Posts tagged System Center 2012

Monday June 18 2012 will be the big day for us. Our book Microsoft Private Cloud Computing will be officially available and even a little earlier than expected. Mid-2011 four MVP’s decided to make a joint effort at writing a practical book on deploying a Microsoft Private Cloud. The four authors are:

Aidan Finn (MVP Virtual Machine @joe_elway)
Patrick Lownds (MVP Virtual Machine @patricklownds)
Damian Flynn (MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management @damian_flynn)
Hans Vredevoort (MVP Virtual Machine @hvredevoort)

Kristian Nese (@kristiannese) who is also MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management kindly accepted the role of technical reviewer. Kristian has also written a book on Cloud Computing in Norwegian.

Learn the foundation of cloud computing and how to build your own Microsoft private cloud

Written by a team of expert authors who are MVPs and leaders in their respective fields, this one-of-a-kind book is an essential resource for IT administrators who are responsible for implementing and managing a cloud infrastructure. You’ll quickly learn how cloud computing offers significant cost savings while also providing new levels of speed and agility.

Serving as a how-to guide, Microsoft Private Cloud Computing walks you through building a secure, internal cloud and delivering it as a service to your company using Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012.

Walks you through the entire process: understanding cloud computing, understanding the Microsoft concept of a private cloud, deploying a private cloud fabric, deploying services, and building a private cloud, as well as integrating it with Microsoft’s public cloud to create a cross-premises or public cloud

Discusses fabric management with System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2012

Examines how to provide network and storage with VMM 2012

Looks at the VMM library configuration

Discusses private cloud and cloud service management with Microsoft App Controller

Microsoft Private Cloud Computing is a must-have comprehensive resource that covers all aspects of implementing a private cloud

Aidan wrote the introductory chapters on Private Cloud, Hans dealt with the Fabric Management chapters (Servers, Storage, Network) including Bare Metal Deployment, Patrick wrote the chapters on Service Management (VMM Library, Service Modeling) and Damian contributed chapters on Private Cloud Solutions (VMM Services, Self-Service, App Controller) including the Cloud Services Process Pack.

If you are dealing with the Fabric part you need lots and lots of hardware. Fortunately one of our great customers at INOVATIV as well as my personal friends from XS4ALL (Joey Hofstede, Alexander Rijnbeek) have helped us tremendously. They offered us a remotely accessible lab including HP Blade Servers, HP EVA storage and lots of capacity to test all new VMM 2012 functionality. XS4ALL is a key Dutch Internet Provider, so you can imagine the download speeds if I ever wanted to grab a few ISO’s.

The book can be ordered here and will hopefully soon be found in most large bookstores.

Here are the (earlier) announcement blogs of my fellow authors:

Aidan: http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12024
Damian: http://www.damianflynn.com/2012/01/17/microsoft-private-cloud-computing-book/

App Controller 2012, Bare Metal Deployment, Book, Cloud, Cloud Services Process Pack, Fabric, Microsoft Private Cloud Computing, Microsoft Private Cloud Computing Book, private cloud, self-service, System Center 2012, Virtual Machine Manager 2012

All-In with System Center 2012: 8 minute video [Dutch]

Jun 7th

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Hans Vredevoort

The company I work for is All In with Microsoft System Center 2012 and it is no surprise that we spend a lot of effort getting across the message that this Microsoft Management suite is what you really need if you build a Microsoft Private Cloud with a heterogeneous landscape of hypervisors, operations systems and applications.

In my book Microsoft Private Cloud Computing several of the important pieces are covered such as System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 and App Controller 2012.

This 8-minute video explains why System Center 2012 is such an interesting management suite and ought to be considered by every IT manager or CIO looking to efficiently manage a small, medium or large datacenter.

Dutch version: http://www.systemcenter2012.nl/

Please take a look at the list of System Center 2012 References at the bottom of this blog.

System Center References:

System Center User Group [Dutch]: http://www.scug.nl/

System Center Blog: http://www.systemcenterblog.nl/

System Center Central: http://www.systemcentercentral.com/

System Center Microsoft site: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/default.aspx

System Center 2012 Books: http://www.systemcenterblog.nl/tag/system-center-2012/

System Center Technical Resources: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/systemcenter/

System Center Solution Center: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/16340

Microsoft Private Cloud Computing Book: http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12024

How to Participate in the System Center Community:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11504.how-to-participate-in-the-system-center-community.aspx

System Center twitter hashtags;
http://www.systemcentercentral.com/BlogDetails/tabid/143/IndexID/92725/Default.aspx

System Center Virtual Machine Manager Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/scvmm/

System Center Operations Manager Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/

System Center Data Protection Manager Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/

System Center Service Manager Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/

System Center Orchestrator Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/

System Center Configuration Manager Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/

System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management (CDM) MVP’s:
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx?product=1&competency=System+Center+Cloud+and+Datacenter+Management

#MSFTPrivateCloud, App Controller 2012, Cloud, Data Protection Manager 2012, Hyper-V, Operations Manager 2012, Orchestrator 2012, private cloud, Private Cloud Computing, Service Manager 2012, System Center 2012, System Center References, Virtual Machine Manager 2012

Early test version available for System Center 2012 SP1 and Windows Server ‘8’ Beta

Mar 10th

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Hans Vredevoort

Documentation:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29094&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

I expect many of you have tried out the new version of VMM 2012 that will be generally available before long. It is an incredible piece of software that I have blogged about several times just after the first general beta since it arrived about one year ago. But there is one thing it cannot do: manage Windows Server ‘8’.

