance Monitoring Services is changed from 4.0.1 to 4.1. (#3946)

Other Subsystems

The following products are not contained in SigmaSystemCenter releases, but necessarydepending on an environment.

Storage

NEC Storage Manager

NEC Storage Manager Integration Base

EMC Solutions Enabler

EMC Navisphere

Network

MasterScope Network ManagerMasterScope Network Manager NetworkProvisioning Function License

Virtual Environment

VMware Virtual Center

Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition

Product Configuration and License SchemeThis chapter includes information about the product configuration and license scheme of


16

SigmaSystemCenter. According to the nature of the contents, not only changes but also theoverall system is described.

Edition

Basic Edition is added as an edition. (#3830) The Basic Edition is an edition composed of thesame product configuration as the Standard Edition with different maximum management units.It was added in July, 2008.

SigmaSystemCenter has editions provided by different media, Basic/Standard Edition andEnterprise Edition. The media is configured in Japanese for Japanese market, and in English foroverseas markets.

We provide Enterprise License instead of Enterprise Edition for overseas markets.

In addition, we define the VPCC Edition License as an infrastructure of VirtualPCCenter. Theproduct configuration of the VPCC Edition is same as that of the Standard Edition

Basic Edition

The Basic Edition is an edition that limits the number of target licenses to eight units.

The product configuration is the same as the Standard Edition, and you can use the all functionswith this edition.

You can upgrade this edition to the Standard Edition.

Standard Edition

This edition supports Windows and Linux servers and clients of Windows XP. SigmaSystemCenterStandard Edition is for a middle-scale system, that can manage the server OS up to 100 units,and the client OS up to 4000 units. This edition features a configuration control function forservers, storages, networks, and virtual machines, which enables you to integrate both machinesand clients.

To change configuration of virtual machines with Standard Edition, you need the Virtual ServerManagement Option.

Enterprise Edition

This is an edition for a large scale environment without limit of additional target license number.With the Enterprise License you can upgrade Standard Edition to the Enterprise Edition.Enterprise Edition includes the Virtual Server Management Option.

VPCC Edition

The configuration of the VPCC Edition is the same as that of the Standard Edition. The VirtualServer Management Option is included. With this edition you can manage only a Windows Client,such as Windows XP, in the Operations view.

VirtualPCCenter Starter EditionThe number of target licenses that you can add is 120.

VirtualPCCenter Standard EditionYou can add target licenses without limitation.

Management Server License

A license for one management server is included in each edition product. This is called a Baselicense or main license.

For one management server, one main license is necessary.


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We defines Management Server Additional License that you can use in systems for a samepurpose to add a management server.

Enterprise License

With the overseas edition, the Enterprise License is defined as a substitute for the EnterpriseEdition. The Enterprise Edition is a kind of MSL. Applying this license enables the equivalenttarget license number that you can add and options to the Enterprise Edition.

Option License

Other various optional licenses that are required for each management server are defined.Optional licenses are necessary to enable various functions of SigmaSystemCenter.

Virtual Server Management OptionThis option enables the virtual environment management function.

Management Server Clustering License::

This license is required for operating a management server in the cluster configuration.You can apply this one license to one standby node server.

Target License

This is a license required for each managed machine. SigmaSystemCenter consumes licenses byassigning a machine to a host (activating) in the Operations view, and bringing back the licensesby releasing the assignment (making a machine standby).

You do not need a target license to activate a VM server, such as ESX and XenServer as a VMserver.

No change on target licenses is made in this release.


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Install

System Architecture Requirements

Ensure that your computers have met the system architecture requirements. For the details, seeChapter 3, "Operational Environment" in First Step Guide.

Management Server

Recommended Minimum Hardware Configuration

CPUIntel Compatible 2GHz 2 Core or faster

Memory Capacity2GB or greater

Disk Capacity2GB or greater

OS

Windows Server 2003 with SP1/SP2, Standard x86 Edition

Windows Server 2003 with SP1/SP2, Enterprise x86 Edition

Windows Server 2003 R2 with SP1/SP2, Standard x86 Edition

Windows Server 2003 R2 with SP1/SP2, Enterprise x86 Edition

Windows Server 2008 Standard x86 Edition

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x86 Edition

Required Software

ASP.NET 2.0

IIS 6.0, 7.0

Installation of SigmaSystemCenter

Before upgrading SigmaSystemCenter, you need to uninstall a part of components. For thedetails, see Chapter 3, " Upgrading From Earlier Version" in Installation Guide.

The outline of the upgrading procedure from each version is provided below.

