With Windows Server 2012, organisations receive the capabilities they need to meet today's ever changing IT requirements through a fundamental shift toward cloud computing. The Windows Server 2012 licensing MVA course covers how to license Windows Server 2012, and will assist you in understanding which edition is the right solution for your organization and how to migrate from earlier editions of Windows Server.
The course takes a look at the four Windows Server 2012 editions. It will help you to understand how the processor + CAL model for Windows Server 2012 Datacenter and Standard editions work for your organisation. Did you know Windows Server 2012 Standard edition now have all the same features and capabilities as Datacenter edition with each license covering up to 2 physical processors on a server? They are both Private Cloud optimised solutions. The Datacenter edition is ideal for highly virtualised environments as it provides for unlimited virtualisation. If your organisation is rapidly growing with high-density virtualisation needs then this edition is ideal. Datacenter and Standard editions are only differentiated by virtualisation rights as the Datacenter edition provides for unlimited virtualisation whereas Standard edition provides organisations with 2 virtual instances with each license.
Windows Server 2012 Essentials is a cloud connected first server ideal for small businesses with up to 25 users providing organisations with the flexibility to have email in the cloud, run line of business applications, or run email on premises. Windows Server 2012 Foundation is an economical general purpose server for physical computing continues to be a server model with no CAL requirements.
Every user or device that accesses an instance of Windows Server 2012 requires a CAL. Learn how to choose the best and most economical CAL based on your particular scenario. The 2 CALs are Device and User CALs. Device CALs is an access license required for every device used by any user and most appropriate for organisations with multiple users accessing an instance of Windows Server on a single device e.g. shift workers. User CALs are required for every named user accessing the server and is most appropriate for organisations with many roaming employees who need access to the corporate network.
The course also takes you through a simplified Windows Server 2008 to 2012 comparison. Windows 2008 R2 Datacenter and Standard editions had different capabilities whereas Windows Server 2012 editions both share the same improvements in capability and licensing. Learn how both editions benefit from the increased processor support, memory and other features once again are only differentiated by virtualisation rights.
You are able to downgrade your bits to previous versions of Windows Server as illustrated below but it is important to remember that Downgrade Rights allow you to downgrade the bits only but the license rules of the purchase version still apply.
For those of you with Windows Server 2008 we review the difference between the previous and the new version for Windows Server 2012 by going through common scenarios. You can increase or grow your virtualisation instances in 2 ways:
1. If you want a lightly virtualised envrionment you can choose to assign multiple Standard edition licenses to a single server often referred to as stacking licenses. Each standard license increases your virtualisation rights by
2. If you want to move to a highly virtualised environment and have active SA you can use your Step-up benefit to move from Standard edition to Datacenter edition
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All this and much more scenarios, learnings and instances are covered on this course to solve your licensing headaches. Take the course now and kick-start your path to becoming a Microsoft licensing expert! Start Here
Be sure to also download the free Evaluation copy of Windows Server 2012 and have a play with the software.
The top 15 Windows 8 apps to boost business productivity
Author Bio: Marcus Austin works for Firebrand Training as a Technical Author. Marcus has over 25 years’ experience in the technology and business sector. His recent work includes constructing a mobile strategy for the Guardian Media Group, together with writing and editing for magazines and websites including TechRadar, Internet Retailing, IT Perspectives, and Santander Breakthrough.
With over 35,000 apps available on Windows Store, there’s a lot to choose from.
The likes of Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja may be the most fun, but there’s a wealth of business apps to be explored. Here are 15 of them that will help increase your productivity:
1. Remote Desktop App.
This allows you to sign in to different PCs, and access files, without having to be physically near your PC. This can prove useful in case you forget an important document, or simply want to move files to and from computers while on the bus home.
2. Evernote.
If you're in the middle of a meeting with your Surface tablet or other Windows 8 device, you can use this program to take notes. You may be wondering why you shouldn't simply use the included app, Onenote. Evernote contains much more functionality allowing you to add links, videos, and photos as well as make to-do lists and sync with multiple computers.
3. Skype.
If you need to keep in touch with co-workers or host a business meeting, Skype has you covered. This has all the features you would expect including the ability to host voice calls, video calls or simply use instant messaging.
