Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008 R2 SP1 provides a comprehensive, cross-platform management solution for the virtualized data center that helps enable:

• centralized management of virtual IT infrastructure
• increased server utilization
• dynamic resource optimization of virtual IT infrastructure

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1 adds support for Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, and is the gateway to System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012.

• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc793138.aspx

At MMS2011 this week, we announced Project “Concero” as part of the future System Center family.

The initial release of “Concero” will enable customers to deploy, manage and control applications and services deployed on private clouds built using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 and in the public cloud offering of Windows Azure. This provides a consistent and simple user experience for service management across these clouds

Taken from the announcement page:

At the Microsoft Management Summit on Tuesday, 3/22/11, Brad Anderson announced a new capability in System Center 2012 called Project Codename “Concero”. Before I actually talk about what it is, let me first talk about what the word “Concero” means. It’s a Latin word which means “connected”, which is at the heart of what “Concero” does.

System Center 2012 cloud and datacenter management solutions empower you with a common management toolset for your private and public cloud applications and services, thus helping you confidently deliver IT as a Service for your business. Our goal is to help you consume the full power of and deliver private and public cloud computing on your terms. System Center 2012 provides the ability for customers to create and manage their “Private Clouds” using the virtualization infrastructure provided by Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V and other virtualization platforms. At his keynote, Brad outlined the key tenets for the cloud, one of which is “Self-Service”. This empowers the “Application Owners” to consume the cloud capacity in an agile manner. With System Center 2012, “Concero” provides a web based and simple experience for the application owner who will be consuming cloud capacity.

…

Read more here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2011/03/25/announcing-system-center-project-codename-concero.aspx

This week we announced “System Center Advisor”, a cloud service available with any Server on Software Assurance, which assesses the server configuration to enable IT professionals to proactively avoid configuration problems.

Taken from the product page:

Today IT professionals have to spend a great deal of time and effort dealing with problems related to servers that were configured incorrectly. They are often not aware of these issues until they cause performance and availability issues due the time lag from a configuration change, to awareness and exploration of the issue, to final resolution. This costs organizations time and money.

System Center Advisor (formerly Microsoft codename Atlanta) is a cloud service that enables IT professionals to assess their server configuration and proactively avoid problems. With System Center Advisor, support staff are able to resolve issues faster by accessing current and historical configuration data, all with the security features that meet their needs. Additionally, System Center Advisor helps reduce downtime by providing suggestions for improvement, and notifying customers of key updates specific to their configuration.

Proactively avoid problems

• Increase awareness around the state of server deployment through assessment of configuration, and alerts for configuration-related issues.
• Resolve issues before they become critical through ongoing assessments of the server environment for undetected configuration issues.
• Assess and understand server configurations from virtually anywhere from a cloud service with security features that meet customer needs.

Resolve issues faster

• Decrease time to resolve issues by easily viewing configuration changes over time with historical data.
• Decrease time to resolve issues with the ability to share server configuration data with internal support staff or Microsoft Customer Support Services.
• Accelerate problem solving with instant access to step by step guidance , self-help information and community forums related to identified issues.

Help reduce downtime and improve performance

• Increase performance and availability of servers by understanding configuration state and receiving suggestions for improvement to help ensure availability.
• Help reduce server downtime by getting notifications for key updates specific to the configuration of the server environment.
• Increase collaboration between IT professionals through centralized data of an organization’s deployment configurations.

REGISTRATION & FAQ:  System Center Advisor
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/Advisor.aspx

System Center Orchestrator is the official name for what we have been referring to previously as Opalis vNext.

Orchestrator which will be part of the System Center 2012 releases will provide a number of new features, functions and capabilities in addition to being rebranded and the codebase being moved into the Microsoft organization.

Taken from the announcement page:

There will be a lot of information posted over the coming weeks and months as we build to the Beta in a few months and the Final release expected later this year, however I wanted to provide a summary level list here.

