Download the Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide Series

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Overview

The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) series provides guidance for Microsoft infrastructure products. The series is a collection of documents that leads the reader through a sequence of core decision points to design an infrastructure for Microsoft products. It also provides a means to validate design decisions with the business to ensure that the solution meets the requirements for both business and infrastructure stakeholders.

The IPD documents are designed to be used by the following IT personnel:

Infrastructure planners and architects who have a firm operational grasp of the technology.
Partners and consultants who design infrastructure solutions.
Business managers who want to understand how the technology decisions being made both support and affect the business.

What’s New

Newly Released! Get the latest Infrastructure Planning and Design guide:

DirectAccess
This guide provides actionable guidance for designing a DirectAccess infrastructure. The guide’s easy-to-follow, four-step process gives a straightforward explanation of the infrastructure required for clients to be connected from the Internet to resources on the corporate network, whether or not the organization has begun deploying IPv6. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for DirectAccess.

Updated! Get these updates to the Infrastructure Planning and Design series of guides:

Series Introduction – version 2.0
An updated introduction to the Infrastructure Planning and Design series, including information on the background and document structure of IPD. Launch the download of the IPD Series Introduction.
System Center Operations Manager 2007 – version 2.0
This guide has been updated for System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. The guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of System Center Operations Manager. It guides you through the process of designing components, layout, and connectivity in a logical, sequential order. It presents identification and design of the required management groups in easy-to-follow steps, helping you to design and optimize management infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for System Center Operations Manager 2007.
Windows Deployment Services – version 2.0
This guide has been updated to reflect the new features and functionality that Windows Server 2008 R2 introduced. The guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of Windows Deployment Services. The six-step process in the guide should result in a design that is sized, configured, and appropriately placed to enable rapid deployment of Windows operating systems. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Windows Deployment Services.
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 – version 2.0
This guide has been updated to include new features and functionalities of System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008 R2. The guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of VMM. Its simple, easy-to-follow steps help you to centralize administration of physical and virtual machines. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.
Windows Server Virtualization – version 2.0
This guide has been updated to include new features and functionalities of Windows Server 2008 R2. The guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of Windows Server virtualization (WSv). Its simple, easy-to-follow steps help you to design and plan virtual server data centers. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Windows Server Virtualization.

Guidance

Active Directory Domain Services – version 2.0

This guide has been updated to include new features and capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2. The guide is intended to assist designers in the decision-making process by providing a clear and concise path for designing the Active Directory infrastructure. When used in conjunction with product documentation, the guide will help you confidently plan an Active Directory implementation. A sample job aid is included for recording the decisions made during the design process. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Active Directory Domain Services.

Exchange Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services

This guide provides a clear comparison of e-mail technologies across on-premises, standard hosting, and dedicated hosting scenarios. Use the guide as a framework for evaluating the technical feasibility of Microsoft Exchange Online. The guide provides an overall scoring assessment for each option, identifying key mail services and requirements for your organization. It can help you understand the impact of adopting software-plus-services, weigh the importance of each topic to your organization, and learn which offering will serve you best. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Exchange Online - Evaluating Software-plus-Services.

File Services – version 2.0

This guide has been updated to include new features and capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2. The guide provides the basic building blocks upon which many other infrastructure services are based. Key information is provided to bring your infrastructure up to date, saving you time and money. Each phase is thoroughly explained in easy-to-follow steps, helping you efficiently navigate through the process of managing your infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for File Services.

Internet Information Services – version 2.0

This guide has been updated to include new features and capabilities of IIS 7.5 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The guide provides a consistent structure for addressing the decisions and activities critical to the successful implementation of the IIS 7.5 and IIS 7.0 infrastructure. It addresses key issues such as resource, application, and hosting requirements, and helps you determine the capacity needed from the proposed hosting infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Internet Information Services.

