Finding great Operations Management Suite documentation: Part 1

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Summary: Ed Wilson begins a multipart series in which he reviews #MSOMS documentation.

Good morning everyone. Ed Wilson, here. This morning it is sunny and warm here in Florida, and I am listening to the Pirates of Penzance on my XBOX One. I fixed a cup of Earl Gray Tea, and I am trying to get my head around some of the various sources of Microsoft Operations Management Suite documentation.

One problem is readily apparent: things are somewhat spread out. Another problem is that #MSOMS is already a pretty robust product, so there is quite a lot of learning ahead if one wants to completely master the product. The good thing is that it is also pretty much plug-and-play, so one can really get started using it rather quickly. Today I want to talk about two great sources of #MSOMS documentation. The first is on TechNet, and the second is currently a free e-book.

The TechNet Library

The Operations Management Suite documentation in the TechNet Library is awesome, and it is an obvious place to start. The table of contents includes:

  • Videos
  • Data security
  • Pricing
  • Getting started
  • Log analytics
  • IT automation
  • Backup and recovery
  • Security and compliance
  • Troubleshooting

The outline seems rather obvious from my post yesterday (see What is Microsoft Operations Management Suite and why is it cool?) It covers the four main pillars of OMS. The documents on TechNet are continuously updated, and like I said, a rather obvious place to start.

Here is a screenshot of the OMS library site:

OMS-1-6-16-01

What is not obvious about the TechNet Library documentation is that it can be customized and exported. That is right. I like to call it the build-a-book feature, and it was stealthily introduced over three years ago. I say stealthily, but I do have an awesome post written by Dave Bishop that details how to use this feature to its advantage. The post is called How to Print Documents from the TechNet Library and MSDN, and it covers customizing the docs in detail.

Inside the Microsoft Operations Management Suite

The Inside the Microsoft Operations Management Suite e-book (preview release) released yesterday on the TechNet Gallery. You can download the 430-page PDF (yes, that is right, 430 pages) for free right now. Details are available via the Inside the Microsoft Cloud blog.

This awesome resource is written by Tao (@MrTaoYang), Stan (@StanZhelyazkhov), Anders (https://contoso.se), and Pete (@Pzerger). The Inside the Microsoft Operations Management Suite e-book begins with an introduction and then covers onboarding. They move to searching and presenting OMS data, and then to alert management. This is a very logical way to begin learning about MSOMS.

They then go into performance data, Desired State Configuration, analyzing network data, and even custom management pack authoring and cross-platform management and automation. The book is well written, and it looks great. (I will admit that I have not completed all 430 pages yet, but I have spent a decent amount of time looking over the book, and I do intend to read it.)

Well done to all involved in this project. Here is what the book looks like:

OMS-1-6-16-02

That is all I have for you today. Join me tomorrow when I’ll talk about more cool sources for Microsoft OMS documentation.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter and the Microsoft OMS Facebook site. If you want to learn more about Windows PowerShell, visit the Hey, Scripting Guy Blog. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com. I wish you a wonderful day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Ed Wilson
Microsoft Operations Management Team