Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.2

Today, the Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team announced the RTM release of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit version 3.2. In the past I have talked to some of my customers about this and how it can really help you get a handle of your Vista and Office 2007 hardware readiness, but the tool does so much more though. Below is a quick list of features that you might find helpful in some of the projects you are working on: (the ones in bold are new to this version)

• SQL Server Database Instance Discovery

• Microsoft Online Services Needs Assessment and Survey

• Forefront Client Security/NAP Readiness Assessment

• Power Savings Calculator

• Virtualization Infrastructure Assessment (e.g. reporting the mapping of hosts by guests)

• Windows Server 2008 Hardware Assessment

• Server Consolidation Reports and Proposals (Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2)

• Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 Hardware Assessment

• Desktop Security Assessment to determine if desktops have anti-virus and anti-malware programs installed and up-to-date, or if the Windows Firewall is turned on

I can really see some of my customers looking at this version for the new features. I know some of you are still migrating off of SQL Server 2000 and the SQL Server Database Instance Discovery could help you find those rouge servers out in your environment. I also see a huge focus on “Green IT” these days and the Power Saving Calculator could help you save some money by helping you cut power usage on your client and server machines.

You want more details on MAP and to download the tool head over to https://www.microsoft.com/MAP.