Upgrading from 2.0

Pre-uninstallationApache Tomcat1.

Web Server for DPM2.

1.

Upgrade2.

Upgrading from 1.3

Pre-uninstallation1.


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Apache Tomcat1.

Web Server for DPM2.

SystemProvisioning Web Components3.

Stopping Management Server for DPM manually2.

Upgrade3.

Runtime Environment

.NET Framework

.NET Framework is being used as runtime environment of SigmaSystemCenter.SigmaSystemCenter 2.0 or later requires .NET 3.0 for WCF. WCF is used with the UC layer ofSystemProvisioning. There is no change on this point.

Java JRE

Java JRE is an execution environment of Java. JRE is used by DeploymentManager.DeploymentManager supports JRE 6.0_07.

Tomcat

Apache Tomcat is used by DeploymentManager. DeploymentManager supports Tomcat 6.0.16.

ASP.NET

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 uses ASP.NET 2.0.

There is no change on this point.

IIS

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 supports IIS 6.0 and 7.0.

There is no change on this point.

Database

Database is used to store various configuration information that is managed bySigmaSystemCenter.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is bundled with SigmaSystemCenter.

The default DB instance name is SSCCMDB.

There is no change about the database.

Browser

We have confirmed the operation of SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 (SystemProvisioning) on;

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7

Mozilla Firefox 2.0

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 (#3882) (New in 2.1)


20

Resource Specific InformationThis chapter provides information about hardware supported by the SigmaSystemCenter 2.1release.

Operating System as Management Server

There is no change with OS support on a management server with this release.

VMware

Retry When Timed Out - VI API may fail due to a timeout. In this release, the program ischanged to retry a process when the system throws a timeout error in the callingRetrieveProperties process. (#4453)

ESXi

Now you can manage not only VMware ESX, but also VMware ESXi with our SigmaSystemCenter2.1. (#2025) You can manage ESXi from SigmaSystemCenter directly and via VirtualCenter.

Managing and operating ESXi from SigmaSystemCenter can simplify your system and makesetting up virtual environment a lot easier, and it meets your demands, such as you do not needfunctions up to improving availability using Hot Migration / Cold Migration, but you want toreduce the system management costs by introducing virtual environment. As you can manageESXi from SigmaSystemCenter, you do not need VMware VirtualCenter.

You can manage multiple ESXi collectively as ESXi and all VMs on ESXi are displayed in theVirtual view.

Furthermore, you can create, execute power operation to a VM, and change resources, such asCPU and memory, assign to a VM.

To manage ESXi via VMware VirtualCenter, automatic recovery by failover and optimizedplacement function are allowed; however, the HW monitoring function of ESXi is not supported,so you cannot execute operations, for example, moving a virtual machine with Hot Migration toother virtual machine server by detecting the sign of HW failure.

You can change managing ESXi from directory to via VirtualCenter with SigmaSystemCenter,while you cannot change the managing way in the opposite direction from SigmaSystemCenter.(#3955)

To register Standalone ESXi to SigmaSystemCenter, enable "Set ESXi To Be Manager" on the toppage of the Virtual view and register the ESXi.

Monitoring ESXi Host

SystemProvisioning monitors the vitality of an ESXi host by polling, and creates the followingevents; (#3991)

Alarm Host connection state on VMS changed from Green to Red: Lost response from ahost.

Alarm Host connection state on VMS changed from Red to Green: Response from the hostis revived.

After continuous ten times of access failure to an ESXi host with each ten seconds of wait, whichcounts up to 100 seconds, the system determines the condition of the ESXi host down.

VirtualCenter 2.x


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This release supports VC2.5 update1 Japanese version and VC 2.5 update2 English version.(#3602, #3685) Alarm names are localized to an OS language with VC 2.5 update2 Englishversion. (#3685) SigmaSystemCenter translates Japanese alarm names.

Folder/Cluster/Resource Pool of VirtualCenter 2.0 is not supported. (#308) Therefore, youcannot use EVC (Enhanced VMotion Compatibility) of VirtualCenter 2.5 that uses Cluster fromSigmaSystemCenter 2.1. We are going to support EVC in a patch release of 2.1 in Feb, 2009.

A host name of ESX is changed to case-insensitive. In addition, when a host name does notmatch, or when an IP address is registered to the Manager information, the system compareswith its IP address.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 enables managing the Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environment aspart of integrated VM management.

You can create a VM, perform power operations, and change resources, including CPU andmemory, which are assigned to a VM, with this release and more functions will be supported inour future releases. (#2877, #3673)

When registering Hyper-V to SigmaSystemCenter, enable "Set Hyper-V To Be Manager" on thetop page of the Virtual view first, and then, register a Hyper-V host.

