Great news from the Virtualization Team and Azure Team in Redmond today………

Today we are excited to announce the Community Technology Preview of Microsoft Server Application Virtualization (Server App-V), and the Server Application Virtualization Packaging Tool.

Microsoft Server Application Virtualization builds on the technology used in client Application Virtualization, allowing for the separation of application configuration and state from the underlying operating system. This separation and packaging enables existing Windows applications, not specifically designed for Windows Azure, to be deployed on a Windows Azure worker role. We can do this in a way where the application state is maintained across reboots or movement of the worker role. This process allows existing, on-premises applications to be deployed directly onto Windows Azure, providing yet more flexibility in how organizations can take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud capabilities. Server Application Virtualization delivers:

• Application mobility: Server Application Virtualization enables organizations to move their applications from on-premises datacenters to Windows Azure to take advantage of Windows Azure’s scalability and availability. This application mobility provides a unique level of flexibility to organizations as their needs evolve, enabling movement from one environment to another as their business needs dictate without the need to re-compile or rewrite the application.
• Simplified deployment: With Server Application Virtualization, organizations are able to virtualize applications once and then deploy these packages as needed. This process creates a method to manage applications, simply and efficiently across their Windows Server® platform or to Windows Azure.
• Lower operational costs: By using Server Application Virtualization organizations can gain the lower management benefits of the Windows Azure platform for their existing applications. This is delivered through the virtualized application being deployed on the Windows Azure platform, meaning organizations get the benefit of Windows without the need to manage a Windows Server operating instance or image for that application. With Server Application Virtualization, organizations are able to virtualize applications once and then deploy the packages this process creates, simply and efficiently across their Windows Server® platform or to Windows Azure.

Microsoft Server Application Virtualization converts traditional server applications into state separated "XCopyable" images without requiring code changes to the applications themselves, allowing you to host a variety of Windows 2008 applications on the Windows Azure worker role. 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 deployed via the Server Application Virtualization Packaging Tool to the worker role in Windows Azure as a file.

Server App-V and the Windows Azure VM Role

Microsoft Server Application Virtualization and the Windows Azure VM role are complementary technologies that provide options for migrating your existing Windows applications to Windows Azure. With the Windows Azure VM role, you are taking a full Hyper-V VHD file with the OS and Application installed on it, and copying that Virtual Machine up to Windows Azure. With Server App-V, you are capturing an image of the application with the Server Application Virtualization Sequencer, copying that image up to Windows Azure with the Server Application Virtualization Packaging Tool, and deploying it on a Windows Azure worker role.

Connect back to your Local Network

For most of you, the on-premises server applications that you want to virtualize probably have to access local resources within your domain or in your datacenter. A question you may have is, "How can I configure my virtualized application to still access my internal network once I have moved an application to Windows Azure?" With Windows Azure Connect, you can create that linkage from within Windows Azure back into your network. This creates IPsec protected connections between machines (physical or virtual) in your network and roles running in Windows Azure. Keep in mind that you will have to account for the latency between running part of your service on-premises and part off, because you are running part of your application in one datacenter and part in another. An example of how this may work is that you have a Standard 3-tier application. You can update your Web Tier to run as a Web Role in Windows Azure. You can virtualize your Application Tier and run that as a Server App-V instance on a Worker Role in Windows Azure. Then this application can use Windows Azure Connect to access the local SQL Server that is still running in your datacenter. Eventually, you may want to migrate that SQL Server to SQL Azure, and you can do that within your own planned timeframe.

Availability

In October, during Steve Ballmer’s and Bob Muglia’s Keynote at Microsoft PDC 2010, about 1 hour 53 minutes in, Bob mentioned that we would be having a Technology Preview available before the end of the year, and this announcement signifies that release. Currently, this is an invitation only Community Technology Preview. The final release of this technology will be available to customers in the second half of 2011.

