Configure Usage Metering in Service Provider Foundation

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator

This topic describes how to configure Service Provider Foundation to aggregate usage statistics for queries by the Service Provider Foundation Usage web service. For more information, see the "Usage web service" section in Usage web service.

In Service Provider FoundationSystem Center 2012 SP1, connection settings were maintained in the web.config file for the Usage service. Beginning with Service Provider FoundationSystem Center 2012 R2, these settings are stored in the Service Provider Foundation database.

The minimum topology for implementing usage metering collection is as follows:

• One server running Service Provider Foundation

• One server running System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)

• One server running System Center 2012 – Operations Manager that has an Operations Manager Data Warehouse (OMDW) database

• One or more virtual machines hosted by Hyper V (or VMM) and managed by VMM to generate usage data. These can also be the severs running Service Provider Foundation, VMM, and Operations Manager themselves.

If needed, all these components can all be on the same computer.

Use Windows PowerShell and the Service Provider Foundation cmdlets to configure usage metering as described in the following procedure. For the cmdlets, see Service Provider Foundation cmdlet Reference.

Also see the blog post Configuring SPF and Windows Azure Pack for IaaS usage and metering.

• Create an instance of a server (using the New-SCSPFServer cmdlet) with the ServerType as OMDW.

• Use the New-SCSPFSetting cmdlet to create a setting on that server (the one created in the previous step), that has the connection string to OperationsManagerDW database on the OMDW server.

• Verify that the Application Pool account under which SPF_Usage runs has the ability to query OMDW.

• Verify sure that the Windows Azure Pack calling account is a member of the SPF_User local security group on the server that has Service Provider Foundation installed.

To set OMDW connection settings

1. Run the New-SCSPFSetting command with the parameters described in the following table.

   New-SCSPFSetting Parameter	Value
   Value	Required. Must be a database connection string.
   SettingType	Required. Must be DatabaseConnectionString.
   Name	Optional. This setting is recommended. Specify a meaningful name for each setting.
   Server	Associates the setting with the sever from which usage metering is to be obtained. Must be a server object obtained from the Get-SCSPFServer cmdlet.

   For example:

   PS C:\> $omdwserver = New-SCSPFServer –Name "omdw.contoso.com" –ServerType OMDW  
   PS C:\>$setting = New-SCSPFSetting –Name mysetting –SettingType DatabaseConnectionString –Value "Server=myomdwserver\myomdwinstance;Database=OperationsManagerDW;Trusted_Connection=True;Connect Timeout=300" –Server $omdwserver  
   

The recommended connection timeout is 300 seconds, or 5 minutes. This value is also dependent on the volume of virtual machine usage metrics, SQL server edition (Enterprise recommended), hardware capacity, among other environment settings. You can change the connection timeout value using the next procedure in this guide.

Use the Get-SCSPFSetting cmdlet to make changes to a particular setting. For example, the following code associates the setting with a different server, that is stored in the $newSvr variable.

PS C:\>$myset = Get-SCSPFSetting –Name "mySetting"  
PS C:\>$myset.Server = $newSvr  
  

The following configuration is required to enable usage metering:

• A server running Service Provider Foundation that has the Windows Update package KB2785476 installed. This update is included in the Update Rollup 1 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1). If the update was already installed automatically by Windows Update, the following directory should exist: C:\inetpub\SPF\Usage. If the update was not installed, see the next section of this topic.

• The Windows Azure Pack for Windows Server and API to provision IaaS.

• A server running System Center 2012 – Operations Manager with the management packs installed for VMM. See Using Management Packs for more information.

• A server running SQL Server with the Operations Manager Data Warehouse (OMDW). For more information, see How to Install the Operations Manager Reporting Server.

  You can have the database for the OMDW and the database for Service Provider Foundation on the same server.

• A Usage application pool identity credential that must be specified as a logon account to the OMDW databases. This account must have the db_DataReader and OpsMgrReader user mappings on each OMDW database. This is the same account specified for the Service Provider Foundation database.

