Nicole Welch

Azure and SCOM

Renaming an Azure Windows VM (Managed Disks)

In Azure, the renaming of resources (such as a VM) isn’t allowed. That is, you can rename the...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/11/2019

My blog is moving!

Due to changes in the Microsoft blogging policy, my blog will be moving back to WordPress. You can...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 10/31/2018

Free Azure Training Resources

updated July 24, 2018 When you’re getting started with Azure there is so much to learn and so little...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 06/15/2018

Azure Automation–Using Sample Runbooks in Azure Government

If you hit issues using the Gallery runbooks (like StopAzureV2Vm seen below), you may need to add a...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/21/2018

The Importance of a Growth Mindset in a Technology First World

This week I attended an internal Microsoft conference. The little group I spend my week with was...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/09/2018

Comparing OMS/Log Analytics and SCOM

updated 13 August 2018 When organizations move to the cloud, they often aren’t sure when to use...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/07/2018

The Inevitability of the Cloud

Overview After working on Microsoft Azure for over three years I think I understand the cloud pretty...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/24/2018

Azure Government – Missing Features or Services?

If you’ve experimented with the general Azure cloud (often called Microsoft Azure Commercial or...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 12/11/2017

Moving files between Azure Storage and RHEL

written with assistance from Harshal Dharia, Michael Hansen, and Kan Mongwa of Microsoft There are...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 09/05/2017

Working with Azure ARM VMs, Images, and Unmanaged Disk (Storage Accounts)

A lot of the pre-managed disk documentation has become hard to find.  Below is a cheat-sheet on...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 07/27/2017

Using Azure CLI 1.0 to Copy a File between Subscriptions

note: examples are from the Azure Government cloud but the command used will work in all clouds...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 05/17/2017

The OMS Agent for Azure Government – A Cheat Sheet

Below are the quick and dirty details you need to connect your Windows servers to OMS hosted in...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 05/15/2017

Using OMS to Alert on Azure Service Outages

If you are unable to alert from the Azure Portal, or simple wish to have all your alerting from one...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 03/17/2017

OMS - Azure Activity Logs Solution - Access to the Subscription was Lost

Error Seen in the Azure Activity Logs solution view. Detail: Access to the subscription was lost....

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 03/03/2017

Azure IP Ranges

Updated June 15, 2018 For a myriad of reasons it's nice to know what IPs you can expect to see...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/21/2017

Connecting to MySQL for Azure Site Recovery (ASR)

When using ASR to replication VMware or physical machines into Azure two roles are required – the...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/17/2017

Connecting OMS in Microsoft Azure Government (MAG) to SCOM

note: this is a supplement to...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/06/2017

Azure Classic Portal | How to Add a Data Disk Using a Different Storage Account than the OS Disk

When you add a new disk to an existing VM, you can only modify the disk name and size which means...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 09/15/2016

Azure VMs need Internet Access

When customers move into the cloud, they tend to mimic their setup on-prem.  Not a bad thing, but...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 08/30/2016

How to Use Storage Explorer with Microsoft Azure for Government (MAG)

Update 02/16/2017 - The latest version of Storage Explorer allows you to connect with your Azure...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 08/04/2016

Removing OMS from your SCOM Management Group

Have you inherited an environment where someone had "played" with OMS? OMS is partially configured,...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 06/16/2016

Azure IaaS - Can't Logon? Wrong ID/PW?

If you forgot your VM's logon ID/PW, you have a few options to get back in there.  Note: Domain...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 05/25/2016

Azure IaaS VMs and the Three (now Four!) R's

updated 27 May 2016 When you have a problematic IaaS VM (won't start, won't stop, can't RDP even...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 05/19/2016

Moving Azure Images from the Commercial to the Azure Government Cloud (MAG)

Some times we see customers move Microsoft provided images from the Azure commercial cloud to the...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 04/21/2016

Learning Azure, aka "The Cloud"

I spend my days supporting Azure and SCOM here at Microsoft. When I mention to my SCOM customers...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/04/2016