4. Microsoft Lync.
This is an elegant and clean looking app thanks to the Modern UI design. With support for audio and video with multiple people, you can keep in touch with colleagues. Plus, you can reference another app or website while using Lync. It snaps to the side of your screen, so you can multi-task and use multiple windows at the same time.
5. BBC News.
This app has a clean design, providing easy access to the latest articles. With multimedia to enhance your experience, this is an essential download.
6. News Bento.
This app is a gorgeous RSS reader following all the design cues from Microsoft's Modern UI philosophies. Like any other RSS reader, this aggregates all your subscriptions into one easy-to-read place. This goes one step further by aggregating pictures along with text.
7. Package Tracker.
Do you send or receive lots of packages? If so, this app is invaluable. It allows you to track the location of packages on a map, with support for a wide variety of shipping services.
8. Invoice 360.
This app allows you to print out a professional-looking invoice in a matter of minutes. All you have to do is input the correct information and choose from a number of invoice templates. After inputting all the information on the invoice, you can save it as a PDF, print it out or use the built-in soft-copy sharing in Windows 8.
9. TeamViewer Touch.
While the Remote Desktop app was already suggested, this app is a good choice for businesses that already use TeamViewer and don't have a company infrastructure that runs on Windows Server.
10. Skitch.
With this app, you can write notes and add annotations to existing pictures. This is incredibly useful for when you're having a brainstorming session.
11. Box.
This app is similar to other popular services like Skydrive or Dropbox, but offers a number of different features and is focused specifically at businesses. There is an uptime guarantee of 99.9%, the ability to collaboratively work on documents as well as the ability to search for text through a document. There are also numerous powerful security features and robust admin tools. This is a great choice for businesses that want a reliable cloud storage service.
12. EZ Opp.
This app allows you to view estimated revenue for your business as well as actual versus potential income. With a tablet-friendly interface and integration with Microsoft's Dynamics CRM service, this is the app to check out.
13. Meeting Money.
This app calculates how much money employees are earning while sitting through a meeting. This can help you keep track of how much money is being spent every minute when you host a meeting!
14. Banking.
Whoever you bank with, chances are they have an app. And they’re all pretty useful for banking on the go. As a minimum, you’ll get access to your account balance, and be able to make payments. 15. Microsoft's Map.
This app is the perfect fit for your transportation needs allowing you to learn about the traffic conditions and get directions to wherever you want to go. Overall, all of these apps should help boost productivity within the workplace. Whether it's calculating how much money is being wasted during a meeting or collaborating with employees on a spread sheet, Windows 8 has you covered.
The sun is shining as I sit at home and write this blog entry, and it is giving me cause to think! When it comes to the licensing of Windows 8 we need to think about the flexibility of how we can deliver Windows 8 to a client device and the opportunities it gives us as users to work in different locations and on different devices. Yet whilst we may love the flexibility of working in different locations on multiple devices, we do need to be aware of the impact it will have on the licensing of Windows 8.
The first step we need to think about is how we license Windows 8 to run on a company owned device in the office, as this will then have an impact on the flexibility we have as users. Windows 8 is licensed per device; this means that any device running Windows 8 needs to be licensed to do so, irrelevant of how Windows 8 is delivered to that device. So, if I have a computer assigned to me in the office it will need to have a Windows 8 Pro license assigned to it. A basic Windows 8 Pro license licenses you to install Windows 8 Pro locally on the device. Now, that means that the device is now licensed to run Windows 8, and if I or one of my colleagues wished to take the device outside of the office and use it at home for instance, then we would absolutely be licensed to do so.
Having Windows 8 installed locally on a device is a perfect solution for many organisations, but it does reduce the level of flexibility we have with regard to a single user working with multiple devices.
What if our users need to access their corporate desktop from multiple devices in multiple locations, then we need to build the ability to do that into the licensing. And this for Windows 8 Pro is where Software Assurance comes in.
Software Assurance (SA) is an extra you can purchase with your licenses, optional in some agreements and mandatory in others. When you purchase SA with your licenses it gives you a whole range of benefits, some of which suit exactly the example I am talking about here.
The first SA benefit to mention is the Windows Virtual Desktop Access benefit. By definition this benefit allows you to:
Meaning that you can implement a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. The impact of this benefit is that rather than having to install Windows 8 locally on the licensed client device you can hold an image of the desktop on a server and virtualise that image down onto the licensed device. But not only can you virtualise the desktop onto the licensed device, but you can actually virtualise it onto any company owned device that has been licensed for Windows 8.
