Plumbing & Wiring in a Microsoft World

DPM 2007 SP1 brings Hyper-V Support

2008-12-29T02:52:27Z

DPM SP1 has been released just in time for the Christmas break, and is available for download in both x86 and x64 versions:

DPM 2007 sp1 x86 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125991

DPM 2007 sp1 x64 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125992

By leveraging the VSS writer built into the Windows platform, DPM 2007 SP1 can deliver host-based backups of guest operating systems running on Hyper-V with zero downtime, as well as 'traditional style' guest-based backups for more granular backups at the workload level, as well as coverage for any physical servers that may remain in your environment.

Find out what's new in SP1. [RH]

Deployment and MDOP - Training for Technical Professionals

2008-10-06T01:29:00Z

Looks like the folks at the Partner Academy have come up with a winning format for some technical training: an in-depth multi-week asynchronous delivery, as described below:

Register now! This Partner Academy class is specifically designed for technical audiences and covers the technical and business aspects of optimizing the desktop with Windows Vista and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack including its architecture, configuration, deployment, and ongoing management. You will get valuable hands-on experience as well as a business value perspective.

The registration link in the Partner Learning Center is:

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=252533

[RH]

Upgrading Active Directory to Windows Server 2008

2008-09-19T03:11:00Z

There's a whole host of information out there for people looking to upgrade their AD environments to Windows 2008 from Windows 2003 or even 2000. Rather than do the hard work of pulling this guidance together myself, I'd like to point out the following Technet blog posting as a great place to start. Courtesy of Joey Snow:

http://blogs.technet.com/jsnow/archive/2008/03/27/upgrading-active-directory-to-windows-server-2008.aspx [RH]

Windows Server 08 Failover Clustering Guide

2008-09-17T07:35:59Z

A lot of people have been asking me for some quick guidance on how to build failover clusters with Windows Server 2008, especially as this is one of the key technologies for enabling high availability for mission-critical services. Both hardware and software considerations are summed up quite nicely in this 22-page document: Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2008. [RH]

Hyper-V Server Consolidation Assessment Tool

2008-07-02T05:51:07Z

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) toolkit version 3.1 has now been released and can be downloaded from here. This updated version includes reporting on how to consolidate Windows workloads using Hyper-V, our new virtualisation platform. We even offer guidance on how to best place your virtual machines in your shiny new Hyper-V environment! [RH]

Hyper-V goes RTM!

2008-06-27T02:36:00Z

Well, we've been waiting for this one for a little while, and here it is...KB950050. Get the details from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/virtualization-consolidation.aspx

and download from here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F3AB3D4B-63C8-4424-A738-BADED34D24ED&displaylang=en

[RH]

System Center Essentials 2007 SP1 is here!

2008-03-12T10:01:00Z

Well, it's been a while in the baking, but SP1 for System Center Essentials 2007 has finally arrived, bringing with it a host of improvements to performance, GUI stability and memory consumption (decreased by up to 70%...yes that's right 70%!). Check out the SCE SP1 page for further details on the new and improved functionality and download SP1 today - it's going to make your SCE install fly! [RH]

Which way to go with Windows Server 2008? Use the MAP!

2008-03-03T07:03:45Z

Just a quick note to highlight some of the great work done by the Solution Accelerator team, with the delivery of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit. This free of charge, downloadable utility provides customers and partners with a quick and easy way to assess their existing IT assets and advises on their suitability for a range of potential infrastructure upgrades including:

Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 - reports detailing hardware suitability and main server roles
Server utilisation reports with advice on how to consolidate and place workloads with our server technologies (Virtual Server 2005 R2 with Hyper-V to follow)
Assessment of the technology environment for the implementation of Microsoft Application Virtualisation (SoftGrid)
Upgrade of desktop systems to Windows Vista SP1 and / or Office 2007

The three phase process involves a hardware inventory, compatibility analysis and readiness reporting, delivering a series of business-ready proposals as well as more comprehensive reports should you wish to dig a little deeper into the underlying data.

So, to find out more, download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit today and get stared by analysing the suitability of your environment for upgrade to the latest and greatest server, desktop and virtualisation technologies.

NB - please note that this tool will not run on an X64 instance of Windows, as I have found out to my cost :-( ...but hey, that's what x86 VMs are for, no? [RH]

Daylight Saving Changes Guide - Australia

2008-02-28T01:35:34Z

Check out the latest guidance on preparing your Microsoft solutions for the forthcoming daylight savings changes with the downloadable Australia Daylight Saving Planning Guide. Also includes links to all the necessary software updates. [RH]

Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing

2008-02-06T05:10:00Z

Monday, 04 Feb 2008 - Microsoft released to manufacturing the following products:

Windows Server 2008 - This long awaited product will be generally available on 01 March 2008. Check out the launch coming to a city near you in February and March.

Check out the Australian Windows Server 2008 site for all the information you would want - http://www.microsoft.com/australia/servers/ws2008/

Windows Vista SP 1 - Addresses many of the key issues that our customers have identified with Windows Vista of the last year, both directly and through programs like the Customer Experience Improvement program. With SP1, we have made great progress in performance, reliability and compatibility. [CM]

Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for Server 2008 Terminal Services and AD Domain Services

2008-02-06T04:57:00Z

Beta Announcement:
Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for
Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

January 2008..