I am really excited to be writing about this technology, as it gives you a way to move some of those applications that may never be rewritten for Windows Azure to run on our Platform-as-a-Service offering. This will give you the option to move however fast, and whenever you want to the cloud on your terms and in your timeframe.

Please stay tuned for more information about this technology and some feedback on our progress in the New Year.

Kenon Owens

Technical Product Manager

Datacenter and Virtualization Management

The Windows Azure Platform Training Course freely available on MSDN includes a comprehensive set of hands-on labs and videos that are designed to help you quickly learn how to use Windows Azure, SQL Azure,and the Windows Azure AppFabric.

 Link to Training

	Windows Azure Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML
	SQL Azure Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
	Windows Azure AppFabric As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure platform AppFabric provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure.

This release provides new and updated hands-on labs for the Windows Azure November 2010 release and the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 1.3. Some of these new hands-on labs demonstrate how to use new Windows Azure features such as Virtual Machine Role, Elevated Privileges, Full IIS, and more. This release also includes hands-on labs that were updated in late October 2010 to demonstrate some of the new Windows Azure AppFabric services that were announced at the Professional Developers Conference (http://microsoftpdc.com) including the Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control Service, Caching Service, and the Service Bus.

For anyone looking to develop or integrate solution with the New Microsoft Lync Server 2010, there is now the Unified Communications “14” Training Course on MSDN!

Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 provide the communication platform for developers to rapidly build solutions that integrate and extend communications into their business processes based on familiar tools and skills.

The Unified Communications "14" Training Course and the Unified Communications “14” Developer Training Kit provide deep technical training on all aspects of the Lync Server 2010, Lync 2010 and Exchange Server 2010 SDKs to give developers the skills they need to be productive developing communications driven business processes.

This training course includes 22 videos and 20 hands on labs, including the following:

If you haven’t investigated the Practice Accelerators in the past to help you branch into new services practices, now is a good time to look as it won’t cost you any of your Advisory Hours.

Build a Services Practice to Fast Track Your Business

• Practice Accelerator (PA) is a Microsoft offering designed to help partners build a technical services practice around Microsoft solutions.
• Practice Accelerator is a comprehensive set of reusable tools, resources, and best practices introduced in training delivered via Microsoft Live Meeting.
• Practice Accelerator enables you to identify customer requirements, analyse their needs, scope projects, plan solution requirements, and deploy Microsoft solutions.
• Practice Accelerator can help you build your business capacity. The complete, reusable documentation set includes project guides, templates, architecture guidance, and planning and design guides, as well as leave-behind materials for your customers.

PRACTICE ACCELERATOR FOR SHAREPOINT 2010 - With more than 85 million licensed users, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is the market’s leading portal and collaboration server. Take the SharePoint 2010 Practice Accelerator to ensure you are prepared to offer solutions that will help your customers plan and deploy their transition to SharePoint 2010.

PRACTICE ACCELERATOR FOR SERVER VIRTUALISATION WITH ADVANCED MANAGEMENT - Virtualisation is a key technology for reducing the cost and complexity of IT management.  Microsoft business customers have reported saving on average almost half a million dollars (U.S.) per year through IT projects using Microsoft virtualisation products. As organizations around the world deploy The Microsoft® Server Virtualisation with Advanced Management (SVAM) they look to skilled Microsoft partners to assist with their planning and deployments. 

PRACTICE ACCELERATOR FOR DESKTOP OPTIMISATION USING WINDOWS AND MICROSOFT OFFICE - Use our delivery methodology and leverage our templates to guide organizations in creating a more secure and reliable desktop environment. Practice Accelerator for DOWO enables you to help improve productivity and agility for your customers.

PRACTICE ACCELERATOR FOR EXCHANGE SERVER 2010 - Microsoft® Unified Communications technologies use the power of software to help streamline communications between people and organizations, regardless of medium, platform, device or location. Effectively deliver a solution to your customers that reduces hardware, software, and IT staff costs. Exchange 2010 introduces new technologies and brings new benefits as part of an overall Unified Communications strategy. Give your customers more freedom with Exchange 2010.