So at the moment, we can virtualise the Windows 8 desktop onto any corporate device licensed to run Windows 8. But we know our users may need to access their desktop on any device including non-corporate devices from any location. And here we are going to think specifically about non-corporate devices outside of the company premises. And this is where the next SA benefit comes into play, Windows Roaming Use Rights.
Windows Roaming Use Rights is available for the “Primary User” of the device licensed for Windows 8 Pro with SA. But what makes a Primary User? The Product Use Rights document or PUR contains the definition of a Primary User, and states:
So to have the flexibility to roam, you must be the Primary User of the device licensed for Windows 8 with SA, and what exactly does the benefit allow? Again, by definition this benefit states:
So we can now see that if you have covered your corporate client device with a Windows 8 Pro with SA license the primary user of that device is now licensed to access their desktop on the corporate device in any location, but also on any non-corporate devices outside of the corporate premises.
In the example above I have been talking about covering a corporate owned PC with Windows 8 Pro with SA. And you may well be aware that Windows 8 Pro licenses purchased through Volume Licensing are upgrade only licenses, which means that there must be an underlying qualifying operating system on the device. So what happens if you have thin clients in the organisation that you wish to virtualise your desktop onto? Well, rather than purchasing Windows 8 Pro with SA, you would purchase a VDA subscription, which then allows your corporate desktop to be virtualised onto the VDA licensed thin client, and the Roaming Use Rights would also come into play allowing the primary user’s desktop to be virtualised onto non-corporate devices outside of the corporate premises.
If you want to know more about licensing, join us on our Spotlight Licensing calls every month here or why not test your knowledge on the MVA Licensing courses
This is one scenario and licensing situation. Each customer scenario can vary by deployment, usage, product version, and product use rights. Always check your contract, and the current Products Use Rights document to confirm how your environment should be fully licensed. The blogging team does not warrant that this scenario will be the right licensing solution for other similar cases.
TechEd is Microsoft’s premiere conference for IT Professionals and Enterprise Developers, offering the most comprehensive technical education across Microsoft's products, solutions, tools, and services.
We are pleased to announce that registration for TechEd North America and TechEd Europe will go live next week on Tuesday, February 12th.
TechEd North America TechEd Europe
June 3-6 25-28 June
Morial Convention Center IFEMA – Feria de Madrid Convention Centre
New Orleans, LA Madrid, Spain
Attendees will get hands-on learning, deep product exploration and countless opportunities to build relationships with a community of Microsoft experts and industry peers. Visit www.msteched.com to learn more.
Register by 22 March to take advantage of the Early Bird price of €1,695, a €300 savings off regular pricing.
At TechEd you will get 4 days of hands-on learning, deep product exploration and countless opportunities to build relationships with a community of Microsoft experts and peers. Need to deliver maximum business value while managing your company's technology investments? We’ve got you covered with multiple tracks featuring a breadth of Microsoft products and solutions.
I’m starting this blog with an intuitive quiz… (exciting I know!).
If you’re building a high density private cloud, do you know which edition of System Center 2012 provides the most efficient option?
What is the licensing minimum initial purchase for Enrolment for Core Infrastructure (ECI) and how many processers does each license cover?
Take the new Private Cloud Licensing MVA Course to discover all you need to know about licensing the Private Cloud. Learn how to license your private cloud; including server management and virtualization, as well as migrating servers to third party hosting companies. Products covered include Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012. Understand how the combination of both provides enterprise class virtualisation, end-to-end service management and deep insight into applications so you can focus more attention on delivering business value to your organisation.
Learn how the four different Windows Server 2012 licensing editions, Datacenter, Standard, Essentials and Foundation, can be optimised depending on your organisation size and your virtualisation needs. The course takes you through Volume licensing, virtual instances, processor capabilities, CAL’s, and much much more. Below is a familiar scenario which illustrates the use rights for a customer running 4 instances of Datacenter in the virtual. The instance running in the physical can only be used to manage the instances of the operating system running in the virtual operating system environment.