• IT Pro – Authoring, Debugging & Scripting
  • The Opalis product will be rebranded to System Center Orchestrator. We are working very hard to ensure that your existing investments in Opalis are maintained.
  • A new PowerShell provider to allow Orchestrator to be integrated into scripts and provide a mechanism for remote execution of runbooks.
• Operator – Trigger, Monitor &Troubleshoot
  • A new silverlight based dynamic web console to provide an easy way to start, monitor and investigate runbooks.
• Developer – Application integration
  • A new rich OData based web service that exposes Orchestrator functionality and information in a standards based way.
• IT Business Manager – Report & Analyze
  • A new mechanism for connecting your existing reporting investments to Orchestrator to extract, report and analyze what is happening inside Orchestrator.

Read more at:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2011/03/24/welcome-to-the-family-system-center-orchestrator.aspx

Looks like this has gone public as of MMS 2011.

CORE CAL CHANGES FOR FY12
The Core CAL, in case you hadn’t heard, will be incorporating, as of August 1^st, 2011:

• Forefront Endpoint Protection CAL
• Lync Standard CAL

Softchoice (a large account reseller) has written quite a bit up about the change (even though we apparently haven’t said much outside of this.) and their write up is quite complete.

Today, Microsoft announced two product additions to the Core Client Access License (Core CAL), which will impact the pricing and functionality of its popular desktop licensing suite.

As of August 1st, Lync Standard CAL and Forefront Endpoint Protection will move to Core CAL. Previously these products lived on the Enterprise CAL “Step Up”, and made up part of the Enterprise Suite stack. Organizations who have Software Assurance on their Core CAL as of August 1st, will have access to the new features.

This is the first major change to Core CAL in ten years, and Microsoft says it reflects the evolving desktop environment, which has larger demands on collaboration and seamless security management. The change also helps Core CAL deliver essential capabilities to users, and aligns the on-premise platform with Microsoft’s online offerings, such as Office 365 and Windows Intune.

Lync Standard is an entry-point version of Microsoft’s next-generation instant communications tool, and allows for PC-to-PC calling, “rich presence” and conference calling, among several other features. Forefront EndpointProtectioncombines security and management at the desktop level.

• BLOG:  Core CAL Updates (from the Softchoice Blog)
  http://blogs.softchoice.com/microsoftnavigator/2011/03/21/core-cal-updates/
• DATASHEET: Microsoft Core CAL FAQ for FY11
  http://images.msgapp.com/uploads/95720/pdfs/Microsoft_Core_Cal_FAQ.pdf

We’ve released a brand new means for IT Professionals specifically to learn about our Cloud platform, “Windows Azure”.

Most people associated our Windows Azure cloud platform with developers exclusively as it’s designed to allow businesses to develop & host applications in Microsoft’s datacenter, i.e. our cloud.

But there are numerous concerns that business IT organizations have about hosting company applications in Microsoft’s facilities.  That’s what Microsoft Virtual Academy addresses:

Microsoft Virtual Academy
Improve your IT skill set and help advance your career with a free, easy to access training portal. Learn at your own pace, focusing on Microsoft technologies, gain points and get recognition.

The MVA guides you through real-life deployment scenarios and the latest cloud computing technologies and tools. By selecting the training modules that match your needs, you can use valuable new skills that help take your career to the next level.

The learning modules ensure that you acquire essential skills and gain credibility as a cloud computing specialist.

You can assess your skills on these modules that are currently available:
– Planning, Building and Managing a Private Cloud
– Introduction to Windows Azure
– Windows Azure Security Overview
– Introduction to SQL Azure

LINK:  Microsoft Virtual Academy
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/Home.aspx

Consumerization is a growing challenge for IT organizations. System Center Configuration Manager 2012 helps IT empower people to use the devices and applications they need to be productive, while maintaining corporate compliance and control. The boundaries between work and life have blurred to where people expect reliable, consistent access to corporate services from wherever they are, on any device they’re using.

Using System Center Configuration Manager 2012, organizations can:

• Empower people to be productive from anywhere on whatever device they choose. This includes the wide range of devices that connect to Exchange ActiveSync, including Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS, and Android-based devices. Through the new application model, the best application experience can be delivered to the user based on their identity, their device, and their connection.
• Streamline operations with a unified infrastructure that integrates client management and protection across mobile, physical, and virtual environments. Improved capabilities such as Forefront Endpoint Protection integration, role based administration, and virtualization scenario support will simplify both infrastructure and processes for IT.
• Drive organizational efficiency for IT with improved visibility and enforcement options for maintaining system compliance. This means fewer mouse clicks to accomplish tasks and higher degrees of automation in activities such as patch management and settings enforcement.

