Plumbing & Wiring in a Microsoft World : Infrastructure Optimisation

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

infoz — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:57:00 GMT

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]

Planning and Design Guidance for Microsoft Virtualisation

infoz — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:01:00 GMT

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]

System Center Virtual Machine Manager hits Beta 2

infoz — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:34:00 GMT

SCVMM Beta 2 has been released, offering IT administrators a fully featured and easy to use suite of management tools. Enhancements in Beta 2 package include: P2V and V2V conversions, 64-bit server support, remote installation options and a vastly improved UI.

How Microsoft did Exchange 2007

infoz — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 05:16:00 GMT

Interested in finding out how Microsoft deployed Exchange 2007?? We're running a series of 2 day workshops in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney throughout May and June to let you know how our deployment was planned and executed. Click here to register. (RH)

Windows Server Longhorn & Virtualisation - Video

infoz — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 02:28:00 GMT

This 5 minute video provides a sneak preview of Windows Server Virtualisation - a hypervisor-based virtualisation platform being developed as an integrated part of Windows Server Longhorn and due for release within 180 days of Longhorn RTM.

The video shows you how Windows Server Virtualisation and System Center (Virtual Machine Manager and Operations Manager) will be able to help you optimise your infrastructure and manage your physical and virtual resources more effectively. (RH)