Although the Hyper-V environment management function was offered only as a trial inSigmaSystemCenter 2.1, it is officially supported on 12/25/2008. Note the following points onthis.

Note on using the vmadd command of pvmutl - A host of Hyper-V can have only oneDatastore. You do not need to specify the /DATASTORE option when using the vmaddcommand of the pvmutl in the Hyper-V environment. (#5169)

Display of VM servers on details of a virtual manager - A name of a VM server that hosts aVM is not displayed under Running VM List and Unused VM List on details of a Hyper-VManager in the Virtual view. (#5038)

Specifying a default VHD path of Hyper-V - If you specify a directory that does not exist asa default VHD path of Hyper-V, registering a virtual machine server and collectinginformation fails. In that case, specify a correct path, and register and collect informationagain. When registering a virtual machine server fails, or when executing Collect,specifying a virtual machine server in the Resource view fails, "Not found" is outputted inthe Operations log. (#5048)

A number of CPUs of a VM server - If the number of CPUs of a VM server is two sockets ormore, when displaying details of the virtual machine server on the Web Console, thenumber is displayed fewer than actual. (#5095)

Citrix XenServer

XenServer 4.1 Enterprise Edition is supported as a management target. (#3957)

There was an issue of Citrix XenServer of not being able to use a VM created from atemplate created in NFS. This issue is resolved in 4.1. (#2587)

An issue of collecting information of XenServer is resolved. (#3959)

Treating storage of when creating a VM and template in the XenServer environment isimproved. (#4432)

An issue of ability to acquire CPU usage rate of a stopped Slave machine in System Monitor


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- Performance Monitoring Services is resolved. (#2548)

There is an issue that the Affinity information of a VM becomes wrong when you executeCollect to XenServer 4.1, if the Affinity is configured to the VM and the VM is powered off.In this case, information of the VM is not collected. This issue is recognized as an issue ofCitrix XenServer. (#4277)

There is a case that one piece of NIC information is registered as multiple pieces of NICinformation when you execute Collect to XenServer 4.1. This issue is recognized as anissue of Citrix XenServer. (#4702)

XenServer 5.0 is added as a management target on 12/25/2008. You cannot acquire itsCPU usage rate with its default setting so execute the following procedure on Pool Masterand restart all XenServer. (#4755)

xe host-list1.

xe host-param-set uuid=<uuid acquired in the Procedure 1> other-

config:rrd_update_interval=1

2.

Execute the Procedure 2 to all hosts (XenServer) acquired in the Procedure 1.3.

Network Subsystem

Network Manager

SigmaSystemCenter changes configuration of network devices, switches and load balancers,which are connected to machines, triggered by machine configuration change.SigmaSystemCenter uses MasterScope Network Manager to control network devices collectivelyor grasping the configuration.

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 enabled to manage MasterScope Network Manager.(#3736) Tocontrol MasterScope Network Manager, you need MasterScope Network ManagerNetworkProvisioning Function License.

Reconsidered Timeout Value - A timeout value to control one I/F is extended to fourminutes. (#4775)

Storage Subsystem

SigmaSystemCenter changes configuration of storages connected to machines, triggered by themachine configuration change.

iSCSI/ NEC Storage E1

With SigmaSystemCenter 2.1, you can change the configuration of storages of NEC Storage E1from SigmaSystemCenter by using the local script function. (#2049)

In addition, it enables backup / restore and disk copy for disks on iSCSI. (#3399)

Because NEC Storage E series supports iSCSI that connects to servers with IP network protocolof Ethernet as well as Fibre Channel is that broadly used in SAN, SigmaSystemCenter supportingNEC Storage E1 enables you to set up SAN with your current network environment withouttaking costs.

Availability of iSCSI Boot depends on an OS. Check your OS support information.

EMC Storage

Previously, when you were using Symmetrix, you needed to disconnect a disk volume from


23

Symmetrix before starting operation in SigmaSystemCenter. This release fixes the issue.(#3011)

Change in Collecting Target of Symmetrix - A distant Symmetrix for contingency planningis now not collected as a management target. In addition, HBA information is now collectedregardless of the power status of the connected machine. (#4086)

Reconsidered Connecting and Disconnecting Processing of Symmetrix - In the program,there was a part that issues excessive commands of connecting to and disconnecting fromSymmetrix. This did not harm any process, however, the program is fixed to deter thecommands from issuing excessively. (#4087)

Note: When you upgrade from SigmaSystemCenter 1.3, storage information of CLARiiON andSymmetrix is not succeeded. After registering them as a subsystem, reconfigure the storageinformation. In addition, you need to change HBAs to connect to the CLARiiON and Symmetrix tocollected HBA. (An address of HBA of CLARiiON and Symmetrix in SigmaSystemCenter 2.x isseparated by "-" (hyphen).) You cannot use a local script regarding CLARiiON and Symmetrixcreated and used in SigmaSystemCenter 1.3 with SigmaSystemCenter 2.x, so delete it or do notuse it.

