Plumbing & Wiring in a Microsoft World : System Center

DPM 2007 SP1 brings Hyper-V Support

infoz — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:52:27 GMT

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]

System Center Essentials 2007 SP1 is here!

infoz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:01:00 GMT

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]

System Center Partner Airlift for Aussie Partners

infoz — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:09:47 GMT

Register here for heavily subsidised, level 300 training for Australian partners, covering System Center Configuration Manager 2007, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 and System Center Data Protection Manager 2007. Melbourne and Sydney only at this stage.

As three of the four pillars of the Server Management Suite - Enterprise, it's essential that partners get up to speed on the new launch of System Center products - there will be some fantastic opportunities for partners to deliver comprehensive data centre management solutions to customers, especially where virtualisation is involved.... [RH]

Using Essentials 2007 to Monitor Network Devices

infoz — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:12:00 GMT

Stumbled across this interesting post on Pete's Management BLOG the other day - gives a good overview of how straightforward it is to get SNMP monitoring of network devices up and running with System Center Essentials 2007. For those looking for a bit more in terms of network monitoring, it looks like Jalasoft will be releasing Xian Network Manager for SCE in beta form later this month - worth checking out of you want to extend on the native capabilities of SCE. [RH]

SCE Hotfix Rollup

infoz — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:03:00 GMT

Quick post to highlight the new Essentials 2007 hotfix rollup - posted last week. Combines a couple of existing patches including the old disjointed namespace chestnut. Download here, apply before installation and remember....always read the label. [RH]

Virtual Machine Manager 'R2'?

infoz — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:59:07 GMT

Looks like the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) team have built up a fair head of steam. With SCVMM2007 now RTM (see previous post for details), there are already whispers of an R2 version being under development - most likely for release in the second half of 2008. Early suggestions are that this R2 version will look to deliver a holistic management capability for VMs running on VMware and Xen as well as Microsoft virtualisation technologies. Should be interesting, especially when coupled with V2V migrations. Commoditisation of the virtualisation layer anyone? [RH]

Another Piece in the Virtualisation Jigsaw

infoz — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:47:15 GMT

With System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) now RTM, we've moved a step closer to delivering a truly compelling virtualisation story to our customers and partners - something that will really come to life when Windows Server Virtualisation becomes a reality in 2008 (adding x64 and multi-proc guest support).

As an integrated component of our System Center family of management technologies, SCVMM takes a slightly different approach to VM management than our main competitors....and this is where we have a significant advantage: System Center can manage both physical and virtual systems as well as their associated workloads from a single management platform.

So what's SCVMM got to offer? Here's what I think are the main highlights:

A centralised console to view all physical and virtual resources and associated tasks - based on the standard 'Outlook style' System Center look. Everything in the console is built on Powershell, so its all scriptable (great for command line gurus and ISVs)
Tight integration with Operations Manager 2007, delivered via the VMM Management Pack, allowing you to surface up VM specific data, tasks and reports in your main Operations Manager console
P2V conversions, including VSS-based conversions of Windows 2003 with no downtime.
V2V conversions of existing VMware VMs - now this should come in handy ;-)
End user self provisioning of VMs and intelligent placement to ensure VMs are created on the most appropriate physical host

If this sound interesting, I'd strongly recommend you take a look at Edwin Yuen's recently released Managing Virtualization with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 Webcast - it provides an overview of our virtualisation strategy and then dives a little deeper into SCVMM and integration with Operations Manager. There's also a trial VM of SCVMM that you can download here, drop into your environment and begin testing SCVMM straight away. Licensing and R2 snippets to follow shortly. [RH]

Another Aussie case study for System Center Essentials 2007

infoz — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:55:09 GMT

Check out this case study and find out how Perth-based Microsoft Gold Partner DSC-IT helped Westralia Airports to improve the efficiency and productivity of their IT environment through the implementation of System Center Essentials 2007 - great work from the guys in WA! [RH]

System Center Service Manager hits Beta1

infoz — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:00:00 GMT

System Center Service Manager (SCSM) is now available for download from Microsoft Connect. Integrating tightly with existing Microsoft offerings from the System Center family as well as Windows, Office and Visual Studio, SCSM will deliver a full range of "Service Desk" capabilities, backed up by a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) that will deliver a comprehensive view across your IT infrastructure and services. With beta 1 now released, it's the ideal time to begin evaluating the forthcoming capabilities of SCSM and looking ahead to a truly integrated set of service management tools. More info is available here.

SP3 for SMS2003 now available!

infoz — Tue, 01 May 2007 04:01:00 GMT

Service Pack 3 for SMS2003 is now available for download, featuring additional support for Windows Vista clients (software distribution, updates and inventory), support for x64 architectures and Asset Intelligence integration. (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.

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)