If Windows Update is controlled by your System Administrator, the update might not have been installed automatically. If the update was not installed, you can install it from Windows Update or from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The required update for usage metering, included in the rollup, is KB2785476 for Service Provider Foundation.

To install the update from Windows Update

1. In Control Panel, in Category View, select System and Security and then Windows Update.

2. Click Check Online for updates from Microsoft Update.

3. Click Important updates are available.

4. Verify that the Update Rollup 1 package KB2785476 is selected, and then click OK.

To install the update manually

1. Go to Microsoft Update Catalog (https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=2785476).

   The Update for System Center 2012 SP1 Orchestrator – SPF (KB2785476) should be the only item in the search results.

2. Click Add, and then click view basket.

3. Click Download and then following then specify options to download.

4. At the location of the download, double-click the CAB file under the Update for System Center 2012 SP1 Orchestrator - SPF (KB2785476) folder.

5. Double-click the KB2785476_SFPUsage.msp file to install the update.

Verify that the update was successful by checking to see of the C:\inetpub\SPF\Usage folder exists.

For more information about the update, see the Description of Update Rollup 1 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1

You must specify the connection strings for all of the participating OMDW databases, and then apply a SQL Server script to update the databases with the required tables and triggers to implement usage metering.

To specify OMDW connection strings

1. Edit the c:\inetpub\SPF\Usage\web.config file in a text editor and locate the <connectionStrings> element. This element initially appears as follows:

   <connectionStrings>  
       <add name="OMDWConnectionString"   
            connectionString=""/>  
     </connectionStrings>  
   

2. Edit the element to contain the connection settings for each OMDW database, as shown in the following example. In this example, two virtual machines are configured for usage metering.

   <connectionStrings>  
   <add name="OMDWBasicPlusVMs"   
   connectionString="Server='sky200.contoso.com'";  
   Database=OMDWSPFUsage;  
   Trusted_Connection=True;  
   MultipleActiveResultSets=True;"/>  
   <add name="OMDW"   
   connectionString="Server='sky400.contoso.com'";  
   Database=OMDWSPFUsage;  
   Trusted_Connection=True;  
   MultipleActiveResultSets=True;"/>  
   </connectionStrings>  
   

To apply the Update Rollup 1 Service Provider Foundation database update script

1. Copy the c:\inetpub\SPF\Usage\KB2875476\SPFUsageFeatureUpdate.sql file to the server where the database for Service Provider Foundation is installed. This can be the same server.

2. Double-click the SPFUsageFeatureUpdate.sql file to apply the rollup. SQL Server Management Studio will launch.

3. The following permissions must be specified for the SCSPFDB database if the application pool identity credential of the Usage endpoint and the VMM endpoint are the same. Right-click the SCSPFDB database, click Properties, and then click Permissions. Verify that the following permissions are granted:

   • Connect

   • Delete

   • Insert

   • Select

   • Update

   These permissions are required because the VMM endpoint is more restricted than what usage metering can access, and they must be compatible.

4. Add the following permissions to the new OnPremServicesCollectorSessions, OnPremServicesSubscriberWatermarks, and OnPremServicesSubscriberTombstones tables:

   • Delete

   • Insert

   • Select

   • Update

We recommend these permissions as best practices. The permission structure that we recommend here is the minimum set that is required. You can apply a more or less restrictive permissions scheme, depending on your security policies.

Ensure that the following authentication tasks have been completed:

• The application pool identity credentials for the VMM service for Service Provider Foundation is correct after installing the update package KB2785476.

• The application pool identity credentials for the Service Provider Foundation Admin, Provider, VMM, and Usage services should all be the same.

• On the computers that are running Microsoft SQL Server where the OMDW databases reside, verify that the Usage Application Pool account that you configured has logon rights and read permission.

• The account for SPF_Usage in Local Users and Groups on the server where Service Provider Foundation is installed belongs to the Administrators account.

Usage Metering Data Model in Service Provider Foundation
Administering Service Provider Foundation
Deploying Service Provider Foundation