The Microsoft Solution Accelerator team has recently announced the first public beta of the MAP 5.5 toolkit.  I’ve been a big fan of this tool for quite some time now and this latest version adds a host of new options--with assessment for easier migration to Windows Azure and SQL Azure, heterogeneous database discovery (of MySQL, Oracle and Sybase instances) for SQL Server migration projects, Internet Explorer 8 upgrade assessment, and much more.  Some of the new changes include the following:

• Assess your environment for upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 8 (or the latest version) The MAP 5.5 Internet Explorer Upgrade Assessment inventories their environment and reports on deployed web browsers, Microsoft ActiveX controls, plug-ins and toolbars, and then generates a migration assessment report and proposal—information they need to more easily migrate to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 (or the latest version).
• Identify and analyse web application, and database readiness for migration to Windows Azure and SQL Azure  - Customers can simplify their move to the cloud with the MAP 5.5 automated discovery and detailed inventory reporting on database and web application readiness for Windows Azure and SQL Azure. MAP identifies web applications, IIS servers, and SQL Server databases, analyses their performance characteristics, and estimates required cloud features such as number of Windows Azure compute instances, number of SQL Azure databases, bandwidth usage, and storage.

• Discover heterogeneous database instances for migration to SQL Server - Now with heterogeneous database inventory supported, MAP 5.5 helps customers accelerate migration to SQL Server with network inventory reporting for MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase instances.

• Enhanced server consolidation assessments for Hyper-V - Enhanced server consolidation capabilities help customers save time and effort when creating virtualization assessments and proposals. Enhancements include:

  • Updated hardware libraries allowing you to select from the latest Intel and AMD processors.
  • Customized server selection for easy editing of assessment data.
  • Data collection and store every five minutes for more accurate reporting.
  • Better scalability and reliability, requiring less oversight of the data collection process.
  • Support for more machines.

  
  So if you haven’t already had a look at this beta make sure you Join the Beta on our Connect site.  And for more about MAP in general make sure you check out the MAP Homepage.

   

  Technorati Tags: MAP,Solution Accelerators

Jeffa

The Microsoft Solution Accelerators team has recently released a new set of security resources that you can use in combination with the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager tool: the Windows Server 2008 R2 Security Baseline and the Office 2010 Security Baseline, and setting packs for Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8. Together with the tool, these resources are designed to help organizations efficiently manage the security and compliance process for some of the most widely used Microsoft products.

What’s a setting pack?

Here’s the story, straight from the development team: Since the release of the Security Compliance Manager tool, one of the most frequent requests has been to add all of the available Group Policy settings to the Microsoft-recommended baselines so that they can be accessed through the tool. While our baselines include hundreds of settings, there are hundreds of additional settings available in Group Policy. In response to this request, the team has created setting packs. The setting packs include the basic information required by the Security Compliance Manager tool to define custom baselines that you can use to create GPO backups, DCM configuration packs, and SCAP content. This is a temporary solution to address this request. A future version of the tool will provide the capability to add the settings customers need to their baseline without using a setting pack.

• The security baselines for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Office 2010 provide you with free Microsoft-recommended solutions to meet today's security challenges. In combination with best-practice guidance and the Security Compliance Manager tool, the baselines are designed to help you plan, deploy, and monitor the security of computers running Windows Server 2008 R2 and of Office 2010 applications. Both releases also include a setting pack (for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Office 2010, respectively) enabling you to define baselines that include settings outside the scope of the security baselines from Microsoft.
• The Windows 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 8 setting packs, in combination with the Security Compliance Manager tool, will enable you to define baselines that include settings outside the scope of the security baselines from Microsoft. Use these new resources to define custom baselines, meet business-critical needs, and elevate the security of Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8.

The Security Compliance Manager works with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit and the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies—easier, faster, and at less cost. Learn more.

Next steps:

• First, learn more about the Security Compliance Manager tool. Next, learn more about the new security baselines and setting packs:
  
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Security Baseline
  •  Microsoft Office 2010 Security Baseline
  • Windows 7 setting pack
  • Windows Internet Explorer 8 setting pack

 Download the tool:

• New users can access these resources by visiting the Microsoft Download Centre to download the Security Compliance Manager tool.
• Existing users can access the baseline and setting packs in the tool by clicking the Tools menu, and then clicking Check for Baselines.

Jeffa

Next week we are very lucky to have Visio expert, Chris Hopkins stop by Australia on his journey around the world to educate Partners about the exciting release of Visio 2010.

Visio 2010 is the biggest release of Visio in a decade.

Boasting an array of automatic features to help you do the things you love in Visio, faster –Automatic align and Quick Shapes, not to mention UI improvements across the board and a stronger tie into SharePoint  than ever before – It’s worth checking out for yourself!

This week, we’ve also updated the Visio Add-ons website with a list of add-ons available to download.

· Visio 2010 Add-in for System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2
· Visio 2010 add-in for Disk Space Monitoring
· Visio 2010 add-in for Exchange Server 2007
· Visio 2010 add-in for Rack Server Virtualization
· Visio 2010 add-in for System Center
· Visio 2010 add-in for WBS Modeler

There has never been a better time to try Visio 2010 Premium

We’ve asked Chris to answer any questions that you have about Visio, Visio 2010, Visio Services and the list of products that Visio integrates with, in short videos which we will be posting onto TechNet during his trip to Australia.

Send your questions to monikale@microsoft.com

Thanks, Monika Lewalska – Product Marketing Manager – Visio and Project

We have recently transformed our Virtualisation Tech Center into the Virtualisation Scenario Hub.  We have improved the content by creating dedicated pages (Scenarios) for specific ways of using the underline technology to address a business goal.



The new scenarios are:

• Increase Server Availability and Support Burst Demand with Virtualization
• How to Improve Server Utilization and Reduce Infrastructure Costs
• How to Support a New Location with SharePoint Virtualization
• Manage Storage Migration with Virtualization
• How to Grow Your Business In a New Region with Exchange
• Planning for Disaster Recovery Using Virtualization