What an exciting week at Tech Ed for Private Cloud solutions from Microsoft and our great partners! It started with the announcement of NetApp and Cisco joining the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track program and bringing their solution to market immediately. We had a session where Alex Jauch from NetApp did a very cool demo. He showed provisioning of Cisco UCS blades via an Opalis workflow and PowerShell. He followed that with a Disaster Recovery scenario – bringing down a private cloud in Seattle and bringing the infrastructure back up in Tacoma without losing connectivity to the hosted applications.
Next, HP’s private cloud offering in the Fast Track program provided an incredible display of power – supporting thousands of VM’s on just a 16-node configuration. It was amazing to see this system in action, specifically the quick provisioning and de-provisioning of virtual machines, automating the process of workload balancing and the ability to keep the infrastructure available through advanced monitoring and automation. This live Fast Track implementation clearly demonstrates the benefit of shared resources pools with advanced automation and management.
And to top it all off, Fujitsu announced on Wednesday that their Fast Track offering is coming to market. Fujitsu’s is based on their Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 blade server system and ETERNUS storage systems.
Keep looking here for updates on how to implement private clouds in your organization – today - with Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track offerings from partners around the globe.
Hi everyone
Today at TechEd North America we disclosed a lot of information about, and took System Center Orchestrator for a spin in it’s first public outing!
I have posted an article over on the Orchestrator Blog site with the details about the Beta and what to expect. You can view the article here http://blogs.technet.com/b/scorch/archive/2011/05/17/what-to-expect-in-the-system-center-orchestrator-beta.aspx
In addition, we will be running an Evaluation Program as announced here. If you fill out the form for the Orchestrator CEP you will not only be part of the program which includes guided tours of the new features, ready made environments and calls with the Product Group, but you will also be notified the minute that the Beta is available to download!
We look forward to engaging with you in the Evaluation Program.
Adam
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As we announced yesterday we are proud to have NetApp and Cisco participating in the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track program and delivering pre-validated private cloud solutions for customers.
The new NetApp Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track with Cisco builds upon the reference architecture and layers on the additional capabilities inherent in the NetApp and Cisco infrastructure. This joint solution exemplifies a key tenet of Fast Track which is the extensible nature of the architecture. Check out what NetApp is saying about this solution as well as Cisco.
If you happen to be at Tech Ed, Alex Jauch from NetApp, will be demonstrating some of the capabilities of their offering in Bryon Surace’s VIR327 session on Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track on Tuesday morning at 10:15 to 11:30 in Room B211 – hope to see you there.
Scott RosenbloomSr. Product ManagerServer & Cloud DivisionMicrosoft Corp.
Tech Ed North America 2011 http://bit.ly/mdfwpA kicked into high gear today with news that Cisco and NetApp are participating in Microsoft’s Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track program. Together, NetApp and Cisco have developed a pre-validated private cloud solution for customers who want to deploy with less risk, more flexibility and choice, and more quickly.
Their solution is interesting because it offers the flexibility of the cloud with higher levels of control needed to meet security and regulatory guidelines. It uses Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Microsoft Systems Center to ease management, enable automation and self-service provisioning of the entire private cloud infrastructure, including automated self-service provisioning via native Opalis Integration Packs. It is scalable vertically or horizontally, paving the way for greater efficiency, agility and cost savings. Check out the insider insights on this TechNet Edge video from NetApp and Cisco engineers in a TechNet Edge video here: http://bit.ly/jWAplo.
NetApp and Cisco join six of our largest OEM partners who are betting on Microsoft’s private cloud strategy, and our commitment to meet customers where they are and help them plan for the future. Together with our Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track partners, our customers will have the ability to leverage the best of what they have and then move to other options when the time is right, on their terms. Customers get the benefit of proven private cloud solutions now available from eight vendors who represent more than 80% share of the world’s server market.
Customers are on a path toward virtualization and cloud, driving increasing interest in Hyper-V. There is growing recognition that management is key. Our solutions include enterprise-class virtualization and comprehensive management technologies to deliver private cloud services, and powerful application insights to ensure maximum performance and availability across private and public cloud assets. The Windows Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track program ensures customers have a broad choice of predefined, validated configurations for private cloud deployments comprising compute, storage, networking resources, virtualization and management software.