System Center 2012 integrates 8 separate component products into one which streamlines the installation and reduces the time it takes to deploy, from days into hours! The Datacenter edition in particular allows for the provisioning of unlimited virtual machines without additional licensing costs. The Datacenter license edition also covers 2 physical processors and allows you to manage unlimited OSEs providing highly virtualised environments with significant cost savings. The System Center 2012 Standard license edition covers 2 physical processors and allows you to manage 2 Operating System Environments.
The course also trains you on how to assign certain licenses to a cloud infrastructure with License Mobility through Software Assurance. Do you know the products eligible for License Mobility? I’ll give you a clue… there’s 6! To gain more knowledge and great training and accreditation on licensing the Private Cloud, start the course here and get your certificate to become a Microsoft Licensing expert!
Be sure to also download a free Evaluation Copy of System Center 2012 sp1 and Windows Server 2012 and have a play with the software.
MVA Licensing Courses
Take advantage of free, online, fast-paced training courses designed specifically for experienced IT professionals with jobs that demand that they know how to best leverage the emerging features and technologies in Windows 8.
See what's new in Windows 8 for the IT professional from the new user interface and keyboard shortcuts to the Windows App Store and Internet Explorer 10. Download this module (2.66 GB)
Learn how to simplify Windows 8 planning and deployment, and ease your migration from earlier versions of Windows. Download this module (1.76 GB)
Explore virtualization scenarios for Windows 8, specifically with regard to Windows To Go, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), and Client Hyper-V. Download this module (1.73 GB)
Explore common Windows 8 mobility scenarios including providing a consistent user experience across devices, virtual machines, and session-based desktops. Download this module (2.02 GB)
Learn how to deploy applications in Windows 8, sideload apps for individual users or all users, and centrally manage apps once deployed. Download this module (1.39 GB)
Learn how to better control, secure, and manage Windows 8 PCs with BitLocker, UEFI, Secure Boot, and the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT). Download this module (1.63 GB)
As I type this I am working hard with Simon to prepare for our next wave of IT Camps specifically the new camps on System Center 2012 sp1. Having just completed the five exams of MCSE Private Cloud I am now having to readjust to how much is different as a result of this service pack coming out. The key change is that System Center has had to change to run on and support Windows Server 2012 for example:
System Center 2012 can now run on SQL Server 2012, which in its Enterprise edition provides availability groups to protect your key System Center data. There’s also the capability to do some really clever business intelligence in this release with Office 2013 to help you understand and predict demand in a large datacentre and better respond to the rhythms of your business.
Then there are individual enhancements to each component of the suite..
Finally each component has better integration with the others and so there is a general sharpening of the whole suite. So that is quite a lot of stuff for a service pack and would easily take a day to go through assuming like me you are already au fait with System Center 2012.
I also know that a lot of you have been holding off evaluating or deploying Windows Server 2012 until this service pack was released as you quite rightly want to manage this new version of Windows Server.
Finally we are on tour with the System Center camps Manchester, Birmingham and York and we have a few places left on each of them so please don’t beat me up in a few months time that we didn’t run these, and please please cancel if you can’t make it as it does allow us to plan and to let others off the shortlist if it does fill up.
If you can’t make it and you want to try System Center sp1 you can get it here.. but note this is just for evaluation you can’t upgrade to the full version or migrate data from this.
Damian Flynn, (Cloud and Datacenter MVP), has been working in IT since 1993. He has worked as an engineer and administrator for multinational’s in manufacturing and services sectors where he has dealt with large and complex IT infrastructures. With experience spanning from digital data collection networks, Telco and VoIP based technologies, he is currently specialising in Networking and Server Virtualisation (VMware ESX, Hyper-V), focusing on Cloud, Core Infrastructure and Datacenter Management/Automation. Damian is currently "Corporate Infrastructure Architect" with Lionbridge Technologies based in Ireland, while also serving as a director for a Wireless ISP.
Damian is active in many MS Programs, and a member of the MS Windows Futures Council, a Blogger, and Co-Author of "Microsoft Private Cloud Computing", "Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation and Configuration", numerous technical articles, and can be found at many events presenting on various technologies.
With the release of System Centre Orchestrator 2012 SP1, included with the product are even more activities which extend the reach of this unique tool to enable yet more automation possibilities. Now you have the added ability to integrate with FTP services anywhere, automate your Azure subscription and integrate with REST services, while gaining enhancements in most of the already available packs ranging from Active Directory and Exchange all the way to VMWare!