EXPRESS CLUSTER

SigmaSystemCenter can monitor the status, monitor and detect failure and recovery of managedmachines by receiving an alert from components, such as NEC ESMPRO Manager andVirtualCenter, and execute recovery processes, that is, actions according to the policy settings.

Starting with this release, SigmaSystemCenter supported events notified by EXPRESS CLUSTERX 2.0. (#3438)

Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007

SigmaSystemCenter can now receive alerts detected by System Center Operations Manager2007 and execute recovery processes, that is, actions according to the policy settings. (#3474)

To install a product connector for SigmaSystemCenter to Operations Manager 2007, executeSetup.exe, which is stored in OpsMgrConnector/ on the installation media, on a machine onwhich Operations Manager 2007 is installed.

You can specify each alert (rule) individually to eliminate from a target of sending an alert toSigmaSystemCenter.

The following event is alerted to SigmaSystemCenter.

Item Value

Event Category "Others"

Report Source A management pack name

Event A rule name

Event Name A displayed rule name


24

General System Management

Browser

There was an issue that Internet Explorer 6 was aborted during operations. A fix for this issue isincluded in the OS patch (KB918961) or cumulative Security Update Program for InternetExplorer of MS07-057(939653) or later, however, the process of SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 ischanged to not cause the issue even if you do not apply the above patch or program to yourenvironment. (#4237)

Machine Management

Search

The search function can enumerate machines that match a specified MAC address or UUID andmachines in an error status. In SigmaSystemCenter 2.0, running machines are targeted bydefault, however, in this release, this function targets all machines regardless of managementstatus. (#4036)

Summery Status

There are multiple machine statuses that SigmaSystemCenter manages, such as power statusand summary status. SigmaSystemCenter displays these statuses according to priorities. Thisrelease improves the internal conditions of the summary status. (#4177)

Console

SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 enables you to open the console screen of virtual machines on VMwareESX from the SigmaSystemCenter Web Console in the Virtual view. This promotes ease-of-usebecause you can operate the console screen from the SigmaSystemCenter Web Console. Thevirtual machine console displaying function was offered in SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 as a trial.Please give us your feedback on this function.

This release supports only virtual machines on VMware ESX (#699); however, we will providedisplaying the console of virtual machines on other virtual machine server in future release.

To use this function, you need to prepare an environment where a browser can access to ESX onwhich a target VM is running directly.

Also, the following issues have been found on this function:

The number of connection messages that exceeds the number of console session open onVI Client may be displayed. (#4073)

When you exit from the full screen mode of the VM Console, if you press Ctrl+Alt+Del, theresolution of the management server monitor may be changed. (#4436)

This function does not support the use of Firefox3.

You can disable this function with a setting of a management server.

Resource View

You can import a machine as a management target by group operations. (#2144)

You can move multiple machines to other group collectively. (#3339)

Dashboard

You can keep track of a current condition from the "Monitor" view > "Dashboard."


25

Improvement of Displaying Performance on Dashboard - The program is changed to displayonly jobs in operation and those that have completed in three minutes for improvement ofdisplaying performance. (#4343)

Not only machines in operation, but also all machines are now displayed on the Dashboard.(#4036)

Links to machines, groups, and hosts are put to names under Machine Name, Group Name,and Host Name.

Job Log

Improved GUI operations and display of action names executed by pvmutl command.(#4283)

Improved the log display of logging in and out and also, changed levels of the logs to Trace.(#3688, #4283)

Improved the UI of Job and log window. (#4175)

Deleted the Action column and added the Source column as the Dashboard on the Jobwindow. (#4170)

Added the Event column on the Job window. (#4170)

Added the Event column as the Job window on the Operations Log window. (#4170)

Improved the display to display errored Jobs in red (pink). (#3375)

Improved the display to display Jobs for warning in yellow (light yellow). (#3891, #3988)In this release, a child Job displays Completed even if its parent Job displays Warningon the Job window.

