Operation Manager 2007 R2 Manages Non-Windows OSs

The latest version of Operations Manager (OM), Microsoft’s performance- and event-monitoring product, can manage non-Microsoft products using cross-platform extensions and third-party management packs. Several partners will deliver management packs enabled for Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) to monitor more effectively virtual machine (VM) workloads running on Hyper-V. These and other developments to parts of the System Center line of management products could make OM and other Microsoft management products more useful for customers with heterogeneous environments and more competitive in the enterprise system management market.

Cross-Platform Extensions

OM, the full name of which is System Center Operations Manager, enables administrators to centrally monitor the health and performance of devices, particularly Windows servers and the applications that run on them, and it can take corrective actions automatically based on customizable rules and scripts. Management packs (application-specific modules that tell OM which events or services to monitor) provide models of the way the application should function (i.e., boundaries that constitute normal behavior), as well as other information useful to operators when troubleshooting problems on systems such as Exchange Server. Microsoft provides Management Packs for Windows Server and all Microsoft server-based applications.