Management Pack Conversion

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Applies To: Operations Manager 2007 R2, Operations Manager 2007 SP1

Conversion is the process of taking an Operations Manager 2005 management pack and translating it into a valid Operations Manager 2007 management pack. Conversion of Operations Manager 2005 management packs to the Operations Manager 2007 format preserves the development time and cost put into an Operations Manager 2005 management pack.

Operations Manager 2007 is a redesigned product that is architecturally different from Operations Manager 2005. Before converting an Operations Manager 2005 management pack from Microsoft or another vendor, check to see if an Operations Manager 2007 version of the management pack exists. Only management packs designed for Operations Manager 2007 take advantage of the new features included in Operations Manager 2007. For the most up-to-date list of management packs from Microsoft check the Microsoft Management Pack Catalog at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=71124.

Conversion Process

The native format of an Operations Manager 2005 management pack is a binary file in an AKM format. This is the only format that Operations Manager 2005 Management Servers accept as valid management packs. Operations Manager 2007 does not use the AKM format; instead, it uses XML as the format for management packs.

Converting a management pack from the Operations Manager 2005 AKM format to Operations Manager 2007 XML is a two-step process. The first step converts an Operations Manager 2005 management pack from AKM to XML, resulting in an Operations Manager 2005 XML management pack. The second step translates the Operations Manager 2005 XML management pack into an Operations Manager 2007 XML management pack, resulting in a management pack file that is ready for import into an Operations Manager 2007 management server.

Note

You may want to take the additional step of sealing the management pack so that the original settings cannot be altered.

Conversion Tools

An Operations Manager 2005 tool, MP2XML.exe, is used to convert an Operations Manager 2005 AKM file to an Operations Manager 2005 XML file. The output of the MP2XML tool is used as input into the second tool needed for conversion. The second tool, which is MPConvert.exe, translates the output from MP2XML.exe into an Operations Manager 2007 management pack formatted as an XML file.