Job Notification Pop-up

A pop-up message of Job complete notification appears at the lower left of a browser. You candisable this message appearance from "Environment Setting" > "Display" in SigmaSystemCenter2.1. (#3701) Previously, you could enable or disable this function to each user. In 2.1, you canset this setting to each management server.

License Setting

Space characters of license keys are cut so that you can enter license keys without the spaces.(#4144)

UI Improvement

Improved the layout of multiple windows and messages. (#3696)

The layout of the following windows is adjusted:

Operations view > Group Property Setting > OS Setting tab

Operations view > Group Property Setting > VLAN Setting tab

Operations view > Host Setting > Storage tab

Resource view > Machine Property Setting window


26

Resource view > Machine Property Setting > Software tab

Resource view > Edit Load Balancer Group Setting window

Resource view > Register Machines window

Resource view > Move Resources window

Monitor view > Operations Log window

VM Management

Virtual View

Added operations to enable the management of ESXi and Hyper-V.

Improved the program to allow the zero setting at the cost value on the Edit VirtualMachine window. (#4298)

You can select multiple machines under Unused VM to execute Delete VM. (#4282, #4298)

Improved the layout and UI on the Create Template window. (#4181)

Create VM

With SigmaSystemCenter 2.1, you can create a VM with distribution of a guest OS image usingDeploymentManager. This enables you to create a VM under direct management of ESXi andHyper-V.

To perform this operation, create a source VM and create a HW Profile Clone template from theVM. (#3612, #4157) By registering this template and a scenario of DeploymentManager,SystemProvisioning imports settings for processors and memory capacity of the VM to which thetemplate refers and create a VM, and then, DeploymentManager distributes an OS.

Although you can distribute an OS by the multicast distribution, we do not recommend it as theoperation is slow.

Deterred Unnecessary Shutdown in Creating VM - There was an issue thatDeploymentManager shut down a VM when SigmaSystemCenter was creating the VM ifnetworks were set upper than HDDs on in the BIOS order of the VM. The issue is fixed.(#1855)

VM Optimized Placement

The VM Optimized Placement is a function implemented in SigmaSystemCenter 2.0. This functionmaintains the proper load of a VM server by monitoring the load status of the VM server andmoves VMs.

Improved Optimized Placement (Failover) - Previously, the system used CPU usage rate asa criterion of Failover. The criterion is switched to free capacity. (#3905)

Optimized Restart - The Optimized Restart function is supported in addition to the VMOptimized Startup.The VM Optimized Startup function provided in SigmaSystemCenter 2.0 could be enabledonly when starting up a stopped VM, not when restarting a running VM. Hence, we providethe Optimized Restart function to which the Optimized Startup function is applied as a partof the VM Optimized Placement function. (#3880) The setting and operational procedurefor the Optimized Restart is the same as those of the Optimized Startup in 2.1.


27

Improved the Conflicted Placement Proposal Processing - Improved the program to deterVM server shutdowns by the power save function if load distribution or failover follows.A power on operation to a VM server is required in the processing of load distribution orfailover. With the Optimized Placement in SigmaSystemCenter 2.0, there was a problemthat if load distribution or failover occurred after executing the power save operation,restore from the high load and failure might take a long time. In SigmaSystemCenter 2.1,the program is changed to terminate the load distribution or Failover processing withoutshutting down a VM server if it is in the standby status. (#4012)

Change of a Logic for Judging a Target of Move to VMS in Faulted Status - With the VMOptimized Placement in SigmaSystemCenter 2.0, move VMs to a VM server in faultedstatus was allowed with the consideration of a server which was restored, but the faultedstatus was not released. In SigmaSystemCenter 2.1, the program is changed to not use aVMS in the faulted status as a target of move. (#3893)

Improved the Notification Threshold Value Setting in System Monitor - PerformanceMonitoring Services - An issue that the notification frequency setting was cleared if the VMOptimized Placement function was disabled and the setting was set with its default valuewhen you enabled the setting again is fixed. (#3563)

DeploymentManager (Windows/Linux)

Now DeploymentManager (Windows/Linux)can manage multiple networks. (#3649)

Select ANY on the IP Address box under "Server Information" on the "General" tab of the"Detailed Setting" on Management Server for DPM.

For more details, see the following manuals.

