Essential Microsoft Operations Manager

Deploying and Managing Agents in a Trusted LAN

The trusted LAN network and security environment is the easiest to work with. The management groups and target computers are all in the same domain and there is high-speed, reliable connectivity between them with no port restrictions. Figure 3-3 shows the Leaky Faucet headquarters site in the LKF domain. You will probably deploy the bulk of your agents into this type of environment.

Preparing the Managed Computers

Preparing for agent deployment starts with preparing the computers that you want to deploy to. Leaky Faucet already knows it must deploy agents to all of its Windows-based servers, so the preparation for the deployment process will be the same for all machines. For each machine that is agent-managed, inventory is taken of the OS and patch level, the amount of free disk space on the system partition, and the size and configuration of the event logs.

MOM 2005 can install agents to computers that are running Windows 2000, Professional, or Server with SP4 or higher. Computers that are running an OS and patch level less than this can be monitored in MOM 2005 via agentless management. Because it is noninvasive, agentless management is attractive, but there are trade-offs in functionality.

Figure 3-3. Leaky Faucet headquarters site in the LKF domain

All of Leaky Faucet’s servers are running Windows Server 2003 Standard edition. They ...