The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 3.2 makes it easier for customers and partners like you to quickly identify what servers, workstations, and network devices are in your IT environment. MAP also provides specific and actionable IT proposals and reports to help you get the most value out of Microsoft products and infrastructure. Over 510,000 Microsoft customers and partners have already downloaded and used MAP and its prior versions including Costco Wholesale Corporation, Continental Airlines, and Banque de Luxembourg.

Full details of the announcement may be found here.  You can download the tool here.

MAP is a scalable and agent-less assessment platform designed to make it easier for you to adopt the latest Microsoft technologies. In this version, MAP has expanded its assessment capabilities to include SQL Server 2008, Forefront/NAP, and Microsoft Online Services migration, as well as providing a Power Savings assessment to help you “go green.”

MAP 3.2 assessment areas now include:

  • SQL Server Database Instance Discovery (NEW!)
  • Microsoft Online Services Needs Assessment and Survey (NEW!)
  • Forefront Client Security/NAP Readiness Assessment (NEW!)
  • Power Savings Calculator (NEW!)
  • Virtualization Infrastructure Assessment (e.g. reporting the mapping of hosts by guests) (NEW!)
  • 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

My work on the SQL Risk Assessment Program has further driven home to me the power that automated discovery has for our customers.  Whether it’s drilling into a set of SQL Server instances (as SQL RAP does), or inventorying an entire environment (as the MAP Toolkit does), automated discovery and related, targeted remediation IP is allowing our expertise to scale in many new and exciting ways.

I hope you’ll check out this powerful new tool!

     -wp