PRACTICE ACCELERATOR FOR BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY ONLINE SUITE STANDARD - With newer compliance regulations, stronger privacy laws and higher demand for tighter security, customers are looking for increased control over their IT environments. Help your customers move from their on-premise environments to online services with the same functionality, security, and with the agility of the web. With Practice Accelerator for Business Productivity Online Suite Standard, you will receive detailed guidance to manage BPOS-S, Exchange, and SharePoint Administration. Additionally, you will gain insight on what to expect when the transitioning process begins for customers from BPOS to Office 365 and receive the methodology, Microsoft Online Deployment Guide (MODG), used when Microsoft deploys or migrates its customers to BPOS.

For a limited time, these sessions are at no cost. Starting in January, you can use your Advisory Hours to purchase Practice Accelerator.

REGISTER NOW for the sessions at NO COST!

A friend of mine back in Canada, Sean Kearney is a MVP in PowerShell and an all round good guy. He is hosting an introduction to PowerShell on TechNet (details below).  As I have posted in the past, there are great resources for PowerShell available including a FREE book for DOWNLOAD: and don't forget one of the best resources on Microsoft itself either , blogs.technet.com/heyscriptingguy

To celebrate the season, he has also created a Christmas Carol for the scripting guy!

Register HERE

TechNet Webcast: Windows PowerShell Basics for IT Professionals (Part 2) (Level 200)

Event ID: 1032473252

Language(s):English.

Product(s): Windows Server 2008 R2.

Audience(s): IT Decision Maker, IT Generalist.

Event Overview

This one-hour webcast is geared towards IT professionals who do not have a strong coding or scripting background. We help you to understand the basics of Windows PowerShell, including parsing, piping, getting help, using variables and operators, and flow control. By the end of this session, you should understand enough to create simple commands and be comfortable enough to explore Windows PowerShell on your own.  
Special offer for live attendees of this webcast: Are there admin tasks you would like to automate, but you are not sure how? Do you want to learn Windows Powershell, but you don’t know where to start? 
Send us your scenarios at tnwebcasts@microsoft.com byWednesday, January 12, 2011,  and then join us for the webcast where we show how to use Windows Powershell to make your life easier.

Presenter: Sean Kearney, Network Administrator, Microsoft MVP, MCSE, MCTS, http://www.powershell.ca/
View other sessions from Windows Server 2008: Web, Virtualization, Security, and a Solid Foundation
If you have questions or feedback, contact us.

Cheers and Merry Scripting to ALL

I wanted to give you a heads-up on what’s lined up for Private Cloud Computing Academy in 2011. Register now and block off time in your diary before you get distracted with Christmas mayhem!

Microsoft has been working towards a Dynamic Datacentre vision for the last 8 years and now our story in this space is almost complete – and it’s one we are really proud of. 

Microsoft Cloud Computing Infrastructure enables you to achieve the flexibility and agility you need to deliver an on-premise 'private' cloud for your infrastructure, applications, management and security.

Private Cloud Computing Academy is a series of Level 300 Technical ‘how to’ training seminars. Half-day instructor-led training seminars give attendees exclusive access to DEEP technical training delivered by Microsoft virtualisation experts.

Suitable for: IT Managers, IT Administrators, Sys Admins, Infrastructure Admins/Managers

Location: Microsoft Ireland Building 2 (EPDC2), South County Business Park, Leopardstown, D18.

o Module I: Hyper-V and Private Cloud Computing (26 November 2010) – download presentation

o Module II: Managing Hyper-V (14 January 2011)

o Module III: Hyper-V and Data Protection Manager (18 March 2011)

o Module IV: Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (20 May 2011)

If you are curious about Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Windows Azure, you should take a look at the local landing page which includes training for developers building applications on the cloud. See www.microsoft.ie/windowsazure.