Released: Public Preview for Version Agnostic SQL Server MP (2012-2017)

Adding Support for SQL Server 2012, 2014, 2016 Monitoring in the Version Agnostic SQL Server Management Pack

We moved to version agnostic management packs with SQL Server 2017+ MP. That is, 2017+ MP is built to monitor SQL Server versions 2017 and up.  We had announced that the current in-market MPs (2008 through 2016) were not being changed and the 2017+ MP could not be used to monitor older releases. We would like to now add support in the version agnostic MP to monitor older versions of the server, specifically 2012 through 2016. SQL Server 2008 and R2 end of support is nearing (July 2019) so we will leave monitoring 2008 in its own MP.

Please install and use this public preview and send us your feedback (sqlmpsfeedback@microsoft.com)! We appreciate the time and effort you spend on these previews which make the final product so much better.

Please download at:

Microsoft System Center Management Pack (Community Technology Preview) for SQL Server

Let’s walk through the planned changes and benefits.

Planned Changes

There will be a few changes to the existing MPs.

Naming

• The version agnostic MP (2017+) will be renamed to SQL Server MP and will support monitoring SQL Server 2012 and up.
• The existing SQL Server MP monitors 2008-2012. It will be renamed to SQL Server 2008 - 2012 MP.
• We will leave the existing in-market MPs for 2014 and 2016 as is.
• There are no changes to Replication MPs at the moment.
• The version agnostic MP will discover and monitor 2012 and higher versions of SQL Server out of the box. When you import this MP, if there are in-market MPs for 2012, 2014, or 2016 presented on SCOM, version agnostic MP will not discover and monitor 2012-2016 versions of SQL Server by default in order to avoid double monitoring. You can enable discovery and monitoring of version-agnostic MPs manually after making sure the older MPs are disabled or uninstalled. 

Servicing

• We will not service the older MPs (2008-2016) once the new version agnostic MP is available. So in order to get the latest fixes and feature improvements, we recommend you move to the version agnostic MP.
• When you move to the new version agnostic SQL Server MP but still have SQL Server 2008 instances to monitor, please make sure you disable monitoring of SQL Server 2012 or uninstall 2012 MP files from the old SQL Server MP and use it to just monitor 2008 instances. Here is the list of all 2012 related files to be uninstalled from the SQLServer2008and2012MP:
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012.AlwaysOn.Discovery.mp
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012.AlwaysOn.Monitoring.mp
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012.Discovery.mp
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012.Mirroring.Discovery.mp
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012. Mirroring.Monitoring.mp
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012.Monitoring.mp
  • Microsoft.SQLServer.2012.Presentation.mp

Feature Parity

• We will not have monitoring for mirroring in the new version agnostic MP.

• If you have built custom MPs based on SQL Server MPs, you will need to update them. This can be done in your own timeframe. The benefits of the new version agnostic MP should make the updates worthwhile. Please see the benefits section below.
• If you want to keep historical data, you can disable the workflows in the old MPs instead of uninstalling them.

Benefits

• MP management becomes easier with a single MP to monitor all SQL Server versions.
• For custom developed solutions based on SQL Server MPs, the base classes are much more desirable. You will be able to create a single solution for all the versions of SQL Server instead of being forced to have four different solutions like today (2008-2012, 2014, 2016, 2017).
• Agentless monitoring will be available for the older versions of SQL Server.
• This simplifies RunAs configuration. We’ll have one set of runas profiles shared across all version agnostic MPs.

We are looking forward to hearing your feedback at sqlmpsfeedback@microsoft.com.