But, what if this is not enough? What if you need to create an activity to interact with a different product which has yet to be provided? Then you join to active and growing community on codeplex and start to create your own, sharing and learning with others as you progress. Currently home to over a dozen free packs, extending the reach even further to solutions such as Team Foundation Server, SharePoint, and even activities to automate Orchestrator itself!
I’m delighted to announce today that yet another pack has made its way to codeplex, this time providing a set of activities to automate Forefront Identity Manager, Synchronisation services. Activities include the ability to enable the enumeration of published Management Agents and Run Profiles, Checking the status of the last active profile, and launching any new Run Profiles, waiting for its completion before returning the job stats so you can process accordingly.
If you feel the urge to join this growing community, or just want to try out these interesting packs, you will be greeted with welcome from an active community, delighted to help and enhance your experience.
Those of you up for a challenge, can of course download the free open-source code for any Pack on codeplex, and armed with the Orchestrator development kit you can be compiling and creating packs of your own ready to share.
Simon and I have challenged one another to see which Windows 8 devices we fall in love with! We are both gadget lovers and so with Windows 8 consumer and business devices now available we are in our element. We decided that tablets were the first thing to try as these are something new to many businesses and with touch there are many opportunities that aren’t necessarily that obvious.
Simon is going with his Windows 8 Slate and I’ve gone with the Samsung ATIV smart PC. You may say that we are comparing apples to pears but actually they are both very usable in a business context and great for every day use. So how did I get on with the Samsung then?
First things first we need to get down to the details… What was in the box!
When I first got this device one thing hit me… Where’s the keyboard… Out of the box this device doesn’t come with a keyboard and at first I was a bit put out. After all Simon gets a nice flip cover keyboard! (Yes I got keyboard jealousy!) Then I remembered I have my Arc Keyboard & Mouse… I don’t use the keyboard on my laptop at my desk anyway. In fact I pretty much use my laptop as a second screen when at my desk.
I did feel that this device needed a stand of some sort to be able to use the screen when not on the go but once that was sorted it was all systems go with my wireless keyboard and mouse all set up and the screen plugged into my HD monitor via the HDMI port. The at desk experience was good for general office use.
What I would say is that I wouldn’t want to do anything too intensive on this. Using Visual Studio or running VM’s is not what this machine was made for but for every day general use it was great. It was fast, responsive and the screen is really clear. For those considering security at work note that this device does have a TPM chip which means that if you are like and like to use direct access from home this device will meet your physical security requirements.
OK so that’s the on desk experience… So what happened when I took this device to my meetings? Well actually it was a really interesting one. Unplugged and away from the keyboard and mouse this device really does come into it’s own in a business environment. I am going to admit something you probably never knew! I REALLY love OneNote! In fact it’s one of my favourite Microsoft apps ever! Why is this relevant… Well… When in meetings OneNote on a tablet really comes into it’s own. For example when explaining how something works it’s much quicker to use the integrated pen that comes with the Samsung and draw a quick diagram for a colleague. Even better than that I can even email that diagram to them and doodle some text around it and turn my scruffy handwriting into legible text with the convert to text functionality making me more productive.
There are 101 different ways that a tablet works better than a PC in the office and I’m pretty sure you don’t need me to tell you all the reasons, but to me the tablet is the future in the office for the general office worker. It provides flexibility, simplicity and the ability to be creative.
The Samsung ATIV SmartPC is definitely a contender if you are looking at tablets for your business and has the benefits of a fully functional PC. At just under £700 this is a pretty nifty device and if you are looking for something that has even more power and oomph then the Samsung ATIV SmartPC Pro could be well worth a look.
How could you imagine this device being used in your office?
As the cloud transforms IT, the need for qualified IT professionals has never been more urgent, and certification has never been more valuable. Registration is now open for Certified Career Day, an interactive LIVE event for IT professionals.
Attendees will join a Live Industry Panel Broadcast comprised of industry experts who will discuss how the cloud is redefining IT recruitment and the growing need for certification. Then, Microsoft Product Specialists will host Live Product Sessions—in-depth depth discussions on Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 that will help attendees learn how to prepare to get ahead of the inevitable shift to cloud-based technologies.
Registrants are eligible to win an Acer Windows 8 tablet. Space is limited, so please encourage your audiences to register today at http://www.certifiedcareerday.com.