SCOM 2012, WSMan, and Unix/Linux Computer Discovery

Summary System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) Linux/UNIX monitoring uses WS-Management/WSMan...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/12/2016

Bitlocker and Domain Controller Logical Disks

Recently I had a customer hit an issue that was hard to resolve.....until we stopped looking at the...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/12/2016

Monitoring Azure for Government (MAG) with SCOM - Subscription Configuration

updated 05/22/2018 Clarification of the correct endpoints for MAG (defaults are for the...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/07/2016

SCOM 2012 - Large Event.Parameter Table(s)

Last year, an issue with the SCOM DW event grooming was detected which was addressed in SCOM 2012 R2...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/07/2016

SCOM/OMS - Failed to enable Advisor Connector on the computer.

Problem After rebuilding SCOM and reconfiguring OMS (Operations Manager Suite, formerly System...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 10/29/2015

SCOM - Scoped User Roles unable to See Heartbeat Alerts

SCOM can be quite complicated! One of the biggest confusions is around why agents go gray, why you...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 10/28/2015

SCOM 2012 - Empty Graphs in Windows Server Performance Dashboards?

Problem Microsoft Windows Server -> Performance -> Disk Performance and Disk utilization views...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 10/27/2015

SCOM AD Replication Monitoring Failed (fSMORoleOwner attribute)

This is a repost of an excellent blog by René van Maasakkers...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 10/20/2015

Azure Express Route: Error Setting up VPN Gateway

This week I hit a new oddity while working with a customer. Yes, an Azure customer! He had setup...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 08/28/2015

Allowing SCOM to Monitor SQL with Local System

Configuring SQL Monitoring with Local System In previous versions of SQL, Local System had access to...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 08/05/2015

SCOM 2012: Sealing MPs that Reference MPBs

Sealing a SCOM 2012 MP using Visual Studio If you want to seal an XML MP that references an MPB...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 07/17/2015

Scheduling Maintenance Mode - SCOM 2016 Tech Preview 2

I'm beginning to play with SCOM 2016 (TP 2) and noticed something quite cool.... We finally are...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 07/17/2015

Unable to Find VBScript Script Engine?

Everyday SCOM teaches me something new, and necessarily about SCOM! Recently I was onsite with a...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 06/16/2015

"Server Down" View

A customer recently asked me how to create a view (or list) of offline servers. Initially this...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 06/07/2015

Monitoring Azure Resources with SCOM

Have any of you been tasked with monitoring "Azure" but are unfamiliar with it?  As the SCOM guru,...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 05/27/2015

SCOM - Where is your Perf Data Coming From?

Kevin Holman has already published the SCOM SQL bible -...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 05/26/2015

Tuning SCOM Data - An Overview

Updated: 15 September 1015 This is designed as a high-level overview of the data the comes into SCOM...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 04/30/2015

Stolen Memory?

Per the comments in this post:...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 04/15/2015

Errors Connecting to the Data Warehouse (Health Service Module Events 31557, 31561, 31563, 31569)

Today I worked with a user...a smart user. He told me a story I'd heard before - "I didn't touch...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 03/25/2015

SCOM 2012 Update Rollups

This is my quick cheatsheet with links to all the URs. SCOM Interoperability Will my agent work with...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 03/23/2015

Changing the SCOM Web Console to Use SSL/HTTPS

I recently worked a case where a client had installed the web console and configured it to use HTTP....

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 03/23/2015

Monitoring Window 2012 AD - Multiple Monitoring Scripts Failing (or Why I need IPv6)

I recently worked a case where a client was getting irregular, but frequent alerts across all...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 02/02/2015

SCOM 2012 - Empty Reports?

Updated 06 July 2015 A few years ago I hit an issue with my logical disk reports being empty...and...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 01/16/2015

Setting Up a SCOM Notification Channel to Launch a Powershell Script

For any subscription, there are three pieces that all must be configured correctly: the channel,...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 12/16/2014

I've moved!

Now that I've joined Microsoft, I'm moving my blog to MSDN. To view older articles, please see...

Author: Nicole Welch Date: 12/16/2014

Next>