Enterprise Vault management pack for SCOM warnings about Vault Store partition backup is overdue for closed partitions

Problem

In a scenario where Enterprise Vault management pack is installed for System Center Operation manager (SCOM), alerts about overdue backups are sent for closed partitions

Error Message

The following alert is sent by SCOM: 

SCOM
Alert: Vault Store partition backup is overdue
Source: EVSERVER
Path: EVSERVER.domain.local;14953F95BE7EDE8449B5FA65A375975621DOMAIN.LOCAL
Alert Priority: 1
Alert Severity: 2
Last modified by: System
AM Alert description: The Vault Store partition has not been backed up for <x> hours.
Vault Store partition name: Partition01
Vault Store partition path: \\Storage\Partition01\
Vault Store: VaultStore01
Notification subscription ID generating this message: {11D7007D-4114-30C7-4FB7-DE3A3BD9D5D4}

Cause

There could be certain Enterprise Vault configurations where closed Vault Store Partitions do not need additional and regular backups because their status do not change.

It could happen in Enterprise Vault environments where there is no Storage Expiry (all retention categories are set to 'forever') and where users cannot delete items from their archive.

SCOM Enterprise Vault counters checks the 'Hours since last backup' for such closed partitions and might be sending alerts that the Vaults Store partition backup is overdue.

Solution

This issue is being determined by the current Enterprise Vault SCOM performance counters architecture which ignores the 'status' of the given partition.

It is possible to implement the following workarounds depending on the number of closed Enterprise Vault partitions.

Workaround 1:  more specific with lesser number of Vault Store Partitions to disable the monitors for:

Disable only specific monitors of selected Vault Store Partitions.

1. Open SCOM console
2. Go to 'Authoring' section
3. Expand 'Authoring -> Management Pack Objects' node and select 'Monitors' node in the left pane.
4. In the right pane, click 'Change scope' link from the top section. Select 'View all targets' radio button and click OK.
5. Enter the monitor name 'VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor' in the 'Look for:' filter text control and click 'Find Now'.
6. Once the filter is applied, expand 'Backup' node until 'Backup -> Entity Health -> Availability -> VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor'.
7. Right click on the 'VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor' and select 'Overrides -> Disable the monitor -> For a specific object of class: Backup'. This will open 'Select Object' dialog and list all the Vault Store Partitions.
8. Identify and select the closed partition and click OK. You can identify the closed partition with it's Entry Id in the 'Path' column. Path column displays data in '<EV Server FQDN>.<PartitionEntryId>' format.
9. SCOM console will display the 'Override Properties' dialog with the 'Override Value' column as 'False' for the 'Enabled' property.
10. To save the overriden values and deliver it to the SCOM agents, you need to create a new management pack. Select 'New...' button from the 'Management Pack' section. Enter the name of the new override management pack and complete the management pack creation wizard. In case you already have a management pack for storing overrides, select the same.
11. The newly created or existing selected management pack will be displayed on the 'Override Properties' dialog. Click OK to save the changes.
12. You need to repeat the steps 7 through 11 for each Vault Store Partition that you want to disable the alert for.

Workaround 2 - more specific with a larger number of Vault Store Partitions to disable the monitors for:

First, Disable each monitors for every Vault Store Partitions, then enable specific monitors of selected Vault Store Partitions.

1. Open SCOM console
2. Go to 'Authoring' section
3. Expand 'Authoring -> Management Pack Objects' node and select 'Monitors' node in the left pane.
4. In the right pane, click 'Change scope' link from the top section. Select 'View all targets' radio button and click OK.
5. Enter the monitor name 'VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor' in the 'Look for:' filter text control and click 'Find Now'.
6. Once the filter is applied, expand 'Backup' node until 'Backup -> Entity Health -> Availability -> VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor'.
7. Right click on the 'VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor' and select 'Overrides -> Disable the monitor -> For all objects of class: Backup'.
8. SCOM console will display the 'Override Properties' dialog. Change the 'Override Value' column to 'False' for the 'Enabled' property.
9. To save the overriden values and deliver it to the SCOM agents, you need to create a new management pack. Select 'New...' button from the 'Management Pack' section. Enter the name of the new override management pack and complete the management pack creation wizard. In case you already have a management pack for storing overrides, select the same.
10. The newly created or existing selected management pack will be displayed on the 'Override Properties' dialog. Click OK to save the changes.
11. Now enable only specific monitors of selected Vault Store Partitions with the following steps.
12. Right click on the 'VaultStorePartitionBackup.Monitor' and select 'Overrides -> Override the monitor -> For a specific object of class: Backup'. This will open 'Select Object' dialog and list all the Vault Store Partitions.
12. Identify and select the partition that you want to enable the monitor for and click OK. You can identify the partition with it's Entry Id in the 'Path' column. Path column displays data in '<EV Server FQDN>.<PartitionEntryId>' format.
13. SCOM console will display the 'Override Properties' dialog. Select/check the 'Enabled' property and change the 'Override Value' column as 'True'.
14. To save the overriden values and deliver it to the SCOM agents, you need to select the management pack you have already created.
15. The selected management pack will be displayed on the 'Override Properties' dialog. Click OK to save the changes.
16. You need to repeat the steps 12 through 15 for each Vault Store Partition that you want to enable the alert for.