Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator v3.1

Do you know some of the key IT Migration Challenges?  Heard these?

• Can my existing client machines run Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office?
• Can my existing servers migrate to Windows Server 2008?
• What is the portion of physical servers that can be consolidated with Hyper-V? Managed by SCVMM?
• What about Application Virtualisation?

These are just some of the key challenges around migrations, but by no means all!  How can you start to address these challenges easily?  The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator can help, and the newest version has just launched.

So what is it?

Well, I’ve already talked about it before, way back when it was the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1.  As the name suggested, it focused pretty much on Vista, and that was it.  MAP is much more than that.

“Microsoft Assessment and Planning is an integrated portal with a suite of automated tools and guidance to help your migration needs, from desktops to servers and now also include virtualisation.  Its unique agent-less inventory technologies allow remote assessment of clients, servers, applications, devices and roles – all without deploying any software agents to the machines on your network.  The auto-generation of readiness assessments and proposals makes it easier for you to prepare for your IT project planning process with more specific information about your existing environment than before.  You can now take advantage of this multi-product assessment tool to help you get a quick assessment done in just an hour or so”

So, is it a tool just for technical people?  No.  It doesn’t just generate technical information, but it actually generates professional reports for the Business Decision Makers among you.  See below as an example:

This particular report highlights the machines in your organisation that could run Windows Server 2008, with and without hardware upgrades.  The same kind of reports are produced for Vista and Office too.

What other reports are generated?

• Identification of currently installed Windows Client operating systems, their hardware, and recommendations for migration to Windows Vista.
• Identification of currently installed Windows Server operating systems, their hardware, and recommendations for migration to Windows Server 2008 (including a report detailing currently installed server roles).
• Identification of currently installed Microsoft Office software and recommendations for migration to Microsoft Office 2007.
• Detailed assessment and reporting of server utilization gathered using the Performance Metrics Wizard.
• Recommendations for server consolidation and virtual machine placement using Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2.
• Assessment of client machines, servers, and the technology environment for the implementation of Microsoft Application Virtualisation (formerly SoftGrid).  
• Reporting of SNMP-enabled devices found in the environment during inventory.

Note - The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator will generate localised reports for Windows Vista migration, Office 2007 migration, and non-Windows devices if the Display Language, configured on the computer generating the reports is set to German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

New features specifically in MAP 3.1 include:

• Hyper-V virtualisation candidates assessment (+ improved virtual machines inventory)
• SQL server discovery and assessment
• 64-bit installation support
• Desktop Windows Security Center assessment

So, where can you get it?

Here.

How much does it cost?

Nothing.  Get it here.

Where can I read more info?

Baldwin’s MAP blog, specifically, this post all about MAP 3.1.