Are you evaluating server technologies in your quest toward a dynamic IT infrastructure? Use the Infrastructure Planning and Design Series guides to make the right decisions about planning infrastructure architecture.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. This series aims to clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, each addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario. All guides share a common structure including:

· Definition of the technical decision flow through the planning process.

· Listing of decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

· Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

· Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

These guides complement product documentation by exposing and focusing on infrastructure design options.

Accelerator Description

Infrastructure Planning and Design: Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services

This guide leads the reader step by step through the process of planning a Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services infrastructure. The guide addresses the fundamental decisions and tasks involved in:

· Deciding what applications are to be delivered by Terminal Services, and whether or not Terminal Services is the right approach to use.

· Determining the resources needed to employ Terminal Services to serve the selected applications.

· Designing the components, layout, security, and connectivity of the Terminal Services infrastructure.

Infrastructure Planning and Design: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

Active Directory® controls the core security of the Microsoft Windows® network environment. The directory service is responsible for authenticating user and computer accounts within the Active Directory infrastructure. In addition, the directory service provides a mechanism for centralized, delegated administration of resources within the forest.

To develop and implement a successful design of Active Directory, numerous questions must be answered and many decisions and strategies must be determined. Considerations for performance, security, manageability, scalability, and many other criteria must be addressed if the design is to be successful.

The purpose of this guide is to assist designers in the decision-making process by providing a clear and concise path for designing the Active Directory infrastructure, given the relative context. This guide relies on best practices and real-world experience to offer considerations and alternatives at each point in the design.

Infrastructure Planning & Design Beta Releases

The Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta Release for Windows Deployment Services is available as an open beta download.

To join the Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta program, click here. If you can’t use this link, go to connect.microsoft.com, click on “Invitations” and enter invitation ID
IPDM-QX6H-7TTV.

If you are already in the Beta, click here to download the latest Beta guide.

If you have not previously registered with Microsoft Connect, you might be required to do so before you continue to the Beta page.

Related Resources

Windows Server 2008 on Microsoft TechNet

Windows Server System Reference Architecture for Windows Server 2003 on Microsoft TechNet

Solution Accelerators on Microsoft TechNet

Please send your comments and feedback to satfdbk@microsoft.com.

Project Team:

Mary Anne Blake (PDM)

Charles Denny (TPM)

Laurie Dunham (UE,RM)

Mike Kaczmarek (GPM)

Lex Liao (Test Mgr)

Robin Maher (PM)

Fergus Stewart (TPM)

Contributing Partners:

Studio B Productions

Find More Solution Accelerators

You can see our full catalog of released Solution Accelerators, including the Windows Server System Reference Architecture (WSSRA), here.

Additional Solution Accelerator Beta Content

Get an advance look at other Solution Accelerator beta content, including:

Microsoft Assessment and Planning

Windows Server 2008 Security Guide

Content provided by Jeff Newfeld

[CM]

H1 2008 Aussie Partner Readiness Schedule - Infrastructure Highlights

2007-12-17T03:53:00Z

Just a quick heads up on some of the partner readiness training planned for Jan-June 2008. I've plucked the following out as of most interest to all the infrastructure specialists...

Microsoft Deployment Airlift (Including SoftGrid, VISTA and Windows Server 2008) (The new BDD...)

System Center: Virtual Machines Manager, Configuration Manager, Data Protection Manager

Office Communication Server & Unified Comms

Windows Server 2008 : IT Pro

These heavily subsidised courses are running across various state capitals in the next 6 months or so (check links for dates, locations and registration info).

[RH]

Planning and Design Guidance for Microsoft Virtualisation

2007-12-17T03:01:00Z

The recently published Infrastructure Planning and Design Solution Accelerator is a great place to start when considering the practical implications of deploying Microsoft's broad range of virtualisation technologies. I've just worked through the 'Windows Server Virtualization' paper, and it looks like this offers the kind of guidance my partners and customers are frequently asking for....scoping the hardware resources to meet the needs of your virtual environment - right down to which perfmon counters are key for analysing disk, memory, CPU and network requirements. There's also a scattering of handy snippets on validating your technical decisions agaist the needs of the business - just in case you're getting carried away with the technology and forgettintg about the business reasons behind the push to a virtual world. No doubt I'll get round to working my way through the 'Application Virtualization' paper sometime over the festive period! [RH]

Configuration Manager - Free MSI Packaging Tools!

2007-12-10T07:19:00Z

A collaboration with Macrovision has delivered a special version of AdminStudio (AdminStudio for Configuration Manager), allowing you to build MSI files from your legacy applications and then deploy them using System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Check out the details and hit the download link from this page (registration required for download). [RH]

Partner Business Briefings on Microsoft Virtualisation

2007-11-27T09:35:53Z

Running across cities in 5 Australian states, these briefings are designed to help Microsoft Partners understand the business opportunity that the new wave of server technologies will present. The first ones are running in November and December and will cover Microsoft Virtualisation and Management [RH]

REGISTER NOW:

· Brisbane November 30^th: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359092&Culture=en-AU

· Sydney December 6^th : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359090&Culture=en-AU

· Melbourne December 7^th : http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359091&Culture=en-AU

· Adelaide December 14^th: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359093&Culture=en-AU

· Perth December 13^th: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032359094&Culture=en-AU