DeploymentManager System Introduction - 2.3.1 Installing Management Server for DPM

DeploymentManager (Advanced) User's Guide - 13.1 General Tab


28

Deployment and Provisioning

VLAN Control

SigmaSystemCenter changes configuration of storages and networks triggered by machineconfiguration change, such as replacing, activating, or making to standby a machine. Previouslywith SigmaSystemCenter 2.0 and all other earlier version, there was an issue of a timing ofcontrolling Port VLAN that in the sequence of replacement, activating, and making standby, thesystem connected to a network after starting up an OS when activating a machine and whenmaking a machine standby, the system disconnected from a network before shutting down an OSwhile usually the system controlled connecting to or disconnecting from a network by changingsetting for Port VLAN of a network switch. SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 fixes the issue. (#3895)*_compat.xml is created to execute configuration changes according to a existing sequence forcompatibility, however, it will be deleted without any notice in our future version.

Local Script After Shutdown

When you make a machine standby, SigmaSystemCenter can distribute software after shuttingdown the machine. This change is made to make the system execute additional operations byexecuting a local script after shutting down a machine. (#4106)

Policy and ActionSigmaSystemCenter manages machines according to policy actions. As a rule of a policy, a policyis composed of a set of events and actions. SigmaSystemCenter manages the system to maintaina group definition by a policy configured to a group or a model (a subgroup in the earlierversion).

Log Improvement - Improved the complicated reason for not executing a policy action.(#3130, #3923)


29

Command

pvmutl

The program is changed to not throw an error even if a destination VMS and source VMSspecified in a pvmutl command for moving a VM are the same. (#4230)

The specification is changed to not customize a VM with pvmutl vmadd /a option. (#3648,SSC200027-0002-PVM)

The program is changed to check if the /netinfo option is specified and to throw anerror if it is not specified. (#3964)

dpmcmd

There is no change in the dpmcmd in this release.

SDKThere is no change in SDK in this release.

InternationalizationThere is no change in internationalization in this release.

InstallationThe program is changed to register Default.aspx for IIS when SystemProvisioning is beinginstalled. (#3808)

The MANAGEMENTSERVERIP parameter for silent installation can be now omitted. (#4030)

Misc.

Database

The program is changed to monitor API access state of DB systems and DB transactionstate and to record the monitoring result on the internal log. (#4442, #4430, #4431)

Reconsidered the processing of DB operation, and improved to dispose the processingsimply. (#4017)

Trace Log

The followings are added as a target of a trace log of SystemProvisioning.

PVM/log/DataAccessError%d.logErrors of the configuration information access (upperlayer)

PVM/log/HyperVProvider%d.log Hyper-V Provider

PVM/log/ResourceEventList%d.log A list of received events

PVM/log/UniversalConnectorDefect%d.log

Errors of UniversalConnector (controller layer)

PVM/log/VMwareProviderEsxEvent%d.log

ESX monitoring layer

PVM/log/CmdbApiAccess%d.log Information of configuration information access


30

PVM/log/CmdbSqlSession%d.logInformation of the configuration information SQLsession

This release rotates PVM/log/ between two generations (0.log, 1.log) as the earlier versions.

The default log size is 1 MB. You can change the setting on the "Environment Setting."


31

Known IssuesThis chapter contains known issues for this SigmaSystemCenter 2.1 release:

Integrated Installer

You cannot install SigmaSystemCenter from the drive to which a UNC path or a networkdrive letter is assigned. (#2663)

SystemProvisioning

SystemProvisioning: Stopping the PVM service may take time if SystemProvisioning cannotcommunicate with Web Server for DPM. If you stop the PVM service manually, a messageof timeout is displayed. (#2657)

Web UI

A window may switch to the log in window automatically. This issue can occur frequentlydepending on the following conditions of an environment and setting. (#2815, #3098)

Recycle of a worker process or the configured time for the memory recycle haspassed in the Worker Process Isolation mode of IIS 6.0.

The setting to scan the asax file or config file in anti-virus software.

Available memory is insufficient in the system.

VM Management

You cannot change usage of a VM server. Do not execute the operation. (#2840)

You cannot perform multiple installations with one automatic installation scenario of ESX.(#1291)

XenServer Management

You cannot perform power operations to a VM created with SigmaSystemCenter fromXenCenter. Perform power operations from SigmaSystemCenter. (If you perform poweroperation to a created VM from SigmaSystemCenter once, you can operate the VM fromXenCenter.) This issue is recognized as an issue of Citrix Systems, Inc. (#2588)

SystemProvisioning: If a PoolMaster of Xen goes down, you cannot recover the PoolMasterby failure recovery process. (#3101)

Storage Management

If you use NEC Storage D8, you cannot change configuration of storage between logicalpartitions. (#1531)

