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Monitoring non-domain members with OM 2012

  • Article

While the rest of the System Center community is in Vegas for MMS2012 I’m helping customers with their questions about System Center Operations Manager 2012. To be honest I’m little jealous on all the people who are in Vegas right now. Winking smile 

So I created some more detailed documentation on how to start monitoring your non-domain members (workgroup servers in your DMZ) in  OM2012.

It are still the same steps as in OM 2007 so if you already familiar with those steps it would be easy for you.

I created a simple Diagram to have a high-level overview on which steps are being executed on which machines.

Certificates_Workflow

  • Environment:

    • OM12 RTM
    • Stand-Alone Windows Server 2008 CA (w2k8r2dc1.demo.stranger)
    • Two OM12 Management Servers (OM12MS01.demo.stranger and OM12MS02.demo.stranger)
    • Workgroup server in "DMZ" (OM12DMZ01.demo.dmz)

  • Some important notes:

    • Server must have a FQDN, so if it is in a workgroup add a domain suffix manually.
    • The server being monitored must be able to resolve the FQDN of the OM2012 Management Server server.
    • Check if non-domain member server can connect to port 5723 from Management Server. (use telnet client)

  • Guide info: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd362655.aspx

  • Pre-reqs:

  • It is assumed that you have AD CS installed, an HTTPS binding is being used, and its associated certificate has been installed. Information about creating an HTTPS binding is available in the topic How to Configure an HTTPS Binding for a Windows Server 2008 CA.

  •  

  • High-Level steps:

  1. Download the Trusted Root (CA) certificate.
  2. Import the Trusted Root (CA) certificate
  3. Create a setup information file to use with the CertReq command-line utility.
  4. Create a request file.
  5. Submit a request to the CA using the request file.
  6. Approve the pending certificate request.
  7. Retrieve the certificate from the CA.
  8. Import the certificate into the certificate store.
  9. Import the certificate into Operations Manager using MOMCertImport.

  • Step 1. Download the Trusted Root (CA) certificate

    • Log on to the computer where you installed a certificate; for example, the gateway server or management server.
    • Start Internet Explorer, and connect to the computer hosting Certificate Services; for example, https://<servername>/certsrv.
    • On the Welcome page, click Download a CA Certificate, certificate chain, or CRL.
    • On the Download a CA Certificate, Certificate Chain, or CRL page, click Encoding method, click Base 64, and then click Download CA certificate chain.
    • In the File Download dialog box, click Save and save the certificate; for example, Trustedca.p7b.
    • When the download has finished, close Internet Explorer.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • Download a CA Certificate, certificate chain, or CRL

  • Step 2. Import the Trusted Root (CA) Certificate

    • On the Windows desktop, click Start, and then click Run.
    • In the Run dialog box, type mmc, and then click OK.
    • In the Console1 window, click File, and then click Add/Remove Snap-in.
    • In the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box, click Add.
    • In the Add Standalone Snap-in dialog box, click Certificates, and then click Add.
    • In the Certificates snap-in dialog box, select Computer account, and then click Next.
    • In the Select Computer dialog box, ensure that Local computer: (the computer this console is running on) is selected, and then click Finish.
    • In the Add Standalone Snap-in dialog box, click Close.
    • In the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box, click OK.
    • In the Console1 window, expand Certificates (Local Computer), expand Trusted Root Certification Authorities, and then click Certificates.
    • Right-click Certificates, select All Tasks, and then click Import.
    • In the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next.
    • On the File to Import page, click Browse and select the location where you downloaded the CA certificate file, for example, TrustedCA.p7b, select the file, and then click Open.
    • On the File to Import page, select Place all certificates in the following store and ensure that Trusted Root Certification Authorities appears in the Certificate store box, and then click Next.
    • On the Completing the Certificate Import Wizard page, click Finish.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • Open Certificates Local Computer account MMC:

  • Import Certificate TrustedCA.p7b

  • Step 3. Create a setup information file to use with the CertReq command-line utility.

