You Only Need One Tool to Get System Center 2012 RC Installed!!

Talking to individuals who downloaded the System Center 2012 RC from the TechNet Eval Center in December or early January, one of the pieces of feedback I received is that in order to get everything running you needed to install each component individually and that just took too long and also meant that you were potentially responding to over 450 screens of information.  I get it.  That’s a lot of work to test out a Pruvate Cloud solution and its components.  Looks like the product team heard you as well, so last week they released an RC of the System Center Unified Installer!

The System Center Unified Installer is integrated into the current System Center 2012 RC download from the TechNet Eval Center, and allows you to install of the System Center 2012 RC components in as little as 16 screens.

Just start the Setup.exe in the Unified Installer folder. Then the Install System Center button becomes available! After that a message box is displayed and  the installation begins asking you some of the familiar questions and also installing the pieces you need to be successful:

• Microsoft Software License Terms
• Component Selection (Orchestrator, Virtual Machine Manager, App Controller, Operations Manager, Configuration Manager, Service Manager & Data Protection Manager)
• Keep the following in mind:
• Orchestrator is a required Product Component (Unified Installer requires Orchestrator)
• App Controller depends on Virtual Machine Manager
• Component Media Location (for all products selected)
• Configuration Manager License Terms
• Prerequisite License Terms
• Prerequisite Media Location (e.g. SQL Server 2008 R2 + SP1 + CU4)
• Installation Destination Location (for all products selected)
• Servers (for all products selected)
• Service Accounts (Installer Account)
• Component Specific Questions (e.g. OpsMgr Management Group, ConfigMgr Site Code & Site Name)
• Communications and Updates
• Installation Validation
• Deployment Progress
• Deployment Summary Report

That's all you need to do to install System Center 2012 and start your journey to the Microsoft Private Cloud.

Download the Microsoft Private Cloud Software stack including System Center 2012 RC and try the Unified Installer that is now part of the download package.