DOWNLOAD:  Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff657840.aspx

WEBSITE:  Configuration Manager 2012 Beta 2
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/configuration-manager/cm-vnext-beta.aspx

BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) is a BitLocker management solution that will enable IT to more easily deploy and manage BitLocker volume encryption technology across the enterprise. Using MBAM:

• IT can automate the process of encrypting volumes on client machines across enterprise
• Helpdesk can reduce the time required for BitLocker PIN and Recovery Key information
• Security officers can quickly produce reliable evidence that indicates the compliance state of individual computers or even the enterprise itself.
• Security Officers can easily audit access to Recover Key information.
• Windows Enterprise users are empowered to continue working anywhere knowing their corporate data is protected.

With the release of the beta, there are 4 downloads:

• MBAM (Malta) Beta Build and Documentation
  The MBAM (Malta) Build and Documentation package contains all of the files for the Beta release. The package includes:
• Release Notes
• Deployment Guide
• Planning, Deployment, and Operations Guide
• MBAM Server (64-Bit)
• MBAM Client (64-Bit/32-Bit)
• MBAM (Malta) Beta Release Notes
  The Release Notes contain important information about the MBAM (Malta) Beta. Please review them carefully before attempting to install the MBAM (Malta) Beta Server and Client components.
• MBAM (Malta) Beta Customer Scenario Guide
  The Customer Scenario Guide contains step by step procedures that will help you successfully evaluate and test your MBAM (Malta) Beta deployment.
• MBAM (Malta) Beta Planning, Deployment, and Operations Guide
  The Planning, Deployment, and Operations Guide includes information that will help you successfully plan, deploy, and operate MBAM (Malta). Please carefully review and follow the deployment procedures when installing the MBAM (Malta) Server and Client components.

BETA:  Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2011/03/23/microsoft-bitlocker-administration-and-monitoring-beta-available.aspx

Holy cow.  Look at what I stumbled upon. 

Have you ever wished someone had already had all the configuration templates set up to sequence a software package?  After all – the software’s the same.  All you need is the sequencing configuration files and you should be able to create a sequenced package just by using someone else’s config files, right?

That’s what these Package Accelerators are!

• App-V Package Accelerator for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010
  This App-V Package Accelerator helps you create an App-V package for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010.
• App-V Package Accelerator for Microsoft Project Professional 2010 (Windows 7)
  This App-V Package Accelerator helps you create an App-V package for Microsoft Project Professional 2010.
• App-V Package Accelerator for Adobe Reader 9.4
  This App-V Package Accelerator helps you create an App-V package for Adobe Reader 9.4.
• Adobe Reader X Package Accelerator
  This is a Package Accelerator for use with the Adobe Reader 10.0.0.1 installer. See how this package accelerator can dramatically reduce the time to sequence this application.
• App-V Package Accelerator for Mozilla Firefox 4.0 (English US)
  Use this Package Accelerator to sequence Mozilla Firefox 4.0
• App-V Package Accelerator for Paint.NET 3.5.8 (English US)
  Use this App-V Package Accelerator to sequence Paint.NET 3.5.8
• App-V Package Accelerator for the Microsoft App-V Management Console 4.5.3
  Use this App-V Package Accelerator to sequence the Microsoft App-V Management Console 4.5.3

LINK:  App-V Package Accelerators Gallery
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/site/search?f%5B0%5D.Type=RootCategory&f%5B0%5D.Value=App-V

Microsoft Server Application Virtualization (Server App-V) builds on the technology used in client Application Virtualization, allowing for the separation of application configuration and state from the underlying operating system in a data center environment.

Server App-V converts traditional server applications into “XCopyable” images without requiring code changes to the applications themselves. The conversion process is accomplished using the Server App-V Sequencer. When the server application is sequenced, the configuration settings, services and resources that the application uses are detected and stored. The sequenced application can then be coupled with an OS image and a configuration. The application images and associated configuration can then be deployed to a server or servers with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 and managed on top of the Server App-V Agent.

DOWNLOAD:  Microsoft Server Application Virtualization Beta Documentation
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=d24bbf9b-9d9c-4966-90e5-575852c9258b