    • On the computer hosting the Operations Manager component for which you are requesting a certificate, click Start, and then click Run.
    • In the Run dialog box, type Notepad, and then click OK.
    • Create a text file containing the following content:
      [NewRequest]
      Subject="CN=<FQDN of computer you are creating the certificate, for example, the gateway server or management server.>"
      Exportable=TRUE
      KeyLength=2048
      KeySpec=1
      KeyUsage=0xf0
      MachineKeySet=TRUE
      [EnhancedKeyUsageExtension]
      OID=1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1
      OID=1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2
    • Save the file with an .inf file name extension, for example, RequestConfig.inf.
    • Close Notepad.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • Step 4. Create a request file to use with a stand-alone CA

    • On the computer hosting the Operations Manager component for which you are requesting a certificate, click Start, and then click Run.
    • In the Run dialog box, type cmd, and then click OK.
    • In the command window, type CertReq –New –f RequestConfig.inf CertRequest.req, and then press ENTER.
    • Open the resulting file (for example, CertRequest.req) with Notepad. Copy the contents of this file onto the clipboard.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • Step 5. Submit a request to a stand-alone CA

    • On the computer hosting the Operations Manager component for which you are requesting a certificate, start Internet Explorer, and then connect to the computer hosting Certificate Services (for example, https://<servername>/certsrv).
    • On the Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services Welcome screen, click Request a certificate.
    • On the Request a Certificate page, click advanced certificate request.
    • On the Advanced Certificate Request page, click Submit a certificate request by using a base-64-encoded CMC or PKCS #10 file, or submit a renewal request by using a base-64-encoded PKCS #7 file.
    • On the Submit a Certificate Request or Renewal Request page, in the Saved Request text box, paste the contents of the CertRequest.req file that you copied in step 4 in the previous procedure, and then click Submit.
    • Close Internet Explorer.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • Request a certificate

  • Advanced

  • Select Submit a certificate request by using a base-64-encoded CMC or PKCS #10 file, or submit a renewal request by using a base-64-encoded PKCS #7 file.

  • Step 6. approve the pending certificate request

    • Log on as a certification authority administrator to the computer hosting Active Directory Certificate Services.
    • On the Windows desktop, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Certification Authority.
    • In Certification Authority, expand the node for your certification authority name, and then click Pending Requests.
    • In the results pane, right-click the pending request from the previous procedure, point to All Tasks, and then click Issue.
    • Click Issued Certificates, and confirm the certificate you just issued is listed.
    • Close Certification Authority.

  • [W2K8R2DC1.demo.stranger]

  • Click Pending Request in Certificate Authority

  • Click on Issue

  • Step 7. retrieve the certificate

    • Log on to the computer where you want to install a certificate; for example, the gateway server or management server.
    • Start Internet Explorer, and connect to the computer hosting Certificate Services (for example, https://<servername>/certsrv).
    • On the Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services Welcome page, click View the status of a pending certificate request.
    • On the View the Status of a Pending Certificate Request page, click the certificate you requested.
    • On the Certificate Issued page, select Base 64 encoded, and then click Download certificate.
    • In the File Download – Security Warning dialog box, click Save, and save the certificate; for example, as NewCertificate.cer.
    • On the Certificate Installed page, after you see the message that Your new certificate has been successfully installed, close the browser.
    • Close Internet Explorer.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • View status of pending certificate request

  • Save certificate

  • Download certificate

  • Step 8. import the certificate into the certificate store

    • On the computer hosting the Operations Manager component for which you are configuring the certificate, click Start, and then click Run.
    • In the Run dialog box, type cmd, and then click OK.
    • In the command window, type CertReq –Accept NewCertificate.cer, and then press ENTER

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • Step 9. import the certificate into Operations Manager using MOMCertImport

    • Log on to the computer where you installed the certificate with an account that is a member of the Administrators group.
    • On the Windows desktop, click Start, and then click Run.
    • In the Run dialog box, type cmd, and then click OK.
    • At the command prompt, type <drive_letter>: (where <drive_letter> is the drive where the Operations Manager 2007 installation media is located), and then press ENTER.
    • Type cd\SupportTools\i386, and then press ENTER.

  • Note

  • On 64-bit computers, type cd\SupportTools\amd64

    • Type the following:
      MOMCertImport /SubjectName <Certificate Subject Name>
    • Press ENTER.

  • [OM12MS02.demo.stranger]

  • MOMCertImport /SubjectName OM12MS02.demo.stranger

  • Check if everything is ok

  • Open the certificate that you installed on management/gateway server. Click on Details Tab and check the Serial Number.

  • Now navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Operations Manager\3.0\Machine Settings and check the value of ChannelCertificateSerialNumber. Serial number of certificate should be listed backwards here in registry.

  • Open registry

  • Tada!

  • Pre-reqs on DMZ server:

  • Make sure you have installed the OM12 Agent first before starting.