Congratulations to NetApp and Cisco on their decision to Fast Track with us to the cloud!
The Microsoft TechEd Twitter Army is looking for recruits to twitter off the show floor during our premier TechEd event running May 16-19 in Atlanta. If you’re going to the show and want your opinions heard, be sure to check in at the Social Media area in the Microsoft Server & Cloud Platform Booth on Monday afternoon at 12:30 pm. Recruits who do well on the Twitter front lines will compete for an Xbox 360 + Kinnect package and other prizes to be handed out at a private Twitter Army event happening Thursday at 2 pm. Those that attend the 12:30pm Tweetup will also receive a special Twitter Army badge! Don’t forget, and remember that Uncle TechEd Wants You!
Virtualization Nation,
With the release of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1, we have once again raised the bar for providing a robust, enterprise class virtualization platform at no cost. For example, did you realize that Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 includes RemoteFX? This new feature provides Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) accelerated video within a virtual machine. VMware's flagship product VSphere Enterprise Plus ($3500 per processor) doesn't have this capability.
Let that sink in for a moment.
GPU accelerated video within a virtual machine is an important consideration when architecting a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployment. Perhaps you decide you're willing to deploy VDI using 2D virtualized video today. But what if you realize six months or a year down the road that you need 3D GPU accelerated graphics support? Do you really want to choose a virtualization platform for VDI that doesn't offer this capability today? Is VMware willing to provide this feature without requiring an upgrade ($$$)? In writing? If you review their history, that seems highly unlikely. These are key factors that you should consider when making a decision for VDI.
For more info on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 and R2 SP1, check out these two blogs:
Microsoft Hyper-V Server User Experience
If you've ever fired up the no-cost Hyper-V Server, you know that the UI is minimal. This is by design. The goal of Hyper-V Server is to make it easy for you to get the system configured and on the network for remote management. There's no Start menu or local GUI. Hyper-V Server instead includes a command line and SCONFIG, which is included to make it easy for you to configure the system for remote management functionality, such as:
Here's a screenshot of SCONFIG:
Once you've configured Hyper-V Server for remote management, you can manage it in a number of ways:
While these options work for most of you, a number of folks have asked for a local GUI that could be run directly on Hyper-V Server 2008 R2.
Wouldn't that be cool?
We think so too. That's exactly what our partners at 5nine built!
5Nine Hyper-V Manager
The folks at 5Nine have developed a local GUI for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2! With the 5Nine Hyper-V Manager you can create virtual machines, virtual networks, and more. In fact, 5Nine Hyper-V Manager supports Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 and includes the ability to manage RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory settings.
Here's a screenshot of the 5nine Hyper-V Manager:
Very cool. This is a great opportunity to point out what can be accomplished using the public Hyper-V WMI APIs which have been documented since day one.
Download Links
Here are the key links:
Cheers,
Jeff Woolsey
Windows Server & Cloud
FAQ
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Q: Did Microsoft develop this Hyper-V Manager for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2?
A: No. The product is called 5Nine Hyper-V Manager developed by our partners at 5Nine. To learn more about 5Nine Hyper-V Manager you should check out their site here: http://www.5nine.com/5nine-manager-for-hyper-v-free.aspx
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Q: How much does the 5Nine Hyper-V Manager cost? What are the system requirements?
A: 5Nine offers both a free version and a $99 version. You should check out their website for the details. The big difference is that the $99 version provides local access to the VM itself.
Note: 5Nine Hyper-V Manager works with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 and later. It doesn't work with the original Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 because it requires some capabilities not included Hyper-V Server 2008, such as .NET Framework.
Q: Does Microsoft support the 5Nine Hyper-V Manager?
A: The 5Nine Hyper-V Manager was developed by the folks over at 5Nine, however, the 5Nine Hyper-V Manager uses our published Hyper-V WMI APIs, which are fully supported by Microsoft.
Q: Will Microsoft provide a local GUI?
A: Microsoft provides multiple ways to manage Microsoft Hyper-V Server remotely including:
Microsoft has no plans to provide a local GUI for Microsoft Hyper-V Server, and we are pleased to see our partners provide a solution.