The maximum number of storage disk volume information that SigmaSystemCenter cancollect is approximately 3000. Therefore, the total amount of a disk volumes defined toNEC Storage, CLARiiON, and Symmetrix cannot exceed 3000. (With CLARiiON andSymmetrix, the multiple of the number of connecting path is included in the total amountof disk volumes.) (#2930)

Hyper-V Management


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Note on using the vmadd command of pvmutl - A host of Hyper-V can have only oneDatastore. You do not need to specify the /DATASTORE option when using the vmaddcommand of the pvmutl in the Hyper-V environment. (#5169)

Display of VM servers on details of a virtual manager - A name of a VM server that hosts aVM is not displayed under Running VM List and Unused VM List on details of a Hyper-VManager in the Virtual view. (#5038)

Specifying a default VHD path of Hyper-V - If you specify a directory that does not exist asa default VHD path of Hyper-V, registering a virtual machine server and collectinginformation fails. In that case, specify a correct path, and register and collect informationagain. When registering a virtual machine server fails, or when executing Collect,specifying a virtual machine server in the Resource view fails, "Not found" is outputted inthe Operations log. (#5048)

A number of CPUs of a VM server - If the number of CPUs of a VM server is two sockets ormore, when displaying details of the virtual machine server on the Web Console, thenumber is displayed fewer than actual. (#5095)

DeploymentManager

If the service of Apache Tomcat that DPM uses and a port of Embedded Tomcat that otherapplication uses duplicate, the service cannot be started. You need to change either port ofabove. (#1981) If you install VC2.5 on the management server on which DPM is installed,this issue occurs.

By the security update window (Post-Setup Security Updates:PSSU) introduced fromWindows 2003 SP1, a machine is blocked right after OS clear installation so if you replacea machine by OS clear installation, you will not be able to execute scenarios continuouslyafter the OS clear installation.


If a group path on SystemProvisioning is specified, the function to collect information of VMOptimized Placement does not work. (#2916)


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Appendix.A A List of Incorporated 2.0 PatchesSigmaSystemCenter 2.1 contains all patches for SigmaSystemCenter 2.0. The following is a listof the patches and issues in the assorted patches:

SSC200027-0001

Release Date: 2008/Jun/02

Incorporated in REVISION:003.

SystemProvisioning

(1) Correction of the problem that a virtual machine is rebooted after distributing a patchto the machine (#3121)

(2) Correction of the problem that the Hot Migration / Cold Migration process can failbecause of a timeout (#3376)

(3) Correction of the problem that if Migrate is executed right after starting up an ESXServer, it can fail (#3411)

(4) Correction of the problem that the system may install all software even if the option toinstall only the difference is selected (#3432)

(5) Correction of the problem that an error occurs in software distribution after executingCreate and Assign Machine of a Linux virtual machine (#3451)

(6) Correction of the problem that Change Machine Usage to a machine in MaintenanceMode fails (#3452)

(7) Corrected the problem of taking a long time to display information (#3453)

(8) Correction of the problem that distribution software may not be distributed in ChangeMachine Usage when the machine turns into standby (#3464)

(9) Correction of the problem that Distribute Software can be executed to a pool machineof a group (#3465)

(10) Correction of the problem that redistribution of software to a group can fail (#3470)

(11) Correction of the problem that a user cannot know machines to which software is notredistributed (#3486)

(12) Addition of a method of specifying the waiting time for shutdown and startup (#3472)

(13) Improvement of method of selecting a virtual machine server when creating a virtualmachine (#3492)

(14) Correction of the problem that a virtual machine of LostVirtualMachine type remainson the database (#3493)

(15) Changing expression in the Virtual view on the Web Console (#3496)

(16) Improvement of the problem that deletion of old logs can fail if there are 100000 ormore operation logs (#3517)

(17) Correction of the problem that a virtual machine that cannot be failed over byrestoration processes of a virtual machine server exists (#3521)

(18) Correction of the problem that occurs when creating a virtual machine running


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Windows Vista (#3522)

(19) Correction of the problem that forced power off is executed when reboot or shutdownis executed (#3523)

(20) Correction of the problem that starting the Web Console can cause the HTTP Status403 error (#3531)

(21) Correction of the problem that the OS status does not match the status of the realmachine when activating the machine in a group (#3557)

(22) Correction of the problem that if the SNMP community name is changed in NECESMPRO Server Manager, registration from SystemProvisioning fails (#3558)

DeploymentManager

(1) Correction of the problem of iterating applying SP1 because the application status isnot changed to Apply although SP1 is applied to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008(#3528)

(2) Correction of the problem that update installation from SSC1.3 to 2.0 fails (#3529)

(3) Correction of the problem of Linux agent invalid log output (#3601)


