The next version of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), software for centrally monitoring and managing the health of servers, will be more scalable and secure and will include a new console, reporting system, and management packs. Slated for release in summer 2004, MOM 2005 will also be available in a cheaper scaled-down version for smaller businesses. Since MOM 2005’s architecture hasn’t changed much, upgrading MOM 2000 systems should be relatively painless. However, although MOM 2005 will require less initial tuning and tweaking to begin getting useful information, using it still requires considerable skill and system knowledge.

Monitoring remains an important technology for minimizing downtime for critical systems, and MOM is Microsoft’s primary product for monitoring Windows servers. (Readers unfamiliar with basic system monitoring concepts should see the sidebar “The Need for Monitoring“. Readers unfamiliar with MOM should see the sidebar “MOM Overview“.)

MOM 2005 will also be one of the core components of System Center 2005, a new monitoring and systems-configuration product that also includes Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003. System Center is due by the end of 2004.

The next version of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), software for centrally monitoring and managing the health of servers, will be more scalable and secure and will include a new console, reporting system, and management packs. Slated for release in summer 2004, MOM 2005 will also be available in a cheaper scaled-down version for smaller businesses. Since MOM 2005’s architecture hasn’t changed much, upgrading MOM 2000 systems should be relatively painless. However, although MOM 2005 will require less initial tuning and tweaking to begin getting useful information, using it still requires considerable skill and system knowledge.

Monitoring remains an important technology for minimizing downtime for critical systems, and MOM is Microsoft’s primary product for monitoring Windows servers. (Readers unfamiliar with basic system monitoring concepts should see the sidebar “The Need for Monitoring“. Readers unfamiliar with MOM should see the sidebar “MOM Overview“.)

MOM 2005 will also be one of the core components of System Center 2005, a new monitoring and systems-configuration product that also includes Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003. System Center is due by the end of 2004.