Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update

If you’re like me getting to MMS in Las Vegas next month is something that will probably never happen and it’s at this Microsoft flagship management event that System Centre 2012 will finally launch, probably the best worst kept secret this year. However here’s the next best thing, Microsoft are running a series of UK based events entitled “The Best of MMS”. The 3 events will all run in May for details and to register click here.

Staying with System Centre 2012, it’s always good to see Microsoft eating their own dog food so to speak. In this interesting article Charlie Satterfield, Sr. Program Manager in the Management & Monitoring team, talks about how they’re transition to System Centre 2012 to provide the monitoring piece for www.microsoft.com, TechNet, Windows update, and MSDN.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – March

Last time out we talked about the launch of Windows 8 server Beta, well the first test reports are starting to come in. From a virtualisation point of view one of the features that will provide most functionality is the new PowerShell CMDLETS for managing Hyper-V replicas to find out more have a look at this. There really is some funky new features in Windows 8, take for example the Windows on a stick, USB stick that is, it provide users with a full corporate copy of Windows on a USB storage device called “Windows To Go” feature, but will probably be an enterprise feature. However one of the drawbacks of Windows 8 is that it can’t be managed by System Centre 2012 or so I thought.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – February

We’ll start this time with Windows 8, as I’ve mentioned before this release of Microsoft’s server platform will include Hyper-V 3. The feature set has been greatly enhanced to compete with VMware’s Vsphere 5, but don’t forget that Microsoft’s System Centre 2012 suite will be required to provide the management.  In this article there is a direct comparison between the product sets, so you can decide which suits your customer needs best.

The System Centre 2012 suite licensing model was announced this week and Microsoft has listened to the community by simplifying the process. With the present release of the System Centre products there are different licensing models per product and over 100 SKUs in total. With the System Centre 2012 release there are 2 SKUs, for physical and lightly virtualised workloads there is the Standard Edition and for more heavily virtualised workloads there is the Datacentre Edition. Microsoft have produced a “Buyers Guide” website to help you through the process you can also get the datasheet and FAQ.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – February

Last time out we went a bit System Centre mad, so this time we’ll start with news of Windows 8. The beta version of the product is due for release this month and the feature I’m looking forward to most is Hyper-V 3. I blogged about a while back with what hopefully would be in the product, well some more details relating to Storage, management of storage with PowerShell and the new VHDX format disks.

Back to System Centre and a new product in the family that may have escaped your notice. System Centre Advisor, which is now a benefit of Software Assurance for Windows Server or Microsoft SQL server. So what is System Centre Advisor, to find out more and download the 60 day free trial click here.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update

Having updated my Exchange skills last week to 2010 I thought it worth recapping on the protection offered by Forefront Protection for Exchange this useful FAQ will run you through some of the main points of interest.

The Microsoft Virtual Academy is the ideal place to start your learning journey for both the present incarnation and the 2012 versions of Microsoft Private Cloud you can select a track and study the material and then do the self-assessment this will earn you a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum accreditation. If you are wanting Private Cloud resources without having to join the virtual academy try this. Whilst we’re talking private cloud Hyper-V Nu has a great article on Private Cloud explained. Finally on Private Cloud all the System Centre 2012 products have now gone Release Candidate.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – November week 3

We’ll start this week with a great article and interview about the new storage features in Windows 8 and how they impact on Hyper-V 3, so if you want to find out more about VHDx files, Storage Pools and Spaces and how to use them to Cluster Hyper-V virtual machines click here.

Last week I blogged about the release of System Centre Service Manger 2012 Beta, there are some really cool new capabilities that are available, specifically the new Service Catalog and Service Request Management feature that Microsoft started talking about and showing examples of last year.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – November week 1

We’ll start with System Centre Configuration Manager 2012 and the announcement of the Release Candidate to find out more and download click here. For really useful information about installing the release candidate, adding roles, configuring discovery, boundaries and client settings check this blog out.  I’ve mentioned it on this blog more than once, but one of the key changes to Configuration Manager 2012 is how software can be delivered and the whole idea of the process being user centric.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – October

System Centre Virtual Machine 2012 is a fantastic addition to the System Center suite of products for managing your virtualised infrastructure. There is a new interface and large number of new features for managing virtual machines, applications, and your cloud environments. Check out the basics in this video and watch out for a deep dive in the future.

One of the key changes to System Centre Configuration Manager 2012 is how software delivery will be provisioned. This change will see User Centric Application deployment, so we really need to start thinking user first. This is more than just moving are targeting from devices to users to find out more have a look at this article.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – October

How well do you know your Private Cloud, over on the Microsoft Virtual Academy you can take self-assessments covering the full cycle from understanding, planning and managing Microsoft private cloud offerings this will earn you Academy points and improve your ranking. Sticking with Private Cloud have you ever tried to get the Cloud concept over to a non-technical person, if so this should prove helpful.

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Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – September

Whilst doing a demo of Systems Centre Service Manager this week a question came up that about showing the primary user of a computer that has certain software installed. I was pretty sure you could create a view to do this but had to look it up, and here is the result. Staying with Service Manager I also came across this useful PowerShell script to auto close resolved incidents have a look at this article for the details.

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