Now that the bits of Windows Server 8 are available to everyone, it is very good news that Microsoft has released the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of System Center 2012 for Windows Server ‘8’ Beta support. The focus of this CTP is on VMM and DPM in combination with Hyper-V and is therefore not aimed to work with all the other System Center 2012 modules. It essentially focuses on managing the fabric of your private cloud including Windows Server ‘8’.

These are the capabilities you can try out:

Hyper-V Network virtualization
Hyper-V VM’s on an SMB2.2 file share (on a Windows 8 file server or scale out file cluster)
VHDX format
Live Storage Migration
Live Migration without shared storage
VM protection on CSV 2.0 volumes
VM protection on remote SMB2.2 file shares
Protection of de-dup enabled file share volumes

System Center 2012 CTP for Windows Server ‘8’ Beta Support can be downloaded here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=29099

Remember that this CTP is not even beta so only run this in a test environment!

#hyperv, CSV 2.0, CTP, Hyper-V, Live Storage Migration, Network Virtualization, System Center 2012, System Center 2012 SP1, VHDX, win8, Windows 8, Windows Server 8

Microsoft Private Cloud Computing Book

Jan 17th

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Hans Vredevoort

Today – during the announcement of System Center 2012 RC availability) – seems the perfect occasion to announce our book called Microsoft Private Cloud Computing. Mid-2011 four MVP’s decided to make a joint effort at writing a practical book on deploying a Microsoft Private Cloud. The four authors are:

Aidan Finn (MVP Virtual Machine @joe_elway)
Patrick Lownds (MVP Virtual Machine @patricklownds)
Damian Flynn (MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management @damian_flynn)
Hans Vredevoort (MVP Cluster @hvredevoort)

Aidan writes the introductory chapters on Private Cloud, Hans deals with the Fabric Management (Servers, Storage, Network), Patrick explains the Service Management (VMM Library, Service Modeling) and Damian focuses on Private Cloud Solutions (VMM Services, Self-Service, App Controller).

Kristian Nese (@kristiannese) who is also MVP System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management accepted the role of technical reviewer. Kristian has also written a book on Cloud Computing in Norwegian.

#MSFTPrivateCloud, #sysctr, Aidan Finn, Book, Damian Flynn, Hans Vredevoort, Microsoft Private Cloud, MVP, Private Cloud Computing, System Center 2012, VMM 2012

Big day for System Center and Microsoft Private Cloud

Jan 4th

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Events

Don’t miss the big public webcast about System Center 2012 & Microsoft Private Cloud with Satya Nadella (President of Server and Tools) and Brad Anderson (CVP of System Center and Management).

The new System Center 2012 vision will be laid out in full detail!

Date: January 17th 2012
Time: 17:30h CET

Hyper-V, Microsoft Private Cloud, private cloud, System Center, System Center 2012

How to Bare Metal Deploy a Hyper-V server via VMM2012 and HP iLO

Nov 8th

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Hans Vredevoort

6 comments

Some time ago I did a series on Bare Metal Deployment of Hyper-V servers with Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta. Back in March I tested with HP BL460 G6 servers which have an Insight Lights-Out (iLO2) Baseboard Management Controller (BMC). This time I was able to test with the RC build and HP BL490 G6 blades as well as DL360 G7 rack servers (which have a newer iLO3 onboard).

For beta there was a possibility to generate a customized Out-of-Band (OOB) protocol for HP iLO. Unfortunately that is not supported anymore and Microsoft advised me to use the IPMI protocol. After some experiments I figured out that this required a recent firmware (v2.07 of iLO2 to be precise). So after updating the firmware I was able to discover my physical servers via their iLO IP address combined with the right account/password combination which I saved as a Run As Account.

As you can see – when using IPMI with iLO2 (in this case) — there is a limited set of information returned. It lacks Manufacturer, Model, Serial Number, etc. What is worse … it returns an SMBIOS ID that is different from the one VMM2012 expects when you perform a Bare Metal Deployment of one or more Hyper-V R2 servers.

When you continue the Add Resource Wizard, the bare metal server will boot from the PXE server. This is where things go wrong.

0xc0000098, Bare Metal Deployment, BMC, Event ID 21179, iLO, IPMI, OOB, Powershell, PXE, System Center 2012, Virtual Machine Manager, VMM 2012, WDS

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Release Candidate RELEASED!!!

Sep 9th

Posted by Maarten Wijsman in System Management

Overview

System Center 2012 cloud and datacenter management solutions empower you
with a common management toolset for your private and public cloud applications
and services. System Center helps you confidently deliver IT as a Service for
your business. Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Release Candidate (RC) is key to
delivering the promise of the System Center 2012 release. Virtual Machine
Manager 2012 enables you to:

private cloud, SCVMM 2012, System Center, System Center 2012, VMM 2012

Results of The Great Big Hyper-V Survey of 2011 (part 2)

Sep 8th

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Hans Vredevoort

In yesterdays blog I started with the first part of my analysis of the Hyper-V Survey:

Why Hyper-V?
Hyper-V Implementation

The second part focuses on these three topics of the survey:

Systems Management
Private Cloud?
The Year is 2012

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

In this part we want to learn how people are managing their Hyper-V servers. Somehow I was not surprised to see that over 56% use System Center Virtual Machine Manager as their primary management tool. Many will be pleasantly surprised if they see what VMM 2012 can do for them! There are still a number of tasks you can only do (efficiently) in Hyper-V Manager or Failover Cluster Manager. So the 38% is understandable too.

Hyper-V, private cloud, Survey, System Center, System Center 2012, System Management

System Center User Group NL meeting: Best of MMS

Jun 2nd

Posted by Hans Vredevoort in Events