  •  

  •  

  • Let's check the eventlog

  • Repeat steps for OM12DWZ01 server in workgroup

  • High-Level steps:

    • Download the Trusted Root (CA) certificate.
    • Import the Trusted Root (CA) certificate
    • Create a setup information file to use with the CertReq command-line utility.
    • Create a request file.
    • Submit a request to the CA using the request file.
    • Approve the pending certificate request.
    • Retrieve the certificate from the CA.
    • Import the certificate into the certificate store.
    • Import the certificate into Operations Manager using MOMCertImport.

  • [OM12DWZ01.demo.dmz]

  • Step 1. Download the Trusted Root (CA) certificate.

  • Step 2. Import the Trusted Root (CA) certificate

  • Step 3. Create a setup information file to use with the CertReq command-line utility.

  • Step 4. Create a request file to use with a stand-alone CA

  • CertReq –New –f RequestConfig.inf CertRequest.req

  • Step 5. Submit a request to a stand-alone CA

  • Step 6. approve the pending certificate request

  • [W2K8R2DC1.demo.stranger]

  • Step 7. retrieve the certificate

  • [OM12DMZ01.demo.dmz]

  • Step 8. import the certificate into the certificate store

  • Step 9. import the certificate into Operations Manager using MOMCertImport

  • MOMCertImport /SubjectName OM12DMZ01.demo.dmz

  • Final step is approving agent

  • Check Security Settings in Operations Console.

  • Wait for Agent to turn up in Pending Approval folder

  • End result:

 

Have fun at MMS for those who are in Vegas, and for those who are not, well…

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Stefan, Excellent guide, thank you. In step 7, you download a certificate with cer extention and then import it on step 8. In step 9, you use the MomCertImport tool to import to certificate, but as you know you cannot import cer file with the tool; the certificate must be in pfx format [the error you will get is "Certificate file name should have pfx extension."] Am I missing something? Thanks!

    • Anonymous
      January 17, 2019
      Hi,you are correct. MOMCertImport can import the .pfx, which you can generate after exporting the installed .cer certificate. Hope I was able to help. Regards,Stoyan
      • Anonymous
        January 17, 2019
        Thanks for your comment Stoyan.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi StefanSolved the problem mentioned before :) The following are the only deviation from this blog that enabled me to do this:1) Creating a certificate template using computer as a duplicate2) From the SCOM server, importing the certificate remotely on the workgroup machine3) After running the momcertimport, restarting the health service on both the SCOM server and the workgroup server.Thanks again for a wonderfully helpful page. Next time I bump into you, in Vegas or somewhere else, drinks are on me!!!!ThanksDG

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi DG, Please check this discussion on TechNet. social.technet.microsoft.com/.../crossdomain-agent-monitoring-with-scom-2007-r2-oneway-forest-trusts "The OpsMgr Connector could not connect to MSOMHSvc/scommgmt.DomainA.local because mutual authentication failed.  Verify the SPN is properly registered on the server and that, if the server is in a separate domain, there is a full-trust relationship between the two domains. Don't forget that after the (push)install of the agent, the agent initiates the communication. So the agent is connecting to the MS (in domain A), and there is no trust (A doesn't trust B), how can the MS verify with Kerberos that the agent is really who it says it is.... it can't If you don't want to use Certificates, then you need a full trust model (this can be done through setting up two one-way trusts) " So yes you need to use the procedure I described here. /Stefan

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi,
    In your environment, there are two OM12 Management Servers (OM12MS01.demo.stranger and OM12MS02.demo.stranger).
    In mine, I have only one SCOM server located in the Production Zone, can I still follow your instruction ?

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Stefan Thanks once again for your blog and response. I have one quick question. I want to manage one workgroup machine using SCOM 2012, and used this procedure. However I still get the error that the client is untrusted. I noticed one thing though that as per the procedure, Step 5. Submit a request to a stand-alone CA, in my environment, on the page to paste the copied key, I get an additional option to choose a certificate template. I have left is as the default, which is "User". This is the same for both my management server and my workgroup server. However on my management server I can see under my personal store the certificate has been issued to my userid whereas on the workgroup server I get issued with a personal certificate which is issued to my management server. I think this is the discrepancy that is causing the error. I tried manually copying the certificate from my management server to the workgroup server and then run "Momcertimport.exe /SubjectName " from the workgroup server. But this didn't help.I am using Windows 2012 server OS on both the management server and the workgroup machine. Any help will be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Stefan,

    I was in trouble that after installed agent manually. I can see the agent turn up in the Pending Management and approve.
    But the final result of mine was not the same with yours. The Health State keep "Not monitored"

    Check log on the agent I can see this:

    "The OpsMgr Connector connected to SCOM SERVER, but the connection was closed immediately after authentication occurred. The most likely cause of this error is that the agent is not authorized to communicate with the server, or the server has not received configuration. Check the event log on the server for the presence of 20000 events, indicating that agents which are not approved are attempting to connect."