(1) Change of the default values of sensitivity of detecting high load and low load in virtualmachine servers in System Monitor - Performance Monitoring Services (#2233)

(2) Correction of the problem that threshold monitoring can not operate (#3439)

(3) Correction of the problem that the service cannot be stopped properly (#3442)

SSC200027-0002

Release Date: 2008/Jul/14

SystemProvisioning

(1) Specification change of the pvmutl command vmadd /a option (#3648)

(2) Correction of the problem that Datastore List of a virtual machine server is notdisplayed (#3691)

(3) Correction of the problem that distribution of software to a group with the pvmutlcommand fails (#3763)

(4) Correction of the problem that the status of a machine remains "In-process" whendistributing software to an operation group (#3791)

(5) Correction of the problem related to an exclusive control of collect action for storageinformation (#3839, #3840)

(6) Correction of the problem that a disk volume is assigned to an unexpected machine(#3841)

(7) Correction of the problem that Release Resource fails in a CLARiiON HBA redundancyconfiguration (#3842)

(8) Correction of the problem that the Policy Status is not corrected if Maintenance Off is


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executed (#3757)

(9) Correction of the problem that an address of an HBA is not displayed (#3781)

(10) Correction of the problem that the displaying the window of disk volumes takes time(#3824)

(11) Correction of the problem that an exception occurs if you use CLARiiON storage andconfigure an HBA with incomplete setting of HBA for other kinds of storage or advancedsetting (#3873)

(12) Correction of the problem that connection or disconnection to storage fails if a diskvolume is configured to each HBA when you use CLARiiON storage and configure aredundancy configuration on an HBA (#3874)

(13) Correction of the problem that adding a disk volume to a host cannot be executed(#3888)

(14) Correction of the problem that the OS dump can be extracted when a managementserver is shutting down (#3792)

(15) Correction of the problem that a platform name of LD_SET name on NEC StorageManager is not changed if you change an OS of a machine to connect to NEC Storage(#3969)

DeploymentManager

(1) Backup/restore obstacle of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (#3890)

SSC200027-0011

Release Date: 2008/Oct/28

SystemProvisioning

(1) Correction of the problem that execution of actions delays if a lot of events generate atthe same time or if multiple operations are executed (#4347)

(2) Correction of the disconnection method when sharing a LD set by multiple machines inNEC Storage (#4464)

(3) Correction of the problem that connecting storage can fail if you are using NEC Storageand executed Change Machine between different OSs in the redundancy configuration(#4160)

(4) Correction of the problem that Jobs stop without completing (#4009)

(5) Correction of the problem that the information regarding the shared Datastore becomesinconsistent (#3990)

(6) Correction of the problem that the restoration process of a virtual machine server isnot outputted to the event log even though the process is executed (#4425)

DeploymentManager

(1) Correction of the problem that invalid scenario is created and it cannot be modified ordeleted (#3697)

(2) Correction of the problem that all machine names and all scenario names are displayed


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the same on the progress report list of scenario on Command Line for DPM (#3717)

(3) Correction of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 backup and restore failure (#3890)

(4) Correction of the problem that the scenario execution error occurs when the diskincluding the FAT formats is backed up (#4014)

(5) Correction of the problem that the service of DeploymentManager ends abnormallyduring the creation of the parameter file on Windows Server 2008 (#4115)

(6) Correction of the problem that status clear cannot be performed to the machine whichthe MAC address is not displayed on the Web Console of DeploymentManager (#4117)

(7) Correction of the problem that the service of DeploymentManager ends abnormally inthe case that specific condition of blade exists when connecting with theSigmaSystemCenter SIGMABLADE controller (#4229)

(8) Correction of the problem that the backup scenario may not be completed with thespecific disk configuration on the IPF platform (#4305)

(9) Correction of the problem that the backup speed decreases remarkably in softwareRAID environment with specific vendor's hard disk (#4366)

(10) Correction of the problem that it takes time to acquire information of machine besidesin a group other than the corresponding BladeServer group when connecting withSigmaSystemCenter SIGMABLADE controller (#4396)

(11) Correction of the problem that the processing is executed even when the schedule hasbeen canceled (#4504)

(12) Correction of the problem that the gateway setting is not reflected when the diskduplication OS install is performed on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista (#4524)


(1) Correction of the problem that character strings that includes characters other than theASCII character cannot be entered (#4408)

Copyright (c) NEC Corporation 2003-2009. All rights reserved. Version: 2.1-7112,SystemProvisioning 5.1.0017


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sigmasystemcenter 2.1 release notes

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