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5

This guide describes the latest release of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). App-V, formerly SoftGrid, enables organizations to respond to the challenge of managing applications by implementing application virtualization. Take advantage of new features in App-V 4.5 such as streaming servers and support for Internet-based clients. This IPD guide takes you step by step through the process of planning your application virtualization infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization

This guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V). It guides you through the four-step process of designing components, layout, and connectivity in a logical, sequential order. Identification of the MED-V server instances required is presented in simple, easy-to-follow steps, helping you deliver managed virtual machines to end users. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for MED-V.

Print Services – version 2.0

This guide has been updated to include new features and capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2. The guide provides you with key information to bring your print infrastructure up to date, saving you time and money. Strategically planning your print infrastructure can help you serve your customers more reliably. Use this guide to determine the scope of the services and choose to partially or completely redesign your infrastructure. Each phase is thoroughly explained in easy-to-follow steps, helping you to efficiently navigate through the process of managing your infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Print Services.

Selecting the Right NAP Architecture

The objective of this guide is to provide a consistent structure for addressing the decisions and activities most critical to the successful implementation of the Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Selecting the Right NAP Architecture.

Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology

The objective of this guide is to enable the reader to rapidly and accurately select which Microsoft virtualization technology or technologies to use for specific scenarios. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology.

SharePoint Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services

This guide presents a clear comparison of SharePoint collaboration technologies across on-premises, standard hosting, and dedicated hosting scenarios. It is designed to be used as a framework for evaluating the business and technical feasibility of moving to Microsoft SharePoint Online. It identifies key SharePoint workloads, and provides a customized assessment to help the organization determine which offering best meets the organization’s requirements. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for SharePoint Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services.

SQL Server 2008

This guide, when used in conjunction with product documentation, will help companies confidently plan the implementation of a SQL Server 2008 infrastructure. It addresses fundamental tasks to help you identify which SQL Server roles will be needed as well as to determine the infrastructure’s components, server placement, and the fault-tolerance configuration to meet necessary requirements. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for SQL Server 2008.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 with R2

This guide enables you to quickly select which Configuration Manager features your organization needs in order to meet business requirements. It walks you through the process of determining which site roles are required in order to support those features, making this a less daunting task. The guide drives you through Configuration Manager infrastructure design decisions in a logical, sequential order. It accelerates the infrastructure design process by leveraging best practice guidance from the product group and subject matter experts. Using this guide can help you make the best decisions for successfully optimizing your infrastructure to best meet business requirements. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 with R2.

System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 with SP1

This guide leads you through the infrastructure design process in a logical, sequential order. The guide enables you to quickly identify the types of data that will be protected, what the recovery goals are, and the protection strategy to achieve those goals. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 with SP1.

Terminal Services

This guide leads you step by step through the process of planning a Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services infrastructure. Launch the download of the IPD Guide for Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services.

Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios

The Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios relate the IT and user business requirements for a flexible, efficient, and managed desktop environment to sets of complementary Microsoft technologies. The guide and supporting tool in this Solution Accelerator use five standard user scenarios such as Office Worker and Mobile Worker to map requirements to technologies. Launch the download of Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios.

Downloads

Download the complete Infrastructure Planning and Design series or individual guides.

View the guides with Microsoft Word or Word Viewer (available as a free download).

View the presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint or PowerPoint 2003 Viewer (available as a free download).

Join the Beta

Subscribe to this beta program and we will notify you when new beta guides become available for your review and feedback. They are open beta downloads. If you are not yet a member of the IPD beta program and want to join, follow these steps:

Go here to join the IPD beta program:
https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=1587&InvitationID=IPDM-QX6H-7TTV&SiteID=14

If the link does not work for you, copy and paste it into your Web browser address bar.
Sign in using a valid Windows Live ID.
Enter your registration information.
Continue to the IPD beta program page, scroll down to Infrastructure Planning and Design, and click the link to join the IPD beta program.

Already a member of the IPD beta program? Go here to get the latest IPD beta downloads: https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=6556&SiteID=14

Feedback

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