    Do you have experience this ?

    Thanks

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Quang Mo,

    Yes even your environment only has one Management Server you can still follow the steps I described.

    /Stefan

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Greg, Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate it! /Stefan

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Hi Stefan Excellent article. Thanks for it. I wanted to ask a quick question, can I use this procedure to monitor domain joined machines? The domain I want to monitor has only got a one way trust with the domain that has the SCOM management server. The SCOM management server domain's credentials work in the other domain but not vice versa. I am relative newby to SCOM and will appreciate any help. Regards DG

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Stefan,
    I will not take too much of space, so that we keep the article short and clean. Just wanted to give you BIG THANKS for your hard work. The steps are very much to the point that absolutely no one could make mistake here. Thanks again. Very useful for Scom Admins...Fahim

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2012
    Nice to see the steps so fully itemised. thx Stefan. And don't worry about Vegas....Think of all the money u saved :) JB

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2012
    Thanks for the excellent guide Stefan :)

  • Anonymous
    May 17, 2012
    This is a great blog post. Thank you very much for the fantastic insight and we really appreciate the time you took to write this. Thanks again.<a href="http://www.rangatel.com">internet phone service providers</a>

  • Anonymous
    September 11, 2012
    Thanks for the post. I get that security is important hence the use of certs but is it only me that thinks that this approach by MS is utterly ridiculous, over complicated and onerous, especially if you have many distinct DMZs or client sites to monitor. Maybe in this case its the wrong tool to use. Surely they can come up with a better option.

  • Anonymous
    May 28, 2013
    Excellent guide! This works like charm...Great work!!!

  • Anonymous
    May 28, 2013
    Sarav, Glad you like it. Thanks for the feedback. Stefan

  • Anonymous
    August 19, 2013
    Thanks so much for this. It worked

  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2013
    This is the best guide I have come across to explain this and boost confidence. Also helps with a little troubleshooting of the certificates. Brilliant! thanks

  • Anonymous
    August 28, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 26, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 24, 2014
    This is a nice tutorial. Good job and thanks for taking the time to do this. We just acquired another site and they will not approve a trust. This will make my job a little easier.

  • Anonymous
    April 09, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 13, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 16, 2014
    Hello Stefan, thank you for your clarification. I did follow all the steps and everything was successful, how ever, in our environment i had to enter host entries to the host file for the scom server and for the ftp server in order for them to work, Thanks again for such a detailed guide.

  • Anonymous
    July 22, 2014
    The one thing that I would like to clarify is that when you are setting hte FQDN for the server name in the text file template that you create, do you specify the name of the machine which you are installing the certificate on? or the name of the machine that the server you are installing the cert on is intended to connect to?

  • Anonymous
    September 22, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2015
    This is not the order of installation of a GW or agent by a certificate, as it exists on other blogs

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 20, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2016
    im still stuck :(during import, do i need to change the certificate template , by default "User" is showing. seconfdly when i run the momcertimport /subjectname server-fqdn i get a file not found error. i tried creating a duplicate off computers but unfortunately couldnt get the duplicated template to show on the dropdown menu of cert request.so i just ran the momcertimport.exe alone and it popped up a window with the certificate that was installed i choose that and the step was successful. (i can also see the cert in the reg path)finally when i approve the agent , it fails with access denied :(

  • Anonymous
    November 08, 2016
    Very Good, Congratulations!!

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2017
    The comment has been removed

    • Anonymous
      February 05, 2017
      Hi Kim,Thanks for the feedback./Stefan

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2017
    The comment has been removed

    • Anonymous
      March 28, 2017
      Hi James,Thanks for sharing your knowledge!/Stefan

  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2017
    Thank you so much for an excellent explanation.It was of great help :)

    • Anonymous
      July 20, 2017
      Glad I could help you.Regards,Stefan

  • Anonymous
    October 31, 2017
    The comment has been removed

    • Anonymous
      November 01, 2017
      Hi Kyle,I'm sorry but I don't know if this should\would work with SHA256./Stefan